Men’s Discipleship Bible Study: Week 1

Intro

It seems reasonable that any meaningful study of the Bible should start with a discussion about the Bible itself. Casual observers may not know that the Bible is not one book, but many. 66 different writings from over 40 different authors over the course of 4000 years make up the 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament. If you were to ask just 10 people living within the same 10 blocks about the nature of God, do you think you’d get a cohesive picture? The authors of the Bible lived in different times and in different countries. They came from different cultures, occupations, economic and educational backgrounds and yet somehow their writings paint a cohesive portrait of God and his plan of salvation for all mankind. That ought to tell us something about the supernatural nature of the Scriptures already. Having a correct understanding of God is one of the most important things to the Christian. Understanding the Bible correctly is the key to understanding God correctly. It’s just as easy to read into the Bible things that are not there as it is to read things out of the Bible that are not there. Few things have caused more pain in the world as the Word of God handled incorrectly. Nothing can bring as much joy as knowing God as he truly is.

Questions

  • Why study the Bible at all? What do we hope to gain from it?
  • How do we know if it’s accurate?
  • How do we know if we’re understanding it right?
  • How should we respond when it challenges our worldview?
  • What does it mean to say the Bible is inspired?
  • What does it mean to say the Bible is infallible?
  • What does it mean to say the Bible is inerrant?
  • What does it mean to say the Bible is authoritative?