Complete Bible Framework

Compilation of snippets from Charles Clough's 224-lesson Bible Framework series providing an overview of the course.

Historical, unbelieving, responses to the resurrection event. What is particularly offensive to unbelief about the resurrection? The resurrection confronts each of us with our future, permanent state; threatening “the enemies of Christianity with the consequences of unrepentant death!” Questions and answers.

Why we need the Bible Framework. The truths of Scripture must support each other, integrate with human history, and affect every area of knowledge. The biblical definition of “faith.” If you don’t believe in God, you have no basis to make a moral judgment. Examples of applying the Bible Framework. Final questions and answers on the Bible Framework.

Review of pre-tribulationism. The four historical objections to pre-tribulationism. The suffering in the Tribulation is not discipline; it is judgment. The purpose of the Bible Framework. We must associate God, man, and nature with the cosmic act (historical event) of Creation. Questions and answers.

Features of pre-tribulationism that make it the best solution. Critics of pre-tribulationism. Many cults today are modern versions of ancient heresies. The church is not found in Matthew chapter 24. God has very real contingencies in history that do not compromise His sovereignty. Questions and answers.

A biblical example of how eschatology is used to control one’s soul during historical or personal disaster. Eschatology provides the big picture and gives stability. We don’t feel our way to God; we think our way. The biggest battles in the Christian life are in our soul. Pre-tribulationism and the immanency of the Rapture. The features of pre-tribulationalism. The arguments against pre-tribulationalism. Pre-tribulationism throughout church history. Questions and answers.

The mid-tribulation Rapture view. The uniqueness of the Tribulation period. Evaluating the three key assertions of the mid-tribulation view. The pre-tribulation Rapture view. Accomplishments of the pre-tribulation position.

How each Tribulation position attempts to immunize the church from “the wrath of God.” All the judgments in the Tribulation represent “the wrath of God.” Problems with the ¾ Tribulation view. The mid-tribulation Rapture view.

Relating the story of Israel and the story of the church to the end of history. Problems with the ¾ Tribulation position. Questions and answers.

The Rapture of the church. The purpose of the Tribulation. Israel’s worldwide blessing, past and future. Problems with post-tribulationism. The ¾ tribulation position. Defining “the wrath of God.” Questions and answers.

The “Tribulation” and the “Great Tribulation.” The Rapture of the church. The Bema Seat and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Comparing and contrasting the Rapture of the church and the Second Coming of Christ. Problems with the post-tribulation view and preterism. Questions and answers.

The preterist, futurist, and historicist views concerning the church and prophecy. The post-tribulation, mid-tribulation, and pre-tribulation positions concerning the Rapture of the church. Resurrection passages in Scripture. Questions and answers.

Church history can be seen as the maturing of the “body of Christ,” with respect to understanding God’s Word. The “these things” and “this generation” of Matthew 24:33–34. Preterism has difficulty with the math of Daniel chapter 9 and is, therefore, forced into a non-literal hermeneutic. Preterism must early date the writing of the Book of Revelation. Questions and answers.

The plan for the church and its termination. Tying in New Testament truths with the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. The amillennial, postmillennial, and premillennial eschatologies. The only way to avoid opposition to what God is doing in history is to understand what He is doing in history. How preterism redefines scriptural terms. Problem passages for preterism. Questions and answers.

Man chose to fall while in a sinless environment, revealing that sin’s causes are not environmental. The New Covenant with Israel. Church history. Clarifying what the church is and is not. The future of the church. Preterism. Questions and answers.

You will not understand the prophecies of the Bible if you do not understand the distinction between Israel and the church. Metaphors for childbirth used in prophecy related to the Kingdom. The terms “Day of the Lord,” “Jacob’s Trouble,” and “Daniel’s 70th Week.” The “Tribulation.” Questions and answers.

History is a sequence of things that refute man’s excuses and displays man’s depravity. The final milestones of Israel. Resurrection is either to damnation or blessing and is fixed forever, without conversion. Themes common to the church. The Rapture of the church.

Understanding how Israel functions in history. Israel’s physical and spiritual deliverance. How Old Testament prophets administered the Word of God. Rib proceedings. Technology from the antediluvian civilization. The “glory of God” means that God is concerned with His reputation. Questions and answers.

The biblical view of history contrasted with the pagan view. Distinctions between measures of progress for Israel and the church. To understand the Word of God, you must understand God’s covenants with Israel. The covenants with Israel, blessings and cycles of national discipline. God follows through on His promises for His own glory. Questions and answers.

The stages of church history. The Book of Acts should not be considered normative for the Church Age. The issue of oral traditions. What distinguishes Israel from the church? Questions and answers.

The inter-advent age illustrates judgment/salvation. Five things to associate with judgment/salvation. Christ denied that the church existed in His day. The term “church” does not refer to every believer in every age. The “body of Christ.” Questions and answers.

Scripture has publicly observable, historical events that no other religion has. Christ’s crucifixion reflects the national refusal to accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah. The three years Jesus Christ was on earth ministering are packed with Old Testament background. The suffering Servant and the glorious King pictures of the Messiah are reconciled by the inter-advent age. Pentecost was the manifestation on earth of Christ’s session in Heaven. Questions and answers.

Review of the ascension and session of Jesus Christ. Christ’s resurrection body is the first piece of the ultimate eternal universe that will replace the current one. No man can totally suppress his knowledge of God. Aspects of Christ’s ascension and session. Praying in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Questions and answers.

The reason for and review of the Biblical Framework. The Bible cannot be taught in isolation from everything else. Biblical doctrines should be associated with great biblical events. One reason for anti-Semitism is a hatred for the fact that God runs history His way. The Bible proclaims that God speaks publicly. Questions and answers.

The carnal mind is at war with God. There is no neutrality in sanctification. The believer is either maturing or not. The dimensions of sanctification. Every other religion in the world demands that man approach God based on his own merit. What occurs at salvation? Ritual uncleanness, in the Old Testament, related to coming into contact with the results of the fall. Confession and restoration to fellowship. The enemies of sanctification.

Sanctification in the Church Age. The phases of sanctification. The aim of sanctification. Jesus Christ’s humanity went through a sanctification process. The dimensions of sanctification. The true definition of “confession.” The means of sanctification. Questions and answers.

If God’s revelation is not your authority, something else will be. Evolution is ultimately an irrational belief because it destroys categories and, therefore, destroys logic. Church history: the Modernists versus the Fundamentalists. Fundamentalists believe what was once universally held by all Christians. Ministries of the three Persons of the Trinity. The intersession of God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Questions and answers.

Church history. Grace is not a reward for obedience. The connection between the nature of the church and the nature of future things. Premillennialism, amillennialism, and postmillennialism. The church was premillennial for the first 300–400 years of its history. Matter is not inherently evil. Anti-Semitism. The Bible Conference Movement, the Scofield Bible and Fundamentalism. Your view of the nature of the church is intimately related to your eschatology. Questions and answers.

Church history during the Reformation. The issue of how God’s grace comes to man from the Cross. The three areas of sin. The Council of Trent and the Reformation. Roman Catholic and Protestant definitions of “justification.” The correct definition of sin. What is the purpose, goal, nature, and role of the church? Questions and answers.

Review of the Framework. Apostolic succession. You can’t understand the Cross of Christ without a firm understanding of God’s justice. The ethical dilemma of all religions without a blood atonement. Debates in church history over human free will and total depravity. In what way are all men related to Adam and the fall? Questions and answers.

Major doctrinal questions in church history, from Augustine to the Reformation. Lines of evidence for the deity of Christ. Historical church debate over the purpose and results of the work of Christ on the Cross. Questions and answers.

God the Holy Spirit’s sequencing of the church’s foundation period. The authority for truth resides in the revelation (Scripture) not the human messenger or tradition. The tests for a true prophet. The powerful way the New Testament writers showed that Jesus Christ is God. The many arguments concerning Christ’s deity. Questions and answers.

Revelation and inspiration are not the same thing. Defining the Canon of Scripture. The sufficiency of Scripture. Is the standard of truth (authority) Scripture or church tradition? Questions and answers.

Features of the founding period of the church. Why it’s important to study church history. Historically interrupted revelation requires a canon. Apocalyptic literature. The authority of oral tradition versus the authority of written tradition. Questions and answers.

The works (acts) God the Father causes to come about on behalf of every Church Age believer. If there were not a personal sovereign God, there would be no personal human responsibility. Foreknowledge. Predestination. Calling. Justification. Glorification. Cleansing. God gives different amounts of revelation to different people, in different places, at different times in history. God’s sovereignty over evil and good is applied asymmetrically. Questions and answers.

In saving man, God’s absolute holiness is protected through the substitutionary, finished work of Christ. Every other religion on earth compromises God’s holiness. The intercessionary chain, concerning the church, between the Members of the Godhead. God is the personal, ultimate, final cause of all things. The concept of causation means something different for the creature than the Creator. God’s foreknowledge. Questions and answers.

Positional truth. The core issue of the Reformation. God the Father is the ultimate speaker; God the Son is the message spoken; and God the Holy Spirit is the implementation of the message. Resurrection. [Brief Q&A inserted into the lesson: What is eternal life? The Apostle John introduced the idea that eternal life is a present reality for the believer.] Jesus Christ’s priestly intercession.

The positional truth unique to the Church Age. Things common to every Christian that give meaning and purpose and reveal the content of God’s plan: imputed righteousness; we share in Christ’s resurrection. Questions and answers.

A story in Acts where divine sovereignty and human responsibility combine. Heresies are like parasites that feed on weaknesses in the church. God uses human means to reach His sovereign ends. There is a personal cause to all things in history. Ministries of God the Holy Spirit on behalf of every believer. Questions and answers.

The prophesies of Genesis Chapter 9 are related to Paul and Luke’s evangelization of Europe (Acts 16). God the Holy Spirit’s leading of the early church to growth. The dilemma of the early church concerning what is the status of Jewish believers and their relationship to the Law. Paul’s return to Jerusalem. Questions and answers.

Because of human nature, the Mosaic Law was not successful in motivating obedience. The giving of the Mosaic Law. The Ten Commandments. Most of the Mosaic Law is not repeated in the New Testament. The purpose of the Mosaic Law. Drawing wisdom principles from the Mosaic Law. Questions and answers.

Jesus Christ predicted what would occur in the Book of Acts. The early church addresses what the function and purpose of the Mosaic Law now is and how it relates to Gentile believers. Questions and answers.

How God the Holy Spirit developed the early church (continued). Stephen’s apologetic (continued). Anti-Semitism will always receive the cursing of God. Stephen undermines the moral and ethical claim of his accusers with a counterclaim. Questions and answers.

Stephen’s apologetic (continued). Stephen’s apologetic includes a series of historical events reflecting biblical truths of God’s sovereign mission for Israel. Stephen argues that the pattern of God’s development of the sovereign nation of Israel, in the early centuries, parallels what was done to the Lord Jesus Christ. Stephen’s approach defends him against the charge of attacking the Torah. He uses the Torah to undercut the position of his accusers. Believers should seek to identify the spiritual opportunities that may come with changing circumstances.

How God the Holy Spirit developed the early Church. In the book of Acts, Israel gradually decreased and the Church gradually increased. Stephen’s apologetic (Acts 6, 7). Questions and answers.

The sealing ministry of God the Holy Spirit. The intercession ministry of God the Holy Spirit. Reasons for suffering. The ministry of God the Holy Spirit related to spiritual gifts. Questions and answers.

Brief review. The baptism of God the Holy Spirit. What the word “baptism” means and how it’s used in Scripture. Judgment/salvation imagery for the baptism of the Spirit. The function of the baptism of the Spirit. Arguments for the church beginning at Pentecost. Implications of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Questions and answers.