Michael Goheen Geneva Chair of Worldview and Religious Studies Trinity Western University Reading [and Preaching] the Bible to Equip the Church for Mission

Three preliminary and foundational comments The Bible tells the true story of the world The whole point of Christianity is that it offers a story which is the story of he whole world. It is public truth. - N.T. Wright

True meaning of history and meaning of human life The way we understand human life depends on what conception we have of the human story. What is the real story of which my life story is a part? -Lesslie Newbigin

Narrating the world as it really is To accept the authority of this story is to enter it and to inhabit it. It is to live in the world as the world is portrayed in this story. - Richard Bauckham

Three preliminary and foundational comments The Bible tells the true story of the world Mission is a central theme of the biblical story

Centrality of mission in biblical story “Mission is... a major key that unlocks the whole grand narrative of the canon of Scripture.” (Chris Wright) Missionary consciousness: A people for the sake of the world Missionary encounter with culture: A contrast people shaped by a different story

Three preliminary and foundational comments The Bible tells the true story of the world Mission is a central theme of the biblical story Biblical authority must be understood within the context of mission

Mission and biblical authority God’s self-revelation is always to be understood within the category of God’s mission to the world, God’s saving sovereignty let loose through Jesus and the Spirit and aimed at the healing and renewal of the creation. - N.T. Wright

Scripture as tool of God’s mission The Bible is the Word of God, the record and tool of his redeeming work. - Contemporary Testimony, Our World Belongs to God, 32

Tool of God’s mission The apostolic writings... were not simply about the coming of God’s Kingdom into all the world; they were, and were designed to be, part of the means whereby that happened... - N.T. Wright

Reading the Old Testament to equip the church for mission God equips his people to serve his mission in the world ‘Equip’: Various genres function as multiple tools to accomplish purpose

Various Old Testament tools Law ordered national, ethical, liturgical life Wisdom helped shape daily conduct in conformity to God’s creational order Prophets called them back to vocation with warning and promise Psalms brought all of Israel’s life into God’s presence in worship and prayer to nourish covenant faithfulness Historical books continued to tell the story of Israel at different points reminding Israel of and calling them to their missional place in the story.

Reading the New Testament to equip the church for mission Jesus fulfils the purpose of Old Testament Scriptures For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful humanity to be a sin offering. (Rom 8.3)

Reading the New Testament to equip the church for mission Jesus fulfils the purpose of Old Testament Scriptures Apostolic proclamation of gospel makes Christ present in his transforming power

Apostolic proclamation of the gospel is the “power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1.16; 1 Cor.1.18, 2.4-5; 1 Thess. 1.5; cf. Matt. 13.1ff.)... calls into existence missional community... shapes them into a faithful and attractive community... is Christ coming to us clothed in the words of the gospel... is an instrument of Spirit to transform God’s people

Reading the New Testament to equip the church for mission Jesus fulfils the purpose of Old Testament Scriptures Apostolic proclamation of gospel makes Christ present in his transforming power New Testament Scriptures: Literary expression of apostolic gospel

The New Testament authors committed their preaching and teaching to written form... make Christ present in transforming power

Christ clothed in gospel “For Holy Scripture is the garment which our Lord Christ has put on and in which He lets Himself be seen and found.” (Martin Luther) “This, then, is the true knowledge of Christ, if we receive him as he is offered by the Father: namely, clothed with his gospel.” (John Calvin)

The New Testament authors committed their preaching and teaching to written form... make Christ present in transforming power... wrote books to form, equip, and renew the church for mission in the world

Instruments to form communities for missional vocation The writings that became the canonic New Testament all functioned basically as instruments for the continuing formation of these communities for the faithful fulfillment of their missional vocation. - Darrell Guder

And so the proper question to ask... ‘How did this written testimony form and equip God’s people for their missional vocation then, and how does it do so today?’ All the resources of historical, critical, and literary research on the biblical testimony can and must contribute to the church’s formation by illumining all the dimensions of this fundamental question. - Darrell Guder explicating David Bosch

New Testament authority Gospels: Tells story of Jesus contextualised for particular community to shape their missional identity Letters: Unfolds missional implications of gospel for churches

Last word Mission is not just one of the many things the Bible talks about, but undergirds, shapes, and produces the text so that to read the Bible in a non- missional way is to misread it and misunderstand what God is saying.