Lesson 1 | Coordinate Relationships
Aim of This Course
There are hundreds of languages in the world, each with its own complex and multi-faceted grammatical structure. But between them, at the fundamental level, the same categories of thought exist. Wherever one goes in the world, people will be found using language to reason, explain, persuade, and tell stories.
Let’s take, for example, the thought process behind the expression of purpose. In every language, people express purposeful intentions, though they use many different words and even grammar to do it. If you fly to San Diego, California, you will hear people say things like, “I’m reading my Bible so that I can grow closer to God." Take a trip down the coast to Managua, Nicaragua, and you will hear people say "Estoy leyendo mi Biblia para que pueda acercarme a Dios." Hop over to Athens, Greece, and they will say "Διαβάζω τη Βίβλο μου για να πλησιάσω πιο κοντά στον Θεό." Despite the different symbols, grammar, and sounds utilized, the fact remains that each person communicates the fundamental logic of purpose.
Human beings universally communicate using core language categories because we are created in the image of God, who personally identifies as “the Word.” Thus, logical communication is not just something God does, but an aspect of who He is. That’s why, when he communicates, he utilizes these fundamental categories that we were designed to understand.
Wise men throughout history, seeking to understand the expressions of God’s thoughts laid down in his Word, have identified 18 core logical categories. By identifying these categories in God’s Word, we can answer why God puts one statement next to another and, as a result, can follow how he thinks. This is precisely what the Bible Logic course will teach you to do.
What Can Bible Logic Do?
It will NOT give you the magic key to unlock the Scriptures…
But it WILL equip you to look at the Scriptures more closely.
It will NOT show you a three-step process for understanding the Bible...
But it WILL reveal to you how much more there is to understand.
It will NOT teach you to see biblical glories in a third of the time previously required...
But it WILL, Lord-willing, create a desire in you to triple the time you spend in a text.
Course Structure and Purpose
The flow of this course takes the student through each of the four categories and subcategories of logical relationships. Lesson 1 will cover coordinate relationships—the connections between independent statements of Scripture. Following that, Lesson 2 will focus on different categories of explanatory relationships that fill out the content of Scripture. In Lesson 3, we will get a taste of how statements distinct from one another support each other like the bricks of a building. Lesson 4 covers the strange and highly impactful category of contrary logical relationships. Finally, Lesson 5 introduces the “Bracketing” tool to encourage students to begin thinking about the Bible’s logic, not just within a single verse, but of an entire passage.
The aim of this course is to help students see that God communicates logically, and to equip them with categories of logic so as to better trace his thoughts through Scripture.