While pursuing my MA in Biblical Exegesis from Wheaton College, I had the opportunity to take a doctoral-level class in Old Testament theology with Dr. Paul House.
I wrote a paper in which I traced the various ways the author of 1 and 2 Samuel demonstrates David’s unwillingness to use military might or political maneuvering to take the throne that was rightfully his.
I got to sit down with Dr. House to discuss my first draft of the paper. His feedback would shape the way I thought about biblical interpretation and theology from that point forward.
He told me that I’d done a good job of interacting with the theme but had not said anything about God. There was no theology in the piece. I had some rewriting to do.
Over the years as I have taught students to read the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, I’ve encouraged them to ask three basic questions:
1. What does the text in question tell me about who God is?
2. What does the text tell me about who I am?
3. How does knowing who God is impact the way I live?
These three questions assume something that is very basic: the Old and New Testaments are God’s revealed Word. As the final article in a three-part series, I will be focusing on the Old Testament and its revelatory character.
Because the Old Testament is God’s revelation, it is, as the three questions above suggest, required for Christian discipleship.
What Does the Text in Question Tell Me about Who God Is?
This initial question is the one I missed in the first draft of my paper at Wheaton College. The Bible is transformative because it introduces us to the Triune God.
The Bible is misused when employed to develop a set of abstract principles, morals, or ethics that put God in the background. That is because the Bible is primarily theological. It gives us a glimpse of who God is.
When we ask what a given text reveals about God, we are seeking to understand the God who is communicating with us. The text conveys a picture of God. even when it does not make specific statements about God.
For instance, when we read the Creation narrative in Genesis, we don’t have specific statements about God of the sort that we find in Psalm 22:28 (“For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations”) or Psalm 104:24 (O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures). Instead, we have to discover who God is through story.
In the Creation narrative, for instance, we might identify the following three characteristics of God:
1. God’s sovereignty. God speaks the world into existence without resistance. Before God spoke, the earth was formless and void. The world does not organize itself…God brings order to chaos.
2. God is wise. God organizes the world so that it works together in perfect harmony. God creates man and woman in his image to be his representatives, to be fruitful and multiply, and to rule over the creation.
3. God is benevolent. God blessed humankind and offered a beautiful destiny to men and women as his image bearers. God creates a world fit for human flourishing. The Creation story ends with God judging the world to be “very good” and enjoying Sabbath rest.
As such, we might say that Genesis 1:1-2:3 tells us the following about God:
God is the One who creates an ordered world to allow for the flourishing of every aspect of creation.
Genesis 3:1-24 would give us a different take on God. After the Fall in Genesis 3:1-7 and the consequences mapped out in 3:8-24, we find that God is a benevolent ruler who bears with humanity even when humanity subverts and mistrusts Him. God’s benevolence is still evident in Genesis 3 despite the unfaithfulness of humanity.
Exploring who God is in these narratives highlights the revelatory aspect of the Old Testament. It tells us who God is. It establishes God’s identity.
What Does the Text Tell Me about Who I Am?
The biblical text reveals God, but it also reveals the true nature of humanity. There are explicit statements about humanity as found in Genesis 1:27. We are made “in the image of God.”
There are also narratives that give us a sense of who we are and what we are capable of through stories. As we read the biblical text, we should be thinking about what the scriptures reveal about us.
Biblical narratives don’t just entertain. They communicate a message. That message is intended to show us who we are and point to who we should be. or restoration, curse, or blessing.
Reading the Bible should lead us toward transformation. Part of that transformation involves reshaping our understanding of who we are. It also calls us to move away from who we are now and toward who God requires us to be.
Returning to Genesis 1:1-2:3, for example, we see that humans are creatures made in the image of God and given a particular mission and destiny.
We are to “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (1:28).
While these statements may need some unpacking, they give us a starting point for understanding who we are.
In thinking about who we are, it is important that we recognize the unique gifts God has given us. He has also put us in a position to make a unique contribution to the body of Christ.
At the same time, we are limited in our perspectives, misdirected in our desires, and flawed in any number of other ways.
As such, we must ask how our unique, individual characteristics help us read the scriptures more faithfully and how they hinder us from doing so.
How Does Who God Is Impact the Way I Live?
In Reading in Communion, Stephen Fowl and Gregory Jones examine one of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s many pastoral insights. Bonhoeffer was a German theologian and Lutheran minister during WWII.
His opposition to Nazi Germany, his commitment to the communal life of the church, and his passion for true discipleship continue to captivate and inspire men and women of faith to this very day.
Despite his exemplary and influential theological and pastoral service Bonhoeffer was troubled by the presence of certain misconceptions and falsehoods that continued to manifest themselves in his everyday life.
Ultimately came to recognize that he was a sinner who had been reading scripture “for himself” rather than “over against himself.”
He realized that he had been using God’s Word to authorize sinful tendencies and behaviors in his own life. He had not come to God expecting to be transformed. He had come determined to stay the same.
As Bonhoeffer realized, Scripture is to be an agent of change in our lives. It calls us to choose a peculiar sort of life lived under the gracious, gentle, powerful hand of our God.
Standing on the edge of the Promised Land, Moses spoke the following words to the Israelites:
“I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you today. I have explained the way of life and the way of death to you, the way of blessing and the way of the curse. Choose life that you and your descendants may live by loving The Lord, your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him. Loving obedience to The Lord is your life and the length of your days that you may live in the land which The Lord swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”(Deuteronomy 30:19-20).
In the Old Testament, the instructions given to the newly formed nation of Israel provided Israel with the means necessary to truly experience the blessing of God, to remain near to him, and to embody Him through obedience to the Torah.
The Word of God was to be the rule for the nation. It was God’s wisdom for Israel which, when followed, would separate them from the foolish, disobedient nations that surrounded them.
Over the years, God has faithfully instructed those who are faithful to Him. This instruction reached its highest point in the embodiment of His wisdom in Jesus Christ and continues through the provision of the Holy Spirit.
God’s instruction is ongoing. It is a conversation between us and Him. As such, we must engage in this conversation by hearing and responding rightly to the words spoken by our gracious God.
To respond rightly, we must know our God. We must understand (to the extent that we are able) how He moves, what He thinks, and where He is going. Bible study is the process through which believers seek to develop a better understanding of our God.
It is through Bible study and the movement of the Holy Spirit that we begin to see God more clearly, yet we can easily get caught up in studying Scripture.
We can view study as the end rather than the means. We can neglect other practices such as prayer, repentance, community, Sabbath, fasting, patience, faithful speech, reconciliation, hospitality, etc.
We become so narrowly focused on the text that we require God to move in our lives in one particular way. We run the risk of reducing God to a textual, rather than a contextual God.
The reality is that Bible study and other Christian practices work in a collaborative fashion to open our eyes, minds, and hearts, to the movement of God among us.
As we study, we recognize that God is our King, our King above all kings. As we practice the Sabbath, we recognize that our jobs, while necessary in this world, are fleeting and look forward with hope to the day when God will restore the harmony of his creation.
As we practice hospitality, we risk the dangers consistently associated with engaging others and acknowledge that security in this life means less to us than the spread of the gospel.
As we practice community, we place ourselves within the body of Christ and prepare ourselves to live a life of transformation, sacrifice, and discipleship.
As we practice prayer, we allow ourselves moments of ineffectiveness knowing that coming before the Father and seeking his counsel, comfort, and action is more effective than any tasks we might otherwise be completing.
God is revealed and experienced in the text, but He is also revealed and experienced as we trust in Him on a daily basis. As Christians, we must learn to see God in our lives, to watch Him move, and to trust that He is the “King of kings, and the Lord of lords!”
We must remember that He is the one who conquered the powers and principalities of this world so that we might experience the joy of His presence even as we struggle to survive in a fallen world.
While you could start in any number of places, I have found that my heart is best prepared through prayer. I often use the prayer below to focus my thoughts before studying the scriptures.
Holy God — in this precious hour, we pause and gather to hear your word — to do so, we break from our work responsibilities and from our play fantasies; we move from our fears that overwhelm and from our ambitions that are too strong. Free us in these moments from every distraction, that we may focus to listen, that we may hear, that we may change. Amen.
This prayer was first spoken by an Old Testament scholar named Walter Brueggemann and was then recorded in a book entitled, Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers of Walter Brueggemann.
It expresses a deep desire to be transformed from our foolish notions of life as we study God’s Word. As we embark on our study, I pray this for you, for the church, and for all who “pause and gather to hear” the Word of our God.
For further reading:
How Does Discipleship Show Up in the Old Testament? Part 1
How Does Discipleship Show Up in the Old Testament? Part 2
Why the Church Needs to Get Serious about Discipleship
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/Jerry Grugin
