Thinking Theologically
About the Bible
The Living Word
Since God is beyond human understanding, we can't understand Him fully without His help
Sure you can look at nature and learn some things about God as Romans 1:19-20 explains (theologians call this “general revelation”), but unless God reveals himself to us, we can’t fully know what he is like. The Bible is like “insider knowledge” because through Scripture God shows us what he is like (theologians call this “special revelation”).
In this video, Nik discusses what it means to think theologically about the text we get most of our theology from.
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So what is the Bible?
The Bible is not just one book, but a collection of books. It consists of many parts but tells one single story. One helpful way to understand the story of the Bible is to think about it as a five-act play.
If you want to go deeper with this concept, click below for an article that expands on this idea.
ACOP Core Belief
"The Bible is God’s divinely inspired written revelation of who he is and what he has done in redemptive history. It is true, powerful, authoritative and life-giving: a sure foundation for understanding God and living in Him."
Test Yourself
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Talk it Through
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1.2 – Your Experience with the Bible
In paragraph format, answer the following two questions for this discussion post.
- What has been your experience with the Bible? How do you read it? E.g., like a “pinball machine” or more of a methodical approach?
- How does thinking of the bible as one big story about Jesus differ from reading the bible as an instructional book?
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9 Replies
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My experience of the Bible has changed throughout my life. As a kid I used it more like a pinball machine, but as I became older I learned to read the bible using a yearly plan. When I came to Bible College, I loved studying the historical context and learning the ways that God speaks to humanity in “time” but also in “timeless” ways.
I have found that thinking of the Bible as a story about Jesus instead of an instructional book helps me to view it as a coherent work, and not just separate books. Also, it keeps me mindful that I am part of a big story with Jesus as the main character.
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I’ve been a Christian for just over 20 years at this point. In that time, the way in which I read the Bible has changed quite a few times. It has definitely had the “open to a random page and read” approach, but as of late I have been more apt to following a reading plan. I have also just finished preaching a sermon series on Ephesians, which had me spending additional time on a small portion of Scripture for a longer period. I think that going forward, this may become my hybrid method.
I think that looking at the Bible as a whole story is really important. Everything from beginning to end points forward to and back to Jesus. Realistically, without Jesus, the Old Testament would leave us feeling empty and looking for a resolution to the story, whole the New Testament would ultimately have no meaning and likely not exist at all. With the life of Christ being the pivotal moment, we need to read the rest of the story with that in mind. An instruction manual can be compartmentalized and chopped up into bits that you only look at when you need to know about certain things. These are two completely different styles.
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Brian, thanks for these comments. It is clear that the story of Scripture becomes more meaningful when we read the whole bible and not just the New Testament. It is sometimes helpful to think of the OT as the family photo album. As Christians, if we don’t learn to read the whole bible we become like Alzheimer’s patients who can’t remember our past or a plant with withering roots.
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I realize over the years that my approach to the bible has changed from a pinball approach to a much deeper revelation. One thing that has remained the same has been my longing to engage my head and heart to seek and understand God while reading the scriptures. To know who God is in a much deeper level and intertwining the spirit within me with this. To me the bible is a form of commune with God. I usually wait to see where God is leading me to read what scriptures – whether it is an entire book, a few verses or a certain genre or point in time.
Having said that, I can also remove myself from the texts and read it like a story. To hear God speak to a broader audience than just me. To learn and grow how God has moved throughout humanity to bring us to today and the toward the future. But always desiring to learn more of God.
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This is so beautiful Kathryn. It is nice to hear how you wait on God to know what to read, but that you also have a broader understanding of the Bible’s role. It reminds me of the famous quote usually attributed to Kierkegaard: “The Bible is God’s love letter to us.”
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Reading the Bible alone is very difficult.
If you read the New Testament first, it will be difficult to understand the Bible, and you will skip the Old Testament later.
So, I first read the Pentateuch and read the Synoptic Gospels and the Old and New Testaments again.I do not agree that the Bible is the big story about Jesus, but if it is limited to the New Testament, I can agree.
I think the Bible is the story of our ancestors. It is the story of people just like us who our ancestors made mistakes, and they tell us that we should do well and not make mistakes like our ancestors.
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