Reading the New Testament
I’ve been excited to dive into this 1,000 page volume because in my own walk of faith, I feel like God has given me new eyes to see. I’ve walked with the Lord for sixteen years, but the last couple of years have been a journey of unlearning and letting go. N.T. Wright has become a trusted voice in my new journey.
Automatically, he begins by saying that when we come to the NT, we must come with a spirit of humility. It is necessary for us to lay down our dogmatic ideas, about our rightness, and let down our defenses. He makes the assertion that this book is meant to form and shape us to be people of worship and mission. That mission is NOT getting people to heaven, but to bring healing to every corner of this world. And part of how that happens is by examining the people that first came in contact with this “book.”
The first Christians were not the cultural elite or the rich, nor did they seek to go after those groups initially. They went after the poor, the uneducated, and the sick. We too must examine our own lives in how we are being shaped by the NT, and if it’s similar to the early Christian communities in which it emerged.
N.T Wright proposes a question; what is the New Testament exactly? It’s a collection of history, theology, and literature including large swaths of poetry, narratives, and more. It is on this basis that he asserts that this is how we should approach our study and interpretation of the NT. He lays out the pitfalls of treating the Bible like a “how to book.” I cringe a bit when I reflect back on my early days of teaching the bible; I was very open to the idea of “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.” or the metaphor of a life manual. And yet as I look now that is me and our self-help culture shaping the text more than being shaped by the text. Not to mention “leaving earth” is not even the main point of the Bible.
However, N.T. Wright set’s it up that history, theology, and literature are a threefold chord that we must use to study the NT in it’s fullness. Some scholars have attempted to hone in on one and forget the others, and stay in a very small niche within their respective fields. One of the richest metaphors we have is us being the “body of Christ” and we must all come together to bring our knowledge to the table to understand the rich tapestry before us.
Questions to Consider:
How would you answer the question: What is the New Testament?
Have you ever considered it as a collection of history, theology, and literature?
Where are you at in your own journey? How can you humble yourself and let down your defenses before diving into the study of this book?
