Biblical Metanarrative Essay

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Biblical Metanarrative Paper Jacob Lohman THEO 201: Theology Survey I Professor McGorman February 9, 2022

Biblical Metanarrative Paper The Bible has been widely studied around the world in order to fully grasp the message that has been sent to us through the inspiration of the holy spirit. When examining the various scriptures presented in the Bible, we see a connection in every story creating the biblical metanarrative consisting of four parts: creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. These concepts tell a greater story of the presence of God in our lives and his plan for humanity. There are many topics that can link these elements together but, in this paper, the main focus will be on the idea of faith and creation. The story of the Bible begins in Gensis 1:1 where “God created the heavens and the earth.” God himself created everything we see in the world ex nihilo or “out of nothing” (Erickson, 2015). He created the earth, the oceans, the plants and trees, all the animals, and his greatest creation of all, mankind. Once everything had been created, God was able to take a step back and admire his creation, Gensis 1:31 tells us “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” Once God had placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, he gave them everything they could ever want, he had created the perfect place with only one rule, “but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat” (Genesis 2:17). The word of God is powerful and not something to be taken lightly (Etzel et al., 2016). God asked Adam and Eve to have faith in Him and trust that He was there to provide and guide them without harm. But unfortunately, it is the folly of man that leads to the next chapter of the biblical metanarrative. The fall of mankind began when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The first indication of the fall was when Adam and Eve realized they were naked in Genisis 3:7. God had found them hiding in the Garden and yet still asked where they were hiding, giving them the grace to confess their sins. Yet when questioned, Adam blamed it on Eve,

and she blamed it on the snake. Art Lindsley mentions that “Deeply ingrained in the children of Adam is the tendency to blame some aspect of creation (and by implication the Creator)” (Lindsley, 2009). It was at that point that Adam and Eve had to make atonements for their first sins, and many to come, by being cast out of the garden. Adam and Eve had not kept faith in God’s creation, and it led to sin plaguing the world. However, God had a plan for His holy creation, in the form of redemption. Many believe that the concept of redemption began with the birth of Jesus Christ as he is our eternal savior, but it actually began in the Old Testament with Abraham. God made a promise to Abraham that he would have a multitude of descendants, that nations would be blessed through him, and that a place would be created for his descendants. Abraham had to have faith in God’s plan that he would provide for him and his family. God also promised that a savior would be sent to earth to redeem the world of all of it sins. Isiah 7:14 says “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” The fall of creation had been with humanity up until the death of Christ (Lindsley, 2009). Jesus was wrongly persecuted and put to death on the cross, dying and rising from the dead three days later. He died to redeem the world of all of its sins as it says in 2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Jesus committed the ultimate act of grace by sacrificing himself for the atonement of all our sins. This leads to the file section in the overarching biblical metanarrative: restoration. It is God’s ultimate plan to return again to defeat Satan so that in turn, all of mankind can be reconnected with God for eternity. It is written in Matthew 24:6 “You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not

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