Course Offerings

It has been said that the Apostle Paul was the most influential person in church history besides the Lord Jesus Himself. Without Paul’s labor, it is possible that the gospel would today still be limited to a small law-keeping Jewish sect hidden away in a corner of Jerusalem. Without Paul’s vision and calling, the great truths he revealed in his letters, such as justification by faith and the church as the body of Christ, might never have been known. But who was this man so used by God? F. F. Bruce digs deeply into Paul’s story and begins to unveil, through scripture, history, and the culture of the day, a much more complete picture. His book, Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free, is large, and so only select chapters will be used in this class. Join us as we explore the life and labor of the Apostle Paul.

This class includes how to read the Greek Bible, how to do keyword studies with Greek lexicons and theological dictionaries, and how to conduct verse and chapter studies with Greek grammar, syntax, and key commentaries.

We will learn how to pronounce and read aloud the Greek Bible in an efficient way, and will study Greek New Testament Colossians 1:9-29 and Greek Old Testament (Septuagint) Isaiah 53 with the resources in Bible Hub.

Paul wrote to the Romans with a desire that he could, in his words, “make you strong” (Rom 1:11 NIV). What he wrote to them is today often referred to as a clear presentation of the Christian gospel. Every follower of Jesus needs to have a backbone—a foundation that can uphold us through the highs and lows of the Christian life. We begin to develop one by knowing the truths of how we are justified, how we can walk with Christ, where we find the power to do so, and where this all leads us. The goal of this class is that by understanding and experiencing these fundamental truths, we will be made strong.

This nine-week course, "Steadfast Until His Coming: Living a Life of Faith, Love, and Hope in Christ," is designed to equip participants with the essential principles for living a steadfast Christian life while eagerly awaiting the return of Christ. The curriculum will guide participants through key themes from 1, 2 Thessalonians and other biblical passages. We will focus on developing a dynamic faith, practicing sacrificial love, cultivating enduring hope, and living in a manner that honors God. The goal is to build a practical and joyful understanding of what it means to be a faithful follower of Christ preparing for His return.

When a person becomes a believer, they are made a part of the body of Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit and are set to enjoy (drink) the Spirit through their advancing Christian life in the body. Thus, they are joined to other believers Spiritually and experience this union in context of a church life. This class explores nine ways the apostle Paul describes the church in both vision and practice. It will start with apostles, continue by exploring the body of Christ in vision and practice, and conclude with practical workings of the church that should help the students live out the vision they’ve seen. The final class presents the vision of the New Man, which might be a peak revelation of the apostle Paul.

Classes will be lecture style, joining with the regular sharing of the teacher with this year’s Christian internship. There will be a short time for discussion afterwards over Zoom.

When people speak of “returning to the New Testament church,” they usually don’t have the church in Corinth in mind. The Corinthians were proud, fleshly, divided, and full of all manners of unhealthy teaching and discordant practices. Yet out of all the churches Paul ministered to, it was to this church that he made himself the most vulnerable, poured out the most of his heart to, and showed what it is to live like an apostle. The beginning four chapters of the first epistle to the Corinthians lays the spiritual foundation of Paul’s corrective letter to the church, touching on the true nature of the church’s relationship with the servants of God and the gospel they preach.

In this class, formatted as a round-table bible study, we will dive into these first four chapters of 1 Corinthians. Through inductive bible study, open discussion, and reflection, we aim to discover the riches of the word together as a group. May the Spirit lead us into all the depths of God, things which “God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9)!

What are the most important foundational truths that will help you grow healthily with the Lord? It is amazing that people can be in church for years and not have these foundations. They like “church” but are missing some very important pillars of truth. You may ask, “Should I find them in Job or Revelation or Ephesians?” If you are not sure, this class is definitely for you. Just like all books are not the same, all truths are not the same. Some are main and plain. Others are less important, but still true. This class will cover nine main and plain truths that are crucial for every believer to know. This class is not a “new believer’s series.” If it were, the topics would be different. It is not a class for raising up “spiritual marines.” If it were, the topics would be very different again. Instead, this class is intended to give the normal believer a foundation in crucial truths that can help them grow in a healthy way with Christ and in the church life.

The apostle Paul has contributed greatly to the establishing of the Christian faith and the working out of the New Testament ministry, both in word and deed. Many of the epistles that were written by Paul give us a record of his active ministry and results, (eg. the book of Acts); or present to the believers a clarity of Christian doctrine (eg. the epistles to the Romans). During this course of the fall semester of the Sweet Savor Bible School participants will take a survey of the epistle to the second Corinthians to see why many bible scholars consider it to be the autobiography of the apostle Paul. By taking this survey of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians we hope that all who participate in this class would come to learn and see what is revealed in the epistle regarding Paul’s person, character, convictions, and even history as such a servant of the Lord.

Paulo escreveu aos romanos com o desejo, em suas palavras, de “fortalecê-los” (Romanos 1:11 NVI). O que ele escreveu a eles é frequentemente referido hoje como uma apresentação clara do evangelho cristão. Todo seguidor de Jesus precisa ter uma espinha dorsal — um alicerce que possa nos sustentar através dos altos e baixos da vida cristã. Começamos a desenvolver essa base aprendendo as verdades de como somos justificados, como podemos andar com Cristo, onde encontramos o poder para fazê-lo e aonde tudo isso nos leva. O objetivo desta lição é que, à medida que compreendemos e experimentamos essas verdades fundamentais, sejamos fortalecidos.

Paul’s epistle to the Galatians is the most severe of his epistles. In no other epistle does he call the recipients of his epistles “foolish.” In no other epistle does he publicly rebuke two of his fellow apostles, and subtly implicate a third. In no other epistle does he refer to certain brothers as “false,” smuggled in to “spy out” the “freedom” that others enjoyed in Christ. In no other epistle does he call these ones “dogs.” Who were these people? How did they exercise such a strong influence on the churches? What provoked Paul’s ire? Join us as we embark on a nine week journey to diagnose the spiritual malady that afflicted not only one church, but a cluster of churches, that threatened to pervert the true gospel of Jesus Christ, and reduce the Christian faith to a sect of Judaism. The epistle to the Galatians is a catalyst that determines the direction and continuity of the Christian faith. It is the first of the four seminal epistles of Paul (Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians), known as the “heart of the divine revelation.” Without Galatians, we would not have the adequate revelation of the church (Ephesians). Nor the proper experience of Christ (Philippians), nor the proper revelation of the headship of Christ (Colossians). If Paul’s epistle to the Romans gives us a clear definition of the law and faith, and their respective roles, his epistle to the Galatians goes deeper to lead us into the condition of churches which had begun by the regeneration of the Spirit through faith in Christ, and had been “bewitched” into attempting to live the Christian life by their own works, and the disastrous consequence of living a life of the flesh.

This is a one year (two semester) course, each semester (Fall and Winter) comprising nine weeks. We will examine the first three chapters during the Fall Semester, and the last three chapters during the Winter Semester.

L’épître de Paul aux Galates est la plus sévère de ses épîtres. Dans aucune autre épître il n’appelle les destinataires de ses épîtres « insensés ». Dans aucune autre épître il ne réprimande publiquement deux de ses compagnons apôtres, et n’implique subtilement un troisième. Dans aucune autre épître il ne réfère à certains frères comme étant « faux », introduits en contrebande pour « espionner » la « liberté » dont d’autres jouissaient dans le Christ. Dans aucune autre épître il n’appelle ces personnes « chiens ». Qui étaient ces gens ? Comment exerçaient-ils une si forte influence sur les églises ? Qu’est-ce qui a provoqué la colère de Paul ? Rejoignez-nous alors que nous entreprenons un voyage de neuf semaines pour diagnostiquer le mal spirituel qui a affligé non seulement une église, mais un groupe d’églises, qui menaçait de pervertir le véritable évangile de Jésus-Christ, et de réduire la foi chrétienne à une secte du judaïsme. L’épître aux Galates est un catalyseur qui détermine la direction et la continuité de la foi chrétienne. Elle est la première des quatre épîtres fondamentales de Paul (Galates, Éphésiens, Philippiens et Colossiens), connues comme étant le « cœur de la révélation divine ». Sans Galates, nous n’aurions pas la révélation adéquate de l’église (Éphésiens), ni l’expérience appropriée de Christ (Philippiens), ni la révélation appropriée de la tête qu’est Christ (Colossiens). Si l’épître de Paul aux Romains nous donne une définition claire de la loi et de la foi, et de leurs rôles respectifs, son épître aux Galates va plus en profondeur pour nous introduire dans l’état d’églises qui avaient commencé par la régénération de l’Esprit à travers la foi en Christ, et qui avaient été « ensorcelées » pour tenter de vivre la vie chrétienne par leurs propres œuvres, avec pour conséquence désastreuse de vivre une vie selon la chair.

Ceci est un cours d’un an (deux semestres), chaque semestre (automne et hiver) comprenant neuf semaines. Nous examinerons les trois premiers chapitres pendant le semestre d’automne, et les trois derniers chapitres pendant le semestre d'hiver.