Getting to Know the Bible

About this course

Getting to Know the Bible by Apostle Mary Banks is for the believer who wants to open the Scriptures and know what is in front of them. As the teaching puts it, understanding what the Bible is will shape how you read it, how you study it, and how much you receive from it. The course begins where the Bible itself begins: with the God who breathed out His word through human writers, and it ends with the practical skill of finding a reference, reading an older English sentence, and receiving what God has said rather than imposing a meaning of personal choosing.

What this course covers

Across four chapters you will learn what the Bible is as one book made of sixty-six books, how the Old and New Testaments form one continuous story held together by covenant, how the books are arranged by type rather than by date, and how to handle a page of your Bible with confidence.

The chapters

• Chapter 1: What Is the Bible? The Bible as a collection of 66 books with one divine source; inspiration; why a recorded statement is not always an approved statement; why headings and verse numbers are helps and not Scripture; and how all of it testifies of Jesus Christ.
• Chapter 2: One Story Across Two Testaments Why the two Testaments are two parts of one story, the broad map of that story, the meaning of testament as covenant, and why Christians need the Old Testament in order to understand the New.
• Chapter 3: Finding Your Way Through the Books The four sections of the Old Testament, the divisions of the New Testament, why the arrangement is categorical rather than chronological, and the orienting questions to ask before you read any book.
• Chapter 4: Opening Your Bible with Confidence Locating a reference by book, chapter and verse; distinguishing the inspired text from publisher additions; the older pronouns and shifted word meanings; working through a difficult sentence; and the Berean posture of readiness and diligence.

Who this course is for

• New believers opening the Bible seriously for the first time.
• Long-time readers who have never been shown how the books fit together.
• Sunday school teachers, small group leaders, and students beginning formal Bible study.
• Anyone who has found the older English of the Bible difficult and wants the orientation that makes it readable.

How you are assessed

Each chapter ends with a short quiz drawn from the teaching of that chapter. A final exam draws on all four chapters.

• Chapter quizzes: 60 percent of your final grade.
• Final exam: 40 percent of your final grade.
• Pass mark: 70 percent or higher.