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Faithlife Corporation Competes at Bellingham Traverse

On Saturday I joined a group of Faithlife employees set out to repeat last year’s victory in the Bellingham Traverse, a multi-sport relay race.

Competing as Logos Bible Software a year ago, our 3:17:00 time was good enough for 1st place in the corporate division. So we entered this year with high hopes.

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Not many people know, I ran last year with a diamond ring in my pocket.

My portion of the race—a 3 mile scamper through the trails south of town—started just a few blocks from the jeweler who was designing an engagement ring for me to give to my then girlfriend (now wife). I jogged over during my warm-up in an effort to surprise her, bought the ring, and ran with it through the race course. I’m still not sure if that helped or hurt our time.

This year we had a beautiful September day for racing with enough wind on the bay to convince the race official to shorten the paddle portion of the race by a mile. We improved on last year’s winning time by 4 minutes. But the field was much more competitive, and our 3:13:00 made us the fourth corporate team to cross the finish line.

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Isn’t our team shirt this year particularly nice? The technical fabric performed great, and we got lots of compliments as we walked around town. So many in fact, we thought that you might like to have one too. It is the first piece of apparel we’ve created since Logos became Faithlife, and we went all out—technical fabric, athletic cut, and variations for men and women. This is an awesome shirt.

You can pre-order the Faithlife Multi-Sport Athletic Shirt with free shipping right now on Logos.com, and you don’t even have to run a race to get it.

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3 Ways to Uncover Biblical Themes

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The key to understanding a Scripture passage is often to first understand the larger theme of the book it’s in. Commentaries or study Bibles may point out major themes for you, but you can find them yourself if you know where to look. Here are three ways to find a biblical book’s theme:

  1. Read through the opening and closing paragraphs of a book. The writer may leave a clue for you in the opening or closing paragraph of a book. This is especially common in the epistles. If you notice a common theme in both the opening and closing paragraphs, you know you’re on to something. For example, Peter speaks to the process of growing “in the knowledge of God” in the first and last paragraph of 2 Peter. This theme ties together everything in between. Study 2 Peter with that in mind, and many complex passages become easier to unravel.
  2. Look for repeated words, phrases, or ideas. Remember that when the biblical writers penned Scripture, emphasis markings like bold, italics, and underlining were not used because they took up valuable space on the page. Romans 8, a well-known passage, draws special attention to the Holy Spirit, mentioning it 20 times in 38 verses.
  3. Look for a purpose statement. There isn’t a clear statement of purpose in every book, but when a biblical writer spells out his reason for writing a book, or his hope for how it will impact the reader, take special note. Luke provides a clear purpose statement at the beginning of his Gospel (Luke 1:1–4). Any study of Luke will benefit from regular references to this introduction and statement of purpose.

If you’re studying with the Faithlife Study Bible, these markers and much more are explained in its three layers of study notes. Download the Faithlife Study Bible app for free from your app store of choice.

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The Creation Story (As Told by the FSB)

Creation begins with the separation of light and darkness. Interestingly, God creates light before he creates any sources of light. Some have speculated that God’s glory served as the initial source of light. The FSB study notes point out that the order of creation is consistent with the ancient perception of the universe. An article by Michael Heiser explains this, and this helpful chart is included to illustrate.

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Six times in the first chapter of Genesis, God affirms his creation as “good” or in a right relationship with him. This changes a few chapters later when, because of sin, God curses the earth and all its inhabitants.

The first day, and all the subsequent days of creation, close with an expression: “evening and morning.” Ken Ham is a staunch literalist, meaning he interprets the seven days of creation as 24-hour periods of time. But there are several different approaches to the creation narrative. For a quick summary of some ways the creation story is perceived by theologians, refer to the table, “Interpretation of Days in Genesis.”

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The FSB study notes point out how Genesis 1 provides a subtle critique of prevailing ancient–Near Eastern beliefs by deliberately avoiding the words for “sun” and “moon” that carried idolatrous undertones. The writer makes it clear that these two bits of creation respectively rule over the daytime and nighttime only at the creator’s divine appointment.

One of the most exciting applications of Genesis 1 for me is the precedent of creativity that God sets for mankind. Trey Boden explains in his devotional article about creativity:

To understand our place in the drama of creation, we should look at how God created us. God made us in His image to give Him glory through service and love to the world. Because we are made in His image, we can assume that we have a likeness of His creative spirit within us. God initiated this sharing in His creative works by giving Adam the tasks of cultivating the garden (Genesis 2:15) and naming the animals (Genesis 2:20). The major difference between God’s creative action and ours, however, is that God has the power to create something from nothing.

The creation story closes in Genesis 1:27’s summary of mankind’s origin:

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

The FSB study notes summarize the first chapter of Genesis with this huge infographic (click to enlarge) that depicts the seven days of creation like never you’ve never seen it before.

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To explore the creation narrative and the rest of Scripture in a new way, download the free Faithlife Study Bible on your smartphone or tablet today.