To watch the recording of this teaching click here
Today on Critical Thinking Aloud we are going to be looking at the main characters of the Bible. This is going to be a continuation of our What is the Bible Series.
Throughout this series we have stated that our goal for teaching this content is to build a portfolio about the Bible that we can keep at the forefront of our minds. Our hopes are by doing so this tool will help us to think critically while reading the Bible.
Our Portfolio
So far we have added these truths to this portfolio.
- The more we understand about the ancient Near Eastern context of the Bible the easier it will be to understand the authors intended purpose so that we can apply that truth to our lives.
- The Bible is a library of ancient Near Eastern literature consisting of every type of literary device.
- The Bible is one consecutive story relating theology (who God is) to humans .
- The Bibles purpose is not to teach us science but theology.
- God wants a big family made up of spiritual and physical beings who He shares His authority with to spread His kingdom on earth.
- The Bible is like every other book in the sense that it follows a story arch, consists of main characters including antagonists, and protagonists, and has a setting.
- The Bible is unlike any other book in that it is ultimately authored by Gods spirit.
- The Bibles setting takes place in the ancient Near East, and consists of 70 nations mention in Genesis 10. The people of this time period believed in a three tiered cosmology consisting of the heavens including a solid dome in the sky, the flat earth, and the underworld.
We went over these main points in detail in this series past episodes. We will be building off of these previous teaching so if you haven’t gone over those installment yet, you can do so now by clicking here.
In this installment we will start looking at the Bibles main characters.
How we are going to learn
Today we will be looking at the topic of the Bibles main characters in light of the ancient Near East. As I have done in the past with other teachings I want to quote from scholarly sources to make my point. I do this in hope that you will see this isn’t just my interpretation of the Scriptures but that this view is steeped in acadeemia.
We will be using two amazing sources which we highly recommend.
- Faithlife Study Bible: This is an amazing resource that is free if you download the app or use it online. To download the app or use this resource online visit their website here. This resource is also available in print which you can purchase here.
- The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible: This is my favorite resource for gaining a better understanding for the ancient Near Eastern worldview of the Biblical authors. This is available in a multitude of variations all of which you can find on our resource page here.
Let’s get started
The Bible’s Main Characters
Obviously the Bibles main character is God. We could end there and that would be correct. The Bible is an amazing book telling a magnificent story, I would contend it contains the most amazing story of all time.
Like any great story there is more than one character in the Bible.
Today we will be looking at an overview of who these main characters are and in the upcoming weeks we will dive into each of these characters in more detail.
Remember the Bible consists of 66 books all of which are written about different people and stories surrounding them. While these individual books focus in on particular stories the whole of the Biblical narrative relates to us three main characters that are present from cover to cover.
These are God (Yahweh), Spiritual Beings, and Humans.
Yahweh
Again The Main character of the Bible is God. The Bible is His story and it is ultimately all about Him. The first thing you read in the Bible is this which is about God.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Genesis 1:1
What does God mean?
What does the word God mean? Here is a quote from on of our recommended resources about our translated word for God to help us out.
” God
The Hebrew word used here for ‘God,’ elohim, is plural. While elohim may be used to describe multiple deities, OT authors usually use the term to refer to the singular God of Israel (more than 2,000 instances)…”
Faithlife Study Bible: in the notes on Geseis 1:1
We want to keep this idea about elohim in the back of our minds while we are going through these teachings.
Although God is the only thing in the universe that is complete in Himself and He doesn’t need anything, Yahweh is not a megalomanic. Praise God!
He desired a family. This family is what inspired God to create the other two main characters of the Biblical narrative.
To learn more about what God wants check out our post on the subject by clicking here.
Spiritual Beings
Check out this verse about spiritual beings which we have used multiple times on Critical Thinking Aloud
“God presides in the great assembly; he renders judgment among the “gods”
Psalm 82:1
In the original Hebrew it reads something along the lines of “Elohim presides… among the elohim“.
Elohim
The simplest way to think about spiritual beings is that all spiritual beings including Yahweh are elohim, but no elohim is Yahweh.
Spiritual Beings were the first thing that God ever created. The Bible relates to us that even before Yahweh created the world He first created His spiritual sons.
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”
Job 38:4-7 (ESV)
The Sons of God are elohim, which are spiritual beings that inhabit the spiritual world. As we will see in future installments there are many classes and types of these spiritual beings.
The most important thing to remember while moving forward in this series, is that these beings are Gods children in the spiritual realm.
Human Beings
Unlike Yahweh or the Spiritual beings who are eternal by nature, Humans were created unique. Being made out of dust from the earth they are finite creatures. Humans are dependent on God to supply them with eternal life.
They must acquire their eternal life from the tree of life which is provided to them by God. To learn more about the Tree of Life click here.
Out of all of creation only Spiritual Beings, and Humans possess free will which is an attribute that was granted to them by God. Both the Spiritual and Physical sides of Gods family were created in His image.
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth’. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
Genesis 1:26-27 (ESV)
Contrary to what most modern christians think the “Let us make man in our image” is not referring to the Trinitarian nature of the Godhead.
God is one albeit in 2 forms, visible and invisible, but there is no need for one member to tell another member of the Godhead what they ought to do since they would already instinctively know based on their oneness.
Ergo “our image” is referring to something else and we contend that the ancient Near Eastern Biblical author is referring to the other members of Gods spiritual family. I.e. this verse is referring to the other elohim in Gods assembly.
God wanted to create humans in the His and His spiritual families image. God, His spiritual and physical children all possess freedom of the will, something which only these main characters have out of all of creation.
More to Come
The Bible contains some of the most famous known characters from literature in all of the world. No matter what story it is that is being told in the Bible at least one if not all of these three main characters are involved.
This is a super brief overview of the main characters of the Bible. We will start to look at each one of these main characters in more detail next time on Critical Thinking Aloud.
Check out this short video series on Spiritual beings by our friends over at The Bible Project by clicking here. They are amazing and super helpful to better grasp what we will be covering in this series.
Citations:
Faithlife Study Bible. J. D. Barry et al. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2012.
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible Grand Rapids, Michigan USA Zondervan 2016
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Our Favorite Bible
U.K. Link: NKJV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible- Hardcover Bible, Kindle Edition
U.S. Link: NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible- Hardcover Bible, Bonded Leather Bible, Bonded Leather: Thumb Index, Imitation Leather Women’s, Imitation Leather Men’s, Kindle Edition
Our Favorite Book
U.S.- Supernatural: What the Bible Teaches about the Unseen World And Why It Matters- Paperback book, Kindle Edition, Audiobook
U.K.- Supernatural: What the Bible Teaches about the Unseen World And Why It Matters- Paperback book, Kindle Edition Audiobook
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Let us know your thought about our series in the comment section. If you have any topics you would like to suggest please let us know and we will add them to the list of future subjects we will covered.