The Biblical Metanarrative: Understanding God's Unifying Story, Exams of Advanced Education

Download The Biblical Metanarrative: Understanding God's Unifying Story and more Exams Advanced Education in PDF only on Docsity!

THEO 104 Metanarrative Essay Liberty University 2023

Biblical Metanarrative Essay Cari Stone Liberty University THEO 104

Introduction

A biblical metanarrative is unifying story that covers the significant four parts of the Bible. These crucial points are the creation, the fall, the redemption and the new creation. The Bible is more than just a collection of stories but is a handbook for life and is crucial the message is interpreted correctly. The metanarrative helps us to fully understand God’s plan and allows us to preserve our union with God. “And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.” (Revelation 22:19 KJV). God’s plan for humanity is unmistakable throughout the Bible.

Biblical Metanarrative

According to the presentation, Understanding the Metanarrative, a metanarrative is a narrative or story that unifies the vast diversity of the Bible. With having 66 books written over thousands of years by dozens different authors, different times, places and audiences and even including different genres such as poetry, narrative and songs the metanarrative is an overall story that unifies such diversity collectively. “So, it would be safe to say that although we typically refer to the Bible as one book, in reality the Bible is comprised of a collection of books. (Rusty & Etzel, 2016, p.22). The metanarrative’s four parts, creation, fall, redemption and new creation narrates the spirit of God. The Bible commences in Genesis I & II and details the creation of world and man. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1 KJV). And while creating the world and mankind, humanity is made in God’s image. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he him.” (Genesis 1:

KJV). It then goes on to the fall of man that occurred when Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s word and despites his commands, Eve was deceived by Satan. God realized what sin was doing in the world he had created and had to find a way for man’s redemption and needed someone worthy to redeem humanity and with that he sent down his only son to fulfill such redemption. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16 KJV). God has made a promise to man kind to restore humanity and restore the world and within the Bible lie the answers of what’s yet to come.

Example I (Grace)

Though there are many books of the Bible and they are all seemingly different, they all tell the story of the creation, the fall, the redemption and the new creation of man kind. They all tell us of God’s grace and his love to all, even those undeserving of it. Without God’s grace salvation would not be possible. God knew that when he created man kind that we would be incapable of being perfect and without sin and that he would need to create a way to rid of that sin. Throughout the Bible there are many stories of those who have sinned, yet God has ultimately forgiven those sins. “Ephesians 2:8-9 makes this very clear. Paul says, "God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. (Etzel & Gutierrez, 2017 p. 10). God’s grace has been evident since the beginning of his time and it will continue to serve us throughout everlasting life.

Example II (Love)

In the Bible, 1 John 4:8 tells us that “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. (KJV) God’s love for humanity is can be witnessed throughout the Bible. Biblical metanarrative’s help

to understand how God’s love can be applied throughout the four main parts of the story. The creation, fall, redemption and new creation all contain stories from Genesis to Revelation and show suggestive examples of God’s love throughout. Being able to understand all parts to a metanarrative is crucial to understanding the happenings that’s exist in the world today. “The Bible is God's delivered "Word" to every human being. It is full of portraits of His beautiful creation of every person, His unconditional love, His invitation for all to receive His mercy and forgiveness of sins (see the chapter on "Salvation"), and His ultimate plan for all human beings who have ever lived upon the earth.” (Etzel & Gutierrez, 2017, p. 39). It is evident of God’s love for mankind and we see this in his act of sending his son to redeem humanity.

Conclusion

The Bible is not just a collection of books but is the story of God and his plans for humanity. For us to have a solid structure of understanding with our relationship with God, we must acknowledge how the creation, the fall, the redemption and the new creation all unifies all workings of the Bible. No one is free from sin and understanding the Bible helps us to always have faith in God’s love and grace as we continue to walk through life. Our Biblical view affects the way we live our lives and influences the decisions we make daily but as we continue to rely on God, we will always have the tools necessary to make it through anything.

References

Etzel, Whitney and Small, Melissa (2016). Everyday Theology. B&H Publishing Group. Retrieved from https://app.wordsearchbible.com.

Etzel, Gabriel & Gutierrez, Ben (2017). Theology Applied. B&H Publishing Group. Retrieved from https://app.wordsearchbible.com.

Bible Gateway. KJV.