When I was in elementary school, one of my classmates presented a summary of a story written by CS Lewis that told about four children, a lion who was king, a white witch, and a magical land that was hidden and accessed through from a closet. The story captivated me! So, I bought the book The Chronicles of Narnia and read it with pleasure. But years later, after my conversion to Christ, I realized that I had overlooked the author's obvious intention to point his readers to Christ.
It is possible to read a story, find it interesting, and still completely miss its central message. For example, you could put excessive attention on the setting or secondary characters. You could read only isolated paragraphs or jump aimlessly from one place to another. You could even try to construct the story's plot or moral from various disconnected sections. But if you do something like that, you will most likely misunderstand the story, the hero figure, and the main themes.
The Bible is a divinely inspired story and tells that great story—also called a metanarrative—through a collection of stories, songs, poetry, wisdom sayings, gospels, letters, and apocalyptic literature. Together, these diverse styles tell the true story of God's redemptive work in the world. The Bible contains sixty-six books written by different authors. These authors were inspired by the Holy Spirit, who used the personality and context of each of them to give us the canon of Scripture, which contains a single message and main theme.
Believers recognize the divine authority of the Scriptures and even read and study the Bible daily for years. And yet, many still fail to grasp its main message. In John 5:39-40, Jesus addresses some people in the same situation and says, “Search the Scriptures; because it seems to you that in them you have eternal life; and they are the ones who bear witness to Me; and you do not want to come to Me so that you may have life.”
It is possible to honor the Scriptures and still read and use them incorrectly by not seeing the big picture that God has designed. Fortunately, the Author of the Bible has left us a good number of clues that clearly point out the central theme of his story.
Here is a formidable clue offered by Jesus Christ himself:
And he said to them: These are the words that I spoke to you while I was still with you: that everything must be fulfilled that is written about Me in the law of Moses, in the prophets and in the psalms. Then he opened their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures; and he said to them: Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead on the third day; and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I will send the promise of My Father upon you; But remain yourselves in the city of Jerusalem, until you are endued with power from on high (Lk 24:44-49).
Jesus explains two things in this passage. First, He makes the striking claim that every part of the Old Testament—from the Pentateuch to the Prophets to the Psalms—speaks of His person. In short, Jesus identifies Himself as the promised Messiah. Secondly, He says that His disciples will be witnesses of these things to all nations; that is, to all people in all places.
“ From Genesis to Revelation, Jesus Christ is the Hero
and the central message of said story. ”
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Simply put, you won't understand the biblical metanarrative until you understand that everything in it revolves around Jesus! From Genesis to Revelation, Jesus Christ is the Hero and the central message of that story. And even more, you won't understand who Jesus is unless you understand how the big biblical picture centers on Him! Jesus is the key to biblical interpretation, and this means that anyone who carefully reads the Bible will find him at the beginning of the story, in the middle, and at the end.
God has revealed to us in the Scriptures the King's purposes, the King's plans, and the King's promises. As these themes develop in the biblical story, we must pay attention to them and read them just as Jesus says we should. The story of God is a great story. In reality, it is the greatest of all and is centered on His plan of redemption through the person and work of Jesus Christ. But to interpret the Bible faithfully, we need the right tools. The discipline of biblical theology is one such tool. Biblical theology helps us grasp the primary purpose of the Bible, to protect and guide the church, to read, understand, and teach the Bible as Jesus said we should, and helps us in our evangelistic efforts.
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This article was adapted from a portion of the book Biblical Theology , published by Poiema Publications . You can download a free sample by visiting this link .
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