Core Values: Bible Teaching
Bible Teaching: “We are committed to the comprehensive teaching of the entire Scriptures.”
I did not grow up reading the Bible. I occasionally went to Sunday School, to church, heard a sermon, and read God’s Word. When I became a Christian at 13, I started to open the Bible up and read it for myself, but there was still not a lot of commitment on my part to dive headlong into the intentional study of it.
As I started to read the Bible, I thought that it was a bunch of random stories. Some of them were awesome like Ehud, the left-handed assassin who stabbed that fat king. There was some neat poetry in the middle, but one book was so scandalous that I should not read it until I was married (I read it before then - gasp!). Daniel’s friends in the fiery furnace was a favorite story. Who was that 4th guy? Jesus healing people, dying on a cross in our place for our sins, and then rising again, was a big deal. Even I figured that out! Then there was the crazy book at the end called Revelation! What in the world is going on there? Why all these different random pieces of literature? I did not see the big picture.
After high school, I decided to take a year at Millar College of Bible to grow in my faith in the Lord and find the answer to this question. Honestly, I was told that there were nice girls there too. I ended up staying for four years to go down the rabbit hole because there is so much more to God’s word than I ever imagined. And now I teach at our Pambrun campus because I want our students to see that there is no end to what we can know about the Lord through his Word.
At Millar College of the Bible, we are committed to comprehensively teaching through all 66 books of the Bible. The truth is that we need an understanding of the whole Bible to understand how every part of the Bible fits into God’s salvation story. God proclaims his gospel message not only through the overarching narrative of Scripture but also in his Son—Jesus himself tells us that the whole of the Bible points to his work on our behalf. He says in Luke, “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” (Lk 24.44 ESV).
“The truth is that we need an understanding of the whole Bible to understand how every part of the Bible fits into God’s salvation story.”
In the three-year Bachelor of Biblical Studies program, the student studies every book of the Bible as core classes. Alongside the biblical text, the student learns about the historical context, trace key themes, key hermeneutical methods are taught for better Bible reading practices, etc. This comprehensive study of every book of the Bible makes it clear each book should be given its due (even the most neglected books like Obadiah and Song of Songs) so that we might understand how God reveals himself and his salvation plan as well as how we ought to apply these truths to our lives.
These Bible classes are paired with theology, church history, Christian ethics, and apologetics classes where the student discovers that it is not the currents of culture, tradition, systems, personal preference, their favorite pastor or Bible School professor, etc. that act as our final authority, but it is the Scriptures themselves. The students are encouraged to emulate the Bereans, who “received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Ac 17.11).
The study and application of the Bible are also the focus of our electives. The student can learn to read the Bible in its original languages and look at its historical context and evidence through geography and archaeology to build a more solid foundation for their biblical knowledge. They can examine for themselves that the Scriptures are revealed to us without error or falsehood, and the events described in the Scriptures are indeed historically founded. They can also apply the truths of Scripture and proclaim its message creatively and practically through music, drama, and sports. The Scriptures provide the foundation and motivation not only for these electives, but also for ministry classes that cover such areas as biblical teaching, preaching, missions, and evangelism. In all these opportunities to study the Bible foundationally, creatively, and practically for ministry, we see that what the Psalmist wrote is true, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps 119:105).
The Scriptures are not just a bunch of disconnected random stories. God presents his great message of salvation to his people through all 66 books of the Bible. We need to read what he reveals to us in the entirety of Scripture so we can better understand him and the work that he desires to do in us in Christ Jesus. This is what the whole program of Millar College of the Bible seeks to do: to demonstrate how the Lord speaks through the Scriptures to proclaim salvation and transform us into servants of Jesus Christ.
About the Author
This article in our Core Values series is written by Travis Johnston, an instructor at our Pambrun campus.