The Bible, a book for everybody. The first part of the Bible, or the Old Testament, is a common book for Jews and Christians; the second part of the Bible, or the New Testament, is a Christian book. But the Bible in itself is a book for everybody; anyone can benefit from reading and studying the Bible.
Understanding the message. The Bible has books and chapters that everybody can understand just by reading; but the understanding of the integral message of the Bible, demands study and dedication. It is possible that someone, by a particular gift of God, would be able to capture the message of the Bible; nevertheless, some kind of instruction or external help is ordinarily needed, to understand the message of the Bible.
Clear and complete manual. The author of Step by Step with the Bible, complained that there was not a simple manual that would intend, directly, the understanding of the message of the Old and New Testament. To fill that vacuum, the author decided to write such a manual, Step by Step with the Bible, after having studied, taught and preached the Bible for fifty years. So, this is not a line by line commentary of the Bible, but a method to understand its message.
The author. The author is a "convert" from Roman Catholicism to the apostolic faith and the full understanding of the Christian message as it is presented in the Bible; to the freedom that the faith in Jesus Christ gives to the believer: salvation by faith, not by works. The book reflects the real and original meaning of the Scripture, as it was understood by the apostles and the early Christians. If you want to know more about the author click here.
The plan of Step by Step. Step by Step with the Bible is a collection in four volumes.
Vol I, The New Testament, which is the book that follows, is the basic and fundamental one, and contains the whole synthesis of the Christian message, which is not anything but God's plan of salvation by Jesus Christ, as it is revealed in the New Testament.
The other three volumes of Step by Step with the Bible, are: Vol II, The Old Testament in the light of the New Testament; Vol III, Paul, the Christian, the apostle, his message; and Vol IV, Jesus of Nazareth, His deeds, His words.
Progressive method. The collection Step by Step with the Bible does not have the same level of comprehension from the beginning to the end; Vol I does not require a scriptural background to begin; the most uninitiated, —those who are just able to read,— without any knowledge of Scripture or Christianity, are enabled to understand the Bible. Once they have studied the first two volumes, they are able to understand the third and fourth. The collection is not for Biblical scholars.
The links. The underlined words in the text are links to a glossary at the end of the book, where the reader can find the definition of the main terms used in the book, and a reference to other places where the same word appears, —a subject index.
The book is in constant preparation. Although the book has been
published in Spanish, the Steps that follow are being translated and
adapted to English speaking people by the author, week after week. You may find
a new Chapter, that contains several Steps,
almost every two weeks. You may print it, study and review at your convenience.
CHAPTER I - Jesus proclaims the gospel of salvation
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:14-16).
Commentary and explanation. This text is one of the most beautiful and important of the whole New Testament. In verse 14 Jesus says that He must be lifted up, that is, lifted up on the cross or be crucified, in order that, as those who looked at the snake in the desert were healed (Num 21:9), those who look at Him as well or call upon Him, with faith, will be saved.
Because, whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life, verse 15 says.
Verse 16 shows us the whole purpose of God with the incarnation and coming of his Son to the world. God so loved the world, that He gave us His only begotten Son, and set salvation within the reach of everyone, through faith. That is why He says, that, whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
According to these words of Jesus, the condition for giving us eternal life is to believe that He is the Son of God. Faith's fruit is eternal life, salvation. He who believes in Him is not condemned (v 18), but has everlasting life.
Later on, we will talk about Christian faith and its demands, as well as about Christian conduct, in Steps 19 and 20, so that we may understand which kind of faith Jesus expects from us.
Only begotten Son means the only Son of God. We are sons of God too, by adoption, as we will explain in Steps 41 and 42.
Go to the Steps directory.
The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:28)
Commentary and explanation. We are going to fix our attention on the last part of the text only, to give His life a ransom for many. Jesus Christ said this several times to His disciples, to teach them the purpose of His coming to the world: to give His life in ransom for us.
Everybody understands what it means to pay a ransom, when somebody is kidnapped; when the ransom is paid, the kidnappers free the kidnapped or captive person.
This example illustrates what Jesus did for us. We were slaves of sin and death,
because whoever commits sin is a slave of sin (John
In Step 1 we saw that he who believes in Jesus, has everlasting life; that through faith in Jesus Christ we obtain eternal life. Certainly yes, because he paid the ransom for us; because he paid the price of our sins, that was His blood and His death.
To believe in Jesus is then to believe that He is our Redeemer, because with
His blood he rescued us from our sins. We are redeemed now; the ransom is
already paid; Satan does not have any right to us; there is no more judgement of condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus
(Romans
(See Redemption, Step 46).
Go to the Steps directory.
As they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said: "Take, eat; this is My body." Then He took the cup, and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying: "Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Matthew 26:26-28).
Commentary and explanation. In this passage we are going to fix our attention on the words of verse 28, where Jesus says: My blood is shed for many for the remission of sins.
In Step 2 we saw that the Son of God came to the world to pay ransom for our freedom. This verse 28 completes the teaching; Jesus redeems us or makes us free by giving Himself to death and shedding His blood for us.
According to Hebrews 9:22, almost all things are purged
with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. Let
us remember now that, when the Israelites were going to escape from slavery in
In the same way, Christ sheds his blood to rescue us. He takes our place; He
pays in himself the penalty that our sins deserved. He bore Himself our sins
in His own body on the tree... by whose stripes you were healed, Peter says
(1 Peter
From Steps 1, 2 and 3 we can learn that our salvation does not come from ourselves, by our works, but it comes from Him who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20); and that the means that God gave us to reach our salvation is faith in Jesus Christ.
(See also Redemption, Expiation, Propitiation, Steps 46,47.)
Go to the Steps directory.
He (God) will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He
has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the
dead. (Acts
Commentary and explanation. It wasn't enough
that Christ had died for us to believe in Him, as was said in Steps 2 and 3; it
was also necessary that He would rise from the dead. If Christ wouldn't have
risen after his death, we would not have believed in Him, nor would there be Christians on earth. If Christ is not
risen, then our preaching is vain and your faith is also vain, Paul says (1
Corinthians
The real reason why we believe in Christ is because he arose from the dead. When Paul was preaching to Greeks at the Areopagus, he said emphatically: He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is, therefore, the motive and the foundation of our faith; but the resurrection is also object of our faith, that is, it is something that we believe in because we have faith in the teachings that we have received from the beginning.
Thomas, the apostle, didn't want to believe that Jesus had risen; but after
he saw in His hands the print of the nails, and put his hand in his side, he
exclaimed: My Lord and my God! Jesus answered him: Thomas, because
you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those
who have not seen and yet have believed (John
The resurrection of Christ is proof that the Father accepted the death of his Son as ransom and redemption for us. As it happened to Abraham whose faith God accounted to him for righteousness (Genesis 15:6; Rm 4:3), so it happens to us, since those words were not written for his sake alone, but also for us... who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead (Romans 4:23,24).
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None of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24).
Commentary and explanation. Paul was in
route to
And which was the ministry or service that the Lord had given to him? To announce and to testify to the gospel of the grace of God, that is, to announce the good news (the word gospel means precisely that, "good news"): that Jesus is the Christ, and that everyone who believes in Him has eternal life.
The gospel is a gospel of grace; this means that it is a gift, it is free. It is therefore undoubtedly something that can not be acquired by merit nor can by good deeds; it is a gift of God when we believe and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
(See also Salvation is by faith, Steps 34 to 41; and The Grand Commission: the proclamation of the gospel, Steps 69 to 75.)
Go to the Steps directory.