Our adult Sunday school class has just completed our journey through the Westminster Confession of Faith. We are a confessional church. The first chapter of Confession of Faith rightly states that the Scriptures of the Old Testament and New Testament are essential:
The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men. Nevertheless we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the Word; and that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and government of the Church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed.
Our session discussed and determined that the next chapter of our adult Sunday school class will be a Survey of the Old Testament. We’ll be looking at the big-picture message of the Old Testament as we examine each individual piece of the 39 books that make up the canon. The stereotypical Sunday school answer, “Jesus,” is to the surprise of many, still the answer to every question when we examining the Old Testament.
The breakdown/structure of the class will be as follows:
W1- What Is the OT About? Jesus and the Kingdom of God- An Overview
W2- Covenant Prologue – Genesis
W3- Law- Covenant Part 1 – Exodus – Numbers
W4- Law- Covenant Part 2 – Deuteronomy – Joshua
W5- Prophets: Covenant History Part 1 – Judges/Ruth/David
W6- Prophets: Covenant History Part 2 -Solomon/Divided kingdom/Kings
W7-Prophets: Covenant History Part 3-Isaiah
W8-Prophets: Covenant History Part 4-Jeremiah and Ezekiel
W9-Prophets: Covenant History Part 5- The Twelve
W10 Writings: Covenant Life Part 1- Psalms
W11 Writings: Covenant Life Part 2- Job/Proverbs/Ecclesiastes/Song of Solomon/Lamentations
W12 Writings: Covenant Life Part 3-Esther/Daniel/Ezra/Nehemiah
W13 Writings: Covenant Life Part 4- Chronicles and inter-Testamental Period
We will hold class prior to worship each Lord’s Day from 9:30-10:15 am.
This syllabus is derived from the three divisions of the Hebrew Canon of Scripture and referenced by Jesus in Luke 24:44
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
For good resources on studying and understanding the Old Testament, see the following:
