The Four Parts of the Christian Biblical Narrative

Introduction

In order to understand the nature of God, one must first comprehend the unified biblical narrative, especially its four major themes of creation, fall, redemption and restoration. The purpose of this paper understand the nature of God, reality of sickness and comfort and hope in the light of the Christian Biblical narrative.

Creation, Fall, Redemption and Restoration    

Creation: The narrative account of creation starts with God and ends with God. In the beginning, God created the universe and all that exists in it from nothing. He declared all that He created to be good (Genesis 1 and 2). However, it is after He created man that He declared everything to be very good. This is because He created man in His own image, status not bestowed upon any other creature but man. He created man with the intention of sharing the ordering of creation with humans. The universe was full of peace, a kind of peace in which God shares his loving fellowship with creatures and for his creatures to enjoy fellowship with each other. The peace that ensures everything works according to the intentions of God. The narrative of creation shows that God is all-powerful and responsible for all of the creation (Bogue, & Hogan, 2020).  It also demonstrates His loving nature – creating everything when He was self-sufficiency. Man is seen as the most valuable of all creation having been created in His own Image.

Fall: man disobeyed God, thereby fracturing the relationship that existed between them. Eve and Adam’s disobedience was the first sin and because they represented all of humanity, their guilt was credited to all humans. Adam’s guilt brought all of the suffering and misery to this universe, including disease (Wright, 2009). Romans 3:24 state that all have sinned and fall short of glory of God. Romans 5:12 says all sinned in Adam. Because of Adam’s guilt, sin was imputed to all humankind.  Thus, humans declared themselves to be the enemy of the creator. This enmity leads to spiritual and physical death.

Redemption: Redemption is God’s promise or master plan to deliver humans from the world of sin. After fall, God never abandoned humans but sought to bring redemption through divine intervention. God who does not tolerate sin send his Son in the person of Jesus to redeem the world. Jesus takes the human flesh and mediates between Man and god. The death of Christ accomplished redemption.

Restoration: God has pledged to restore creation to its original state by pursing this world of sin once and all.  Restoration will occur during the second coming of Christ to establish the everlasting kingdom. .

This biblical narrative offers the framework by which diseases and sickness are interpreted.  Sickness, suffering and death are penalties of the fall. Orr offers that humans live in a fallen world with all its manifestations. After disobeying and rebelling against God, the universe and all of its creation was cursed and condemned to suffering, pain and misery. The narrative of creation affirms that God is above creation, omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient. This perspective of God enables the sick to understand that God knows their suffering and is capable of stopping it. Created in the image of God, we can find hope in loving, caring and sharing with one another. The narrative account of fall affirms that the current world of diseases is ant-normative to the creational norm of God. Diseases are not part of the good creation of God, and the loving God never intended cancer, AIDS, corona and other diseases to be there. Although the Sovereign God permits diseases and sickness, they are an insult to His first creative intention. Redemption includes among other things, healing and eradicating suffering. During His ministry here on earth, Jesus touched many spheres of life, including healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, raising the death in addition to saving souls.

One can find comfort and hope in Jesus’s redemptive work. In the light of redemption, God embarks on master plan to rescue and deliver humans from pain, suffering and ultimately sin. This present life of pain and suffering is not all there is. There is hope of eternal life where there will be no more suffering. The consummation gives hope and joy for the sick and the suffering who can be assured that while at present all creation is at pain a time is coming when there will be no more sickness and disease and all of our pains and tears will be wiped. This future hope is not for a better outcome to sickness but the certainty that something makes sense, irrespective of how it turns out. Positive beliefs and attitudes that one receives via spiritual practices contribute to happiness amid suffering and pain (Orr, 2015). People who are spiritual and religious may use their spiritual beliefs in dealing with pain, illness and even death.

In the midst of pain and suffering in our lives, God reminds us that these challenges helps generate in character and perseverance. This hope inspires the sick and bring inner Shalom (peace). This inner peace is about hope in the midst of suffering and pain in future vindication not about escaping pain. Jesus’ suffering demonstrates that suffering is part of our lives. Timothy encourages sufferers to take their suffering and pain as good soldiers of Christ in 2Tim 2:3. Paul encourages us to be patient in tribulation and suffering in Romans 12:12. Hope is not an escape but something that Christians are meant to do. Suffering go hand in hand with glory. The suffering and resurrection of Christ demonstrate His glory.

References

Bogue D.W., & Hogan, M. (2020). Foundational Issues in Christian Spirituality and Ethics. Grand Canyon University.

Orr, R. D. (2014). Incorporating Spirituality into Patient Care. AMA Journal of Ethics, 17(5):409-15.

Wright, S. (2009). Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense. Nashville, TN: Harper Collins.

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