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Paul’s Legacy Day 155. Romans 3: Remedy Day 156. Romans 7: Limits of the Law Day 157. Romans 8: Spirit Life Day 158. Romans 12: When Christians Disagree Day 159. Acts 26: Unexpected Passage Day 160. Acts 27: Perfect Storm Day 161. Acts 28: Rome at Last Day 162. Ephesians 2: Prison Letter Day 163. Ephesians 3: Success Story Day 164. Colossians 1: Spanning the Gap Day 165. Philemon: A Personal Favor Day 166. Titus 2: Paul’s Troubleshooter Day 167. 1 Timothy 1: Growth Pains Day 168. 2 Timothy 2: Final Words

Vital Letters Day 169. Hebrews 2: The Great Descent Day 170. Hebrews 11: What Is True Faith? Day 171. Hebrews 12: Marathon Race Day 172. James 1: Walk the Talk Day 173. 1 Peter 1: Converted Coward Day 174. 2 Peter 1: Hidden Dangers Day 175. Jude: Sounding the Alarm Day 176. 1 John 3: Merest Christianity Day 177. 2 and 3 John: Pesky Deceivers Day 178. Revelation 1: The Final Word Day 179. Revelation 12: Another Side of History Day 180. Revelation 21: An End and a Beginning

IT100 QAre these literal 24-hour days?Is “one man, one woman” the only kind of union God approves of?What are angels, and how do they interact with the world today?Who is God, what does he value, and how can we approach him?Can our prayers cause God to change his mind?Which is better, spiritually speaking—to be rich or poor?Is there a connection between spiritual and physical health?What values does a Christian family hold?Can we determine God’s will by “putting out a fleece”?Does it matter when and where we pray?Does the Bible define when human life begins?How can parents prepare their children to impact the world?What does the Bible say about sex?Has God revealed himself differently to different cultures and time periods?What is hell like?How can I tell if I have too much “stuff”?How should Christians understand prayer?How can we, imperfect people, live the way Jesus wants us to live?Does the Bible approve of remarriage after divorce?Are natural disasters literally “acts of God”? Does he cause them?Does saving for retirement show a lack of trust in God?Is accepting Jesus the only way for people to get to heaven?How can the Christian church become what Jesus intended?What is the Holy Spirit’s role in evangelism?Does sin ever quit?As a Christian, am I supposed to do good works?In what ways should the church be serving the world?Are we tempted by Satan or by our own evil desires?What does it mean to be sanctified?Does the Bible have answers for all of today’s moral dilemmas?

What does it mean to have faith?Does obedience bring prosperity?Does God give people a chance to believe in him after death?

IOQWhy are names important in the Bible?How widespread was the flood?What was so great about Abram’s faith?Would God ever ask us to do wrong?Are dreams messages from God?Was Joseph excusing what his brothers had done?Who hardened Pharaoh’s heart?Why does God harden some people’s hearts?Why did God require sacrifices?Does God punish children for their parents’ sins?Did God love Israel more than other nations?Is success guaranteed to those who obey God?Isn’t this like the modern health-and-wealth gospel?Does God make us anxious?Why kill every living thing?Did Samson commit suicide?Why would God kill someone who was trying to help?Are the innocent punished for others’ sins?Was leprosy a curse from God?How did the temple of the exiles compare to Solomon’s temple?Why isn’t God mentioned at all in the book of Esther?Did God answer Job’s charges?How had Job changed?In what ways do the wise in heart accept commands?Can our mouths ruin our lives?How valid are visions today?Why did God cause his servant to suffer?Did Matthew misuse this verse?How can we hope in a God who abandons us?Why does God send calamity?

Why pray if our prayers are not getting through to God?How can we obey God’s commands without knowing the outcome?Why did Ezekiel engage in such bizarre behavior?When will peace come to the Middle East?Does God still speak through visions and dreams?Does God change his mind?What does God require of us?Does God use evil to do good?Is this book a warning or an encouragement?How can anyone live up to these high standards?Aren’t there times when we should resist an evil person?Why did Jesus speak in parables?Why do details sometimes differ from one Gospel account to another?Should we obey instantly, or should we first count the cost?Why did Jesus call himself the Son of Man?Do demons still possess people today?Can believers commit this unpardonable sin?How did the resurrection change the world?How are Jesus and the Father one?If Jesus prayed for the unity of believers, are church denominations wrong?Why did Paul circumcise Timothy?When is a person old enough to make a decision to believe in Jesus?Does God speak through prophets today?What do we have to look forward to?Should we obey or ignore the Old Testament law?Where are the dead?What has to happen before Christ returns?How do we know the Bible is true?In what ways were Christians suffering?If we sin, does that mean we aren’t born of God?Why did John use such obscure, mysterious language?What will eternal life be like?

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Genesis 1

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Are these literal 24-hour days? (Genesis 1:3–31)Regardless of whether the “days” of creation were figurativeor literal 24-hour periods, this passage is a truthful descriptionof what took place. It indicates that there is intelligence,meaning and purpose behind all existence. In other words,the word of God directed the method of creation as well asthe source of creation (Ps 33:6, 9; Heb 11:3). Yet humanbeings have been given the privilege of exploring, throughscientific investigation, how God may have engineered theseevents and how long he took to do so.Many understand the six days of creation as representinglong periods of time because the sun, which marks a 24-hourday, wasn’t created until the fourth day. And the word day isused in chapters 1–2 in three distinct ways: (1) asapproximately 12 hours of daylight (Ge 1:5); (2) as 24 hours(1:14) and (3) as a period of time involving, at the veryminimum, the whole creative activity from day one to dayseven (see 2:4, where the word that is translated when is thesame word that is elsewhere translated day). The light (1:3)could not have come from the earth’s sun if the sun was notcreated until the fourth day. The light could have come fromother sources that God provided in the universe prior to thecreation of the sun. We can only speculate about what theatmospheric conditions might have been at that time.

Setting of Genesis (Genesis 1:1)1Inthe beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2[?] Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over thesurface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over thewaters.3AndGod said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4Godsaw that the light was good, and he separated the light fromthe darkness. 5[?] God called the light “day,” and thedarkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and therewas morning—the first day.

6AndGod said, “Let there be a vault between the waters toseparate water from water.” 7So God made the vault andseparated the water under the vault from the water above it.And it was so. 8God called the vault “sky.” And there wasevening, and there was morning—the second day.9[?] And God said, “Let the water under the sky begathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it wasso. 10God called the dry ground “land,” and the gatheredwaters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.11ThenGod said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seedbearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seedin it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12Theland produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according totheir kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according totheir kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13And there wasevening, and there was morning—the third day.14[?] And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of thesky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve assigns to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15and letthem be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on theearth.” And it was so. 16God made two great lights—thegreater light to govern the day and the lesser light to governthe night. He also made the stars. 17God set them in the vaultof the sky to give light on the earth, 18to govern the day andthe night, and to separate light from darkness. And God sawthat it was good. 19And there was evening, and there wasmorning—the fourth day.20AndGod said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, andlet birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21SoGod created the great creatures of the sea and every livingthing with which the water teems and that moves about in it,according to their kinds, and every winged bird according toits kind. And God saw that it was good. 22God blessed them

and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the waterin the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23Andthere was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.24[?] And God said, “Let the land produce livingcreatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creaturesthat move along the ground, and the wild animals, eachaccording to its kind.” And it was so. 25God made the wildanimals according to their kinds, the livestock according totheir kinds, and all the creatures that move along the groundaccording to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.26[?] Then God said, “Let us make mankind in ourimage, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish inthe sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all thewild animals,[1] and over all the creatures that move along theground.”27[?] So God created mankind in his own image,in the image of God he created them;male and female he created them.28[?] God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitfuland increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule overthe fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over everyliving creature that moves on the ground.”29ThenGod said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant onthe face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit withseed in it. They will be yours for food. 30And to all the beastsof the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creaturesthat move along the ground—everything that has the breathof life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.31Godsaw all that he had made, and it was very good. Andthere was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

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Genesis 21Thusthe heavens and the earth were completed in all their vastarray.2[?] By the seventh day God had finished the work hehad been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all hiswork. 3Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy,because on it he rested from all the work of creating that hehad done.

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Is “one man, one woman” the only kind of union Godapproves of? (Genesis 2:24)In a word, yes. Here’s what Jesus said about marriage: At thebeginning the Creator “made them male and female,” andsaid, “For this reason a man will leave his father and motherand be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh”(Mt 19:4–5).Scripture uses metaphorical language to describe marriage,picturing it in terms of a head and body. Ephesians 5:23 says,For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the headof the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Headshiphas to do with oneness. The wife is the body of the husbandas the church is the body of Christ (Col 1:18). The mystery ofmarriage is that the head (the husband) plus the body (thewife) equals one flesh.This head-body picture shows why God approves only ofmonogamous, heterosexual marriage: two heads (two men)do not equal one flesh, and two bodies (two women) do notequal one flesh. This is affirmed many times in Scripture (e.g.,Lev 18:22; 1Co 6:9–11). This picture also shows whypolygamy is wrong: a head (one man) and two or morebodies (two or more wives) do not comprise a union of oneflesh. It is true that many people in Scripture practicedpolygamy—including Abraham, Jacob, David and Solomon—but those relationships ultimately produced many kinds ofstrife for each family. And although God chose to bring somegood out of those situations (e.g., the 12 tribes of Israel), thegoodness of God’s original plan was not changed.Finally, this picture of one-flesh union does not mean thatsingle people are incomplete or somehow worth less thanmarried people. The metaphorical image of one flesh is used inScripture to identify the boundaries of marriage and highlightthe institution as a picture of our relationship with Christ.Indeed, Paul (who was not married) made it clear in 1Corinthians 7:7–8 that marriage and singleness are both giftsto be used in service to God.

4[?] This is the account of the heavens and the earth whenthey were created, when the LORD God made the earth and theheavens.5[?] Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth[1] and noplant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on theearth and there was no one to work the ground, 6but streams[2] cameup from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7[?] Then the LORD God formed a man[3] from the dust of theground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the manbecame a living being.8[?] Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, inEden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9[?] TheLORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees thatwere pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of thegarden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of goodand evil.10Ariver watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it wasseparated into four headwaters. 11The name of the first is thePishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there isgold. 12(The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin[4] and onyx arealso there.) 13The name of the second river is the Gihon; it windsthrough the entire land of Cush.[5] 14The name of the third river is theTigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is theEuphrates.15The LORDGod took the man and put him in the Garden of Edento work it and take care of it. 16And the LORD God commanded theman, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17[?] but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good andevil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”18[?] The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to bealone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

19Nowthe LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wildanimals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man tosee what he would name them; and whatever the man called eachliving creature, that was its name. 20So the man gave names to allthe livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.But for Adam[6] no suitable helper was found. 21[?] So theLORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while hewas sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs[7] and then closed up theplace with flesh. 22Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib[8]he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.23Theman said,“This is now bone of my bonesand flesh of my flesh;she shall be called ‘woman,’for she was taken out of man.”24Thatis why a man leaves his father and mother and is united tohis wife, and they become one flesh.25Adamand his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

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Genesis 3

TF1Nowthe serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals theLORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say,‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”2[?] The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit fromthe trees in the garden, 3but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit fromthe tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it,or you will die.’ ”4“Youwill not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5“ForGod knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, andyou will be like God, knowing good and evil.”6[?] When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was goodfor food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gainingwisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to herhusband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7[?] Then the eyesof both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; sothey sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.8[?] Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORDGod as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and theyhid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9But the LORDGod called to the man, “Where are you?”10Heanswered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraidbecause I was naked; so I hid.”11Andhe said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eatenfrom the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”12Theman said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave mesome fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”13Thendone?”the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”14Sothe LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have donethis,1516“Cursed are you above all livestockand all wild animals!You will crawl on your bellyand you will eat dustall the days of your life.[?] And I will put enmitybetween you and the woman,and between your offspring[1] and hers;he will crush[2] your head,and you will strike his heel.”[?] To the woman he said,“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;with painful labor you will give birth to children.Your desire will be for your husband,and he will rule over you.”17ToAdam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruitfrom the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat fromit,’“Cursed is the ground because of you;through painful toil you will eat food from itall the days of your life.18It will produce thorns and thistles for you,and you will eat t

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