A Gentle Ramble Through the Bible - Evers Bible Class

                                    Jude, 2 Peter, 1 John 2 Peter and Jude are pretty much carbon copies of each other so we cover them together. Then we move on to 1 John. 2 John is a repeat and 3 John is basically a personal letter with no new theology, so we don’t cover them. 1 John, however, is a letter o...

                                   1 Peter (Part 2) We finish 1 Peter today. About half of this part of the letter talks about how to act as a believer. It includes the typical household code of the time: slaves obey your masters, wives obey your husbands, and husbands treat your wives well. One really intere...

                                  1 Peter (Part 1) We finish up the story of Peter’s life and begin our look at 1 Peter, a letter he wrote from Rome (“Babylon”) to believers in exile from Jerusalem who are undergoing persecution. Peter uses a lot of words like “elect” and “chosen” and talks about destiny. He encou...

                                 Peter the Man We take this time to trace the path of Simon Peter, a stable, successful businessman in partnership with another family as they manage boats and hired hands as commercial fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. We follow as his life is utterly upended by Jesus. We watch as P...

                                James The book of James is only 5 chapters long but it is one of the most beautiful books in Scripture. Unfortunately, his writing style is so choppy and disorganized that it’s easy to lose his train of thought and it can come across as a bunch of random pontificating. In this class we t...

                                       Hebrews (Part 4) - Faith (2) We finish up Hebrews 11, the Faith Chapter, with a look at some rather shocking examples the author selects. Chapter 12 has more of the author’s particular theology. As we’ve come to realize, this author views God as a harsh, author...

                                      Hebrews (Part 3) - Atonement & Faith (1) We get to the “meat” of the author’s theology around Jesus and the Law. It’s interesting that the author sees Jesus in his humanity as needing to be “perfected” and to learn obedience through suffering. If even Jesus fell...

                                       Hebrews (Part 2) - Jesus as High Priest The author of Hebrews sees Jesus as the ideal High Priest. He is first and foremost wholly human so he can understand our trials. But he is not just any old high priest, he is the mediator of the new covenant, the one for...

                                      Hebrews (Part 1) - Who Is Jesus! Written by a devout Jew to Jewish believers, the unknown author of this book dives into the burning questions of the day: Who is Jesus in relation to God, to the angels, to us, and to Judaism itself? Remember that it will be several h...

                                          The Pastoral Epistles (Part 2) We wrap up the series by looking at what the author of the Pastoral Epistles has to say about Church governance and household governance. We give some thought to both the roots and the fruits of these teachings. We tr...

                                         The Pastoral Epistles (Part 1) 1&2 Timothy and Titus are called “The Pastoral Epistles,” and it’s easy to see from the writing style that they are all written by the same person. We’ll look at how the content of the epistles dovetail (or don’t) with...

                                        Ephesians (2) & 2 Thessalonians We finish up Ephesians and move on to 2 Thessalonians. We’re spiraling downward in terms of Pauline authenticity. 2 Thessalonians takes a very different view of the End Times than that taught by Paul. Paul saw the comin...

                                       Ephesians Ephesians is a lot like Colossians, but more extreme. Even fewer scholars think Ephesians was written by Paul. You’ll see why. The author tends to start from something Paul might have said but then blasts it upwards into a great, big, cosmic vision of...

                                       Colossians The author of Colossians purports to be Paul, but scholars are divided (roughly 50/50) as to whether this is the case or not. In this class we take a look at the material in question and compare it to Paul’s other letters. We track everything on a Co...

                                      Summary of Paul's Theology (Part 3) TRIGGER WARNING from Pastor Gayle: In the presentation I briefly explain why I think 1 Corinthians 3:16 -17 is taken out of Paul's context and used inappropriately in the Church's historical response to suicide. I only mention...

                                      Summary of Paul's Theology (Part 2) In this class we cover the next three main points in Paul’s theology: How Israel and Gentiles share in Christ (and therefore how to adhere to the Law) The work of the Holy Spirit The function of faith and how the faithful live...

                                     Summary of Paul's Theology (Part 1) Paul makes seven main theological points in his writings. We cover the first three today: God’s overarching intent for humanity--the essence of the Good News The purpose of the Law The significance of Jesus--his life, death, and res...

                                    Philippians 1&2, End of Acts Paul is shipwrecked while being transported to Rome for trial. Because of him the entire crew, the soldiers and all the other prisoners survive the shipwreck.  When Paul arrives in Rome he is kept under guard but continues to be we...

                                    Paul’s Trial, Philippians 3&4, Philemon Governor Felix never gives Paul a full trial. He lets him sit in jail for two years. Paul takes the opportunity to write several letters. Paul is still there when Governor Festus arrives to relieve Governor Felix of duty. Fes...

                                    Riot in Jerusalem Over the strenuous objections of all those who love him, Paul persists in returning to Jerusalem in spite of the danger. He delivers the contributions he’s collected for the church, and they advise him to make a public display in the Temple of how dev...

                                   Romans (Part 7) Paul is very clear about what it looks like to live as a true Christian. We need to paste his list on our mirror! He’s never been to the church in Rome and is making plans to come see them as soon as he takes the contributions he’s gathered back to the suffer...

                                      Romans (Part 6) Keeping Paul’s overall context in mind, we dive into passages where Paul explains how, in his opinion, God’s chosen (elect) people (the Jews) ended up opposing Jesus Christ. And how God worked that to the blessing of the Gentiles.  But lest we Ge...

                                    Romans (Part 5) Paul devotes this central part of his letter to his grief over the Jews of Israel who do not believe in Jesus Christ and to his joy over those who do. It’s easy to get lost in the weeds when he uses words like “predestination” and “election,” but if we put t...

             Romans (Part 4) We’re hitting the “steep” part of Romans now. Paul’s theology is beginning to get uncomfortable. (Yeah, I know, it's already been steep. I told you that Romans is the Mount Everest of the New Testament.) He smack-talks the Law and the flesh. He keeps saying the Law is good, but what he says about it sure doesn’t sound good. And what h...

  Romans (Part 3) Paul has something of a reputation for anti-Semitism. We hit a few of those passages today. We look at them through the lens of Paul’s deeply held Jewish roots and his understanding of the role of the Law. We also talk about works vs grace. And we discover that the Greek word for grace is charis, literally the charisma of God. That opens up a whole new vista of what “grace”...