Running head: BIBLICAL METANARRATIVE
Biblical Metanarrative Essay
Darrell Beecher
LUO - THEO 104-D36
March 29, 2020
Biblical Metanarrative
Biblical Metanarrative Essay
A biblical metanarrative is the story of God's beginning rule over humanity in Genesis
through the second coming of Jesus Christ in Revelations. It is not enough to just read the Bible
from beginning to end, but one must understand the meaning and purpose for the scriptures in
order to understand God's purpose for humanity. Theology is the study of biblical doctrines
where one attempts to understand and unify the scriptures as a whole. The Bible is ultimately a
blueprint that we are to follow, but in order to follow it correctly, one must be able to properly
interpret the writings to know God's plan. The various doctrines found in the Holy Bible consist
of themes that help explain the Word of God and His devotion to mankind.
The Holy Bible is a book that consist of 66 individual stories told by multiple authors
throughout different places and time. There are four different themes to be aware of when
reviewing the multitude of scriptures in the books within the bible. The four specific themes are
known as Creation, Fall, Redemption, and New Creation. "The metanarrative of God's Word is
the overarching story that incorporates all the characters, events, and ideas contained within this
complex collection of historical records, laws, poems, instructions, letters, saying, songs, and
sermons into one comprehensive plot" (Short, 2012, p. S110). The first theme noted in the Bible
is the Creation as we find in Genesis where God takes 6 days to create the heavens and the earth
and all those that inhabit it. We experience the Fall when Adam and Eve disobey one of God's
laws and eats the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. We see the Redemption
when God sends His only Son to die on the cross so that the sins of mankind can be forgiven. We
are promised the New Creation once we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and leave our
earthly bodies behind to have everlasting life in heaven with God. Throughout the stories within
Biblical Metanarrative
the Bible, we can follow a variety of doctrines through the purposefully placed four themes and
gain a better understanding of the doctrine of Hope and Mercy.
In the many books of the Holy Bible, we encounter evidence of the hope that God has for
humanity. We experience God's hope for earth when he decided to create a place that mankind
could inhabit. "God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good" (Genesis
1:31, New International Version). The cold, dark planet now had sunshine, and clean air and
water and animals for His new family. We see the Fall when mankind becomes so wicked that
God believes the only thing to do is wipe out mankind to rid the earth of all the wickedness they
were creating. God was no longer hopeful and was regretting that he had ever created the human
race or the creatures that also walked the earth. We see the Redemption when God favors Noah
and decides that maybe not all is lost. God tells Noah of His plan to rid the earth of all the evil
and has Noah build an Ark to house his family and 2 of each animal so that they will not perish
in the 40 days and 40 nights flood. We have the New Creation when the rain stopped, and the
water subsided, and all the earth had been cleansed of those who were not redeemable. Noah and
his family along with all the spared animals would begin with a second chance of having a
fulfilling relationship with God and repopulate the earth. There was new hope for mankind
because God found the good in Noah and knew not all was as lost as He had presumed.
The Biblical doctrine of mercy also adds to the narrative of the Holy Bible and we see
God's mercy time and time again throughout the scriptures. His mercy shows us that though he is
a powerful and demanding God, He is also a loving, forgiving and kind God. In Ephesians 33:18,
Moses demands that God show him his glory and God answers, "I will cause all my goodness to
pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion"
Biblical Metanarrative
(NIV). This can be viewed as the Creation theme since Moses has witnessed firsthand how
merciful God can be. The fall of David in 2 Samuel 11, where he caved into lustful sin by
allowing himself to be seduced by Bathsheba instead of being on the battlefield can also be
viewed as the fall of God's mercy. David goes on to have Uriah killed because he wants
Bathsheba as his wife. God could have shown mercy and stopped David before he ever had
Uriah killed but God let David fall and then waited until David was in complete anguish over the
sins he had committed to have Nathan deliver his message. David suffered the consequences as
God promised for his sins which included the death of his son with Bathsheba, the loss of his
wife publicly and the suffering of his kingdom. In Isaiah 55:7 we see the theme of redemption
where God is offering to pardon those who seek salvation. The Bible states "Let the wicked
forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have
mercy on them, and to our Gog, for he will freely pardon" (Isaiah 55:7, NIV). God is showing
mercy by allowing for redemption of sins. The theme of New Creation concerning God's mercy
is found throughout the new testament as Jesus Christ is the ultimate mercy shown by God. God
sent His only Son to earth so that he could spread the gospel, sacrifice his own life for all our
sins, not just Israel's and then resurrects Jesus to show that through faith and salvation, we can
also have everlasting life.
The Holy Bible may be made up of 66 different books with the four major themes of
Creation, Fall, Redemption and New Creation, but all the stories show God's devotion to
mankind and how following His word, we can show our devotion to Him. The Bible
demonstrates the Hope God has had for humanity since the very beginning and that same hope
continues throughout the Old and New Testament. The Bible tells how our God is a merciful God
and will show His mercy when asked and/or deserved. "Only the redeemed Christian
Biblical Metanarrative
imagination can rightly correspond God’s world with God’s purposes, and man’s identity with
man’s telos" (Trentham, 2019, p.473). The scriptures are essentially our roadmap to show us
where we have been and where we want to go and by studying the various doctrines and related
themes, we too will have hope and be able to experience God's mercies.
Biblical Metanarrative
References
Short, S. W. (2012). Formed by the story: the metanarrative of the bible as doctrine. Christian
Education Journal, 9, S110-S123. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?
url=https://search-proquest- com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/docview/1013535518?accountid=12085.
Holy Bible. New International Version.
Trentham, J. D. (2019). Reading the social sciences theologically (part 1): Approaching and
qualifying models of human development. Christian Education Journal, 16(3), 458-475.
doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1177/0739891319885463.
