Online Bible Studies & Resources

[Carson Weber]

At the Saint Paul Center For Biblical Theology, my place of work, we are now offering three free online Bible studies:

1. From Genesis to Jesus: A Journey Through Scripture
2. Covenant Love: An Introduction to the Biblical Worldview
3. Reading the Old Testament in the New: The Gospel of Matthew

All of the above may be accessed by visiting the Center's website at

http://www.SalvationHistory.com

Also, among our Resource Library we have a Selected Topics on Apologetics section which is phenomenal. It can be reached at:

http://www.salvationhistory.com/library/apologetics/Topics.cfm

 

[BobRyan]

Here is what your site said --

On the seventh day, God rests and blesses His creation. Now we're into the next chapter of Genesis (see Genesis 2:2-3). It's not that God got tired. We should see this cosmic rest and blessing as the first of the cycle of covenants that we will see throughout the Bible.

God, by His act of establishing the Sabbath, is making a covenant with His creation, and especially with all of humanity, represented by the man He created in His own image. That seems to be what Jesus is getting at when He says: "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27-28).

It makes sense, when you think about it: God doesn't create the world for no reason - to be detached or somehow unrelated to Him. He creates the world, and the human family out of love. The Sabbath is the sign of that covenant and that love.

God explains this later when He gives Moses the Sabbath laws for the people of Israel. He says the Sabbath is "a perpetual covenant" (see Exodus 31:16-17). That's why the Catechism calls the creation story the "first step" in God's covenant-making and "the first and universal witness to God's all-powerful love" (no. 288).

Also, the Hebrew word for "oath-swearing" is sheba, a word that's based on the Hebrew word for the number "seven." In Hebrew, to swear an oath, which is what you do when you make a covenant, is "to seven oneself" (see Abraham's oath in Genesis 21:27-32).

So, what God seems to be doing here on the seventh day, is not resting, but binding Himself to His creation in a perpetual covenant relationship. And we'll see this pattern of covenant continuing throughout the Bible.

Which makes the Sabbath begin at creation - and applies it to all humanity.

I find that interesting.

Now - if you don't actually believe that Genesis 1-3 is true - doesn't that wipe out your story?

And in the link above - you connect the 7th day of creation week with the 7th day Sabbath of Exodus. But Exodus makes it clear - "Six Days the Lord MADE the heavens and the Earth" using the same term for day as the day "yom" at Sinai.

Is that "Acceptable" for Franciscans?

I was told - it is not.

In Christ,

Bob