The Bible as story

The best way to understand the Bible is to read it as a grand narrative. Sure it has parts that that are written in other forms than narrative. But even those parts serve the big story. (Moby Dick and many Tom Clancy books are examples of narratives that have large sections of non-narrative material as a part of the narrative.)

We have tended to turn the Bible into a collection propositions or a resource for tips and techniques.

But the Bible is essentially a story, from beginning to end. It begins with the story of God’s creation of the universe and human beings. It tells the story of how things went terribly wrong in the Garden. It tells of how God selected key individuals to prepare the way for his plan of the redemption of his good creation: Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Jesus.

This story reached its decisive moment in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

But that was not the end of the story. The story continued with the establishment of the Church on the day of Pentecost. And we’ve been given a glimpse of how the story ends with the new creation in the New Jerusalem.

Understand what I’m saying here. I’m not suggesting that this is an alternative way to read the Bible or an interesting way to get a new perspective on God’s Word. I’m suggesting that this is the proper way to read Scripture.

When we reduce the Bible to something less than narrative, we’re missing the point.

So what do you think?

Pastor Rod

“Helping you become the person God created you to be”