The term ‘biblical metanarrative’ can also be used instead of a ‘grand biblical narrative.’ Either way, they mean an overarching storyline, the main story of the entire Bible from Genesis to the Revelation. Is there one? If so, what is it?
It’s helpful to find out what it may be, so we can discover what God is up to and follow him in his plan for the globe, the world of people, even today. Let’s see if we can find one and settle on it (maybe).
Nowadays I like to put my posts in broad outline form, just for my own clarity and order.
Let’s lay out the major metanarrative options.
I. Option One: Dispensationalism
A. Definitions
Moody’s publishing house defines dispensationalism, as follows:
Dispensationalism is a system of a Bible interpretation that puts God’s dealings with humanity into different periods (dispensations) from Genesis to Revelation. In this huge stretch of time dispensationalists claim to spot differences in the biblical text and therefore divide the characteristics into those periods. Sometimes the different characteristics of each period carry over into other dispensations, as the next points in the first table prove (and in the second table too) (Ryrie, pp. 20-24).
Charles C. Ryrie, borrowing heavily from C. I. Schofield defines it: “A dispensation is a period of time during which man is tested in respect of obedience to some specific revelation of the will of God” (p. 33). So the main and outstanding character (e.g. Moses) or characters (e.g. Adam and Eve) in each of the dispensations get a revelation. They are responsible to carry out the revelation in obedience.
B. Schofield’s dispensations
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Seven Dispensations of C. I. Schofield |
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| Innocence | Conscience | Human Govt. | Promise | Law | Grace | Kingdom |
| Innocence until Adam’s fall
Ge 1:28-3:6 |
Man is self-determined and under moral responsibility
Ge 4:1-8:14 |
Noahic Covenant, protect human life by capital punishment
Ge 8:15-9:11 |
Patriarchs, they respond by faith to God’s revelations
Ge 11:10-Ex 18:25 |
Mosaic law, it was given as the constitution to nation of Israel, in force until death of Christ and descent of Holy Spirit
Ex 19:1-Ac 1:26 |
Advent of Christ God made grace known to all humankind
Ac 2:1-Rev 19:21 |
Christ returns and sets up kingdom for a thousand years
Rev 20:4-6 |
| Notes:
Other dispensationalists use different terms for their dispensations. I use Schofield’s version because his was the most influential due to his Schofield Study Bible. Other dispensationalists divide up the number of periods slightly differently, too. Adapted from Moody, Handbook, p. 560. Moody is a dispensational institution and publishing house. They well represent dispensationalism. |
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C. Explanation of Schofield’s system
Human government goes from Noah to the millennium kingdom.
Law goes from Mosaic law to dispensation of grace, and even to the outpouring of the Spirit in Acts. So it seems law and grace were parallel with each other.
For other dispensationalists grace is spread out through the dispensations, but the clarity of grace is highlighted with the first advent (coming) of Christ.
Promise also runs throughout the dispensations but presumably stops at the kingdom.
Particularly important: the kingdom of God is delayed until the end because the nation of Israel rejected its Messiah and his kingdom. Dispensationalists of the Schofield variety skip over the kingdom Jesus launched during his coming and ministry.
D. My critique
I certainly do not accept Schofield’s system that says that God postponed his kingdom. No. It is going on right now, from the time of creation to his (future) eternal kingdom in the new creation. Jesus is invisibly and presently reigning as king. Sometimes his kingdom is revealed to the world of humanity through signs and wonders.
The worst error of all is that Jesus is placed under the law of Moses. No. Jesus was constantly forming his new covenant believers in the kingdom of God. Jesus said of John the Baptist “Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Matt. 11:11). “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). On the Mount of Transfiguration, the Father speaks in the presence of Moses and Elijah: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matt. 17:5). The most I’ll concede is that there is some “carry over” (see Ryrie, pp. 65-66) from Moses, but that’s it.
Jesus himself fulfills Israel’s story. He is the new Israel. He is not subsumed under the law of Moses or Israel’s history. No, he culminates it. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matt. 5:17). Not one word of the law will disappear until everything is accomplished. Evidently, this means the eschaton, when Jesus comes back.
Not mentioned in the table is the popular dispensational emphasis on Israel. While I see Israel as a part of God’s plan, it is not God’s centerpiece. The church is. Only we can preach the gospel to the whole world.
E. Charles C. Ryrie’s dispensational system
|
Ryrie’s Dispensations |
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| Name | Scripture | Responsibilities | Judgments(s) |
| Innocency | Gen. 1:3-3:6 | ·Keep Garden
Do not eat one fruit Fill, subdue earth Fellowship with God |
Curses and physical and spiritual death |
| Conscience | Gen. 3:7-8:14 | Do good | Flood |
| Civil Government | Gen. 8:15-11:9 | Fill earth
Capital punishment |
Forced scattering by confusion of language |
| Patriarchal Rule | Gen. 11:10-Ex. 18:27 | Stay in Promised Land
Believe and obey God. |
Egyptian bondage and wilderness wandering |
| Mosaic Law | Ex. 19:1-Acts 1:26 | Keep the law
Walk with God |
Captivities |
| Grace | Acts 2:1-Rev. 19:1 | Believe on Christ
Walk with Christ |
Death
Loss of Rewards |
| Millennium | Rev. 20:1-15 | Believe and obey Christ and his government | Death
Great white throne judgment |
| Ryrie, p. 62 | |||
F. Explanation
Each dispensation has a revelation and command. Each of the main character or many main characters are responsible for obeying the revelation and commands. If they fail, then they are judged. Ryrie says one can switch up the names (first column), but this does not deny the central truth of dispensationalism. He even has a table of seven dispensational systems, and each row names the dispensations differently or beyond seven of them in a few systems (p. 81).
G. My critique
I can’t deny that progressive revelation is a fact of the Bible, but whether these dispensations reflect the right revelations is up for debate.
Under the Patriarch Rule (I’m not sure patriarchs ruled over very much, except Joseph), the Israelites wander through the wilderness only until Exodus 18:27. No, they wandered long after that. And the judgment of captivity is right, but there are many other judgments in the wilderness, like the older generation being compelled to die off and Moses not entering the Promised Land. (But is a sure thing that Ryrie would respond with his “carry over” idea.)
I object to placing Jesus’s ministry and announcement and launch of the kingdom of God under the law of Moses, as I noted in my critique of Schofield’s system. The most I can affirm is that there is some carry over, but Jesus initiated the New Covenant at the Last Supper and he ratified it at his death. The judgment on ancient Israel (captivities) do not apply to the ministry of Jesus.
Next, I object to the claim that there is death in the millennium, or whether there even is a literal millennium (see below). Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15 that death will be the last enemy at the parousia (appearing or Second Coming), and yet according to this teaching it is not the last enemy, but it continues in the millennium. This belief contradicts the clear teaching of Scripture. (See part one in this Eschatology section.)
Where is the eternal kingdom, after the millennium?
As for the Sermon on the Mount, it applies to believers whenever and wherever the kingdom is proclaimed.
Ryrie writes:
Thus, the dispensational interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount simply tries to follow consistently the principle of literal, normal and plain interpretation. It results in not trying to relegate primarily and fully the teachings of the Sermon to the believer in this age. But it does not in the least disregard the ethical principles of the Sermon as being not only applicable but also binding on the believers today. Can this rightfully be called “cutting out pages from the Bible”? (p. 115)
So the sermon is for today, such as do not lust or get angry or live in unreconiliation, or do not swear oaths. Who would deny that those commands do not apply today? But the sermon is also primarily and fully for the future kingdom. The sermon is both / and: for now and the future.
My only quarrel is that the sermon is primarily and fully for all ages, not primarily and fully for a future kingdom.
I don’t believe that we need these seven (or four or eight or ten) dispensations to understand the metanarrative or overarching storyline of Scripture. The other metanarratives, blow, are better.
I do not see the attempt at finding a metanarrative from Genesis to the Revelation as harmful, if it keeps things simple. But often dispensationalists do not keep things simple. One example: The “carry over” notion from the law of Moses and Israel’s captivities encroaches too much into Jesus’s ministry.
Bottom line: I don’t like to adhere to complicated systems that can easily be picked apart. I prefer streamlined theology. Dispensationalism is needlessly complicated.
Therefore, I am not a dispensationalist.
3 Dispensationalism, Tribulation, Return of Christ, and the Millennium
II. Option Two: Covenants
A. Brief intro:
Though I am not Reformed, the word covenant appears about 332 times in the Bible, so this metanarrative is on much firmer biblical footing than dispensationalism. Covenants go from Adam through the New Covenant ratified by Christ and never ending, even through new creation and the eternal kingdom. Please note, however, that other dispensationalists work the covenants into their dispensations. But I wonder: why not stay with the covenants without a massive overlay of their dispensations? Again, too complicated for me.
B.. What is a biblical covenant?
In classical Greek, long before the New Testament was written, a covenant was a testament, as in a man’s last will and testament. A dying man in good mental health would spell out the terms of how his property and assets would be distributed. It was inalterable and irrevocable. Then it came into effect when he died.
The picture for our purposes: unalterable commitment, irrevocable (it can’t be withdrawn by other parties), and death for it to be implemented or ratified. This speaks volumes for the New Covenant.
Let’s begin with an easy-to-follow word study of covenant and look at the types of covenants in Bible times, which is repeated in the other articles on biblical covenants.
C.. Old Testament
The noun is berit (pronounced b’reet or buh-reet). It means “covenant” or “treaty.” It is used 287 times. The ancient Near East was filled with treaties and agreements between tribes and militaries and even nation states. So it is logical that God would relate to his people in a custom that they could understand.
The verb for making a covenant is karat (pronounced kah-raht), and it literally means “to cut (objects), exclude or destroy, make a covenant.” It is used 289 times. Therefore, to “make a covenant” with God is literally to “cut a covenant.” The majority of times it is used in cutting / making a covenant between humans (e.g. Gen. 21:27, 32; Jos. 9:11, 15) or between God and his people (e.g. Exod. 34:10; Deut. 4:23).
The Hebrew word for God’s commitment to his covenants is ḥesed (pronounced kheh-sed), and it is variously translated as “steadfast love” or “unfailing love.” It really means “covenant love.” God is so committed to his highest creation—us—that he establishes inalterable agreements with humankind. However, it happens that people became faithless and broke the terms so God, who was not surprised, had to come up with an alternative plan—the New Covenant and put his Spirit into humans to ensure their ability to keep the terms.
D.. New Testament
The New Testament writers took over term diathēkē from the LXX (pronounced (sep-TOO-ah-gent, a third to second century translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek). It is used 33 times, and almost half in quotations from the Old Testament. The synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) show Jesus instituting the Last Supper and saying that this cup is his covenant in blood, shed for the forgiveness of sins (Matt. 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20). The expressions “blood” and “poured” out allude to the Old Sinai Covenant, which was ratified in the blood of animals. Through his sacrificial death on the cross, he ratified the New Covenant.
The writer of Hebrews uses the term seventeen times. It can mean last will and testament (Heb. 9:15-23; cf. Gal. 3:15-18). A diathēkē does not go into effect until its writer dies, and in the Old Sinai Covenant, this required a sacrificial animal that stood in for the humans who presented it to the priest, every year.
In the Old, the high priest represented the people and was their mediator (Lev. 16). In the New, Christ is our better high priest (Heb. 2:17; 4:14-15; 8:1; 9:11, 25) and mediator (Heb. 9:15; 12:24). The high priest entered the tabernacle to offer sacrifices. In the New, Jesus himself went into the heavenly tabernacle (Heb. 9:2, 8, 11, 21). The sacrificial animal was the substitute to pay for human sins. In contrast, Jesus’s shed blood through his death on the cross was eternal, so we do not have to go through a yearly ritual. It was once-and for all (Heb. 9:12; 9:28; 10:10). He stood in for us (our substitute) and paid for our sins. This covenant, ratified by his blood, is eternal.
In Jeremiah 31:31-34, the New was predicted. It promised to take away the sins of the people, so God would remember them no more. Christ fulfilled this promise in reality; he took away and forgave our sins (Heb. 10:16-23).
E.. Definitions
Here, then, is a working biblical definition of covenant, which is true for all the covenants in this chapter:
Out of his great love for his highest creation, people, God unilaterally reaches out to them and initiates an unalterable legal agreement, in which he stipulates the terms that reveal how he relates to people, and they to him.
More simply:
A covenant is an unalterable legal agreement, in which God stipulates the terms that reveal how he relates to people, and they to him.
The main points are that he takes the initiative and spells out the terms of the agreement. We cannot strut up to God and demand that he relates to us in our way. That’s arrogant and presumptuous because our strutting and demanding fail to understand that he is the one in charge of his creation. He imposes the agreement on his highest creation, humankind, who can accept or reject the covenant, out of their own free will.
F. Summary
To be clear: he wants a relationship with us. But there is a Creator-creature gap, which cannot be bridged by human effort and ingenuity. Since he is so far above us, he must instruct us on how we approach him and get to know him. He did this through the New Covenant, with foreshadows in the Old.
So covenant theology is a legitimate theme of Scripture and can be turned into a grand biblical narrative or metanarrative. It explains really well how God deals with humanity–through his commitments to people.
III. Option Three: the Kingdom of God
A. The word kingdom can be tracked in a variety of contexts and phrases in the NT and OT.
“The kingdom of God” occurs these many times throughout the NT:
4 times in Matthew (12:28; 19:24; 21:31, 43);
14 times in Mark;
32 times in Luke;
2 times in John (3:3, 5);
6 times in Acts;
8 times in Paul’s letters;
1 time in Revelation (12:10).
“The kingdom of heaven” (just a variation on the “kingdom of God”):
33 times in Matthew;
1 time in a variant reading in John;
“Kingdom”: 9 times (e.g. Matt. 6:33; Luke 12:31; 22:29; 1 Cor. 15:24; Rev. 1:9);
“Your kingdom”: 2 times (Matt. 6:10; Luke 11:2);
“His kingdom”: 4 times (Matt. 25:34; Luke 12:32; 22:29; 1Thess. 2:12);
“The kingdom of their [my] Father”: 2 times (Matt. 13:43; 26:29);
“The good news [gospel] of the kingdom”: 3 times (Matt. 4:23; 9:35; 24:14);
“The message about the kingdom”: 1 time (Matt. 13:19);
“The subjects [sons and daughters] of the kingdom”: 2 times (Matt. 8:12; 13:38);
“The coming kingdom of our father David”: 1 time (Mark 11:10);
“kingdom” is used of the redeemed: 2 times (Rev. 1:6; 5:10)
B. Totals:
Matthew: 52 times (and in addition 3 times it is used of worldly or satanic kingdoms);
Mark: 16 times (and in addition 3 times it is used of worldly or satanic kingdoms);
Luke: 38 times (and in addition it is used 4 times of worldly or satanic kingdoms);
Synoptic Gospels: 106 times (allowing for parallel passages in the Synoptics);
John: 4 times;
Acts: 7 times;
Paul’s epistles: 14 times (in addition it is used 1 time of the satanic kingdom);
General epistles: 4 times (in addition it is used 1 time of worldly kingdoms);
Revelation: 6 times (in addition it is used 2 times of worldly or satanic kingdoms)
Grand Total:
God’s kingdom: 141
Worldly or satanic kingdoms: 14 times
C. Summary of the NT data
In the Synoptic Gospels Jesus preached the kingdom of God often, indicating he was ushering in a new order, a new age.
The Gospel of John was written later, so the author focuses on revealing who Jesus is (God in the flesh; the good shepherd, the door, the bread of life, and so on). And he focuses on a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus (I am the good shepherd, so follow me and hear my voice; I am the bread of life, so partake of me; I am the vine, so connect with me, and so on).
Acts focuses on the progress of the church, and the key and timely appearance of the word kingdom reminds the readers that it is the kingdom of God that advances the gospel and the church. In 1:3 Luke writes about Jesus teaching the kingdom after he had risen, implying that the apostles and other disciples would carry on this biblical truth. In 28:31, the last verse, Luke ends his true historical account saying that Paul was proclaiming the kingdom. These two verses serve as an inclusio or enclosure or bookends to teach us that the kingdom message undergirds the ministry of the apostles and disciples throughout Acts.
Paul’s epistles focus on church problems (e.g. 1 and 2 Corinthians) and theology (e.g. Romans 1-11), but in key places he lifts his readers’ eyes towards God and the kingdom, and so they can gain a right and heavenly perspective—they are part of a new order, a new age that God rules over.
And the same is true of the general epistles. They focus on how to live in the here and now, or how the New Covenant supersedes the Old (Heb. 8-10), but a few times in key and timely verses, the authors lift the readers to a bigger and higher perspective: the kingdom of God.
To sum up, the word kingdom appears in the Synoptics more often than the rest of the NT, but this does not mean God’s kingdom is less important in the other sections. It is not a sheer numbers game, but the weighty content of the verses is more important. Numbers are not decisive; it is the meaning and contexts that are decisive.
Finally, worldly or satanic kingdoms appear in the NT, but clearly God has ultimate kingship and rule over them, though he evidently allows humans and Satan relative free range over their own jurisdictions. We can get a clearer picture of all of this in the next sections in this post and the next.
D. The king and his kingdom in the OT
If Israel obeys the terms of the covenant, God will make them to be a kingdom of priests (Ex. 19:5-7).
David calls God King (Ps. 5:2).
The Lord is the king of glory five times (Ps. 24).
The king is enthroned forever (Ps. 29:9).
The son of Korah call him God and king (44:4).
God rules over his kingdom with a scepter (Ps. 45:6).
God is the king over all the earth, and we are to sing praises to him (Ps. 47:2, 6-7).
Zion is the city of the Great King (Ps. 48:2).
The procession of God and the king into the sanctuary has begun (Ps. 68:24).
God is the psalmist’s king who brings salvation to all the earth (Ps. 74:12).
The altar in the sanctuary belongs to God the King (Ps. 84:3).
God is the king and the holy one of Israel (Ps. 89:18).
God is the great king over all the gods (Ps. 95:3).
God is the king (Ps. 98:6).
God the king is mighty and loves justice (Ps. 99:4).
God’s kingdom rules over all (Ps. 103:19).
God is the great king (Ps. 145:1).
God has a kingdom (Ps. 145:11-13).
Israel is to be glad in their king (Ps. 149:2).
Isaiah saw the king, the Lord almighty (Is. 6:5).
The Messianic child will grow upon to rule on David’s throne and over David’s kingdom (Is. 9:7).
A king will reign in righteousness (Is. 32:1), presumably a prophecy about Jesus.
God is Israel’s Holy One, Creator and King (Is. 43:15).
The Lord almighty is Israel’s king and redeemer (Is. 44:6).
God the king is aroused to anger over Judah’s idols (Jer. 8:19).
God is king of the nations (Jer. 10:7).
The living God is the eternal king (Jer. 10:10).
The Lord almighty, the king, declares that Moab will be destroyed (Jer. 48:15).
The Lord almighty, the king, declares judgment on Babylon (Jer. 51:57).
God’s kingdom is an eternal kingdom; the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms (Dan. 4:3, 17, 25, 32).
Nebuchadnezzar praises the king of heaven (Dan. 4:37).
The Lord, the king of Israel, is always with you, and you will suffer no more harm (Zeph. 3:17).
The king comes to Zion and Jerusalem, riding on a donkey (Zech. 9:9).
The Lord will be king over all the earth (Zech. 14:9).
People must gather to worship the King, the Lord almighty (twice in Zech. 14:16-17).
God is the great king, and his name is to be feared in all the nations (Mal. 1:14).
E. Summary and totals
God is said to be king or rules over his kingdom or the world’s kingdoms 45 times. The references to his kingship and kingdom cluster in the Psalms 22 times.
One striking feature of these OT totals is that the OT makes up 70% of the Bible, and the NT makes up the remaining 30%. Yet references to God’s kingdom appears 141 times in the NT, and 110 times in the four Gospels. But the OT calls God king many more times than the NT does. The OT carries through with the logic that a kingdom must have a king and calls God king many more times than the Father or Jesus is called by that title in the NT.
The theme of the king and his kingdom does not seem like a major theme in the OT.
G. Analysis
Though it is not a numbers game necessarily, those differences between the OT and NT must mean something. Clearly the NT emphasizes the kingdom of God because Jesus was establishing it in a new way, differently from how the OT presents it. Jesus said that when he works his miracles by following his Father and by the power of the Spirit, this indicates that the kingdom is here with him. Jesus brought focus to the kingdom of God by clarifying that the kingdom was being manifest down here on earth. This was a different focus than the proclamation in the OT that God was king over his kingdom and ruled over all the world’s kingdoms. In the OT, God seemed to remain in heaven, though in Psalm 84:3, the altar in the sanctuary belonged to God. But this verse still feels different from the kingdom of God as Jesus preached it because an altar in a small temple seems restrictive.
This may explain the differences: In the OT, the king remained in heaven. In the four Gospels, the king came down to earth.
Jesus also fulfills the Davidic kingship. God appointed David as king and gave him an eternal kingship (2 Sam. 7). Jesus fulfills this promise through his reign (Is. 9:7). “The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end” (Luke 1:32b-33).
So, to sum up so far, Jesus fulfills all the OT verses about God’s kingship and kingdom by proclaiming it and bringing it down from the heavenly realm to earth by shepherding the people with his message of good news. And out of his love and care for them he works miracles for them, a sign that the kingdom God is near and here.
In addition, whenever God’s people, by the power of the indwelling Spirit and the gifts he distributes to them as the Spirit determines (1 Cor. 12:11), heals and liberates people by the gospel of the kingdom and by God’s power (not by the kingdom’s power), then the people will know that God is in their midst and his kingdom is being manifest, in part, but not yet in full, until the Second Coming. Though the kingdom of God is not as prominent in the epistles as in the four Gospels, it still is referenced. But the shift refocuses on Christ the Lord and the Spirit living among God’s people. His Lordship over kingship, but not replacing his kingship and making it disappear. Why? Probably because when the gospel went beyond the borders of Israel and was proclaimed to the Gentiles in the Roman empire, the church wanted to proclaim that Jesus, not Caesar,.is Lord.
H. Kingdom theology as a metanarrative?
Kingdom theology can be a metanarrative to explain the overarching story of the Bible. It is a worthy theme. And maybe those 45 references in the OT suffice to build this metanarrative on them. But it is not clear (to me at least) that kingdom theology has enough explanatory power to be the major, overarching theme of the Bible. I don’t recall that the NT quotes from those 45 verses to apply to Jesus, except Isaiah 9:7 and Zechariah 9:9 (I may have missed some other verses).
In the final analysis, I cannot criticize an attempt to use kingdom theology as a metanarrative to understand the Bible.
IV. Option Four: Jesus the Messiah
A. His metanarrative
Jesus told Cleopas and his unnamed traveling companion that the Messiah–he himself–is the center of God’s overarching story from Genesis through all the prophets:
26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:26-27)
And Jesus said to his eleven disciples the same metanarrative: the Scriptures speak of him:
44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. (Luke 24:44-46)
Jesus said to the religious leaders:
You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, (John 5:39)
B. Kingdom and Messianic metanarratives contrasted
Kingdom theology as a metanarrative can be contrasted with finding Jesus the Messiah and Son in all the major sections of the Bible. Jesus taught Cleopus and his unnamed traveling companion the entire Bible, saying that he fulfills the themes, patterns, and sometimes specific verses (Luke 24:27). He said the same to the eleven with an emphasis on his suffering, death, and resurrection (Luke 24:45-47). The proclamation in the first eight chapters (and beyond) in Acts also repeats this fundamental truth. Jesus also told the religious leaders that the Scriptures testify about him (John 5:39). So an excellent metanarrative is Christology. I need to study this more to understand it, since I am a lifelong learner.
Here is a link to start the Christ-centered metanarrative:
In the previous section on the kingdom metanarrative, I noted that Jesus fulfilled the role of king, so it seems the Messianic metanarrative is more thorough and gets us closer to God’s plan for humanity.
V. Option Five: God
A. Brief intro.
Let’s look into the basic data.
I did a quick search of the proper noun “God” in the Bible, and the major translations show the word appearing about 3533 times. Remarkably, the translations do not vary too widely from that number. Evidently the translators remained faithful to translate elohim (“God”) when it appears. El appears 242 times and is used mostly of God. In the Greek NT, theos (“God”) occurs 1317 times, and only a few times does it refer to gods. So the 1317 is a good guide to see how much the NT emphasizes God.
YHWH appears 6829 times, according to the NIV concordance. In Greek kurios (“Lord”) appears 770 times in the NT, but some of those occurrences mean a human master or lord, but not very many times, so 770 times is a good estimate. In Luke-Acts it appears 210 times and 275 times in Paul’s letters. It often refers to Jesus, so this would take us back the Messianic metanarrative (see above).
William Mounce, gen. ed. Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of the Old and New Testaments, (Zondervan, 2006).
One interpreter wrote, probably in a study Bible, that the whole Bible is a story about God. The entire Bible his biography. It is hard to disagree with that assessment.
B. Challenge
Clearly the theme of God has the most biblical support. The sheer numbers is overwhelming. The challenge is how do we organize this theme into a grand biblical narrative?.
Enter: Christopher J. H. Wright in this book The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative (Intervarsity academic, 2006). God is reaching out to people, and this outreach can be called his mission. Here are the main sections of the book, and underneath each part are the chapters:
Part I The Bible and Mission
1.. Searching for a Missional Hermeneutic
2. Shaping a Missional Experience
Part II The God of Mission
3. The Living God Makes Himself Known in Israel
4. The Living God Makes Himself Known in Jesus Christ;
5. The Living God Confronts Idolatry
Part III The People of Mission
6. God’s Elect People: Chosen for a Blessing
7. God’s Particular People: Chosen for All;
8. God’s Model of Redemption: The Exodus
9. God’s Model of Restoration: Jubilee
10. The Span of God’s Missional Covenant
11. The Life of God’s Missional People
Part IV The Arena of Mission
12. Mission and God’s Earth
13. Mission and God’s Image
14. God and the Nations in Old Testament vision,
15. God and the Nations in New Testament Vision
The mission of God is an excellent metanarrative to understand God’s dealing with humanity from Genesis to the Revelation.
OT scholar T. Desmond Alexander also has an overview of the Bible: From Eden to the New Jerusalem: An Introduction to Biblical Theology (Kregel Academic, 2008).
The chapters and the subsections reveal the content:
1.. Introduction
2. From sacred garden to holy city: experiencing the presence of God
Overview
The motif of the temple
The temple-garden of Eden
The tabernacle
The Jerusalem temple
The church as temple
3. Thrown from the throne: re-establishing the sovereignty of God
The throne of God
Adam and Eve as God’s viceroys
The theocracy of Israel
The church and the kingdom of God
4. Dealing with the devil: destroying the source of evil
The dragon who is the devil and Satan
Ruler of this world
The ancient serpent
The kings of the earth
Satan defeated
Satan’s reign ended
Resisting the devil
5. The slaughter of the Lamb: accomplishing the redemption of creation
The Lamb
Christ, our Passover Lamb
The Passover in Exodus
Atonement
Purification
Sanctification
6. Feasting from the tree of life: reinvigorating the lives of people from every nation
Holy people in the New Jerusalem
Holiness and wholeness
The tree of life
Ecological transformation
Social transformation
7. Strong foundations and solid walls: living securely among the people of God
Old and New Testaments united
Genuine hope
A tale of two cities
8. Conclusion
So this book covers the garden in Eden (Genesis) and the new Jerusalem (the Revelation).
So yes we can build a metanarrative on these various themes, but there is no one center, as we saw in the previous book by Wright. Alexander wrote a biblical theology, after all, so maybe we cannot find a grand biblical narrative. But the major ideas are there, so they can be turned into a metanarrative.
VI. Option Six: Salvation
A. Definitions
Salvation appears in various Hebrew and Greek forms. But since this post is getting long, here is a link to word studies:
At that link I briefly review the meanings of the terms for salvation.
B. Salvation as a metanarrative
Yes, it can function as one because he is reaching out to humanity and saving all those willing to be saved, from Adam and Eve in Genesis to the Revelation 22, where God wraps up old creation and starts over. We can even include redemption, reconciliation, regeneration, the gospel (etc.) under the larger umbrella term “salvation.”
Just go through the entire Bible in your mind and how God rescues The ancient Israelites in Egypt, delivers them from their enemies in the wilderness, wins victories through Joshua, David’s psalms on salvation, and the prophets. This metanarrative could last two or three years on Sunday morning.
Sec. 8, 1 Soteriology, Doctrine of Salvation: The Basics
The series has to include some teachings on sins, so people can recognize their need of salvation.:
VII. Option Seven: God’s Love and Grace
A. Definitions
Once again, this post is getting long, so here are links to a word study and the basics:
B. A series on love and grace
I have already put together a series on love and grace:
God’s Love and Grace in the Torah
God’s Love and Grace in Old Testament History Books
God’s Love and Grace in Job, Psalms, and Proverbs
God’s Love and Grace in the Prophets
God’s Love and Grace in the Gospels and Acts
God’s Love and Grace in Paul’s Epistles
God’s Love and Grace in Hebrews, General Letters, and Revelation
It would be wise to talk about sin because people should be able to recognize their need for his love and grace.
All in all, however, the love and grace leitmotiv does not cover enough territory in the biblical text, leaving too many passages without explanation. Love and grace is better called a “theme.” It is certainly worthwhile to teach it on Sunday morning, however.
VIII. Application
A. Preach any of these metanarratives or theme at church
But should they be preached on Sunday morning or Sunday night or during the week? I have to leave that to the pastoral team.
But definitely place dispensationalism for a midweek service or a Sunday school class. It’s the weakest one, though the most popular in American Christianity.
B. Fun projects
It can be fun to have people search for the king and the kingdom of God in the OT, for example This can be done for other metanarratives, as well.
C. Did we settle on one?
At the top of this post I asked if we can find a metanarrative that is the best.
No, we did not. But for me dispensationalism is out because it is the most complicated, and for this reason the most vulnerable to attack. It is a “no-go” for me.
I would also place the kingdom of God at the bottom of the list because in the OT it is not very complete. But as I noted above, the 45 (or so) OT references to God the King and his kingdom may be enough to satisfy the teacher at a local church. Certainly the Gospels highlight the terms.
The other metanarratives have a much firmer basis for your local church. I would choose either the Messianic promises, because Jesus said to do this. And if you look closely at the apostolic preaching in the first nine chapters in Acts, the sermons do offer an overview.
I really like God as a metanarrative. The Bible is about him, after all.
So the Messianic and the God metanarratives are my preferences.
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 