Encountering Jesus Through the Scripture, Pt. 2
When you are reading a narrative, it’s important to know where you are within the story and what is happening in each part of the story. Remember, the Bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus. Modern-day readers have the privilege of reading backward, where we can view the Old Testament through the lens of the New Testament. This helps us see how everything points to Jesus. Author and theologian N.T. Wright proposes a “five-act” hermeneutic, or a way of interpreting the Scripture,
which I find quite helpful. He sees five different sections or narratives that span through the entire Bible. Each section could be viewed as an “act” of a whole play. The “five acts” are as follows: (1) Creation, (2) The Fall, (3) Israel, (4) Jesus, and (5) the Church. These different parts of the story offer readers a framework to understand the overall story of scripture better and discover where we are in relation to the overarching narrative. For example, when we read Genesis 1-2, the first “act,” we must remember that we live in the fifth “act,” the Church. We live after the life, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus; we live after the Holy Spirit was poured out on Pentecost. Not only does this kind of framework allow readers to see the breadcrumbs of the story, but it also inhibits taking a piece of the story and doing what you want with it. There is always a story that is building. While many difficult questions come up in the Old Testament, some answers may be found as the narrative moves towards Jesus–bringing further clarity in the light of the New Testament.
The foundational charter of the fifth act, the Church, is the New Testament. Hebrews 1:1–2 says it like this, “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.” This means we don’t currently live in the previous acts, and we must live in the appropriate manner for this moment. The first three acts of the Old Testament have been filled up by Jesus (Matt. 5:17). Therefore, it’s vital to understand what came before us, how it currently shapes us, and where we are in God’s story. This differentiation is how we find ourselves in the unfolding story of God. At the end of the fifth act, we see that the story does not end with us “going to heaven” but with “new creation.” The task of the church is to follow the way of Jesus towards the renewal of all things, where heaven’s realities fully become ours when Jesus returns. Reading through both the Old and New Testaments is a powerful way to encounter Jesus.
Understanding the Context
As was earlier stated, knowing where you are and what is happening in the story matters. There is a need for Christians to dive deep into the story of God. When we lose the context, we miss out on the invitation to be transformed from the story–losing track of its ups and downs and the in betweens. When we discover the context, it’s kind of like jumping into the deep end of a pool. There is a real danger of downsizing the Scripture in the digitization of this age. When Christians no longer engage Scripture as a whole, turning it solely into bite-sized devotional thoughts or scattered pieces of truth, they become disconnected from the context and meaning.
Pastor and author Jay Kim gives a good illustration in his brilliant book Analog Church. Imagine you took the text of a Shakespearian play and cut the script down into short sentences, then placed them into small fortune cookies to be opened each day. Sure, you would be reading the same words, yet, you would miss out on the entire story. “Reading the Bible alone in short, bite-sized bits can be a healthy supplemental part of discipleship to Jesus, but it must always be paired with an ongoing commitment to engaging Scripture as a whole, diving deeply into its long story, alongside the community of the church.
Stepping into the Story
The Bible itself encourages people to study and engage in the Scripture corporately and personally. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). By reading and studying the Scripture, we are invited to listen more closely–listening to encounter, to grow, to be guided and shaped by the Holy Spirit. Author and Missiologist Leslie Newbigin writes, “The Bible is the way in which we come to know God because we don’t know a person except by knowing his or her story.” When you read the Scripture,
you are being invited into a relationship. The Bible is meant to be read transformationally–it must be read, received, embodied, and lived out.
In the Scripture, Jesus invited his followers to discover the truth by the way he lived his life and discover what it meant to follow him. As they re ordered their lives, people experienced the truth of His Kingdom, which created a desire for more of Jesus and His presence and power. The earliest followers of Jesus were known as ‘The Way’ because they were known as imitators of Jesus; they were apprentices known for their practice. Because of this, their lives looked radically different than the culture they lived in.
Jesus also called himself the truth. Practice without belief does not result in the life of Jesus. Today, there are many people caught in practices or empty religion without a living faith in the person and work of Jesus. Jesus warned about this in Scripture (Matt. 23:3), as does the rest of the teaching in the New Testament (Rom 3:28; Jas. 2:18, 26; Heb. 11:6). This is merely knowledge about God, which the Pharisees had, yet not an experiential knowledge of knowing Jesus with our hearts. The promise that Jesus gives to those who follow him as the way and the truth is “life to the full” (Jn. 10:10). What we believe about Jesus and the Scriptures matters. Knowing who we are in Jesus and how we grow in truth matters.
“The Bible is the way in which we come to know God because we don’t know a person except by knowing his or her story.” Leslie Newbigin