Living Christian with an Understanding of Our Roots

Our lives as Christians can be pretty rewarding when we pray and trust in the Lord. The Word that is our basis for right living provides examples and advice for almost every situation we face in this current day. Even though we need to take the culture and the social systems of the time into account when we read God's Word, He made it to be relatable to human life throughout the ages.

Knowing the history of scripture and the starting stage of our Christian traditions and values makes for some necessary learning time if our children are going to use the best “manual for a victorious life” as their go-to source of instruction.

Comparing the Old and the New

There are 66 books in the Bible. Thirty-nine of these are in the Old Testament. This confirms how important this part of the Bible actually is. The twenty-seven books in the New Testament are equally important.

In the Old Testament, we were under the law and had to sacrifice animals for our sins. It was also the book that built the foundation for Christianity. There were lots of prophesies in the Old Testament that told of the coming of a Saviour. When you look back, it tells everything that was going to happen during the time of Jesus during His life and crucifixion.

This section also shows the lineage of all the people of the Bible. It introduces us to everyone that played a major role in history. In the Old Testament, we see the wrath of God and that He is a very jealous God. He even visits the iniquities of the father onto generations due to our huge sins.

The Old Testament has different sections to it that have names that are significant. The Tanakh was the original Hebrew Bible, then there was the Septuagint which was the Greek Old Testament, and finally the Targum which is the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible.

As we see from Adam and Eve, it is impossible for us to be sinless on our own. No matter how hard people tried in the Old Testament they always seemed to sin in the end. We see great people like David that start off so pure and then temptation from Satan overtakes them. Thus, the need for our Saviour who enters in the New Testament.

Schoolhouse Devotion by Deborah Wuehler

The New Life with God Through Jesus

In the New Testament, we see the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ the Messiah. He was born of a virgin, and the seed was provided by the Holy Spirit. This had to be done so that He could be fully righteous and live perfectly so He could do the tasks that He was born for. Even as a small child, people could see how different He was. Imagine a small child stopping to teach people in the temple and actually knowing amazing things!

We see that He is of the flesh and feels sadness, pain and sorrow just like we do. This was part of the plan all along. God needed to be made in the flesh so that this plan was played out, to send His Son for our salvation. How much more could anyone ever love you than this!

But there were steps that had to be followed to make sure that He would pass the test. He needed to get baptized by John the Baptist, after which the Holy Spirit dwelt in Him. Then He had to fast in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights. There Satan tested and tempted Him three times, and each time He rebuked him and spoke scripture to him. This is the first example of how important it is to read our Bible daily. It is our sword of defense in any attack either spiritually or in the world.

In the New Testament, we see just how loving and giving Jesus was when He preached the gospel, healed the sick and cast out demons. He also taught us it was better to give than to receive. He told us a different way of doing things, a way that the Pharisees did not agree with. They were used to an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but He commanded that we love our enemies and hate our sins.

He taught us if someone stole from us to forgive them, if they hurt us to forgive them. Whatever they did, we are to turn the other cheek. This was not the way of the law of the Jews, and there were a lot of upset people over this. Also, how could He lay hands on the sick and they were healed? The Pharisees thought He must be of the devil as they could not imagine such things!

In the New Testament, we see the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies of our coming Saviour and other major events that were predicted to happen. We also find out that Jesus came not to change the law but to fulfill it. God knew that as mere humans we were prone to sin and could never follow the law on our own. So, he sent His Son to die on the cross to pay the atonement for our sins. Now He does give us free will so He never forces Himself on us. But once we confess our sins and ask Him into our heart, all our sins are forgiven. Then when He dwells inside of us, He will guide and instruct us onto the narrow path.

Prominent Christian Eras

If we go way back, we see that Christianity in the 1st century was known as the Apostolic Age (c. A.D. 100) and occurred right from the beginning of the powerful ministry of Jesus all the way until the death of the last of the 12 Apostles. How amazing it would be to have walked among them and seen all the miracles that Jesus performed in front of their eyes! What a privilege it would have been to stand and talk to Him and be in His group, walking down the street and preaching the gospel and healing the sick.

The next era was known as the Ante-Nicene Period that started right after the death of the last disciple. This lasted until the first council of Nicaea in A.D. 325 (A.D. 100-325).

There is so much to learn about the culture and source of Christianity. Every time we pick up the Bible and read another chapter, we are delving a little bit closer to the truth about scripture and what it says. This is the only book that you can read cover to cover and always learn something new. Each book will lead you on another great adventure of suspense, fear, death, trust, healing and most importantly the true meaning of love.

If you’re a SchoolhouseTeachers.com member, you can check out the various courses on the Bible and Christianity like Basics of the Christian Faith: Introduction to Christianity (available on RightNow Media through your SchoolhouseTeachers.com membership) or the multi-part video course The History of Christianity.