The Drama of Scripture - Week 1

Prologue

As human beings, we love stories.

When you meet someone for the first time, you often introduce yourself through a string of small stories that explain who you are and what you’re about.

We live in a culture full of stories (eg., books, sports, ads)

We don’t just love stories, we love big stories.

Metanarrative: a big, overarching story that helps explains the events of history.

In today’s world, metanarratives are often rejected by people for two reasons.

1. There is a general skepticism and distrust of authority.

2. There has been a rise of pluralism.

Pluralism: the idea that all individual stories are equally valid.

Commonly Accepted Metanarratives

Islam (and other popular religions).

Modernity (the beliefs of the Enlightenment that seeks advancement through human achievement).

Christianity

The Christian Metanarrative

“It begins with God’s creation and human rebellion and runs through the history of Israel to Jesus and on through the church, moving to the coming of the kingdom of God…Only in this one narrative can we discover the meaning of human history—and thus the meaning of your life and mine.” (pg. 20)

These are competing stories. They are mutually exclusive. Therefore, we must choose which story we will believe and live into.

“I find in your Bible a unique interpretation of universal history, the history of the whole of creation and the history of the human race. And therefore a unique interpretation of the human person as a responsible actor in history. That is unique. There is nothing else in the whole religious literature of the world to put alongside it.” (pg. 21)

Two responses:

1. We must understand the story. When we understand the story we find purpose. When we have purpose we a guide for all our actions and relationships in life.

2. We must share it. We play a part in the story and we are responsible for showing others their role as well.

Act One - God Establishes His Kingdom

Context of Genesis

Written to the second generation of post-exodus Israelites.

They have Egypt behind them and the Promised Land (Canaan) before them.

Genesis (and the whole Torah) are written to this specific generation of Israelites as they are about to walk forward in obedience to God.

Genre of Genesis

Argumentative - written as an explanation and defense against the pagan beliefs of the day (i.e. Egypt and Canaan).

The Egyptian and Canaanite gods were found in nature and only made humans for their own service and pleasure.

Genesis was not written to answer our 21st Century questions. We often want to know the when and how God made creation. However, Genesis is more interested in the who and what of creation.

Genesis proclaims the truth about God, humankind, and the world — over and against the false narratives of Egypt and Canaan.

God in the Creation Account

Infinite, eternal, uncreated person

Worthy of praise (Rev. 4:11)

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

The God of gods.

“Let there be…” — indicates precision, order, and harmony.

Creation was good. That reflects God’s goodness, wisdom, and justice.

He is immanent — meaning He is close to His creation. The Spirit was hovering over the waters and He walked with Adam and Eve in the garden.

Humankind in the Creation Account

We are not the product of time and chance, as the atheistic evolutionists argue.

We are special creatures who are the crown jewel of all creation because we are made in His image (imago dei)

We represent God to the rest of creation.

We are His royal representatives whose purpose is to bring Him more glory.

We are to rule the world and subdue it.

We are unique in that we are both physical and personal beings.

Two accounts of Genesis. The first account (Gen. 1:1-2:4a) is about our physical nature where land, sky and sea came together. The second account (Gen. 2:4b-25) is about our relational nature with the coming together of man and woman as well as mankind and God.

Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of the day.

Augustine said, “We are made for God and our hearts are restless until we find our rest in him.”

Act Two - Rebellion in the Kingdom

Cosmic Conflict

Every good story has conflict.

For the Christian story, we have “The Fall” in Genesis 3.

The Fall

Genesis 3 is the bridge between the beauty found in the creation account and the calamity we see all around us today.

This, and the other events in Genesis, is an actual historic account of real events.

Proponents - Jesus, Paul, Church history.

Opponents - in recent centuries from the Enlightenment through the rise of religious liberalism.

Mystery of the Serpent

We’re not told who the serpent is (only later in Revelation).

We’re not told how or why he was let into the garden.

Temptation

Adam and Eve are tempted by the serpent to eat of The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This is the only place in the entire Bible that this tree is mentioned.

The only thing we know for sure is that they were tempted by the serpent to attain autonomy. This word comes from the combination of the Greek words of auto (self) and nomos (law). “Autonomy means choosing oneself as the source for determining what is right and wrong, rather than relying on God’s word for direction.” (pg. 41)

Death

God promised death for disobedience. However, Adam and Eve did not experience immediate physical death.

They did experience the death of their identity (they felt naked and ashamed).

They experienced the death of relationship between themselves, creation, and God.

“Although the man and woman do not die physically—at least right away — we see from this story that death can mean much more than the end of physical life. Death means the distortion of relationships in general, and particularly the end of that one vital relationship with God.” (pg. 41)

The Gospel

Genesis 3:15 is known as the protoevangelium, which means “first gospel.”

God sought out Adam and Eve even when He knew exactly what they had done. He pronounces judgment on Adam, Eve, and the serpent. God promises to destroy the serpent (and evil altogether).

God clothing them is a sign of their continued inheritance of the earth.