ACTS AND EPISTLES

Course Description

The story of the spread of the gospel is told in the book of Acts and the New Testament epistles. This course will give the student the opportunity to read the entire book of Acts and most of the epistles in the New Testament. We will pay close attention to the history contained in those books and take our time to examine the writings of the apostles which reinforce the teachings of Jesus. Your faith will be richly nourished by this course.

Course Objectives

The objectives of this course are to help students:

  1. To become familiar with the historical context, authorship, and purpose of 20 New Testament epistles.

  2. To understand the organization, mission and growth of the early Christian church under the power of the Holy Spirit.

  3. To read through the book of Acts, and most New Testament epistles

  4. To explore some special topics suggested by the readings in Acts and the epistles.

  5. To prepare students to share the Gospel which is proclaimed in these Biblical writings.

Requirements

  • This course is open to any GBI student.
  • This course is a required course in the Christian Studies Certificate program.
  • This is an elective course in both the Biblical Studies and Christian Ministry Certificate programs.
  • All students who enroll in this course should have a basic understanding of the Bible.
  • In order to receive credit for this course, the student must be in attendance for at least 75% of the instruction periods, actively participate in the instruction periods when present, and complete on time and in a satisfactory manner any assignments and/or tests given by the instructor.

Expectations of All Students

  • All students will be expected to read a number of chapters of the Bible and prepare a homework assignment (questions) prior to each class.
  • In class each student will be asked to present a portion of the homework assignment to the other students. It is expected that most classes will require 1-3 hours of homework prior to class.
  • There will be a final exam at the end of the course.

Teaching Procedures

In each class the instructor will present introductory and background material on the epistles and the history covered in the book of Acts. Students will take turns presenting a section of the homework questions to the rest of the class. Each class will end with the assignment of homework for the next class.

Last modified March 22, 2022: init (bf3ceed)