Start Here: GOD
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” - Genesis 1:1, ESV
“The Bible’s first words announce that Israel’s God can be known. He reveals himself in terms of the “whens” and “wheres” of human and life and history.” -Kenneth A. Matthews
“It is no accident that God is the subject of the first sentence of the Bible, for this word dominates the whole chapter and catches the eye at every point of the page; it is used some thirty-five times in as many verses of the story. The passage, indeed the Book, is about Him first of all; to read it with any other primary interest (which is all to possible) is to misread it.” – Derek Kidner
One of the key understandings that must be front and center in our approach to the Bible is that it is a book about God. It is His self-disclosure to humanity; starting with that mindset will save the reader and student of the Bible a world of heartache and misunderstanding. Many an error and heresy would never have been, if the reality of God being the subject was simply given proper attention. Too often, we come to the Bible and read it with other primary interests and the results are problematic. As an example, we often now read the Bible as a ‘self-help’ book, or a manual for how to run our lives. As much as the Bible might have some helpful advice in it, and certainly principles to live by, we will soon find ourselves either confused or disheartened. Primarily, this will occur because, when we read and study the Bible in those settings, we are doing so in ways that are human centric or even ego centric. Such a reading will not make good sense of so many narratives and ideas which are central to the redemptive history the Bible unfolds. Job’s suffering, for instance doesn’t make sense in the human centric frame of reference. Jesus’ call to come up after him and take up our cross sounds well, barbaric and foolish when put alongside the current culture’s call for self-validation. What will help us to make sense of these things? A number of things but primary among them is reading the Bible as it actually is intended, a book about God. Job’s story is about God not Job. Jesus’ call to self-sacrifice is about bringing glory to God not about you feeling validated. As simple as it sounds, it is a chore to keep reading and studying the Bible as Theocentric. Two challenges must be overcome if we are to stay God-focused rather than human or ego focused. First, we must overcome what we’ve inherited spiritually speaking. That is to say, that our sin tainted souls will always be pulling toward an ego centric view of everything. Second, we must overcome the culture’s main narrative to us. We are constantly fed this lie that everything is about us and it should be that way! In order to read and understand the Bible as intended, I must set aside both of these presuppositions. Once I do, I will find the Bible to make much more sense and to hold together far more cohesively.
Questions for further discussion/life application:
If God is the subject of the Bible; why do you an I naturally assume we are the key subject in our story?
What has been helpful to you in keeping God as the subject in your reading/study of the Bible? Your story?
When in your story have you seen/understood God’s self-revelation? What helped you to see and know Him better?
What impact does God’s “beginning with the end in mind” have on you practically?