How to Read the Bible Redemptive-Historically
By Jeffrey Cavanaugh
How do you read the Bible? That may seem like an odd question. What do you think the Bible is? What is it for? Is it a collection of stories with a moral point? Is it a book of doctrine, the basis for a systematic articulation of what you believe? Is it a book of solutions to the problems you face from day to day? Or is it far more than all of these?
Most of us are familiar with all the Sunday School stories of the Old Testament. We've all heard the stories of biblical "heroes" like Joseph, Joshua, Gideon, Esther, David, Daniel, Shadrach, Meschach, Abednego, and many others. All too often, however, these scriptural accounts are treated simply as stories, and the application drawn from them usually has something to do with how we're supposed to follow the example of these brave people and be courageous, steadfast, faithful, and the like. The closest thing to a theme that most evangelicals see in these stories is "How to do great things for God." This misses the point. The Bible is far, far more than a collection of stories. It is the record of what God has really done in history. There is one grand theme running throughout all of Scripture, and the point of the stories of the Old Testament can't be properly grasped unless we understand the theme and read them with it in mind.
The way to understand the theme that ties all Scripture together is what many theologians call the redemptive-historical perspective. Put simply, the entire Bible is God's revelation of the story of His work throughout history to redeem a people to himself from sinful humanity, for the sake of His own glory. The point, the end, the focus of all of Scripture—Old Testament as well as New—is Christ. This means that every time we open the Bible and read a passage, we should ask ourselves how it fits in to this one grand theme. It is the point of all of Scripture, and, no less importantly, every part of Scripture.
To make clear how this affects our understanding of Bible stories, let's look at a few, first as they're normally interpreted, and then from a redemptive-historical perspective. First, consider the story of Gideon in Judges 6-8. A common reading of this passage
portrays Gideon as a hero who did great things for God. Preachers and teachers who miss the point of this story make Gideon out to be a courageous man of God whom God used because of his faithfulness and strength. Look at the passage again, though—Gideon was a sniveling coward who tried crazy games with fleeces and dew to get out of obeying God. Gideon's story points to Christ in that, just as God used the weakness of Gideon's character to accomplish an amazing thing, God accomplished the greatest thing of all through the greatest weakness of all—the suffering and death of Christ on the cross.
This wrongheaded reading leads to other problems in interpreting the passage. When interpreting the divine drinking game that God uses in 7:1-8 to whittle Gideon's force often thousand down to three hundred, many teachers will explain this by telling a story about how the men who lapped with their hands to their mouths were the best warriors, men who were alert and looking around, as if they were some sort of uber-Marines. This entirely misses the point, and it is an interpretation that isn't at all supported by the text. The point of the drinking game was to select not a certain kind of men, but a certain number. God was using this apparently arbitrary method to make sure, by using a ridiculously small force to gain victory, that there was no way the Israelites could boast in their own strength or take credit for the victory. Look at the tactics Gideon uses—you don't need liber-Marines to bang pots and wave torches.
A second example is the story of Esther. Like Gideon, the common evangelical reading of the book of Esther makes much of Esther's character, her courage in going to the king, and her faithfulness in responding to Mordecai's charge. This also makes for problematic application. We read the words "Who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" and, trying to understand what the passage means for us, we conclude that we too have been placed in our position at Patrick Henry College "for such a time as this," that is, to be raised up as Christian leaders in America and return our culture
How do you read the Bible? That may seem like an odd question. What do you think the Bible is? What is it for? Is it a collection of stories with a moral point? Is it a book of doctrine, the basis for a systematic articulation of what you believe? Is it a book of solutions to the problems you face from day to day? Or is it far more than all of these?
Most of us are familiar with all the Sunday School stories of the Old Testament. We've all heard the stories of biblical "heroes" like Joseph, Joshua, Gideon, Esther, David, Daniel, Shadrach, Meschach, Abednego, and many others. All too often, however, these scriptural accounts are treated simply as stories, and the application drawn from them usually has something to do with how we're supposed to follow the example of these brave people and be courageous, steadfast, faithful, and the like. The closest thing to a theme that most evangelicals see in these stories is "How to do great things for God." This misses the point. The Bible is far, far more than a collection of stories. It is the record of what God has really done in history. There is one grand theme running throughout all of Scripture, and the point of the stories of the Old Testament can't be properly grasped unless we understand the theme and read them with it in mind.
The way to understand the theme that ties all Scripture together is what many theologians call the redemptive-historical perspective. Put simply, the entire Bible is God's revelation of the story of His work throughout history to redeem a people to himself from sinful humanity, for the sake of His own glory. The point, the end, the focus of all of Scripture—Old Testament as well as New—is Christ. This means that every time we open the Bible and read a passage, we should ask ourselves how it fits in to this one grand theme. It is the point of all of Scripture, and, no less importantly, every part of Scripture.
To make clear how this affects our understanding of Bible stories, let's look at a few, first as they're normally interpreted, and then from a redemptive-historical perspective. First, consider the story of Gideon in Judges 6-8. A common reading of this passage
portrays Gideon as a hero who did great things for God. Preachers and teachers who miss the point of this story make Gideon out to be a courageous man of God whom God used because of his faithfulness and strength. Look at the passage again, though—Gideon was a sniveling coward who tried crazy games with fleeces and dew to get out of obeying God. Gideon's story points to Christ in that, just as God used the weakness of Gideon's character to accomplish an amazing thing, God accomplished the greatest thing of all through the greatest weakness of all—the suffering and death of Christ on the cross.
This wrongheaded reading leads to other problems in interpreting the passage. When interpreting the divine drinking game that God uses in 7:1-8 to whittle Gideon's force often thousand down to three hundred, many teachers will explain this by telling a story about how the men who lapped with their hands to their mouths were the best warriors, men who were alert and looking around, as if they were some sort of uber-Marines. This entirely misses the point, and it is an interpretation that isn't at all supported by the text. The point of the drinking game was to select not a certain kind of men, but a certain number. God was using this apparently arbitrary method to make sure, by using a ridiculously small force to gain victory, that there was no way the Israelites could boast in their own strength or take credit for the victory. Look at the tactics Gideon uses—you don't need liber-Marines to bang pots and wave torches.
A second example is the story of Esther. Like Gideon, the common evangelical reading of the book of Esther makes much of Esther's character, her courage in going to the king, and her faithfulness in responding to Mordecai's charge. This also makes for problematic application. We read the words "Who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" and, trying to understand what the passage means for us, we conclude that we too have been placed in our position at Patrick Henry College "for such a time as this," that is, to be raised up as Christian leaders in America and return our culture
posted by Tim Hoskins at 8:00 PM
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