Top 12 Topics of The Bible

The place of this chapter is to outline the whole Bible in brief from the quotations in the New Testament from the Old Testament, and does it surprise you that most of the quotes of the Old Testament in the New Testament come from the 14 letters of the Apostle Paul; and furthermore that it is this chief editor of the New Testament, which more than the Old Testament is a story of Christ–that by much more, by the way, is the same Paul who wrote, “For to me to live is Christ.” For Paul to live was for Christ to live, and for the Bible to live today is for Christ to live through the words and Word of the Bible. (You will see before you finish this volume, if you can since it is large, and if you do not see Christ already in the Bible.)

Unless you still the veil over your eyes which is done away in a personal experience with Christ, or unless “blindness in part is happened to” you as part of the nation of Israel “until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in; and in either case all we can do, you and us, is pray that the veil or blindness be removed in order that you can see! Of course, when this happens, world history as we know it is almost over!

Someone tells the story of a certain large Bible so designed that when you stood back to look at any page, you would see outlined around the text an image of Christ. So it is with the story or message of the Bible. Christ is the Bible, and the Bible is Christ. How appropriately the Apostle John first received in Revelation the proper word of “Word” to represent the Lord Jesus Christ, then later in the writing of the Gospel of John started the story of the Life of Jesus with the “Word made flesh” as a proper label for Jesus. The word “Word” for Jesus and the word “Word” for the Word of God are more closely related than we will ever know this side of eternity. (Karl Barth has made a contribution here in his book on the Word.)

Each of us must interpret Christ for our own generation. The accuracy of that interpretation can be measured in terms of our faithfulness to the Bible as the Word of God. There are many official and un-official interpretations of Christ even as there are many man-made religious organizations which claim to properly interpret Christ for our times. Rather than sling mud about which ones and how many of them are really part of the body of the Christ of the Bible, and incidentally of the presently living Christ who is the only head of the real body of Christ...that is, I say, rather than trying to separate who is and who is not a member of the real body of Christ, the more positive approach is to get back to the Bible with good Bible-based principles of hermeneutics, or Bible interpretation, setting forth the real Christ of the Bible and what it is to Learn the Christ of the Bible.

If forced to select two verses from the Bible to represent a single focus for THE LEARN CHRIST COMMENTARY, it would have to be Ephesians 4:20,21.

“But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus...” (Ephesians 4:20,21 NJKV)

Let us face up to realities: Even as some church members in the church at Ephesus, the church where the Apostle Paul had labored the longest, had not really heard Christ and had no really been taught by Christ, even so many more in American religious organizations, having lesser leaders than Paul and Christ, have not heard Christ and have not been taught by Christ. (You will learn more about this focus later.) Right now, we need to relate the “Preview of the Bible”, the subject of this first chapter, to that focus. The claim is that the story of the whole Bible is ultimately a story about the learning of Christ. If you look at the outline of the Bible below, you will notice the Gospel of Christ as number 8 of the complete 12 of the subject outline of the Bible. You will also find Christ dominating roman numerals 4,5,10,11,and 12 as well as an integral subject matter of each outline division. The reason is simple: the Bible is a story about the Lord Jesus Christ! And if you don’t learn Christ, the Christ of the Bible and the Christ of God the Father, the Creator of the Universe, then you do not learn the Bible!

Subject Outline of the Bible.

I. The Living God of the Living

II. Righteousness of God and Man

III. The Composite Witness of the Bible

IV. God, Man and the Son of Man

V. The Resurrection

VI. Wisdom From God

VII. The Gospel

VIII. Listening More Important Than Sacrifice

IX. What Happened to the Jews as the Chosen nation?

X. The Salvation of God

XI. The New King of Israel

XII. The Living God Wants Others to Live

What is amazing is that the whole Bible of 66 books, 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament, can be outlined under 12 major subjects! I will tell you upfront why that is possible: because of the Old Testament quotes in the New Testament, and because the New Testament provides the proper interpretation of those Old Testament quotes.