This week’s class is the second part of Session 2 where we will look at the authenticity of the Bible when it comes to things of science. Even though the Bible is not a book of science, when it speaks of something we know to be true today it affirms our confidence in its reliability in other areas too. We will also look at the Bible’s “Big Picture” and the importance of using Hermeneutics to study the Bible in its proper context. All of this is leading into the actual study of the book Genesis in session 3. Having a good introduction and background to the Bible before diving into this study is critically important.

Watch this week’s class presentation on these topics:

Overview Notes from the presentation

A Case for Genesis

Fall 2022:  Session 2, Part Two –  Science Authenticity in the Bible; The Bible’s Big Picture; and the Importance of Hermeneutics

Overview of this session:

I.  Science in the Bible – Did Moses get it right?

II.  The Bible’s Big Picture – What does the Bible teach?

III.  The importance of Hermeneutics – How do we interpret Genesis?

“Moses, [and the other Old Testament authors], are the right ancient authors of history because they are the only ones that get it right, especially based on the historical and scientific authenticity of so many statements throughout.”

-J. Warner Wallace

I.  Science in the Bible – Did Moses get it right?

The Bible is not a “science book” but when it speaks of the things we now know to be true in science, it is always authentic!

A few examples of scientific authenticity…

1.  Shape of the Earth: Isaiah 40:21-22; Proverbs 8:27-27

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to live in.”

“When He established the heavens, I was there, when He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep, when He made firm the skies above, when the springs of the deep became fixed”

2.  The Earth is suspended over nothing:  Job 26:7

“He stretches out the north over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing.”

Note: Job is considered to be the oldest written text of the Bible (Abraham’s time or before – Moses wrote later) and contains a lot of scientifically accurate statements made by God to Job.

3.  The heavens/stars are stretched out (red shift):  Isaiah 45:12

“It is I who made the earth, and created mankind upon it. I stretched out the heavens with My hands, and I ordained all their lights.”

4.  Movement of the stars, too numerous to count: Genesis 15:5; Isaiah 40:26; Jeremiah 31:35

“And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

“Raise your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, the One who brings out their multitude by number, He calls them all by name;
because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing.”

“This is what the Lord says, He who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—The Lord of armies is His name”

5.  There are paths (currents), valleys, mountains and springs in the deep: 2 Samuel 22:16-18; Job 38:16; Jonah 2:5-6; Genesis 7:11 and 8:1-2; Proverbs 8:27-28; Psalm 8

““Have you entered the springs of the sea, and walked in the depth of the ocean?””  Job 38:16

“Water encompassed me to the point of death. The deep flowed around me, seaweed was wrapped around my head. I descended to the base of the mountains. The earth with its bars was around me forever,
But You have brought up my life from the pit, Lord my God.”  Jonah 2:5-6

”In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened.”  Genesis 7:11

“Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth, You who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens! 2 From the mouths of infants and nursing babies You have established strength because of Your enemies, to do away with the enemy and the revengeful. 3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place; 4 what is man that You think of him, and a son of man that You are concerned about him? 5 Yet You have made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and majesty! 6 You have him rule over the works of Your hands; You have put everything under his feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the animals of the field, 8 The birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the seas. 9 Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!”  Psalm 8

6.  Natural Laws: Genesis 8:22; Job 28:25-26

(Weather cycles)

“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”

“When He imparted weight to the wind, and assessed the waters by measure, when He made a limit for the rain, and a course for the thunderbolt”

Job 26:8; Job 36:27-29 and Ecclesiastes 1:6-7

(Water Cycle)

“He wraps up the waters in His clouds, and the cloud does not burst under them.”

“For He draws up the drops of water; they distill rain from its celestial stream, which clouds pour down; they drip upon mankind abundantly. Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, the thundering of His pavilion?”

“Blowing toward the south, then turning toward the north, the wind continues swirling along; and on its circular courses the wind returns. All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow,
There they flow again.”

7.  The “second law of thermodynamics” (Entropy in a closed system): Psalm 102:25-26; Hebrews 1:10-11

“In time of old You founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. Even they will perish, but You endure; all of them will wear out like a garment; like clothing You will change them and they will pass away.”

“And, “You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth,
And the heavens are the works of Your hands; They will perish, but You remain; And they all will wear out like a garment”

8.  The constellations described accurately (Pleiades, Orion and Arcturus): Job 38:31-32

“Can you tie up the chains of the Pleiades, or untie the cords of Orion? Can you bring out a constellation in its season, and guide the Bear with her satellites?”

A few other areas where the Bible gets it correct:

• Best day to perform circumcision
• Bacteria and virus avoidance
• Hygiene and waste management
• Pre-born development
• Proper nutrition
• Laminin (the protein adhesion molecule in the human body)

“For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

Colossians 1:16-17

“For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.”  

Psalm 139:13-16

II.  The Bible’s Big Picture – What does the Bible teach?

Overarching Message

Unbelief and disobedience towards God result in hardship and separation from God’s love, protection, and blessing:

People (sinful)——-/  (separation)  /——-God (Holy)

The need for rescue and deliverance (a Savior)—God’s Genesis 3:15 Promise unfolds through the Covenants and culminates in Jesus…

Old Testament: “Big Picture”

1. God creates us to be in relationship with Him (Genesis 1-2).
2. Humans lose that relationship at “the Fall” when they disobey God’s only command (Genesis 3) and we live with the consequence of that today.
3. God immediately Promises a way of salvation and begins to work that [rescue] plan out in “Covenants” throughout the Old Testament—giving encouragement, warning and hope through the prophets (Genesis 3:15; Genesis 12:2-3; Genesis 15:5-19; Genesis 26:3-5; Genesis 28:10-15; Genesis 49:9-12; Exodus 12-15; 19-20; 2 Samuel 7:5-17; Jeremiah 31:31).
4. Every book (39), story, and event contain a foreshadow, model, or prophecy of Jesus (who He would be and what He would do)—the Scarlet Thread of the Old Testament.
5. The Nation of Israel was chosen to be God’s people and role-model to the other nations (but they failed all the time), showing the need for a Savior, and it would be through this Nation that Messiah would come.

New Testament: “Big Picture”

THE GOSPEL:

6. Jesus is born, the promised Messiah from the tribe of Judah and line of David (Luke 3:23-37).
7. Jesus is the New Covenant in fulfillment of God’s Old Covenant and the hundreds of prophecies made about Him centuries before (Luke 22:20; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Hebrews 8:7-13; 9:1-15).
8. Jesus’ ministry proves that He is God incarnate evidenced by His sinless life and multitude of miracles attesting to His power over the natural order and His love for humanity (evidenced throughout the Gospels).
9. Jesus dies as a substitute for all humanity, then resurrects from the grave in defeat of death and Satan, restoring that lost relationship with humankind and providing a path for eternal life (John 3:11-21).

THE CHURCH:

10. Jesus’ followers begin to spread this good news at Jesus’ command and giving of the Holy Spirit to all believers (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:7-8).
11. The early Church begins as disciples gathering in various places worshipping and studying Scripture (book of Acts).
12. Jesus promises to come back bringing the full Kingdom of God creating a New Earth and New Heaven with no more pain, suffering, or death (Revelation 21:1-7).

Conclusion:

Our job, or purpose, until then is to share this good news with as many people as we can, living lives as God’s Ambassadors for the Kingdom, preparing for eternity

(2 Corinthians 5:20; 1 Peter 3:15)

The Christian Bible gives us a linear storyline that we can follow from beginning to end

1. Curtain opens in Genesis: God creates a perfect world and humans have a perfect relationship with Him
2. The Conflict occurs in Genesis 3: Sin changes everything and affects the rest of the story, humans need to be saved from this fate
3. The Old Testament is the unfolding of God’s rescue plan of salvation given to a particular man (Abraham), and carried through a particular nation (Israel), with every person, story, and event pointing to that fulfillment in Jesus
4. The New Testament is the fulfillment of the rescue plan through Jesus with redemption offered to everyone by way of the Holy Spirit
5. The curtain closes in Revelation: We are back to that original place of relationship and perfection with God through Jesus Christ our LORD

Bible reading and Bible study is foundational

“A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.”

-Charles Spurgeon

III.  The Importance of Hermeneutics – How do we interpret Genesis?

A Basic Hermeneutic Formula

1. AUTHOR-AUDIENCE-DATE

(Includes cultural background of that day)

2. PURPOSE OF THE WRITING

(Includes genre)

3. CONTEXT/FLOW OF THOUGHT

(Includes getting the big picture)

4. INTERPRETATION/SUMMARY

(Includes Biblical cross-referencing)

5. PERSONAL AND CULTURAL APPLICATION

(Always done last based on the context)

Note: It is important to follow this order. If you start with personal application instead of author-audience-date you may not get the correct context and misapply it to your life.

Three Basic Principles to follow when studying Scripture:

1. Never take a verse out of context – use the hermeneutical method (author-audience-purpose-context-application)
2. Let the Bible interpret the Bible (use cross-referencing when possible)
3. Get the Big Picture (Jesus = the Scarlet Thread of the entire Bible)

Genesis Outline for Context:

This is God’s eyewitness account given to Moses (Exodus 31:18, 34:1-2;27, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:19-21)

Chapters 1-11:  The Antediluvian Epoch

• Creation and the Fall
• The Promise and curse
• Noah, the Flood and God’s Judgment
• A new world and the Tower of Babel

Chapters 12-50:  The Patriarchal Period

• Abraham-Isaac-Jacob-Joseph = the start of the Hebrew Nation of Israel
• The Covenant (the Promise begins to unfold)

Going Deeper:

Click here for the article on “Genesis in the New Testament” which contains 103 references to specific Scripture that cites Genesis in its teachings or narrative!

Watch J. Warner Wallace’s presentation on Moses’ reliability and authorship: