Common Theme of the Bible - Essay Example

The Common Theme in the Bible of Learning The Common Theme in the Bible The fact that despite the large number of books the Bible is rather a logical and consistent collection of Christian ideas compels researchers to look for the most common theme in it. Given the diversity of Christian thought that found its reflection in the Bible, various scholars point to several common themes in the Bible. In particular, Baxter (1997) believes that the main theme in the Bible is associated with the idea of ​​Jesus “as the Lamb of God.” According to other versions, one can designate different major themes in the Bible, namely the subject of Jesus Christ, love, and salvation ("Great Themes of the Bible," n.d.). In my opinion, the concept of a common theme involves the fact that it includes and subordinates all other sub-themes, which also play an important role in the Bible. For this reason, it may be argued that the theme of true religious faith is no less important that the theme of love and salvation. This in turn makes it possible to doubt that the above-mentioned theme of love can be seen as the most important theme in the Bible. In this regard, the position of Smith seems to be most reasonable. Smith (n.d.) argues that the most common theme of the Bible is the theme of the Kingdom of God. Indeed, the analysis of the various books of the Bible allows one to make sure that the question of Gods Kingdom is a semantic unit, which takes place against the background of the biblical narrative. One or the other book in the Bible considers a particular aspect of the question of Gods Kingdom. Initially, the reader meets the theme of the Kingdom of God in Genesis. Genesis tells us about the creation of the Kingdom of God in accordance with Gods plan. God created a beautiful world called Earths paradise in which he settled two people - a man and a woman, as well as animals. This wonderful world was full of harmony as between a man and a woman and between them and God. People listened to God and he did everything he could to make them happy. However, people have decided to disobey God. They ate the forbidden fruit, and committed an act of the Fall (Genesis 3:6-7). The fall is not only tainted the human souls. It destroyed the heavenly harmony and world order. The kingdom of God had been lost. God damned people prophesying them painful earthly life, diseases, and death (Genesis 3:18-19). Further human sins and wickedness made God hate people and kill all living things (Genesis 6: 11-13). However, God did not lose hope for recovery of the kingdom of God. As noted by Smith (n.d.), "the rest of the Bible tells how God restores the kingdom to Himself and brings man back into the position of kingdom glory that God originally designed for him." In Exodus, it is also about the kingdom of God. It is realized by means of salvation of the Jewish people and their acquisition of the Promised Land. The Jewish people leave Egyptian soil and wander the desert in search of their native land during 40 years (Exodus: 16:35). Exodus reveals the question of Gods kingdom in the aspect of the true human faith, as a guarantor of existence of the kingdom of God. Wandering in deserts, the Jews as well as Moses should have proven their true faith in God and the willingness to live according to His principles. Only true faith can lead people to salvation, to their promised land, and thus to the kingdom of God. One needs to understand that the kingdom of God is primarily a spiritual world created with the true faith in God. Despite a simple plot, Exodus raises far more important issues than it might seem at first glance. It is not only about that the Jews were looking for their promised land as a geographical place to stay. The idea is that the Jews had to go into the kingdom of God as sincere adherents of a godly life (Exodus 20:3-17). In addition, in the books of the Old Testament, one can learn about the coming of a savior that will save humanity from original sin and thus open the way to the Kingdom of God for people (Micah 5: 2-3; Isaiah 7: 14-15, 52: 13-15; Zechariah 9: 9). One needs to understand that the prophecies about Christ in the Old Testament are not individual verses or chapters, but rather ideas that permeate the Scriptures. For example, the idea of ​​the atoning sacrifice, the blood of which washes away sin from people. Another sub-theme of the Old Testament is the understanding of God as the only true King of Israel, who would one day rule his people and subjugate the whole world at the same time. A solemn whoop, "The Lord reigns!" sounds both in the Psalms, and in the prophetic books. In turn, in the New Testament, the gospel preached by Christ was invaluable information about the kingdom of God: "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people "(Matthew 4:23; cf. 9:35; 4:17; 5: 3, 10, 6:33, 10: 7, 12:28, 13: 11ff.; 16:19, 28; 18: 3-4; 19:14, 21:43, 24:14, 25:34). Moreover, not only Christ, but also his devotees, who later became apostles in particular Paul always talked about the kingdom of God (Acts 28: 30-31; cf. 14:22; 19: 8, 20:25, 28:23). Each subsequent book in the New Testament comes closer to the idea of ​​the restoration of the kingdom of God. In particular, the last book in the New Testament tells about the renewal of Gods rule and as a consequence about the recovery of Gods kingdom: "And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever "(Revelation 11:15; cf. 1: 9, 12:10). The last chapters of the Revelation describes the New Jerusalem. Given that Jerusalem is a holy city, its re-creation can be seen as "the fulfillment of Gods purpose for the creation and the final manifestation of the kingdom of God" (Smith, n.d.). To conclude, the study of various books of the Bible gives one the opportunity to make sure that the general idea of the Bible is devoted to the Kingdom of God. The first book of the Bible tells the reader about the destruction of the Kingdom of God because of the Fall. All the other books of the Bible can be regarded as a description of the way that can be passed by humanity in order to restore the kingdom of God. The questions of salvation, Gods grace, and atonement are the sub-topics that fall under the general problem of God, namely to rebuild the kingdom of God. In this regard, the moral principles, which are found in both the Old and the Old Testament as well as the image of Christ and faith in Him, are the ways by which the restoration of the kingdom of God is possible. Thus, the main purpose of God pervades all the books of the Bible focusing on a different element having importance in this process. Throughout the Bible the reader has the ability to trace the history of the emergence and development of the kingdom of God in which the human participation has a special meaning and value. References Baxter, J. S. (1997). The master theme of the Bible: A comprehensive study of the Lamb of God. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications. Great Themes of the Bible. (n.d.). United Church of God. Retrieved from http://www.ucg.org/christian-living/great-themes-bible/ Smith, R. A. (n.d.). The covenantal structure of the Bible: An introduction to the Bible. Retrieved from http://www.berith.org/essays/bib/bib01.html The Holy Bible. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bible?lang=eng Read More