In my last post, I asked the question: How would you summarize the storyline of the Bible in one sentence? The response was underwhelming! I take that as a reflection of how difficult it is to capture the ‘big idea’ or storyline of the Bible in a single sentence. Thanks, John Mark, for your solid suggestion. Here is my proposal: The Bible is the story of God re-establishing His presence among His people.
God’s work of re-establishing His presence among His people is the goal of redemption, the driving force behind the covenants, the great wonder of God’s kingdom, the reason for Jesus’ mission, and the ultimate expression of God’s glory! This proposal reflects the way that the Bible begins and ends. In Genesis 1-2, God creates the earth as a temple in which He will share His presence with the people He creates. After the fall in Genesis 3, the rest of the Bible is the story of God re-establishing His presence among His people. Major phases along the way include Israel’s tabernacle/temple, the incarnation, and the church. Temple imagery appears at each phase. Then, the culmination is the new heaven and new earth in Revelation 21-22. God’s people will experience his ‘unfiltered’ presence! Once again, temple imagery is prominent.
For a defense of this proposal, I recommend The Temple and the Church’s Mission by G. K. Beale (IVP). This served as the tipping point for me, confirming the conclusions at which I had been arriving for several years. It’s a major study in biblical theology which should be required reading for everyone who preaches and teaches Scripture!
Some other books have helped along the way. John Eldredge’s slim volume, Epic (Nelson) provides some good leads for preachers who want to communicate “the story God is telling and the role that is yours to play.” An earlier book by Eldredge, The Sacred Romance (Nelson), prompted me to start thinking about the storyline of the Bible. The Drama of Scripture by Craig G. Bartholomew and Michael W. Goheen (Baker) helps us with “finding our place in the biblical story.” My friend, Charlie Boyd, has written a beautiful children’s book on “the Bible’s big idea from Genesis through Revelation.” The title is What God Has Always Wanted (Family Life). Boyd summarizes the Bible’s big idea like this: “God wants to live in friendship (relationship) with us both now and forever.” By the way, Rick Warren states it like this in The Purpose Driven Life: “The entire Bible is the story of God building a family who will love him, honor him, and reign with him forever” (page 117).
The Bible is, as Eugene Peterson claims, “relentlessly narratival.” As preachers, then, we have a responsibility to understand and communicate the Bible’s big story.
Posted by Steve Mathewson at 4:47 PM on March 22, 2007
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Steve:
Great thoughts. And yes, this is very hard! I think your proposal has lots going for it, the more I think about it.
Another great book is The Drama of Doctrine by Kevin Vanhoozer. One of the best books I read last year.
Thanks for recommending Beale's book. I'm going to track that down.
Posted by: Darryl on March 23, 2007
Yep. Well stated. As you point out, drama and narrative are such important concepts to grasp in preaching or teaching the Bible. Seeing the big picture is so important for all of us.
Posted by: John Mark on March 23, 2007
Steve, I like your sentence. Though I don't preach, I do have a book recommendation for following the Bible story: Colin S. Smith's Unlock the Bible in 30 Days or the longer 4 volume Unlocking the Bible Story set are great. I used them when I was teaching a 5th and 6th grade Sunday School class.
Posted by: Brian Grinder on March 24, 2007
Steve,
I thought of "The Bible is all about God's restoring His creation back to Him." Perhaps close to your point, but I like yours better.
Posted by: Adrin on March 26, 2007
I feel that your suggestion misses the point. The Bible story is not about "God re-establishing His presence among His people", for this suggests that, somehow, and for some reason, God left. The Biblical narrative is, in fact, the exact opposite. It tells how people left God and what God has done to change that situation. So perhaps we could rephrase it as: "The Bible is the story of God re-establishing people's presence with himself".
Posted by: Jim Sparks on March 29, 2007
I agree with Jim that your suggestion misses the point. It seems to suggest, to me as, well that there was a primary responsibility on the part of God for the separation. However, I see the narrative of the Bible more about God bringing humanity into an increasing awareness of his never-ending presence. This is especially true with the introduction of his Holy Spirit after the resurrection of Christ.
To say that God is "re-establishing people's presence with himself," certainly suggests redemption, but lacks the reciprocality of the narrative we find ourselves in.
This is a tricky exercise that could compromise a lot of the value and content scripture has to offer. It's a lot like a logline for a film script. Loglines are written to market a script, but tells very little of a scripts value.
Posted by: Joe Caldwell on April 11, 2007
Steve,
I would like to know if you are familiar with Jim Hamilton's proposal: The Glory of God in Salvation Through Judgment?
The Glory of God as the center of the Bible's message, including salvation (restoration God's presence among his people) but done so through judgement.
In his article, which appeared in Tyndale Bulletin, Hamilton says that Beale has kind of agreed with his proposal.
Alberto
Posted by: Alberto on April 16, 2007
Here are some follow-up thoughts . . .
Darryl: I, too, have been reading THE DRAMA OF DOCTRINE by Kevin Vanhoozer. I'm not very far into it, but it's provocative.
Brian: Yes, Colin Smith's stuff is solid. He pastors a church about a half hour away from me, and alot of people in our area have profited from his work.
Jim and Joe: Thanks so much for your thoughts, and I'm glad that you feel free to disagree with me! One of the difficulties of trying to capture the storyline of the Bible in a sentence is that something invariably gets left out. Even the best summaries or condensed statements require further explanation.
I'm not sure your alternative is any more accurate, though. To say that 'people left God' strikes me as too simplistic. The fact is, humans rebelled against God, and as a result, God withdrew His presence from them. That happened when He banished Adam and Eve from the Garden and drove them out(Genesis 3:23-24). Yet, God went to amazing lengths to re-establish the relationship. I think that's what you and I are trying to say! Perhaps the phrase 're-establish the relationship' communicates more clearly than 're-establish His presence.' Thanks for stimulating our thinking on this.
Alberto: Thanks for sharing Jim Hamilton's proposal. No, I was not familiar with it. Do you have further information on the Tyndale Bulletin article -- date or number? I'd be interested to see how he interacts with Beale.
Posted by: Steve Mathewson on May 4, 2007