The Bible as Story: READ FIRST

[Josh]

Originally posted 1/18/06:

What follows is a summary of the in-depth teaching we did as a Church in January and February of 2006. For a general idea of ACF's approach to Scripture, this is a great place to start:

Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind when exploring the Scriptures is that they are first and foremost a grand story- God's story in fact. They are written primarily as narrative. Of course, Scripture does include a huge array of different literary forms: historical documents, wisdom literature, legal codes, prophetic oracle, biographies, letters, fantasy literature, theological treatise. But behind all these forms, giving them each 'story context' rests a narrative with particular settings, characters, climaxes, and conclusions, rooting it to real historical events.

The Bible isn't primarily a:

1) List of Rules and Commands for Every Situation

The Bible doesn't purport to instruct us exactly what to do in every given instance. Rather, the story of Scripture exposes us to God's worldview from which we can live our lives.

"Most of the Bible does not consist of rules and regulations- lists of commands to be obeyed. Nor does it consist of creeds-lists of things to be believed. And often, when there are lists of rules or of creedal statements, they seem to be somewhat incidental to the purpose of the writing in question." NT Wright

2) Compendium of Timeless or Abstract Truths.

The Bible is culturally conditioned, written in the language of a particular time and place. As some have said, it wasn't primarily written to us, but for us. In order to understand how Scripture is useful to us today, we need to know about the culture in which it was written. We can easily get off track if we don't. It wasn't meant to be read in isolation from its historical context. The Gospel of Thomas (a rejected Gospel favored by the Gnostics) would be an example of a collection of 'floating abstract truths' divorced from any historical context or story.

3) Index of Beliefs, Doctrine and Systematic Theology.

Have you ever been frustrated or secretly felt the Bible was unnecessarily confusing or unclear, or more precisely, not to the point? Perhaps this feeling has more to do with our preconceptions of what Scripture is there for, and not so much an indictment on how the Bible is actually organized. Consider some thoughts from NT Wright:

"the Protestant and evangelical tradition has not been half so good on the gospels as it has been on the epistles. We don't quite know what to do with them. Because, I think, we have come to them as we have come to the whole Bible, looking for particular answers to particular questions. And we have thereby made the Bible into something which it basically is not." NT Wright

"I remember a well-known preacher saying that he thought a lot of Christians used the Bible as an unsorted edition of Daily Light. It really ought to be arranged into neat little devotional chunks, but it happens to have got all muddled up. To treat the Bible like that is, in fact, simply to make the Bible into a set of abstract truths and rules: abstract devotional, doctrinal, or evangelistic snippets here and there." NT Wright

"The problem with all such solutions as to how to use the Bible is that they belittle the Bible and exalt something else. Basically they imply- and this is what I mean when I say that they offer too low a view of scripture- that God has, after all, given us the wrong sort of book and it is our job to turn it into the right sort of book." NT Wright

4) Manual for Immediate, Practical Application

There are large sections of Scripture that have nothing to do with giving us "practical application". We shouldn't rush into practical application, because we might miss learning the things we will later need to do such application. We should absorb the story, and approach it with curiousity, not always be looking for 3 point applications useful in sermons.

5) History or Science Textbook

The Bible isn't just trying to tell us about concrete scientific facts, but primarily spiritual truths. I'm the first to point out the amazing ways that Scripture harmonizes with science and it's factual, historical reliablity, but we should be careful not to obsessively and exclusively focus on technical aspects over and against the relational thrust of the Bible.

The Bible cannot be confined to these perspectives.

What is the Bible then?

Again, it is primarily the story of God. Listen to Wright:

"It is one thing to go to your commanding officer first thing in the morning and have a string of commands barked at you. But what would you do if, instead, he began 'Once upon a time . . .?'"

Again, think back to your high school Literature class. What are the crucial elements of story? Setting (Time and Place), Plot, Characters (Who's Involved), Climax, and Resolution are important to identify when reading the Bible. Wright helps us see this in a general way:

"The Jewish canon, without the New Testament, means we are left with: Genesis to Malachi, and it is a story in search of an ending. It ends with a sort of 'Yes, and what next?'

The Christian canon as we have it is that same story, with the four gospels saying, in their very different ways, this is the climax of the story, and then the Epistles and the Apocalypse, saying 'Now this is what we do with it.' With the end of Revelation providing this wonderful image of the heavenly city coming down from heaven to earth-there is the climax of the story, with the human project, God's project, finished successfully. That's the big story."

You can identify the details in the story.

We talked about the many benefits of 'story authority' (as Wright says): the way in which we internalize stories, how we remember them, how they evoke our emotions and inspire us, how they get us thinking, how they communicate complex ideas. These are just some of the reasons why God in His wisdom chose to make Scripture one grand narrative, embued with His authority.

For further resources, see the N.T.Wright articles "How Can the Bible Be Authoritative?" and "The Bible for the Post-Modern World" on the NT Homepage (see link on the helpful links) or his new book "The Final Word".

Great discussion last night (1/17/06). Thanks for all your input. I hope you see how inspiring Bible study can be when you see the Scripture as Story. Please, feel free to post comments and further questions here.

[bfriesen]

Jesus set a pretty good example as a storyteller and a character in the larger story of the created world. I like how Jesus answered theological inqiries with stories, broadening the conversation rather than furthur narrowing it. He could have judged any one of his listeners on the spot, bringing the judgement throne to them right then, carving their thinking into pieces, but he often told stories instead. And he seemed to be interested in drawing thoughts out of people rather than telling them what to think.

Stories address both the mind and the emotions. They call to many parts of us at once. What do you think about the servants who worked all day and yet they received the same amount as the workers who showed up at the end of the day? How does that sit with your emotions and your sense of justice? A moment of grace like the one in that story looks very different for each of the characters. And the story involves the listeners in it; it doesn't allow the listeners to sit comortably in whatever answers they might come up with as they attempt to resolve the tension that remains at the end of the story.

[Josh]

And the story involves the listeners in it; it doesn't allow the listeners to sit comortably in whatever answers they might come up with as they attempt to resolve the tension that remains at the end of the story.

I think a lot of modern uneasiness/ awkwardness that people feel when reading Scripture is due to a reluctance to sit with that tension.

Your post also makes me think about how the Word of God (as in Jesus) exemplifies the word of God (as in the canon of the Bible).

[Josh]

Any thoughts on this thread- I'm going to touch on it this Sunday.

[rose]

The idea of "once upon a time" really resonates with me. I'm reminded of how Riley responds to stories as we tell them. She is always saying, "and what happens next". The Bible is a masterpiece and we should be as little children full of wonderment as we anticipate what the next chapter will uncover.

[krhagan19]

Rose, the next chapter is "The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ" Get excited and order your free copy today!!!! (jk)

[Josh]

Elsewhere stevekimes wrote:

Jesus focuses on the OT as a form of fulfillment. And I am sure that it is not just fulfillment of prophecy, but fulfillment of story. There is a way that the OT stories were supposed to conclude, but they didn't. David was supposed to be a righteous king, bringing in a utopia, but he didn't. Jesus did instead. Moses was supposed to be a righteous ruler being faithful to God and entering the promised land. He wasn't. Jesus did instead. The children of Israel were supposed to receive God's full salvation due to their obedience. They didn't. Jesus did instead.

Paul says that all Scripture is good for "doctrine and instruction in righteousness". So how is story good for this, if one cannot come with a clear doctrine or moral from a story?

Some thoughts/ follow-up questions:

I wouldn't say that David and Moses didn't fulfill those things in some way, just in an imperfect or incomplete way. Maybe that's nitpicking. But of course I agree they were ultimately fulfilled in Christ.

As to your second thought, do you think a story must be "clear" in order for us to make it useful? Are you presenting something of a devil's argument here or do you disagree with Paul about whether all of the story of Scripture is useful?

[stevekimes]

I agree with your point about David and Moses. Certainly they are the originators of their blessed way to God-- they just didn't fulfill it completely, as you said.

My question is more just to get your thoughts than to make an actual point. I'm interested in the discussion rather than an answer, here.

[Josh]

My question is more just to get your thoughts than to make an actual point. I'm interested in the discussion rather than an answer, here.

Got it.

Well, I think you're tapping into something our culture does have a hard time with. We're so used to 4-point lectures that it's like we've forgotten how to learn and change and grow from stories more intuitively than analytically.

[stevekimes]

But let's say that we were using the stories in Scripture for "correction" or "doctrine". We will try to come up with the "point" of a scriptural story so to apply it in another context. But so often we might get it wrong. For instance, it has been long held that the story of Onan in Gen 34 can be used against masturbation. However, it is really in opposition to using birth control for the sake of greed. I think there is a point there, but often the "intuitive" point is incorrect because we don't know the cultural context or we aren't reading carefully enough.

[Josh]

Context has always and will always be important. We still have to do our exegesis to understand the story and to translate it into our own lives and situations.

[stevekimes]

But while there is room for more than one interpretation or application of a single story, are there not "right" and "wrong" interpretations? Can we say, "This story isn't saying what you want it to say?" Or is it strictly one's own opinion?

[Josh]

But while there is room for more than one interpretation or application of a single story, are there not "right" and "wrong" interpretations? Can we say, "This story isn't saying what you want it to say?

Absolutely. We aren't free to diverge from good heremeneutics. But once we've put some effort into setting the context, determining the genre, understanding cultural artifacts, etc.. of a particular passage, there may at the end of the day be many different nuanced meanings that can be taken out of a passage. The more tenative an idea we take out of Scripture, the more loosely we should hold it. But if a concept bears itself out well the more you study it, those things are much more certain.

[Josh]

For more along these lines, I'd like to highly recommend N.T. Wright's book Scripture and the Authority of God: How to Read the Bible Today, a new update on his book previously titled The Last Word.

We have it in the ACF library now.