Reading and interpreting the Bible without having a basic understanding of the overall message of the Bible is dangerous. Of course, it takes time to grasp the basic message of the Bible. But it is an indispensable task for all of us if we want to handle the Word of God correctly and minimize our chances to misinterpret the Bible. Each mirco-story is shaped by the marco-Story of the Bible; each mico-story, however, gives meanings to the macro-Story. The big-picture of the Bible is the forest; a particular book, a chapter, a paragraph, or even a verse, is a tree. The more we grasp the forest, the better it is for us to know the tree. This is the basic principle of reading the Bible. We tend to pay too much attention to details but fail to see the overall context.
Biblical theology is the fancy term for that. It helps us explore the story line of the Bible and capture the unity of the Bible. It shows us links among the 66 canonical books that were written in various epochs. It allows us to see God’s progressive revelation from Genesis to Revelation. His Story is not fragmented. Rather, it guides us progressively from Creation, Fall, Redemption, to New Creation. It’s a process of gracious unfolding.
For example, we can dwell on Israel’s civil laws in Exodus 21-23 endlessly. But if we fail to interpret all these laws in the context of Redemption (Exod. 1-18), Covenant (Exod. 19-24), and Worship (Exod. 25-40), all these laws put us into bondage, for we lack of the overall context to provide an interpretive lens to decipher all the details, which are difficult to interpret to some extent. God rescued Israel from the bondage of Egypt so that they could worship him. But worship is not a religious activity. It’s about a Father-son relationship. It’s a covenantal relationship. It’s a personal relationship. Thus, God entered into a covenant with Israel, saying “I am your God; you are my people.” All these laws instructed Israel how to live as “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exod. 19:6). They were not obligated to follow them. They applied them with heart and mind because of God’s redemption (Exod. 20:2). Redemption precedes the commandments; grace comes before the law. (Exod. 20:3-17) The civil laws instructed them to practice fairness and justice among themselves. God then gave Israel instructions on how to build the tabernacle (Exod. 25-31, 35-40; Exod. 32-34, the Golden Calf incident).
“Yes, I will make the Tabernacle and the altar most holy, and I will set apart Aaron and his sons as holy, that they may be my priests. I will live among the people of Israel and be their God, and they will know that I am the Lord their God. I am the one who brought them out of Egypt so that I could live among them. I am the Lord their God” (Exod. 29:44-46 NLT).
God dwelled among Israel; Israel encountered God at the Tabernacle—Tent of Meeting (Lev.1:1). This is worship. The ultimate goal of redeeming Israel from Pharaoh was for worship.[1] The redeemed Israel was worshipful being. Israel existed to worship the One who gave her the being.
Each micro-context gives meaning to the marco-intertext.[2] Israel tried to obey these civil laws because they were worshipful beings. They obeyed them in order to worship God in their community, for any worshipful community should be based on fairness and justice. Israel’s God is the God of justice. Thus, practicing justice and fairness is the way to worship God in community and on earth. “May your name be honored. May your kingdom come soon. May your Will be done here on earth just as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:9-10). His name, kingdom, and will are being actualized on earth. This is worship. Israel was called to do just that.
Here are the ten books on the Marco-Story of the Bible.
- D. A. Carson, The God Who is There: Finding Your Place in God’s Story (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2010)
- Christopher J. H. Wright, Salvation Belongs to Our God: Celebrating the Bible’s Central Story (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2007)
- Michael Dauphinais and Matthew Levering, Holy People, Holy Land: A Theological Introduction to the Bible (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2005)
- Walter C. Kaiser Jr., The Promise-Plan of God: A Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008)
- Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Recovering the Unity of the Bible: One Continuous Story, Plan, and Purpose (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009)
- Craig G. Bartholomew and Michael W. Goheen, The Drama of Scripture: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2004)
- C. Marvin Pate, J. Scott Duvall, et. al., The Story of Israel: A Biblical Theology (Downers Grove, IL.: Inter-Varsity Press; Leicester: Apollos, 2004)
- Daniel P. Fuller, The Unity of the Bible: Unfolding God’s Plan for Humanity (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992)
- John Stott, Through the Bible, Through the Year: Daily Reflections from Genesis to Revelation (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2006)
- Edmund P. Clowney, The Unfolding Mystery: Discovering Christ in the Old Testament (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1988)
[1] “Discipleship and mission are, of course, important, necessary and biblical aspects of the threefold purpose of the church, but worship should be recognized as having primary, for worship is the eternal duty and joy of the people of God. In the new creation, in the eternal state, the Great Commission will have been completed and God’s people will have been brought to maturity in Christ (Eph. 4:13), but God’s people will continue to sing God’s praises and to enjoy him forever, in ever deepening measure (Eph. 3:19, ‘filled to the measure of all the fullness of God’), unto the eternity of eternities, forever, world without end.” John Jefferson David, Worship and the Reality of God: An Evangelical Theology of Real Presence (Downers Grove, IL.: IVP academic, 2010), p. 177.
[2] Intertext “refers to the location of a text within the larger linguistic frame of reference on which it consciously or unconsciously draws for meaning.” Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke. The New International Commentary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), p. 13.
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