Living God's Word, Second Edition

Discovering Our Place in the Great Story of Scripture

J. Scott Duvall, J. Daniel Hays

• Publisher: Zondervan Academic
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9780310109129
• Topic: Theologie & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Living God's Word is your pathway to read the Bible as it was meant to be read: as God's Great Story. Many Christians resolve to study the Bible more fervently, but often struggle to grasp the progression of Scripture as a whole. They encounter various passages each week through unrelated readings, studies, and sermons and it all feels disconnected. But once they see the Bible as God's Great Story, they begin to understand how it all fits together and they start see how their own lives fit into what God has done and is doing in the world.

In Living God's Word, Second Edition, New Testament scholar J. Scott Duvall and Old Testament expert J. Daniel Hays help Christians consider how their lives can be integrated into the story of the Bible, thus enabling them to live faithfully in deep and important ways. Living God's Word explores the entire Bible through broad themes that trace the progression of God's redemptive plan. Each section deals with a certain portion of Scripture's story and includes:

• Reading/listening preparation
• Explanation
• Summary
• Observations about theological significance
• Connections to the Great Story
• Written assignments for further study

These features--combined with the authors' engaging style--make Living God's Word an ideal book for those who want to understand the Bible better, for introductory college courses, Sunday school electives, or small group study. Readers can further enhance their learning experience with the Living God's Word WORKBOOK (sold separately) which contains additional questions and exercises to help them reflect on what they are reading in Living God's Word.

CHAPTER 1

CREATION AND CRISIS:
Who Am I and What Is Wrong?

ENTER HERE

Who am I? Why am I here? What is wrong in the world? Who is God? What is he like? What does he want from me? What is the meaning of life? These are critical questions for us. The answers you come up with will shape your life. If you haven’t asked these questions yet and thought seriously about the answers, it’s time you did. The beginning of the Bible tackles these questions head-on.

BE PREPARED

Read or listen to Genesis 1–9; 11.

THE STORY BEGINS

The Bible is basically a Story about God and people . . . and the often troubled relationship between them. The Story is told through the lives of individual people (Adam, Eve, Abraham, David, Mary, Peter, etc.), but the central plot of the Story is universal in scope and much bigger than just the individual human characters. It is your Story and my Story as well . . . and the Spirit of God invites us into the Story. In other words, this is also a Story about you and God and the relationship you have with him. Hang on to your hat! This is quite a ride! It is a fascinating and exciting Story, and the most important Story in all of human existence. We will call it the Great Story.

As we mentioned in the introduction, most stories have five basic parts or “movements”:

1. The story starts out with a description of the setting, including an introduction of the major characters and a description of the initial situation; usually things are going well.

2. Then something happens that produces tension or some type of crisis; often one or more of the characters are threatened.

3. The characters struggle to resolve the crisis or tension; this part usually comprises the majority of the story.

4. The story reaches a climax or critical point where everything comes to a head.

5. The story comes to a conclusion or ending as the tension or crisis is resolved, often leaving the characters better off than they were in the beginning.

The Great Story follows this same basic pattern. Within the overarching plot of the Story, Genesis 1–11 plays a particularly important role for it covers the first two parts of the Story. Genesis 1–2 presents the description of the setting (God’s creation), an introduction to the major characters (God and the people he creates), and the initial positive situation (close fellowship between the presence of God and his people in a wonderful garden).

WHAT IS GOD LIKE?

Apart from the Old Testament we will always have an impoverished view of God. God is not a philosophical construct but a Person who acts in history: the one who created Adam, who gave a promise to Noah, who called Abraham and introduced himself by name to Moses, who deigned to live in a wilderness tent in order to live close to his people. From Genesis 1 onward, God has wanted himself to be known, and the Old Testament is our most complete revelation of what God is like.¹

—Philip Yancey

Genesis 3–11 then describes the disruption of this situation. The people God has created rebel against him and repeatedly disobey him. Thus the close fellowship between people and God is broken, and the wonderful life in the garden is lost, to be replaced by separation, disorientation, fear, and death. A crisis arises and there is tension. How will wayward and rebellious human beings ever be reconciled to God and be able to return to a situation of close fellowship and blessing?

Part 3 of the Great Story, the struggle for resolution of the crisis, begins in Genesis 12 as God takes the initiative and begins unfolding his great plan of salvation. The plot for most of the rest of the Story revolves around how God works to resolve the crisis and restore the close relationship between people and God that was enjoyed in the garden. The Story reaches its climax (part 4) in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, through whom the resolution comes. The final, ultimate resolution (part 5), however, comes at the very end of the Story (Rev. 19–22) as God puts an end to all evil, death, and alienation and restores his creation. People once again will live a wonderful and blessed life in close fellowship with God in a gardenlike paradise.

God Creates a Wonderful World and Places the First People in a Fruitful Garden

The opening words of the Great Story are profound: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). This is the most basic and foundational description of the setting for the Great Story and how we fit in. The implications of this opening statement are extensive and critical. We learn that God, the central character in the Story, is the Creator. We learn that people, the secondary characters in the Story, are part of the “creation.” The most fundamental issues of life and the major questions about the meaning of life are tied up in this verse. If we accept this short opening statement, then a lot of things clear up. Our life will take on a certain ordered existence, much like the move from chaos to order depicted in Genesis 1. Our basic relationship to God will be defined: he is the Creator and we are the “created beings.”

The implications are far-reaching. As Creator, God has the right and the authority to rule and to determine what is right and what is wrong, what is pure and what is corrupt, what constitutes obedience and what constitutes disobedience. Furthermore, if we accept this opening statement, we are acknowledging that God is sovereign and powerful, able to intervene in human history in miraculous ways. If we accept Genesis 1:1, we should not have any trouble believing that God parted the Red Sea, that Jesus fed more than five thousand people with two loaves of bread and a few small fish, or that God raised Jesus from the dead.

Genesis 1:1 also serves as a summary statement for the entire creation account of Genesis 1–2. The specific description of the creation actually starts in Genesis 1:2 with the mention of a chaotic, watery world. That God creates the world out of “nothing” is certainly implied in Genesis 1, but the actual description in Genesis 1 focuses more on how God separates things, bringing order out of chaos and life out of nonlife. Genesis 1:2 also refers to the “Spirit of God” hovering over the waters. This is an early introduction into the Story of the close connection between God’s Spirit and creative power, a theme that runs throughout the Story.

THE SOVEREIGN GOD

From beginning to end the emphasis in the passage is on God’s sovereign majesty. He is the subject; his actions, although expressed simply and briefly, are lofty and inspiring.²

—Allen Ross

Notice that the creation episode in Genesis 1:2–31 is not told in a cold, boring, or mechanical manner. Rather, it is poetic and lyrical. There is rhythm, structure, and repetition (“evening and morning,” “it was good,” etc.). This chapter depicts God as totally unconstrained by the “laws” of nature, freely shaping his beautiful creation as an artist creates a painting or sculpture. Furthermore, the unfolding story of creation does not take place in a straight linear fashion but instead consists of two parallel cycles. During the first cycle (days 1–3) God establishes the critical domains of the creation and all that creatures need to survive and flourish, while during the second cycle (days 4–6) he goes back and establishes the occupants of those domains. These cycles are illustrated by the following chart:

The Domains	The Occupants
Day 1 (Gen. 1:3–5) God separates light from darkness.	Day 4 (Gen. 1:14–19) God creates the sun, moon, and stars.
Day 2 (Gen. 1:6–8) God separates the sky from the sea.	Day 5 (Gen. 1:20–23) God creates birds and fish.
Day 3 (Gen. 1:9–13) God separates dry ground from water and creates plants.	Day 6 (Gen. 1:24–31) God creates livestock, wild animals, and people.

Just as an ancient priestly king might build a temple and then assign positions to people and define their functions, so God creates the world, assigning positions to entities and closely defining their functions. At the end of the creation process and serving as the climactic event, God makes man and woman in his image. A summary of this task is presented in Genesis 1:26–31, and a more detailed account is provided in Genesis 2:4–25. Adam and Eve, the first two human beings, are not associated with any human tribe or race. That is, they are not called Hebrews, Israelites, or some other nationality. Instead they are described as being made “in the image of God” (Gen. 1:27). This implies that the “image of God” is “imprinted” on all people, regardless of culture, socioeconomic standing, or ethnicity. Everyone has this special status and value. Being in the image of God suggests that we all are similar to God in several aspects (spiritual, emotional, relational). Furthermore, it suggests that God appoints human beings as his representatives to administer his creation. That is part of their assigned function.

In Genesis 2 God places the first man, Adam, in a lush garden, made even more wonderful with the addition of Eve, the perfect match for him. Indeed, the creation account concludes with the institution of marriage. The man and the woman are together in a perfect match, living in a beautiful, bountiful paradise and enjoying close personal fellowship in the very presence of God himself. Who could want anything more?

Sin, Rebellion, Separation from God, and Death

Of course, as you know, we spoiled it all. This is the part of the Story that dominates Genesis 3–11. God places his people in a wonderful world and desires for them to live happily in close fellowship with him and with each other. The human response? Genesis 3–11 chronicles four major sinful episodes that characterize the human response to God’s great blessing. The result? Sin and rebellion by people against God have consequences. They produce separation from God and antagonism between people. They also result in death. So not only does Genesis 3–11 describe four major, representative sinful responses to God, but it also describes the tragic consequences. Throughout this section, people move further and further away from God, scatter further and further away from each other, and die. The paradise is indeed lost. These four sinful responses and their terrible consequences are as follows:

Sinful response #1: Adam and Eve rebel against God’s boundaries for life in the garden (Gen. 3:1–24). We believe that Adam...