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.
^ Shortcode ^
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
Answer
Talk it Through
-
1.2 – Your Experience with the Bible
-
My experience with the Bible at first was as a teenager and as I went to Youth Group and Church I got hungrier to discover more on who God was and who he was to me. Now, I read it for many reasons, to learn & grow personally, to continue to discover who God is and letting the Holy Spirit speak to me through scripture.
Years ago I was taught that it was like a library with many authors in one book. That simplified the understanding of the Bible and who wrote it and how it became. When I talk to people who don’t understand what the Bible is, I explain it just like that, its a story of Gods redemptive plan.
-
I like to ready the Bible in sections, trying to understand the full context of the text. At times while studying for a specific topic, I will ping pong around a bit, but generally I like reading the Bible in chunks.
I have long believed that the bible points to Jesus as one grand story of God’s love for us, and I agree with the point that while yes, there are instructions in it, it is all the more about showing us God’s heart for his creation, and his desire to redeem each one of us!
-
<div>I fully believe that the Bible is the living word of God and that is how I read it. I go through spurts of reading certain chapters, different books, and asking God to show me what he wants me to see. I’ve never had a set way of reading the Bible because I believe God is always revealing different things to me through the Bible & that doesn’t come from specific order.
</div>Reading the Bible as one big story about Jesus changes the narrative of the Bible and shows the the true love of God who sent his only Son Jesus to die for our sins. If you read the Bible as an instructional book it is more difficult to see a common theme throughout the Bible, Love. That is our true mission on earth to love God and love our neighbors ( Mark 12:30-31).
Log in to reply.