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The Teaching

This material contains topical Bible teaching. It is largely composed of subheadings followed by Bible verses. Occasionally the verses are followed by a short comment.

The subheadings are derived from the verses that follow them (as opposed to the verses being selected to match the subheadings). The author has attempted to make the subheadings simple descriptions of the common theme of the verses.

As such, the author has not attempted to cover or draw conclusions on all theological topics. Rather, the aim has been to confine the teaching to what is readily apparent in the verses.

The author considers the theology of The Bible Unpacked material to be “evangelical”.

The Structure of The Editions

The structure provides a practical framework for assimilating the Bible’s teachings. Apart from the Two-Minute Edition, each edition has two main divisions: What to Know and What to Do.

What to Know covers largely the same topics as a theological text. However, the topics are limited to teachings that the Bible specifically addresses.

What to Do is more like a manual or a “practical theology” text. It mainly contains directions on how to relate to God and to other people.

In the four largest editions, each of these divisions is divided into four groups of five chapters. In the three largest of these editions, each chapter is divided into two parts. These contain major sections, which in turn contain a number of subheadings.

The subheadings give key Bible teachings. Each subheading is followed by a verse/s from which it is derived. Occasionally a heading or a verse is followed by a comment.

The Selection of Verses

All the editions are essentially abbreviated versions of the In-Depth Edition. In that edition each subheading was derived from the common theme of the verses following it. As such, the subheadings are based on groups of verses with a common theme, rather than the verses being selected to support the subheadings.

Verses and Context

Much care has been taken to interpret the verses both in the context of the passage that they are from and in the light of Scripture as a whole. Nevertheless, if you have doubts about the usage of a verse then:

• read the section in the Bible from which it is taken, and consider how it is used in its context. For this purpose, the Bible reference immediately preceding each passage contains a link to the passage in its chapter at biblia.com.
• consider how the verse fits in with Scripture as a whole. (For example, interpret OT teaching in the light of NT teaching.)
• read commentaries on the verse and its passage.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations for books of the Bible are standard ones.

“OT” is used for “Old Testament” and “NT” for “New Testament”.

Abbreviations denoting Bible translations are identified on the copyright notices page, at the beginning of this book. These abbreviations mostly occur immediately after Bible verses. In such cases the translation will appear as a screen tip, if the user hovers over the abbreviation.

Note that occasionally “. . .” appears at the end of a subheading and at the beginning of the following one. This indicates that the teaching in the second subheading’s verses follows on closely from that of the first.

Bible Study Questions

Bible study questions are included in four of the editions – the Concise, Foundations, Intermediate and Comprehensive editions.

To display the questions, in Settings go to Extra Content and turn on Questions. The questions will appear at the end of the pages with the main content (i.e. the pages with the Bible verses under headings).

Copyright Information

For Copyright information, see Permissions.