Page 3 - Biblical Backgrounds student textbook

Biblical Backgrounds:
A Guide to the Cultural and Concepts in which the Bible was Formed

Introduction:

This course was developed to help pastors gain a helpful understanding of the backgrounds of the Bible.
It is different from a survey in that while a survey summarizes the content of the Bible, a backgrounds
study is focused on the cultures in which the biblical events take place. In this course we will survey the
location, government, religious, social, and economic backgrounds that inform the meaning of the Bible.
The goal in knowing these backgrounds is to better try to understand what the people who the message
was originally written for would have understood it to mean.

An example of why this matters is the debate over whether baptism is necessary to be saved. To a Jew
baptism was not primarily an act of conversion to a new religion. It was a public declaration that you had
already become a member of the community. The person being baptized was telling those watching that
he believed the rabbi who led the group he had joined was teaching the correct purity rituals needed to
please God. Jesus did not give us purity rituals to follow, He gave us His purity. His purity transferred to
those who believed. To be baptized was understood as telling those watching that you were identifying
with Jesus and His purity. It had nothing to do with how to become saved. It was a public statement that
you were saved through faith. These are the kind of backgrounds pastors need to know to help their
congregations study the Bible and interpret it correctly. Throughout this course we will explain the
various backgrounds and their importance for biblical interpretation. Much of this course is in debt, in
foundation and spirit, to the work of Howard Vos in Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Manners and
Customs: How the People of the Bible really Lived. It is a magnificent resource we heartily recommend
for every pastor’s library.

When you are finished with the course, we hope you see the Bible with fresh
eyes. We want you to be able to see through theology arguments back to what
was really going on. What was the author really trying to tell those reading at
the time? The pastor who can do this can avoid ignorant arguments and focus
his people on serving the Lord in a biblically faithful manner.

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