Opus 2025-318: What Grade Are You?

The Bible was written by human beings under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is called being inspired.  God has been working on it for at least 4000 years.

As you look at the Bible it is not a systematic theology. Think of it as an elementary school curriculum not a college text book.  The first few chapters are kindergarten.  They lay down the basics of God the creator and the type of world He wanted to see.  It introduces man, sin and disobedience.  With Noah and Abraham you go to second grade and the concepts of covenants.  By the time you get to the law you might be up in the third grade.  

The law was written for an ignorant people.  They lived in a culture where people married their sister and frogs were gods.  Keep in mind ignorance is based on a lack of knowledge.  It is not the same as stupid or even stubborn.   In their ignorance they were evil but they don’t know it.  At least they don’t know it by the letter of the law.  Romans tells us that they knew in our hearts.

As you continue to read you are exposed to more and are expected to integrate it into existing kowledge.  Remember the arithmetic you learned in elementary school.  You did not start with long division or multiplication.  You can’t do long division if you don’t know how to subtract and you can’t multiply if you don’t know how to add.  We forget how learning was a process.  I would not expect a second grader to know algebra no matter how smart he was.

We are introduced to the concepts of grace and forgiveness long before Paul expands our understanding in his letters.  We are taught about parenting, credit, hard work and sloth as we go along.  It is a long journey of discovery.  I’m not sure if Revelation is graduate level or back to kindergarten.

What grade are you at?  I would guess, if you are like the rest of us, that you might still be wanting to go to recess or participate in show and tell.  Only you know.  I encourage you to get on with learning.  It is okay to ask questions.  It is even better to learn how to find the answers youself, and you can do it.  I like to think of the process as preparing for eternity.  A small difference now can make a big difference over thousands of years.

Does eternity have make up classes?

homo unius libri