The Metanarrative of Scripture

When we come to the Bible during a small group study or even personal time in the word, we normally look at a chapter/verse and then ask ourselves, “how does this apply to my life?” To fully grasp what a verse or chapter means within the book; we first need to know the “big story” of the bible, and systematic theology can help with that.

Systematic theology is a human’s response in an orderly way to God’s revelations from scripture but not only scripture, from the physical world as well. For instance, when I come to the Bible, I always have the metanarrative in mind. This helps place every verse into the proper context.

The context of the metanarrative of Scripture answers some of life’s biggest questions such as: Why am I here? What is wrong with the world? What’s my purpose? Where do I go after death? 

The answer to these questions lies within a systematic approach to the Bible, viewing the context as: Creation, Fall, Redemption and Restoration (in that order).

Creation answers the question: Why are you here?

To answer this question, we must start at the beginning (Genesis chapters 1 and 2).

In the beginning there was God. Now, I don’t know the details of what God was doing because that isn’t given in the text. If He desired that we know what was going on He most likely would’ve added that in Scripture. So, without spending too much time wondering, we study the revelations He has given to us, and this begins with creation.

God created the world, Adam and Eve, and everything was good. Very good. God blessed them and gave them authority over animals and the land. God even physically walked with them! Can you imagine just taking an afternoon stroll with the Creator?! This is what you were created for.

You were created for a perfect relationship with God.

So, what happened? Why does God not walk with us physically now? Why are things not perfect now? Why do people die tragically, or natural disasters plague us, or we simply have bad days?

Genesis 3. The Fall.

“The fall” refers to when Adam and Even fell into temptation in other words, they sinned. They disobeyed what God had told them to do in the Garden, which was “not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen 2:17). Satan who has many names in Scripture (the evil one, the adversary, the deceiver - just name a few) took on the form of a snake and switched around God’s own words. His aim was to manipulate Eve and get her to thinking that God was “holding out” on what she could have. He wanted her to think that the paradise that God created was not enough. Pride set in her heart, and she thought that she could “be like God…” (Gen 3:5) Now, I want to point out that Adam was with Eve. She can get the bad rap sometimes for the first sin… but let’s all take a mental note that Adam was with her. In Genesis 3:7 the text tells us that their “eyes were opened.” this is the first time they felt shame. When God created them, they were never meant to experience this type of emotion. Everything was to be perfect but because of their own pride they fell into temptation, and this is the result of what we are living in today.

If you wake up and turn on the news, it’s easy to see that things aren’t right. Creation itself doesn’t work properly at times. Tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes occur. Romans 8:21 tells us that “creation is groaning in labor pains...” We are longing to live without sin.

Thankfully, the story doesn’t end here… Let’s step into redemption.

In the last blog I shared about the doctrine of soteriology which is (salvation).  We talked about how sin has separated us from God (thus, why we do not live in a perfect world), and we cannot work hard enough to fix this brokenness. Jesus, God’s son stepped into humanity, lived a sinless life, and then took the penalty that we deserved while dying on the cross to make us blameless in the eyes of God. Through believing in Jesus’ gift of new life, we can be in a right relationship with God again. However, we do not see the fullness of that right relationship on Earth.

We still have sin around us and within us. While we are here, waiting on Jesus’ return (which He promised us would happen - John 14:3) we have been assigned a job. This is the most important job we will have while living here. The job I’m referring to is the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20). We are to share the gospel with others. This answers the question “what is my purpose?” So many people are waiting for a purpose in life. Your purpose is to share the hope of salvation with the people around you. 

The last piece of the metanarrative is restoration.

Full restoration will take place when Jesus returns for his people and creates a new Heaven and Earth where sin no longer lives. This answers the question, “where do I go after death?” If you believe in Jesus as your Savior, you will be made whole again, without sin, and spend eternity with God. In our finite state we cannot fathom the concept of eternity. However, if you do not have this relationship with Jesus, you will stay separated from Him forever because of sin.

Rev 22:20 Jesus says “Yes, I am coming soon” Oh, I long for that day!

So, why systematic theology? What is the importance of this approach? This gives our minds a structure to grasp while we study Scripture. The outline of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration gives us an understanding to any verse or chapter we are reading in the Bible. I hope this outline gives you encouragement and confidence as you approach the Bible. Lastly, I pray this outline gives you hope while you contemplate life’s biggest questions.

Until next time, let’s be ready to give an account for the hope that you have in Christ!