July 29: Review, Reflection, and Thanks

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only [Son], who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1: 1-14

“Word” – Greeks used this term not only for the spoken word, but also for the unspoken word still in the mind, the reason. Applied to the universe, it meant the rational principle that governs all things. Jews used this language as a way of referring to God.

It’s a beautiful image to consider as we think about Scripture, this equating of God and control of the universe with a “word.” The imagery of Genesis has God literally speaking the world into existence. God’s Son is truly “full of grace and truth” – and so is the written word we have from God.

Eugene Peterson describes John 1 as “emphasizing the primacy of language (Word and words) in the very being-ness of God and the way God works . . . “ Eat This Book. And we believe that God is at work . . . working directly in the world and working through the word – the Scriptures. And we believe God’s work is our work, and thus we need to pay attention. Our objectives for this Bible study were to help us pay better attention – to listen:

• Understand some key principles that frame the interpretation of Scripture

• Discuss insights on interpretation and context, to help us challenge assumptions and bring a fresh perspective to our reading

• Review some of the different forms of Scripture (poetry, narrative, parables, epistles, etc.) to help appreciate the richness of divinely inspired/human written Scripture

We’ve talked about the importance of exegesis (there & then) before hermeneutics (here & now), and we’ve discussed literary forms and historical contexts, the idea of reading in paragraphs, and the idea of looking for the larger picture across a given text and the larger messages of Scripture – of probing the author’s (and God’s) intent in presenting their inspired message.

As we wrap up, we’d like to:

• Look at the larger picture – the “overall story” of the Bible

• Look at ourselves – as a community trying to listen to this story

The Biblical Story

Too often we might fall into a perception that limits the Bible to a divine guidebook, a long list of commands to be obeyed or a set of theological propositions to be believed. Of course the Bible does provide guidance, and it does contain plenty of true propositions and divine directives – but it is so much more than that.

Here we have the grandest narrative of all – God’s own story – his “Word.” This is not one more story of humankind’s search for God – this is God’s story, the account of His search for us.

A story essentially told in four chapters: Creation, Rebellion, Redemption, Consummation

Creation

God’s story does not begin with a hidden god that people are seeking. On the contrary, the biblical narrative begins with God right from the beginning, presented as the Creator of all that is. – “In the beginning God . . ."

• The narrative tells us that God is before all things, the cause of all things – and therefore he is above all things and the goal of all things.

• God stands as the origin of all things, and all creation – all history itself – has the eternal God as its final purpose and consummation.

The narrative also tells us something about humanity

• We are the crowning glory of the Creator’s work, beings made in God’s likeness, with whom God could commune and in whom he could delight. Beings that would know the pleasure of God’s presence, love, and favor.

• Created in God’s image, humankind thus enjoyed the vision of God and lived in fellowship with God

• Nonetheless created beings, and thus intended to be dependent on the Creator for life and existence in the world

Rebellion

This is a long and tragic chapter, and the dark thread runs through the whole story almost to the very end. Humankind coveted godlikeness and chose independence from the Creator – but we were not intended to live so and thus experienced the consequences of our rebellion. Three consequences:

1. Lost our vision of God with regard to his nature and character. Guilty, selfish, hostile ourselves, we projected that onto God – and thus turned from Him to create our own gods in our own image

Paul describes this in Romans 1:21-22, 24

“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal human beings and birds and animals and reptiles. . . . They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised.”

In exchanging the truth about God for a lie, we saw God as full of caprice, contradictions, hostility, and retribution – all projections of our fallen selves.

2. Distorted the divine image in ourselves. We were created to image, and thus represent, God in all that we are and do. But instead of being loving, giving, selfless, thoughtful, and merciful – we became selfish, unloving, unforgiving, spiteful, and petty.

3. Loss of the divine presence – and with that our relationship, fellowship with God. In place of communion with the Creator, we became lost, adrift – creatures who broke God’s laws, abused God’s creation, and suffered in our brokenness, alienation, loneliness, and pain.

Humankind’s rebellion created an awful distance between ourselves and God – and we were enslaved to sin, unwilling and unable to come to God for life and restoration.

Redemption

The Bible tells us that the holy and just God, whose moral perfection burns against sin and rebellion, is in fact also a God full of mercy and love and faithfulness. Chapter 3 is all about this merciful, loving God reaching out to redeem and restore God’s rebellious creation – so that God might restore to us the lost vision of God, renew in us the divine image, and reestablish our relationship with God.

Thus God came to a man, Abraham, and made a covenant with him that the world would be blessed through his offspring and the relationship God would establish with them.

He freed them from slavery in Egypt and made a covenant with Israel that he would be their Savior and Protector forever, that he would be uniquely present with them among all the peoples of the world.

But they would also have to keep covenant with him, by letting themselves be reshaped into his likeness. God gave them the Law as a gift to them, both to reveal what God is like and to protect them while they were being reshaped.

But the story tells us they rebelled over and over again – and looked on God’s gift of law as a form of taking away their freedom. So they experienced several rounds of oppression and rescue. God sent them a king, but things go bad again and God in love sends them prophets.

In the end their constant unfaithfulness is too much, and God at last judges his people with captivity and exile – and yet his grace restores the nation and promises a future through a new “son of David.” And the great, final scenes of this chapter reveal that the “son of David” is none other than God himself.

Born as the child of a peasant girl, within the fold of an oppressed people, Jesus taught and lived among us. And through his death and resurrection, he defeated all the powers that have stood against us, and he bore the weight of the guilt and punishment of our rebellion.

The heart of the story – a loving God through his incarnation restored our lost vision of God, through his crucifixion and resurrection made possible our being restored to the image of God, and through the gift of the Spirit became present with us in constant fellowship.

“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:18

Consummation

The story has not yet ended – the final chapter is still being written, but we know how the story turns out. So God’s story is filled with hope for us as we live in the “already/not yet” kingdom. We’re already in the kingdom, but the kingdom is not yet fully realized. We are to live as ambassadors of this kingdom, as people with confidence in the ultimate outcome of God’s story.

We can see how the books of the Bible convey this grand story . . .

Narrative of Israel: Genesis – Esther, tell the story of God’s:

• covenants with his people
• faithfulness to them – despite their repeated unfaithfulness to him
• choice of the lesser or unfavored to work his purpose
• rescue of them from slavery
• dwelling among them in the tabernacle and temple
• gift of the law
• provision of the sacrificial system
• choice of a king

Writings of Israel: Job - Lamentations

Inspired human responses to the words and deeds of God

• Praises, prayers - and questions
• Reflections on wisdom – “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”

Prophets of Israel: Isaiah – Malachi

Voices of God, calling his people back to divine realities

• They belong to God, God does not belong to them
• God has a purpose for them – redemption and blessing to all the nations
• They are to reflect God’s character

Gospels & Acts: Matthew – Acts

Jesus as the centerpiece of the Biblical story

• His life, his teaching, his character – and his death and resurrection
• Climax and fulfillment of the story

Epistles & Revelation: Romans – Revelation

• Instruction, encouragement, and exhortation of God’s redeemed people
• Christ and the Spirit
• Already, but not yet – life in Christ is already a reality, but not yet what it will be at the end

We are characters in the story, and yet able to read and benefit from hearing the story.

Now that we’ve looked at the larger story, let’s look at ourselves, as we try to listen to this story.

How are we different from academic students of the Bible?

We are a faith community – we believe the Bible is inspired to tell us God’s story – and thus responding to this story shapes our lives in profound ways. And our response is not just as individuals, but as a community of God’s people

What does that mean for our reading of the Bible? What do we have as a community of listeners?

We are blessed with experience, insight, perspective to share - and contexts both common and varied. This creates the opportunity for “testimony” - not a selfish, uninformed “this is the meaning I give to Scripture” but “this is the meaning Scripture gives to me.”

We also have obligations. Our obligation in community is not just to read and explore Scripture, but to let Scripture shape our individual and community values and behavior.

We are called to be open to Scripture probing our motives, our assumptions, our actions, our rationalizations – and that’s a challenge.

Christian communities do not always meet the challenge. This is not a failure of Scripture, but reflects failures in our character. Avoiding this requires an open community discussion in which we do not force our readings onto Scripture, but allow Scripture to read us.

And that requires open reading and discussion of Scripture – study not just to enlighten our minds with insights or understanding, but study to engage our hearts in action

We need each other – and we need to read to and study with each other:

“Christian communities are central for the ongoing task of enabling people to become wise readers of Scripture. To become wise readers of Scripture, we need to acquire a range of skills and virtues manifested in Christian discipleship. These skills and virtues are given their shape and form under the guidance of the Holy Spirit in and through the particular friendships and practices of Christian communities. They both are prerequisite for, and the result of, wise readings of Scripture.” – Reading in Communion, page 36. Stephen E. Fowl & L. Gregory Jones, Wipf & Stock Publishers, 1998.

We listen best together – and we listen best by doing together . . . .

Our closing reading is James 1:22–25

“22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Those who listen to the word but do not do what it says are like people who look at their faces in a mirror and, after looking at themselves, go away and immediately forget what they look like. 2425 But those who look intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continue in it—not forgetting what they have heard but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”

Thank you for the opportunity to work through this study with you. I appreciate your participation, your comments, your encouragement – and your demonstration of “the skills and virtues manifested in Christian discipleship.”