What is the Bible?

What is the Bible?

Through the course of my life, I have adopted and lived out many different beliefs and world views. Several I left unarticulated. I had not yet claimed what I was living. I am excited to lift to the surface one such belief by exploring my understanding of the Bible. The Bible is God’s eternal presence, and love in written form with the purpose of making new creations in us and help us to enter into the kingdom of God now and yet to come. This statement will be broken down into its parts so as to explain how I come to this conclusion.

The Bible is the Word, Jesus. I take seriously that the explanation given in The Gospel of John of just what Jesus is, the Word made flesh.[1] I then see the Bible as an extension of Jesus. It is the continuation of Jesus’ incarnational ministry in our lives.

Fowler points out that the incarnation has lead to a theological understanding of Scripture through a Christological analogy. "Confession that Christ has two natures, human and divine, Scripture is taken to be both human and divine".[2] The human audiences and cultural practices dictate the need to understand the historical or human aspect. For example, I have no firsthand knowledge of what it means to produce wine or crops. Thus when Jesus tells a parable about seeds or using farming imagery I need to research what these practices are to catch crucial points that Jesus is making. This background is not a goal in and of itself, but a support to understanding what God is saying through the Word. The primary precept of the Bible will always rest in it being God’s holy Word. As a result God’s presence is in and with the Bible as we read, interpret, and teach.

The Bible is eternal. In thinking about the Bible as being God’s Word that brings about creation, as seen in Genesis, and is God incarnate, Jesus, then I arrive at the conclusion that the Bible is eternal as God is. This is supported by Jesus’ claim “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away”.[3]

As eternal, the Bible then is the universal history as well as alive today. While the text may follow specific people, or culture, the Bible is God’s universal story. This story is really about God and the reconciliation of the world and God. The constant invitation within the Bible, and beyond, are a call to come into relationship with God, and be reconciled to our Creator. As a result, I have developed the practice of reading, praying and reflecting on passages before I ever look at any commentary, or historical research, because God is still speaking today through the Word.

The Bible, as a result of the relentless reconciliation, is God’s love. As a result of God’s love poured out in the Son, we see love for all. It is in this love that we see God more clearly as the triune God who wishes a relationship with us.

"If one has a grasp of what God's Ultimate desires for us are and how Scripture fits into God's plans ultimately to bring those desires to fruition, then theological interpretation will need to be closely tied both to our proper end in God". [4]

The Bible is part of the missio Dei, as it explains how God is “putting forth the power of his spirit to bring the universal work of Christ for the salvation of the world nearer to its completion”.[5] As we read the Bible, God’s love reconciles us and invites us to enter the kingdom of God.

The Bible has many characteristics, but one that I find most fascinating is the diversity present within the text. “The original texts that comprise the Bible were written by a variety of human authors (known and unknown) in diverse historical, linguistic, and cultural settings".[6] This diversity in the literary genres, settings, and linguistics. Literary diversity includes many genres: letters, genealogies, apocalyptic, wisdom, legal codes, laments, proverbs, songs, sermons, epistles, discourse, narrative and more. Historical settings vary over thousands of years, distant lands, like Egypt and Rome, situations like battles, famines, and exile. We see the focus on those in power and slaves. Diverse linguistics in the Bible includes Hebrew, Greek, and other spoken languages like Aramaic. This diversity indeed makes the Bible unique.

In the end we can see that many things make the Bible a special, unique text. Its diversity is one of the characteristics that draw our attention. Ultimately as we read the text and become new creations, the Word becomes more than just a book. It is holy.

Bibliography

1) Fowl, Stephen E. Theological Interpretation of Scripture. Eugene: Cascade Books, 2009.

2) Newbigin, Lesslie. The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission. Grand Rapids: William B Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1978.

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[1] John 1:1-2, 14 NRSV

[2] Stephen E. Fowl. Theological Interpretation of Scripture. (Eugene: Cascade Books, 2009), 2.

[3] Matthew 24: 35 NRSV

[4] Stephen E. Fowl. Theological Interpretation of Scripture. (Eugene: Cascade Books, 2009), XI.

[5] Lesslie Newbigin. The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission (Grand Rapids: William B Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1978), 60.

[6] Stephen E. Fowl. Theological Interpretation of Scripture. (Eugene: Cascade Books, 2009), 2.