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IDTERM
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UESTIONS
For your Midterm Exam, you will be required to answer 2 of the following 3 essay
questions. On the exam, the questions will be chosen at random so it is advised to prepare
for all 3. All essay questions must be 400–600 words with a word count included at the
end.
1. In 2 or more paragraphs, discuss the section titled, “The Old Testament as
Christian Scripture,” at the end of chapter 1 in Understanding the Big Picture of
the Bible. What does the author mean by the terms “continuity” and
“discontinuity”? Do you agree? Explain your answer and provide biblical
examples.
What does the author of Understanding the Big Picture of the Bible mean in regards to
continuinty? The author writes about this very succienctly by pointing out that, between
the Old and New Testament, God’s love for His people transends any human effort.
Through the Old Testament there are hints that there will be a messiah that will come.
We can see several prophecies from the prophet Isaiah (Please see Isaiah 7:14, 50:6, 53:1
etc), Jeremiah (See 31:31-34). To me this was, until recently, a huge puzzle piece that
was missing and I could never understand how the Old Testament related to the New
Testament. As can be seen by the verses listed above the Old Testament practically
screamed the existance of Jesus Christ.
What does they mean when they write discontinuinty? This was the hardest part for me
to grasp but I believe this comes from what the assigned reading writes, in part, “The
theocracy defined the people of God as predominatly coming from a particular ethnic
group in a particular land; Gentile converts were protected but could not be full status
members of the theocratic community. The New Testament abolishes the distinction,
because the theocracy as such is no longer in existence and many of its provisions are
done away with.” (Grudem, 2012) For proof of this abolishment the writers refer to
Ephesians 2:19 as it is clearly stated that even Gentiles are not strangers but citizens
along with God’s holy people because of their faith in Jesus Christ.
Do I agree? My first thought for this was, “I thought the Bible was harmonous and
continuous all throughout so what kind of question is this?” I will be the first to admit
that I had to reread this section several times but the proverbial “light bulb” went off in
my mind. Yes there is a discontinuity between the Old Testament and the New
Testament. We, as New Testament believer’s, are no longer bound by the law but are
under a New Covenant in Christ when He died on the cross for all of our sins. Paul says
it best in Romans 7:4 when he writes, “So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point:
You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united
with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of
good deeds for God.” (NLT)
Word Count: 408
2. In chapter 8 of Understanding the Big Picture of the Bible, the author writes,
“While Jesus too was vulnerable to this criticism in some areas of his teaching,
especially his indifference to matters of ritual purity and Sabbath observance, he
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is even more stringent than Moses when it comes to justice” (105). What is the
surrounding context of this quote? Do you agree with the author? In 2 or more
paragraphs, explain your answers and provide biblical examples.
What is the surrounding context of the quote above? At a very first cursory glance a
person can very easily think they may see discrepancies or contradictions with Jesus’
teachings. When I was an atheist I would love to point out, as I saw it, the flaws within
the teachings of Jesus. When I was reading this book I actually read this to my wife as it
brought up some very valid points.
What started off as God’s law was, eventually, corrupted by man and we have the order’s
of the Pharasees and the Sadducees. What the author is referring to is the apparent
disregard for God’s intended law when it came to several things but, according to this
quote, specifically divorce and the lending of loans near the sabbatical year. Men were
able to divorce their wives for any tiny infraction and would abuse the ambiguity of
Deuteronomy 24:1 which says, “Suppose a man marries a woman but she does not please
him. Having discovered something wrong with her, he writes a document of divorce,
hands it to her, and sends her away from his house.” (NLT) As this verse can easily
suggest people took this vaugness and ran with it so to speak. In Matthew 19 we see
Jesus explaining why divorce should only be allowed in the case of adultery.Jesus made it
clear that the only way to seek a divorce is in the case of adultery as it goes against God’s
intended original plan for us.
We can see Jesus’ “indifference” when he had the discussion with the Pharisees regarding
working during the Sabbath when His disciples were breaking off heads of grain and
eating them as can be seen in Matthew 12:1-8. Verse 8 is the key to His argument when
he says, “For the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!” (NLT) Jesus came to the
Earth to shake things up and to spread the Good News.
Do I agree with the author? Yes I agree that Jesus was indifferent regarding certain things
and much more stict regarding others. Jesus was dealing with a group of people
(Pharasees and Sadducees) that wanted to tear Him down and keep the status quo where
nothing changes. Divorce was a very real issue and too easily discarded, which goes
against God’s plan. This was just a few of the issues that Jesus tackled in His day to
confront sin head on and offer a better way through Him.
Word Count: 413
3. In chapter nine of Understanding the Big Picture of the Bible, the author discusses
the “already but not yet” theme of the New Testament. What does the author mean
by this phrase? How does an understanding of this idea help you to understand
and communicate passages in the New Testament? In 2 or more paragraphs,
explain your answer and provide biblical examples.
What does the phrase “already but not yet” mean? As had been prophesied by the
prophets in the Old Testament there was to be a messiah that would come and bring about
the Kingdom of God. This was asked of Jesus by the Pharisees as to when the Kingdom
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of God will come, as can be seen in Luke 17:20-21. Jesus’ response to the Pharisees was
that the Kingdom of God is already among us. Our text defines this phrase as, “In other
words, the kingdom was already present in Jesus and his ministry, but it was not yet
present in its entirety.”1 What the author means by not yet present is that all of New
Testament Scripture has not been fulfilled yet. We still have to deal with sin within the
world and we, as believers, await final judgement from God. A good description of what
to expect for the coming resurrection of the dead can be found in 1 Corinthians 15:12-28.
However the “not yet” of this statement is specific to the second coming of Christ and the
kingdom while reigning over Israel. This can be seen in Revelation 11:15 which says,
“Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices shouting in heaven:
“The world has now become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign
forever and ever.” (NLT)
How does understanding this idea help understand and communicate passages in the New
Testament? This is a very crucial question to ask and one that gave me pause to think this
through. My first thought is that we, as a church body, know who wins in the end: Jesus
Christ. We, as believers, need to understand that we have a very special relationship with
Jesus which also encompasses the church as well. This concept also helps us to percieve
hope in everything Jesus said and did in the Bible as we now understand that He will be
coming back to us. We have to realize that yes life can be hard and we may be
persecuted, beat and spit on because of what we believe but there is eternal hope in Jesus.
We have to keep in mind that the path of being a Christian can be difficult but the reward
far outweighs any of these concerns. Matthew 7:13 puncutates this point, “You can enter
God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate
is wide for the many who choose that way.” (NLT)
Word Count: 422
1 C. John Collins, Understanding the Big Picture of the Bible: a Guide to Reading the
Bible Well (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 111.
