In his little book What Is Biblical Theology, Professor Jim Hamilton says, “What we think and how we live is largely determined by the larger story in which we interpret our lives.” Then he asks, “Does your story enable you to look death in the face? Does your story give you a hope that goes beyond the grave?”
The story that creates and sustains this kind of hope is the story of the Bible, where we find the true story about how God defeated death. How this story grows and develops through time is the task of biblical theology.
Jesus is the center of the Bible’s story. This is what he says in Luke 24:27, 44-45:
“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself…Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.”
Listen to how the disciples responded after Jesus showed them how the Bible fits together: “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” (v. 32) All Scripture points to and is fulfilled by Jesus Christ. Growing in this understanding is not merely an intellectual pursuit. It makes our “hearts burn within us” for the Jesus of Scripture.
So what is biblical theology and why should we study it? Roark and Cline define biblical theology as “a way of reading the Bible as one story by one divine author that culminates in who Jesus Christ is and what he has done, so that every part of Scripture is understood in relation to him. Biblical theology helps us understand the Bible as one big book with lots of little books that tell one big story. The Hero and centerpiece of that story, from cover to cover, is Jesus Christ.”
Don Carson says, “Biblical Theology…seeks to uncover and articulate the unity of all the biblical texts taken together, resorting primarily to the categories of those texts themselves.” And Michael Lawrence says, “Biblical theology is the attempt to tell the whole story of the whole Bible as Christian Scripture.”
Biblical theology is studying how the Bible fits together. We should study it because we want to read the Bible as Christians. We don’t need secret knowledge or special powers or seminary training to understand the Bible. Jesus wants to “open our minds,” to understand the Bible using the words, categories, storyline, and themes of the Bible. With the Spirit’s help, we can understand the Bible!
We should study biblical theology because we want to be good readers of the Bible. To this end, our Training Class that meets at 9:00am on Sunday mornings is currently studying biblical theology. Anyone who wants to grow in understanding the Bible as one story would do well to attend. As we grow in understanding the Bible’s story, may “our hearts burn within us” for more of the story’s main point: Jesus!
With You on the Journey toward Understanding the Scriptures,
Pastor John