The purpose of this artide is to see how and to what extent God used the cultural environment of the Old Testament writers as they contributed to the inspired record. Out of lots of cultures in the Old Testament, only Genesis account of creation，polygyny, and kingship found in ]ewish society will be deeply discussed in this paper. Nevertheless, these cultures were already prevalent among ancient pagan peoples. This artide is going to deal with how to missiologically understand the similarities and parallels between two different cultures. In faa, the significance of culture in the propagation of the Gospel has been extensively recognized. Provided that cultural values are disregarded, the expansion of the kingdom of God can be severely withered. Even though culture is not a core subject of the Old Testament, biblical studies have clarified that hwnan cultures have played an important part in biblical history. People can learn from the Scriptures neither to overemphasize nor underestimate the importance of culture. The faα that culture holds a meaningful place in the Bible implies the worth as well as the restriction of culture in the duty of global mission. Culture is a plan, map, or blueprint for living that is always in the process of formation. It is a code for action, for survival， and for success in life. Culture is fundamentally a social phenomenon and can be conceived in the individual through encounters with other members of society. Furthermore, culture, with all its values and limitations, has played an outstanding role in divine revelation in human history. God's inspiration did not come in cultural vacuum. Divine disclosure did not despise culture but accepted it to the extent that it could be employed as the vehicle of divine revelation. In order to discover the influence of culture in the Old Testamem on mission, the first chapter examines the Genesis account of creation paralleling ancient Near Eastern creation cosmogonies and appraises the creation account in Genesis I from a missiological viewpoint. The second chapter researches polygyny from a missiological perspective. Assurning that monogamy is God's concept, this article discusses why polygyny was practiced in ancient Israel and why the Old Testament does not blame it. The third chapter studies the idea of kingship in Israel and tries to reveal missionary meaning this social institution indicates. Because the Bible implies that the monarchy in Israel was borrowed from Israel’s neighbors, this paper debates to what extent kingship in Israel possesses rrusslOnary values to evangelize the unchurched pagans. This writer makes sure that God did indeed speak in the context and employed factors of the content of the surrounding cultures in order to deliver his message to his ancient people, and to us. Also, this writer wants to say that God worked some degree in other peoples and cultures apart from his work in the ]ewish community. It is dear enough that God did not reject the culture of pagan unqualifìedly and hoped to apply their culture to the mission of the church effectively to extend the kingdom of God. To accurately understand culture and to approach it from a biblical standpoint make the fruits of mission abundant.

• 안희열(침례신학대학교 /선교학 교수) | Ahn, Heui-Yeol