As a child, I loved the felt board in Sunday School. Really, the physics of a piece of magazine-like paper sticking to a vertical surface is what interested me the most. But those felt board pictures stuck in my mind too. They taught me the compartmentalized stories of certain people from particular stories in the Bible. Short stories are a great way to teach children, but we all need to grow into an understanding of the Bible for formation not just information. Seeing the overarching “metanarrative” (or big picture) of Scripture is a great first step beyond reading the Bible for information. Here I’ll cover creation, fall, and salvation (redemption), but know that consummation (restoration when Jesus returns) is also included in the meta-narrative.
Creation and The Fall
In the beginning, God created humanity in his image to do good works. (Gen 1:27; Eph 2:10). In Genesis, these good works included cultivating and tending to the rest of God’s creation and being fruitful and multiplying. The Fall (when sin entered the Eden) added toil and difficulty to these tasks but did not take them away. Scripture also shows other threads of human purpose woven throughout the whole narrative of the Bible. They include worshiping God (Psalm 27:6), loving him through our obedience (John 15:10), and loving others (John 15:12).
Salvation
Through salvation, which is granted through faith in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, we are entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation (of being made right with God). This ministry calls us to be “ambassadors for Christ,” urging others to also “Be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20). This reconciliation is the unraveling of the consequences of the fall, and it is the realm in which we exist until the culmination of Christ’s return. The reconciliation of humanity to God is the starting point, and it also encompasses the restoration of the disrupted harmony between men and women, and humanity and creation.
All Christians have been given the ministry of reconciliation and are called to make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). Disciple-making starts with proclaiming the Gospel message, but discipleship is also a lifelong process of formation that happens within a group of Christians. Paul’s letters to early church congregations are overflowing with exhortations and instructions of how to disciple believers in Christ: Titus 2:2-8 (older teaching younger), Colossians 1:28 (teaching everyone with wisdom), and Ephesians 2:19-22 (built together into a holy sanctuary) to name a few. The ultimate goal of spiritual formation is to grow into our new identity as coheirs with Christ (Romans 8:15-17) and be transformed evermore into the image of Christ (2 Cor 3:18).
Putting the Pieces Together
When we know the Bible's metanarrative, we can begin to see how each of those compartmentalized stories we learned as children (and since) fit into the overarching story of Scripture. We will stop seeing the stories through the lens of a typical fiction story arc where there is a hero, villain, climax, and resolution. We will start seeing Bible stories as they fit into the creation, fall, salvation, and consummation meta-narrative of the Bible. For example, this takes the pressure off of us to fit Samson into the mold of the hero and allows us to see how God is moving creation toward consummation in the midst of the effects of sin. Samson is just one example, but I hope that as you read Scripture this week, you will start to apply the categories of the meta-narrative to your reading and will allow God to form your heart and mind toward his mission of reconciliation.
Meet the Author!
Phoebe is a therapist in private practice at Bethany Counseling Center, mom to Vivi, Charlie, and Harris and wife to Jeff. She speaks and writes on the integration of faith and mental health as essential to living in our identity in Christ. She enjoys nonfiction books, Disney movies, and, like any good millennial, is a coffee and pen snob.
This blog is meant to further the conversation about mental health and is not intended as medical or professional advice.
