\n
<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
The Scriptures have a saving trajectory\u2014through the world-transforming work of Messiah Jesus\u2014reaching beyond the pages of the Bible into our time and place and beyond. Our job is to know the backstory of God\u2019s decisive work inside and out so we can appropriately improvise it on our own stage.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n
Really? Improvise? Yes, improvise.<\/p>\n
The Bible is not trying to be an instruction book speaking directly to every situation we encounter in our lives, telling us exactly what to do. The Bible tells us what God has already been doing in the world, preeminently in the life and ministry of Jesus. The more deeply we know this story, the more clearly we will know how to bring this story to life in our world today with our 21^{st<\/sup>\u00a0century problems and questions. It\u2019s true that history changes, but it\u2019s also true that a lot of things in our human condition stay the same. Sometimes we face challenges similar to those of God\u2019s people in the Scriptures, and we can learn directly from what God told them and how they responded.<\/p>\n}
But overall, the Bible is not trying to be an answer book.\u00a0The Bible is a story telling us that we can step into it as a living drama.<\/strong>\u00a0We can activate the Bible in our own lives by performing it, enacting it anew, as God continues to bring his salvation into our world. Story invites our understanding and insight, while drama invites our faithful action.<\/p>\n
So knowledgeably with God\u2019s Scriptures, powerfully with God\u2019s Spirit, prayerfully with God\u2019s help, and together with God\u2019s people, we can discern how to live out the story of God\u2019s redemption. We can live a robust and active Christian life as a work of art, looking for ways to fittingly and faithfully continue the narrative of God\u2019s restoration of the world. We can give beauty back to beauty\u2019s Creator.<\/p>\n
The final step of deep Bible engagement is found in discovering the Bible as this drama. We must begin to embody the story. To live it out so others can see our biblical performance and be drawn into its light. This is why it\u2019s so devastating when God\u2019s people perform the story badly. Those watching us are repulsed rather than attracted to the Bible and to the God found within the Bible.<\/p>\n
Biblical performance matters. The skill of our biblical improvisation matters.<\/p>\n
We of course cannot even begin to enact this story today if we are only barely familiar with the story that\u2019s gone before. Immersion in the Bible is the only way we\u2019ll be able to pull off fresh new extensions of God\u2019s grand narrative in front of this watching world.<\/p>\n
Immersion, leading to improvisation. A Bible well played. This is the endgame of engagement with God\u2019s holy Scriptures.<\/p>\n
For further reading, see:\u00a0Scripture and the Authority of God<\/em><\/a>\u00a0by N. T. Wright;\u00a0Improvisation<\/em><\/a>\u00a0by Samuel Wells; and\u00a0Faith Speaking Understanding<\/em><\/a>\u00a0by Kevin Vanhoozer<\/p>\n
\u00a0Learn more about the Institute for Bible Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Find out what our partners at the Institute for Bible Reading are talking about and visit ImmerseBible.com to learn more about the Immerse Bible Reading Experience. Read Part\u00a06 of the 6 part series by Bible Scholar Glenn Paauw. What does it mean to receive the Bible on its own terms? Dynamic, living Bible engagement happens […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2596"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2596"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5906,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2596\/revisions\/5906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}