How to Read the Bible Theologically - Monday, November 03, 2008
The Bible Is Unified Basic also to the Bible's canonical status
is the demonstrable unity of its contents. Scripture is no
ragbag of religious bits and pieces, unrelated to each other;
rather, it is a tapestry in which all the complexities of the
weave display a single pattern of judgment and mercy, promise
and fulfillment. The Bible consists of two separate collections:
the OT, written over a period of about 1,000 years, and the NT,
written within a generation several centuries after the OT was
completed. Within such a composite array one would expect to
find some crossed wires or incoherence, but none are found here.
While there are parallel narratives, repetitions, and some
borrowings from book to book, the Bible as a whole tells a
single, straightforward story. God the Creator is at the center
throughout; his people, his covenant, his kingdom, and its
coming king are the themes unfolded by the historical
narratives, while the realities of red