- How big is your Bible?
No I’m not talking about the physical size of a printed book you can hold in your hands, or the number of words there may be in an online copy of the Bible. Rather, I’m asking about how much of the Bible do you really know and understand?
Part of our Adventist culture is the belief that “We are people of the Book.” So it shocked me some years ago, when I discovered that despite years of church school, Christian college, and even a master’s degree in religious education with classes in seminary, that my personal Bible had very little in it. I had lots of proof texts, I had lots of doctrinal formulations, but when asked a simple question one should should ask about any book, I simply had no answers. Here’s the question: What is the Bible about?
It’s a question we ask 4th graders, or at least we used to. Let’s take an Adventist classic children’s book: Singer on the Sand, by Norma Youngberg. (If you haven’t read it, you really should. It’s a great story told by a skilled storyteller). The book is about a missionary family who goes to a volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean to preach the Gospel. That’s a very short summary, but at least you would have some idea what you were letting yourself in for.
Before you answer what the Bible is about, take a minute to realize the depth and breadth of the content of that book. What theme connects the book of Ecclesiastes with the book of Daniel, or Job with Psalms, or the book of Judges with the gospel at all?
If someone asked you the theme which connected all the individual books found within the Scriptures, what would you say? What unifying theme connects each of the greatly varied collection of individual books to all the others? We could say God, or Jesus, but that doesn’t really tell us much, and it’s hard to work God into, say, Esther, where God is never mentioned, or Song of Solomon, where, well, you know. . . .
Years ago, I actually sat in a class of young adults where the teacher went through the Sabbath school lesson asking questions to which the young adults would answer God, the Bible, Jesus, and the teacher nodded every time. I wish I could say that I imagined or dreamed this, but I actually witnessed it. Clearly, the teenagers were forced to be there and had no interest whatsoever. I do not blame them, but rather the teacher. He accepted the same answers over and over and never had anything better to offer.
I mention this because these are the easy answers to the question concerning the theme of the Bible. We say God, or Jesus, but that would tell us little about what it contains. And we live in a post-Christian society, where very few adults have any real knowledge of Bible at all. And those of us who are in churches often have these rather sketchy ideas that I had years ago. If we hope to reach others, to answer probing questions — even for our own children — we will need much more than proof texts and doctrines. People want more than a set of facts or logical propositions—they want an experience; a relationship.
So back to the question, what theme connects every book in the Bible, so we can answer questions like these: Why should I read the Bible? What does it tell me? And how does it help me?
When we understand the basic theme of the Bible, it becomes clear what the book of Chronicles has to do with the book of Romans, and how they relate to the book of Exodus.
When I study a book of the Bible, I try to summarize its central them in as few words as possible. This can be challenging. Even thouogh I’ve been exploring this question for more than 30 years, I have only managed to identify the central theme of perhaps 15 or 20 of the 66 books that form the canon.
We must begins with the grand theme that pervades the entire collection of 66 books. I cannot claim to have formulated this on my own. Others wiser than I provided me with an understanding of the unifying theme of the entire Bible, and so I share it with you.
The Bible is about “salvation history,” about all the saving acts God has performed for His people through the ages. For me, this provides a central thread which connects all the books of the Bible, and helps me understand how each one contributes and enriches the whole.
That’s a helpful start, but only a start. Next, we have to deal with what many consider the oldest book in the Bible. And it poses a great challenge, because in many ways, it does not appear to fit with the rest of the canon at all!
We take that up next time.
- “Your Bible” consists of only the individual books you really understand
- Doctrines and proof texts have their place, but they don’t tell us what any of the books is “about.”
- In a post-Christian world, people want more than doctrines, they want an experience; a relationship
- The theme of the Bible is “salvation history,” the history of God’s saving actions on behalf ot His people.
