Overview and Objectives
Lesson Overview
Faithful Christians have always recognized the importance of the progress of biblical history, especially as it relates to humanity’s fall into sin and to God’s redemptive work. The discipline of biblical theology arose as a means to study this progress in responsible ways. Much like systematic theology, biblical theology organizes theological ideas in ways that increase our understanding of Scripture. But whereas systematic theology organizes its ideas according to topics, biblical theology organizes its findings in historical periods or epochs. Used rightly, biblical theology is a powerful and helpful tool for interpreting and applying the Bible.
Lesson Objectives
When you complete this lesson, you should be able to:
- Express their attitude toward diachronic development
- Identify the following: a) the meaning of diachronic development, b) the unique emphasis of each of the main Old Testament covenants, c) the unity of the covenants, d) the meaning of typology, and e) the proper way to identify types found in the Old Testament.
- Identify diachronic development in the Scriptures
- Describe ways in which the lesson has affected their lives
Personal Reflection
As you proceed through this lesson have the following question in mind.
What makes understanding how the Bible’s theology developed over time so important for us as we seek to apply the Old Testament to our own lives or teach it to others?