Dream Awakener

Reading Scripture in Light of It’s Missional Origin
God freely choose to have Himself, His will, and His mission revealed to His people so that they would join him in the missio dei (mission of God). All of Scripture embodies the consequences of that choice, God revealing his eternal Word in an ever changing world. Each portion of Scripture is a witness to how God”s revelation was given in the cultural forms and setting of His people at that point in the missional story of redemption. A story that is Christotelic – Christ as the goal of the story – through and through.

Michael Goheen connects the nature of the missional origin of scripture with how it should shape our practice of reading Scripture succinctly when he says; “The Scriptures do not only record God’s mission through his people to bring salvation to the world; they are also a tool to effectively bring it about. They don’t only tell us the story of God’s mission but take an active part in accomplishing God’s mission. Out of this history of mission described in the Bible various kinds of books arose as products of God!s mission and played a role in forming God’s people for their mission in the world. As N.T. Wright puts it speaking only about the New Testament: ‘The apostolic writings . . . were not simply about the coming of God’s Kingdom into all the world; they were, and were designed to be, part of the means whereby that happened…’ Both record and tool are essential to a missional hermeneutic.” (Goheen 2006:6)

The Bible is a record and a tool by which God completes His mission in our world through His people who are empowered by the Spirit because of Christ. Reading Scripture in light of its missional origin means acknowledging that the Bible is, as Lesslie Newbigin put the matter, public truth. “We have a gospel to proclaim. We have to proclaim it not merely to individuals in their personal and domestic lives. We do certainly have to do that. But we have to proclaim it as part of the continuing conversation which shapes public doctrine. It must be heard in the conversation of economists, psychiatrists, educators, scientists, and politicians. We have to proclaim it not as a package of estimable values, but as the truth about which is the case, about what ever human being and every human society will have to reckon with.” (Newbigin 1991:64)

What does it look like to read the Bible in light of its missional origin?

Questions intended to help you read Scripture in light of its missional origin:

• How did this particular passage or book came into being? How is your situation and the missional needs you have different, how are they similar to what gave rise to this passage or book?

• What equipping role did this passage play in the missional life of the covenant community when it was given? What role can it play now?

• How did this passage or book help them join in God’s mission causing them to treasure as well as confront their culture: its stories and its symbols? How should this passage function now in light of Christ?

In the next entry in this series, we will talk about reading scripture in light of its missional narrative.  Feel free to leave your thoughts on this entry.

Tony Stiff is a pastor seeking to make sense of an ever changing ecclesial landscape while continuing to bring God’s Kingdom to bear on a global/local world. This is almost as daunting a task as loving my wife as Christ loved the church, and raising my child to have her moms strengths rather than her dads weaknesses. I am currently searching for a pastoral calling in a city. My resume website is tonystiff.com.