1) The Bible Tells a
Compelling Story:
a) Scripture Witnesses to the Life, Death, and Resurrection
of Jesus Christ
The Old and New Testaments are the earliest and the only
comprehensive sources for understanding the life, death, and resurrection of
Jesus. If we are interested in following Jesus, we read his story by reading
the Gospels.
b) Scripture Offers an authentic portrait of humanity:
The Scriptures are able to account for both the grandeur and
tragedy of human beings. God created
people in God’s own image (Genesis 1:26-31). God created women and men as the
climax of God’s work of creation. God crafted men and women to participate in
God’s mission as stewards of creation, to reflect God’s character to the rest
of Creation, and to live in authentic community with God and with one another.
God designed people to live as God’s hands, feet, and mouthpieces for the
world.
Reflecting on this profound reality, the Psalmist wrote:
NIV Psalm 8:3 When I consider your heavens, the
work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4
what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with
glory and honor. 6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put
everything under his feet: 7 all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the
seas. 9 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Yet, the Scriptures
recognize and describe the fundamental flaw of every person:
Romans 3:23 All have sinned and fallen short of
the glory of God.
The Scriptures trace this
tragic fact back to the first humans who turned away from God (Genesis
3:1-9). Sin then infected and infested
every subsequent person (Gen 3-11 cf Romans 5:12ff). From Genesis 3 onwards, God acts to deliver
humanity from its own alienation and lostness.
Thus, the Scriptures can
account for the “good” that humans are capable of doing, and they account for
the flaws and a capacity for evil that is in all people. They point to our need
for the salvation that only God our creator can provide.
c) Narrates the Mission of God
The Bible tells us a story that begins with the Creation of
World (Gen 1-2) and ends with the description of God’s recreation of a New
Heaven and a New Earth (Rev 21). In other words, the biblical narrative moves
from Creation to New Creation. In between, the Scriptures tell of humanity’s
turning away from God. Humanity’s turning from God fractured humanity’s
relationship with God and fractured Creation itself. The Scriptures then
narrate God’s mission to bring reconciliation, hope, and restoration to a lost
humanity and to a fractured creation. This mission starts with the calling of
Abram to serve as the beginning of a missional community through whom God will
bless all people (Gen 12:3). The pinnacle of God’s saving activities was the
birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The New Testament
witnesses to what God the Father has done through God the Son. After the Father
raised Jesus the Son from the dead, God pours out the Holy Spirit onto all who
believed the good news about Jesus in order to redeem, restore, and unleash a
New Humanity to serve in God’s mission.
The story of the Bible invites its readers to find
themselves in the story as God writes the future.
2) The Scriptures are
Generative
Beyond the reality of the Bible’s compelling story, the
Scriptures themselves are generative because they profoundly and poignantly
serve as God’s Word to humanity.
NIV 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed
and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in 17 so that the
man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
This above passage is often used as proof-text for the
authority of Scripture. What is often
missed in the functionality of
Scripture that Paul has in mind. The
Word of God is powerful to bring about God’s purposes.
a) Power to Transform Lives
The Scriptures open up and describe the salvation that God
seeks to bring into our lives. They provide us with a guide to transformation
and a road map for living the life God created for us to live.
b) Power to Create and Shape Community
The Scriptures describe and empower communities of faith to
embody a God-centered, Christ-formed ethos. The power of a small group Bible
study is a testimony to this feature.
When we study the Scriptures together, we are shaped corporately into a community of God’s
dreams.
c) Mediate the Presence of God
Studying the Bible is not merely about learning information
or reading old books. Through the Holy Spirit, readers of the Scriptures
encounter God.
Challenge:
If you are interested in encountering God, I want to
encourage you to offer this simple pray:
God, I want to know
you. If you are real, reveal yourself to me as I read the Scriptures. Astonish me through the riches of your Word.
Amen.
© 2015 Brian D. Russell
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