Chapter 6: Finding God in the Historical Bible
God is a God of history and we have to read the Bible as a history book.
The Organic Word: God took humans seriously by using human authors, with all the attendant issues, to capture the story of God. The Bible is definitely full of history (examples given).
How to Read the Bible Both-And Rather Than Either-Or. The Bible is both human and divine, not either human or divine. Reading the Bible that way implies understanding the message for the people of the time and then interpreting it for our time. The Bible certainly talks about issues like marriage, creation, economics. Those passage are certainly not directed to our present-day point of view. We have to make the jump from the ancient using God’s principles to the current.
Can God Really Be Found in This Kind of Book? Embracing the Bible as historical presents real challenges. How else would God speak. If he didn’t speak in a way that the ancients could understand, it would have been silly. What do we have to gain?
- The historical Bible highlights the progressive nature of God’s revelation.
- It serves a major corrective when our theology gets off track.
- It shows us that God is right there with us.