KINGDOM, COVENANTS AND CANON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
PREPARATION FOR LESSON 4
At the offices of Third Millennium Ministries, we have a wall that is covered by a gigantic map of the world. We place dots on it everywhere our materials are in use. It’s inspiring to see how many places we’ve been. But it’s also helpful to see how many places we are still trying to go.
Truth to tell, I really like maps. And when we travel to new countries, it helps to have maps of those places, too. When you’re venturing into new places for the first time, there is nothing more reassuring than knowing you have a reliable map to show you the way to your destination.
If you stop to think about it, every day of your life is a venture to a new place, to what Shakespeare called “the undiscovered country.” As Christians, we want to make the right choices as we travel about, to know what our great King expects from us as well as what we might expect from him.
Happily, we do not enter into this great journey without direction. God has given us his map, I the form of the canon of Scripture. In this lesson we will be looking at the canon of the Old Testament. The word “canon,” is derived from the Greek word kanon, meaning “standard” or “measure.” So, when we refer to the Old Testament as a canon, we mean that it is authoritative for us, the standard which God’s people are to follow through the millennia.
We are going to look specifically at three ways that covenant people have approached the authoritative teaching of the Old Testament: Canon as Mirror, Canon as Window, and Canon as Picture.
Dr. Richard L. Pratt, Jr.
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In preparation for this lesson, read Psalms 1 and 19. Write down your thoughts about the blessings of studying the Word of God.
Goals and Objectives of Lesson 4
GOALS
In this lesson, we would like to accomplish the following:
1. We hope you will become confident in studying the Old Testament and applying it to your life and situation today.
2. We hope you will make use of all the resources and activities of the lesson to learn the basic principles of how to apply the teachings of the Old Testament today.
3. We hope you make some changes in your life as a response to the teachings of this lesson.
OBJECTIVES
When you have done the following, it will show that the goals are met:
1. Use all the resources and complete all the written assignments of the lesson, expressing your own thoughts and attitudes regarding the proper way to use the Old Testament today.
2. Obtain a satisfactory grade on the test, demonstrating that you can identify the three types of interests that a thematic analysis of the Bible addresses, the benefits of historical analysis, the meaning of the “synchronic snapshot” and the “diachronic trace” the different literary forms in the Old Testament and how the New Testament uses and interprets them, dangers that sometimes accompany literary analysis, and how the books of the Old Testament employ the theme of the kingdom of God.
3. Answer the application questions in the study guides, in which you apply the teachings of the lesson to your own life.
"General Instructions for Assignments"
If you are not very familiar with the process of doing the assignments for a lesson, you should read this PDF tutorial found in the "Instructions" section of Lesson 1. It will guide you through the lesson, step by step. If you are already familiar with the process, you may skip this and go to the more specific "Instructions for Lesson 4."
"Instructions for Lesson 4"
Carefully read these instructions. You may want to print them out so that you can refer to them as you proceed through the assignments.