Luke 4:15-22 NIV
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.
The Bible Is—
1. A of writings
Don’t just read the Bible literally, read it .
“Reading the Bible as a library allows us to appreciate the unique genres and voices within its pages and discover the beauty of its diversity.” —Scott McKnight
2. That are both and
Mark 12:36 NIV
David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared: “‘The Lord said to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”’
2 Peter 1:20-21 NIV
Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
“The Bible is a divine and human word, working together in a mysterious partnership.” –Tim Mackie
3. Which tell a , subversive story
“The reason for our confusion over the Bible is that we usually read it as a series of disconnected stories, each with a moral for how we should live our lives. It is not. Rather, it comprises a single story telling us how the human race got into its present condition and how God through Jesus Christ has come and will come to put things right.” –Tim Keller
“Story is the basic principle of how the human mind works. Our knowledge and our thinking is organized as a set of stories.” –Mark Turner
“We shape our stories as a civilization, and then our stories shape us.” – Peter Berger
Scripture is not meant to be a cultural icon. it is a – narrative against the stories we tell ourselves.
“Neither revolution nor reformation can ultimately change a society, rather you must tell a new powerful tale, one so persuasive that it sweeps away the old myths and becomes the preferred story, one so inclusive that it gathers all the bits of our past and our present into a coherent whole, one that even shines some light into the future so that we can take the next step… If you want to change a society, then you must tell an alternative story.” -Ivan Illich
4. That leads us to .
John 5:39-40 NIV
You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
The Bible is the prism by which the light of Jesus Christ is broken into its many and beautiful colours. The Bible is the portrait of Jesus Christ. Whenever we read the Bible, we must look for Christ. And we must go on looking until we see and so believe. –John Stott
“All Christian thinking, speaking, and organizing must be born anew out of this prayer and out of the Scriptures. Only in the Holy Scriptures do we learn to know our own story.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer