(EPISODE 100!!!!!) The Bible #5: The Movement Continues [EP-100]
This is a long series on the Bible. Here are all the previous parts, that you really need to check out in order if possible to get the full picture of what I’ve suggested about the Bible thus far.
In the fall of last year, I started what I called an “ongoing series” of reflections simply called “The Bible.” I had hoped to continue this series (after a break last November) in the winter/spring of 2020. Well, we all know what happened.
Covid.Stay-at-home orders.Pandemic.If you are anything like me, many things shifted in your life. For my part, my “full time” work hours quickly turned into half days that I split with my wife. We have two kiddos so we came up with a plan to get us to the summer. What that meant was, between ministry work, writing my first book, and being present to my family, that my newsletter and podcast had to slow down. That still may be the case for some time.However, I find myself with fresh motivation to put together a few more posts in this series (which does not have an end in sight), so I’m creating them in advance so that they can flow to your inbox consistently for a few weeks.
Catch Up….
GET: Podcast Version
As a way of catching us up, it seems helpful to remind ourselves of the basic flow of events that we’ve been tracing:
- #1 Jesus Event: his life, teachings, death, resurrection (the most important from an ‘event’ perspective), appearances, ascension, and future return.
- #2 Jesus Movement: the ongoing gathering of communities committed to worshiping the Triune God and living in the power of God’s Spirit to represent God’s Kingdom (or party, or other image for God’s values coming to bear among us)
- #3 New Testament Documents (or, as I said previously, “Jesus Documents”): various documents that are recognized as being Holy Scripture, although not systematically organized throughout all the churches.
- #4 Compiled Bible: This is finally put together in the fourth century, in continuity with what the churches throughout the known world already affirmed about a particular set of 27 documents (along with the Hebrew Scriptures).
The early church was driven by the Jesus Event to form the Jesus Movement. This produced Jesus Documents that eventually became the “Jesus Book” (Compiled Bible).The Jesus Movement should have been snuffed out by years of on again off again persecution. But instead, it grew. And here’s been the main point of these early reflections on the Bible:The Bible is not the point, it points to the Point who is a Person. Jesus is the Point and the Event of his life, death, resurrection, and ascension launched a movement in the world. The resurrection specifically is the anchor-point of the Jesus Event that gave the movement courage and joy as they continued to tell others about God’s love. The Bible is central to the Christian faith without being the center of it. That place is reserved for Jesus alone.As we noted last time, placing Jesus at the center led the early Jesus Movement to suffering, and at times: death.
The early church leader, Tertullian (155 - 240 CE) is cited as saying:
