WE READ and study the Bible. It’s at the heart of all Christian worship and living. But the Bible as we have it has a history: from the writing of the texts to the formation of the canon of scripture, then through the hand-copied codices and lectionaries of liturgical readings, and then to the printed texts when it became widely available. The result is a book with Old and New Testaments telling the story of our salvation, from the creation of the world, to the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, then to the formation of the Church, and then looking towards the end of all things.
But there is another way to read the Bible. The Bible is not so much as book as a Person. It is the act of God in Jesus Christ on the cross, revealing the nature of God’s self-giving love, which overcomes the power of death and opens up the new life of the Spirit for all. Starting from here, the text of the Bible is less of a history and more a rich source of material to help us to understand and experience the action of God on the Cross.
Here we are shown three main themes. There is the action of God in the crucifixion and resurrection, which shows us the fullness of God’s love. Jesus Christ overcomes death and gives new life and fulfils the creative purposes of God. So the tomb becomes a womb that gives a new birth into the life of the spirit. Christ’s birth is understood as a part of this action, and the infancy narratives form a prologue to what is to come.
Then, if there is new birth, there is also a mother, who gives birth to us into this new life and then nurtures and enables growth. The mother is identified with the Church, which becomes the giver of life, and which forms the body that is that of all believers. The various mother figures in scripture show different aspects of this giving of new life and make us part of it.
The third theme is becoming fully human. Physical life is given in the figure of Adam, the type of the one to come, and this grows into the new life of the spirit given to us on the cross. This is the way by which we grow towards God.
These themes are set out in the writings of early theologians, with extracts from the writing of Sts Athanasius, Irenaeus, Gregory of Nyssa, and Maximus the Confessor among others — and also in iconography which illustrate and point to the meaning of the events.
This way of reading the Bible opens new insights and understandings, and a fresh way of looking at familiar texts. It shows how the writings of scripture reveal to us the life-giving power of the cross and resurrection and lead us to the life- giving encounter with God in Jesus Christ which makes us a part of the Church and sharing in the life of the Spirit.
The Revd Dr John Binns is Visiting Professor at the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, Cambridge.
In Accordance with the Scriptures: The shape of Christian theology
John Behr
Cascade Books £22
(979-8-3852-3081-5)
Church Times Bookshop £19.80
