Is the Bible one story?
Or a collection of related, but sometimes contradictory stories?
Does it matter which one it is?
Today we are going to answer those questions in our lesson today by explaining what’s called “progressive revelation,” a big term with a simple meaning that’s incredibly important for you to understand in determining if God is the ultimate Author of the Bible.
Below is a podcast of the topic, then a video, and then notes–but before them is a downloadable handout of the timeline of how long people lived in the Old Testament that shows the importance of oral transmission of the Biblical content. CLICK HERE or on the image to download it. CLICK on the podcast image to play it and the video image to go to it.
The notes are below the video image.
The Bible—Human Story or Divine Revelation? part 2
—with thoughts on Progressive Revelation
Teacher Yvon Prehn, Bible805.com
Is the Bible one story?
Or a collection of related, but sometimes contradictory stories?
Does it matter which one it is?
Today we are going to answer those questions in our lesson today by explaining what’s called “progressive revelation,” a big term with a simple meaning that’s incredibly important for you to understand in determining if God is the ultimate Author of the Bible.
In our previous lesson we talked about
• How important it is to understand what it means that God is outside time, and able to see the past, present, and future simultaneously and is thus able to give us true prophecy in the Bible,
• He tells us about what will happen in the future and when it happens, it is one of the best evidences for the reality that God is the overall Author of the Bible.
• A helpful chart that explains this is on the www.Bible805.com website.
In this lesson
• We will look at 2 more considerations that show God is the author of the Bible:
• #1 The Importance of True History, in other words, history based on real events—which is essential because if we don’t have true history, if instead it’s based on legends and fables, we can’t check out prophecy.
• We will look at how the Biblical writers got what they recorded as history to help us determine if it is true or not.
• #2 Progressive Revelation—this is where an important theological concept such as salvation through the sacrifice of a sinless offering is not presented in the Bible all at once but revealed in successive steps through history.
• It can be a complex topic, but I have a very simple explanation I’ll talk about that I trust will have it make sense.
• And then we will clarify some related questions that come up with the topics we’ve been discussing:
• God’s Control, His Sovereignty, and Human Responsibility (am I just a puppet? Or do I have free will?)
• Reminder that Christianity has A Linear View of Time and History—why that is important in how we apply what we’re learning.
#1 The importance of true history—because if the history isn’t true, prophecy has no meaning
• The concept of true history is in contrast to the legend- or fable-based history of many other religions or belief systems. For example, in Buddhism, they freely state that they aren’t sure if the beliefs about the Buddha’s life or actions are true and it doesn’t matter if they are or not. (See series on How Truth and History Confirm we Can Trust the Christian Bible for more on this)
• In contrast, this is how Eugene Peterson explains the importance of true history in his introduction to the Historical Books in the Bible in the Message translation.
• For a biblical people, God is not an idea for philosophers to discuss or a force for priests to manipulate. . . . . That is why these books[referring to the historical books of the Old Testament] immerse us in dates and events, in persons and circumstances—in history. God meets us in the ordinary and extraordinary occurrences that make up the stuff of our daily lives…..History is the medium in which God words salvation, just as paint and canvas is the medium in which Rembrandt made created works of art. ….This deeply pervasive sense of history—the dignity of this place in history, the presence of God in history—accounts for the way in which the Hebrew people talked and wrote. They did not as was the fashion in the ancient world [and I would say today] make up and embellish fanciful stories.
• But how do we know what the Biblical writers talk about as history is true, that it really happened? And they didn’t just make it up? Let’s take a brief look at the written and oral history sources for the Biblical writers as we would for any other historical account.
Though inspired, Biblical writers used primary sources, not legends and made-up stories
• Just as any historian would—the Biblical writers used other sources in the composition of their works. The Bible itself talks about this in many places. Here are a few examples:
• 1 Chronicles 29:29-30: As for the events of King David’s reign, from beginning to end, they are written in the records of Samuel the seer, the records of Nathan the prophet and the records of Gad the seer, together with the details of his reign and power, and the circumstances that surrounded him and Israel and the kingdoms of all the other lands.
• Luke 1:1-4 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
• As we start in our study of the Bible, for Moses, there were most likely some written records (the Amara tablets show the extensive writing and correspondence of this time—they wrote about EVERYTHING) but there was another thing that made his information much closer to primary sources. . . that is oral history.
The Power of Oral History
• When historians evaluate the validity of written documents, one of the important criteria in determining if we can trust them is were there eye-witnesses, did they preserve a record about what they SAW?
• It makes a big difference when we hear (or even later read) the accounts from people who were THERE when things happened.
• My own experience with this—my adopted grandfather and D-Day. We’ve all seen the pictures, read the accounts, but he told me….
• How before boarding the boats the soldiers gave their pocket change to the dock urchins because though they didn’t know exactly where they were going, most realized they wouldn’t return—that made it real to me.
The writers of the Old Testament had unusual opportunities for oral history
• Because of the LONG LIVES in the Old Testament—there is a chart on the Bible805.com website of this and I’ll describe it in a minute.
• Here is how CCEL puts it (this might be a little confusing to hear, but I have a chart and I’ll explain it more in a minute):
• A careful examination of the Biblical genealogies (Gen. 5 and 11) reveals that Adam lived till the time of Lamech [Noah’s father]; Lamech to the time of Shem [Noah’s son]; Shem[who lived through the Flood] to the time of Jacob; Jacob would, without a doubt, transmit what he knew to Joseph. Since even Abraham already lived in a literary age, and Judah carried a seal (Gen. 38:18), and Joseph was learned in the wisdom of the Egyptians, it seems utterly impossible that these men should have refrained from committing this valuable and reliable tradition to writing. . . . .[similar to how] Kings and Chronicles, testify to the abundant use of source materials.
Exposition of Genesis, H.C. Leupold
• http://www.ccel.org/ccel/leupold/genesis.txt
Long Life spans & oral transmission
• Long life allowed sharing of the record of God’s actions in human history
• Adam still alive when Noah’s father was born
• Methuselah (who could have spoken to Adam) was alive as Noah was growing up; Noah could talk to a man (who was this grandfather) who KNEW the first man created (and you think your grandpa has great stories…..)
• Shem (Noah’s son) was still alive when Abram was born, Terah, his father, would have been able to talk to him.
• Oral history always passed on, as well as documents.
• Both contributors to the validity of the history later written.
• Chart available on www.Bible805.com
#2 Importance of “Progressive Revelation”
• Progressive Revelation is incredibly important as we study the ENTIRE Bible because as we keep it in mind it in addition to our previous lesson of God being outside of time, it helps us see God as the ultimate author of the entire Bible.
• BUT WHAT IS IT? What is Progressive Revelation?
• Think of it in this way—if you want to tell the story of something, there are two ways to do it
• One, you can write a novel; or Two, assemble a collection of short stories.
• The short story collection needs to be only loosely related to the topic; the individual stories can have a variety of authors. We don’t expect them to agree with each other and there is no true narrative arc to the collection.
• On the other hand, we expect a consistent narrative arch in a novel, a plot, a story-line wherein as Aristotle said “the events of the plot must causally relate to one another as being either necessary or probable.” (Wikipedia quote)
Progressive Revelation assumes the Bible was written like a Novel
• I’ll go over two examples of the plot-lines in it that show this, but as I am constantly repeating, you won’t see this if you don’t read the ENTIRE Bible, preferably in chronological order.
• If you just jump around here or there (which is what most do if they read it at all) it’s easy to get the idea that the Bible is more like a collection of short stories.
• It’s obvious different writers wrote different books and they seem to be about widely varied topics.
• If you don’t read the whole thing, you will miss the clear sense of the ONE Divine author behind the human authors.
• The human authors wrote using their individual experiences, style, and vocabulary, but in a way we don’t have time to dissect in this lesson, God breathed through, inspired them to write their parts of the story line in a way that perfectly meshed with the overall plot.
• First, I’ll share the overall plot structure of the Bible and then I’ll share one specific example of Progressive Revelation in one specific topic in the Bible (and there are many).
Overview example
• Following how the parts of a plot are described along with my comments on how the Bible fits them.
• In 1863, Gustav Freytag, a German writer, advocated a [plot-story-line] model based upon Aristotle’s theory of tragedy. . . . . which divides a drama into five parts. They are:
• Exposition: The first phase . . .introduces the characters, especially the main character, also known as the protagonist. It shows how the characters relate to one another, their goals and motivations, as well as their moral character. During the exposition, the protagonist learns their main goal and what is at stake
• 805 Commentary: Our Triune God (Father, Son, & Holy Spirit) is the primary protagonist in all the Bible. All other characters are subordinate to God, though their actions are meaningful. In the opening of Genesis, God created a world and placed humanity created in His Image into a perfect garden. He met them there and walked with them.
Rising action:
• Rising action is the second phase. . . . . It starts with a conflict. . . . the event that catalyzes the protagonist to go into motion and to take action. Rising action involves the buildup of events until the climax.
• In this phase, the protagonist understands his or her goal and begins to work toward it. Smaller problems thwart their initial success and their progress is directed primarily against these secondary obstacles. This phase demonstrates how the protagonist overcomes these obstacles
• 805Commentary: The catalyzing conflict in the Biblical story is when the human couple God created for a relationship with Himself, turns their back on him and does the one thing He told them not to do—to eat the forbidden fruit. They chose to believe the enemy of God, Satan, rather than God. The consequence is death. First temporal, physical death and finally eternal death or separation from God.
• The only solution to the eternal death of his created characters is for God Himself to enter the broken world and die for them.
• The Old Testament story-line is about God’s preparation for this event, an explanation of how it will work out, of who God is and what He expects. He can no longer walk with them, so He communicates through his Word (the written scriptures that become our Bible), and through events in the lives of a chosen people.
• Just as this is the bulk of a novel & the majority part of our Bibles and much of human history. But God is not in a hurry, He takes His time to tell the story and prepare the world for…
Climax & Falling action
• Climax: The climax is the turning point or highest point of the story. The protagonist makes the single big decision that defines not only the outcome of the story, but also who they are as a person.
• 805Commentary: in the Bible, the climax is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. In that, humanity sees in the perfect Man, how they were designed to live and obey God and then that perfect Man takes his life and offers it in the place of his creation, God the Father accepts the sacrifice, and the enemy Satan and death are defeated.
• Falling action: The falling action phase consists of events that lead to the ending. Character’s actions resolve the problem.
• 805Commentary: in the Bible, the falling action comes after death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus back to heaven, where his disciples are charged with the task of sharing the message of salvation with the world. We are now part of that action.
Denouement
• Denouement: In this phase the protagonist and antagonist have solved their problems and either the protagonist or antagonist wins the conflict. The conflict officially ends. Some stories show what happens to the characters after the conflict ends and/or they show what happens to the characters in the future.
• 805Commentary: In the Bible the Denouement is at Christ’s return to earth, the casting of Satan into the Lake of Fire, and then comes the creation of the New Heaven and New Earth where God once again, physically, tangibly walks with his people forever.
• Paradise lost has become a paradise regained.
• And as C.S. Lewis says of the children (and one day of each of us) at the end of the Last Battle:
• “The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning. . . . . the beginning of the real story. All their life and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”
A specific example of Progressive Revelation
• From the start, the seed of all key doctrines of the Bible, sin, redemption, grace are introduced in Genesis and Job—and then carried through the writings of the different authors in the Bible for over 1500 years while the entire Bible was written.
• One example of this in the continuing plotline that a sinless sacrifice was needed for pay for humanities rebellion against their Creator.
• Early in Genesis when Adam and Eve sinned, God covered them with animal skins, when Abel made his offering pleasing to God, it was an animal sacrifice;
• Job offered animal sacrifices, so did Abraham, all prior to Levitical laws;
• The sacrifices (type, purpose, procedure) were clarified in the Levitical Laws after the Exodus and became tied to the idea of a coming Messiah in Isaiah and other prophetic writings.
• And that is why it was extraordinarily meaningful when John the Baptist saw Jesus and said, “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the World”
• Finally, all the previous teaching about sacrifices were fulfilled were fulfilled with Jesus’s death on the cross and his uniqueness as the final, satisfactory sacrifice in his resurrection
• Which later New Testament writers expand on and clarify until in the book of Revelation John has a vision of Jesus as both Lion and Lamb.
• The plot line of a needed sacrifice for sin of an innocent winds through the entire Bible, through the centuries and the voices of many, but its truth progressively revealed by the one Author—God—behind it all.
Jesus’ commentary on this progressive revelation about his life and ministry
• He said, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” John 5:39
• And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
Luke 24:27
• Not only Jesus, but other New Testament authors refer to and confirm progressive revelation of OT teaching further revealed or fulfilled as the OT is quoted over 200 times in NT, always as part of progressive revelation, not a contradiction or declaration that previous teachings were wrong or false.
• Paul does this extensively in his writings and in his recorded way of teaching, where it talks about how he would go into a synagogue and show them how Jesus was the fulfillment of the Messiah they were looking for.
• The book of Hebrews is a also primary example of this as it begins: In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, Heb. 1:1,2
Conclusion about Progressive Revelation
• From Progressive Revelation, one can conclude that our Bible has ONE author, God, who worked through human authors, but it was God, the primary Author who kept in mind the whole plot, the storyline of salvation–
• Outside of time God carefully planned and though it took many centuries to tell it all, the basic plot lines, the key themes do not change, but expand as the books of the Bible unfold.
• The Bible in this way is more like a coherent novel with ONE author than a collection of short stories, loosely related by various authors.
• But you must read the ENTIRE BIBLE to see this.
• ALSO IMPORTANT: this consistency of Progressive Revelation is a unique Characteristic of the Bible.
• Other religions totally change doctrines, ignore blatant contradictions, define “progressive revelation” as the option to change their mind about important topics or upfront admit that they change it however and whenever they want—see the 4-part teaching series on How Truth and History Confirm We can Trust the Christian Bible for specific examples of how this happens in other scriptures.
• But this brings up a troubling question:
Does Progressive Revelation mean everything we do is fatalistically determined?
• If God has determined from eternity the plot of the Bible, we can’t help but ask the question: what about Me? Is my life a predetermined part of the plot plan?
• God’s sovereign will over time and history vs human choice is the core question here and this illustration helped me understand it—again, very simple, but I think it makes sense—
• Human history (the big picture, the plot of the entire salvation story) is like an ocean liner—the direction is certain; the route is set.
• The Captain is in charge.
• It’s his ship, HIS word is law. And the passengers have a copy of his law, his guidelines, his manual (the Bible obviously) for them to get the most out of the journey.
• But within the ship the passengers given quite a bit of freedom—their plot lines aren’t written in—HOWEVER—
The place of the individual
• They can’t change the destination of the ship, but their actions greatly affect their experience of the journey.
• Also, each passenger responsible for his or her actions, his or her attitude and based on them, and what they get or don’t get out of the trip and ultimately where they disembark.
• There is individual freedom whether they are helpful, a peace-maker and joy-producer to themselves and others, or a dead weight, a bore, a constant complainer, or someone thrown in the brig.
• The passengers do well to keep in mind that this is not a meandering pleasure cruise that never ends, but one with a definite destination and harbor that will be reached because of a……
Christianity has a linear view of time and history—it wouldn’t be progressive revelation if it wasn’t progressing toward something—a discernable end point
• In contrast, many religions believe in a cyclical view of time—Eastern religions, reincarnation, all of time going round and round “samsara—the indefinitely repeated cycles of birth, misery, and death caused by karma”
• Christianity quite different.
• It teaches a personal Creator started it all, not eternal impersonal matter, not karma.
• Genesis teaches creation “ex nihilo” (out of nothing) and with that our universe began.
• “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Rev. 1:8
• In addition to a clear beginning, Revelation 21 (and many other places) teaches us that a time will come when there will be an end to our present universe and New Heaven and a New Earth.
• Remember the earlier illustration. God created time, rules over all that happens in it and will bring it to an end when He sees fit.
Important applications because the Christian faith presents time as linear
• There is no reincarnation, no “do overs”
• Though God is clearly in control of the ship of human history, and He wrote the guidebook (our Bible) for how to live it—He won’t force us to read it, but we do best on the journey if we do.
• The Guidebook also clearly tells each person they must choose where they want to disembark. Everyone is offered the chance to live with the Captain in what he promises is a forever, extraordinary, solid and lasting home far different than the pitching seas, the storms, and sickness that have plagued the ship.
• If they don’t want that, the Captain warns them that there isn’t any other land. They will drown in darkness.
Their ultimate destination isn’t the only decision they must make
• For those who have trusted the Captain, who want to join Him in His forever home, the Guidebook, the Story given to all, tells them they are accountable for their time on the ship and how they use the resources they are given no matter where they found themselves, in First Class or working in the galley, as a passenger only or one entrusted with greater responsibilities.
• But again, they aren’t forced to read it or forced to obey it.
• It’s up to each passenger (especially to those given first-class passage) to realize that it isn’t a pleasure ship, a cruise to simply try to live a best life now as if the ship is the only reality.
• There is work to be done.
• And one day the journey will be over and as we leave this earthly ship, each passenger will meet the Captain.
• C.S. Lewis puts it this way…..
C.S. Lewis uses the metaphor of a play, but it is the same idea—that of a finite end to the Christian linear view of time.
Precisely because we cannot predict the moment, we must be ready at all moments. . . the curtain may be rung down at any moment. . . .We do not know the play. . . the Author knows [and]. . . We are led to expect the Author will have something to say to each of us on the part that each of us has played. The playing it well is what matters infinitely.
C.S. Lewis, the World’s Last Night
Bible805 is committed to helping you play your part, infinitely well
• I hope that from these lessons, through looking at God’s view of Time, History, and Progressive Revelation you have been convinced that God, not humans is the author of the Bible and that the Bible is truly a book “which teaches all that is necessary for faith and life,”
• For living and dying and serving God forever.
• And that it should be an essential priority in your life to know it well and to live obediently.
• That is what Bible805 will help you do, through podcasts, videos, print, and whatever I can, I want to help you meet your Captain, your Lord, your Savior with joy.
• In the next lesson, I will get into the specifics of how Genesis and Job answer the Big Questions of Life—plan to join me for that.
That’s all for now
Check out the notes from this lesson, related resources, and helpful links at www.bible805.com
• If the podcast has been useful to you, please consider supporting it through your donations and prayers. For a link to donate a small amount consistently, it is at the end of the description of the podcast on iTunes and other podcast sources you are listening from or on bible805.com. Thank you in advance for your support and prayers.
• In closing…..I’m Yvon Prehn, your fellow pilgrim,
writer and teacher for Jesus.
• I’d like to end with this benediction:
May you know the invitation of God, to move
-from confusion to clarity
-from wandering to rest
-from loneliness to knowing you are loved
-from turmoil to peace
From wherever you are on your spiritual journey to a growing knowledge of God’s Word and in your personal relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen