BIBLE INTERPRETATION

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(BC 1)

GENESIS 1:1 (NKJV)

"In the beginning, God created heavens and Earth."

IN THE BEGINNING 

𒆜 This "beginning" refers to the period of time God did the creation and it comprises the first six days in which God created the heavens, the earth and everything in them (Exodus 20:11).  

𒆜It is not the beginning of God for He has no beginning, from everlasting to everlasting He is God (Psalms 90:2). 

GOD CREATED  

𒆜 This indicates that God is the creator, the creator of the heavens and the earth and everything in them.  

𒆜 To create means to bring something into existence. Everything that God created never existed before.

𒆜 From the creation of the world, God’s invisible attributes are clearly seen and understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead (Romans 1:20).  

𒆜 However,a fool who cannot see and understand these things will keep on saying in his heart that there is no God (Psalms 14:1). 

THE HEAVENS  

𒆜 The heavens are some of the things God created in the beginning.  The word “heavens” here is plural and therefore, it is not one heaven, He created more than that. 

𒆜 Paul talked about a man in Christ who was caught up to the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2).

𒆜 This reveals that there are up to three heavens. The first heaven is the firmament that God created to separate waters from waters (Genesis 1:6-8). 

𒆜 This is what is called Earth's atmosphere or sky.  The second heaven could be the outer Earth's atmosphere.  

𒆜 The third heaven is where God dwells, where His throne is.  No one can see it physically unless God opens one's eyes spiritually to see it like what happened to Stephen (Acts 7:55-56). 

AND THE EARTH.  

𒆜 The earth was equally created by God in the beginning, just like the heavens.

𒆜 He created it as a dwelling place for humans and other creatures such as animals, birds and fish in seas. 

𒆜 It is circular (Isaiah 40:22) and hangs on nothing (Job 26:7).

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(ST 3)

INTRODUCTION

👉 Adam and Eve were the two humans who were created by God on earth and multiplied to fill the Earth and subdue it.

👉 God created Adam and Eve on the sixth day. He created them in His image, after His likeness (Genesis 1:26).

CREATION OF ADAM.

👉 God formed Adam from the ground and breathed in breath of life (spirit) for him to become a living being (Genesis 2:7), for the body without Spirit is dead (James 2:26).

👉 A human has a body (flesh) that God made from the ground and therefore, the body is an earthly substance.

👉 A human has also a spirit which comes from God and this spiritual component is not earthly: It is not made from the ground.

👉 For this reason, when someone dies, the body returns to the ground where it came from and the spirit returns to God who gave it (Ecclesiastes 12:7).

CREATION OF EVE.

👉 When creating Eve, God did not go back to the ground and make the body of Eve from it.

👉 However, He took one of the ribs from Adam and made Eve from it (Genesis 2:21-22).

👉 He preferred to use the material that He already processed from the ground (part of body of Adam, the rib) than using the raw material again (ground).

👉 The reason for this preference is not known however, the Bible indicates that God thought of making a helper, not a mere helper, but one suitable or fit for a man (Genesis 2:18).

👉 A woman was created for a man and not vice versa, as she was made from a man.

👉 Therefore, a woman is not independent of a man however, neither a man is independent of a woman for a man is now born of a woman (1 Corinthians 11:8-12).

WHY GOD CREATED HUMANS?

👉 Man is one of the many creatures that God created. But why did God create a human?

👉 1) To have dominion over all that God created (Genesis 2:18). 2) To praise God (Isaiah 43:21). 3) To do good works prepared beforehand (Ephesians 2:10).

ST3=Short Teaching #3

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(ST 2)

INTRODUCTION

✍️ Flesh refers to human nature which is sinful. It is the corrupted state of a human. It's desire is to Sin.

✍️ However, when a person believes  in Jesus Christ, God sends the Holy spirit to dwell in the person.

✍️ Even though the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in a person who has believed in Christ, the flesh still desires to sin.

✍️ The Holy Spirit opposes the desires of the flesh and the flesh opposes the desires of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:17).

DESIRES OF THE FLESH

✍️ The flesh always longs to do evil, these include sexual immorality, jealousy, drunkenness and enmity among others (Galatians 5:19-21).

DESIRES OF HOLY SPIRIT

✍️ The Holy Spirit desires to guide the believer into doing righteousness that produces its fruits:

✍️ For example; love, peace, kindness, self-control and patience (Galatians 5:19-12).

DEFEATING DESIRES OF FLESH

✍️ Even though the flesh may compel you to do evil that is against the desires of the Holy Spirit, you can easily defeat it.

✍️(1) Decide to abstain from passion of the flesh (1 Peter 2:11). (2) Pray over it. (3) Walk by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16).

✍️ 4) Store God's Word in your heart (Psalms 119:11).

CONCLUSION

✍️ As a child of God (believer), you have not to entertain the flesh, to do its desires, instead put them to death.

✍️ Setting the mind on the flesh is death, but setting the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.(Romans 8:6).

✍️ For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot (Romans 8:7).

ST 2=Short Teaching 2.

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(ST 1)

WHAT IS RIGHTEOUSNESS?

✍️ This is the quality of being upright, just, perfect and pure in all thoughts, deeds and speech.

RIGHTEOUSNESS IS NOT MAN'S ATTRIBUTE

✍️ Righteousness is not the attribute of man as indicated by the scriptures below:

✍️ Romans 3:10(NIV)," as it is written,"there is no one rightous, not even one."

✍️ Ecclesiastes 7:20(ESV),"surely, there is not a rightous man on Earth who does good and never sins."

RIGHTEOUSNESS IS THE ATTRIBUTE OF GOD

✍️ Righteousness is only the attribute of God. Consider the scripture below:

✍️ Deuteronomy 34:4(NIV),"He is the rock, His works are perfect and all His ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong. Upright and just is He."

ATTAINING RIGHTEOUSNESS AS A MAN

✍️ Since rightousness is not man's attribute, man should aquire it from God who has it.

✍️ How? By believing in Jesus Christ. For our sake,He made Him to be a sin so that in Him we might become righteousness of God (2 Corint. 5:20), but we attain this after believing in Him (Romans 10:4).

EVERYONE PRACTICING RIGHTEOUSNESS

✍️ Everyone who practice rightousness has been born of God (1 John 2:29). There shall be no man who will practice rightousness on his own unless one is born of God.

✍️ Being born of God happens after believing in Jesus Christ. Those who receive Him (Christ) and believe in Him it is given to be called children of God (John 1:12).

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(BI 2)

Genesis 1:26 (ESV):

Then God said, "let us make man in our image, after our likeness...."

INTRODUCTION

✍️ Here, we seek to interpret what it means, "God creating man in His image and likeness"

INTERPRETATION

✍️ "God creating man in His image and likeness" means that God created man to be like, look like or resemble God Himself.

✍️ But how? And in which way? Genesis 2:7 reveals that God created man of dust from the ground and breathed in the breath of life (spirit) and man became a living creature.

✍️ Let's now consider the two parts from this scripture.

Part 1: God created man from ground:

✍️ Here, it means God made our physical bodies (flesh) from ground. Are we like God by the physical body? The answer is no.

✍️ God is the Spirit (John 4:24) and the spirit does not have flesh (Luke 24:39). So, we do not resemble God by physical bodies.

Part 2: God breathed in the breath of life:

✍️ This is the spirit God gave to the body for it to become a living creature as the body without spirit is dead (James 2:26).

✍️ This is the same spirit which goes back to Him when someone dies (Ecclesiastes 12:7).

CONCLUSION

✍️ John 4:24 states that God is Spirit and we have seen from above that we possess His spirit which He gave us, to give life to our bodies.

✍️ Therefore, our resemblance and likeness to God is spiritual and not physical.

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(BI 1)

John 8:32 (ESV)

"And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

INTERPRETATION

✍️ Jesus Christ said these words to the Jews who had believed in Him.

✍️ The scripture has two parts, the first part is knowing the truth and the second part is the truth setting free.

1. Know the Truth.

✍️ What is this Truth that they had to know?In John 14:6, Jesus Christ reveals Himself as the Truth and in the same John 17:17, our Lord Jesus Christ points out the Word of God being the Truth.

✍️ So,having the above revelation we can interprete the Truth as Jesus Christ himself and also the Word of God.

2. The Truth setting free.

✍️ From what is the Truth setting people free? In the context of Jesus Christ being the Truth, those who know (believe) Him are set free from the slavery or bondage of sin. (Matthew 1:21)

✍️ In the context of the Word of God being the Truth, those who know (abide in it) are set free from false teachings, ignorance (Hosea 4:6) and from sinning (Psalms 119:11).