The Big Story of the Bible

The Bible tells one story. There are many individual stories within it but there is still one big overarching story.

Only by undertanding the big story can we see how the pieces fit together and what their significance it.

The Bible can be likened to a jigsaw. Each piece is significant and shows us something but it is only when we put them together that the big picture emerges. The satisfaction is in seeing the big picture completed.

Brief Overviews

For Children

For Adults

Be Berean

Here is a critique of the teaching contained in "The Story of the Bible" by The Bible Project.

Do you agree that there are important themes omitted?

Is it making the Christian message more palatable at the cost of down-playing our sin being offensive to God and leading to judgement?

Here are some resources to help you understand the big picture.

Open The Bible - a website that gives an overview of the whole Bible in 50 sessions. Each session contains a Bible reading (including audio), some teaching (that you can read or listen to) and questions for reflection and/or discussion.
The Story The Bible Tells - pdf, overview of the whole Bible, Peter Cheyne
What Is The Biblical Metanarrative? - David P. Teague
Study With Purpose: Seeing The Big Story Of The Bible - Jen Wilkin (Bible Study Tools)
Trevin Wax (The Gospel Coalition) has written a series of posts on the big story
- What's Your Primary Story?
- The Big Story We've Fallen Into
What is The Bible About? - Tim Challies (Faith Gateway)

A common way to summarise the story the Bible tells is to break it down into it main phases, or acts, with one word for each act.

The Bible In Four Acts

Using only four words, that might be:

Creation
Fall
Redemption
Restoration

In his book, Counterfeit Gospels, Trevin Wax defines those four phases as follows:

Creation: One Hebrew word sums up the picture of Genesis 1 and 2: shalom. Peace. Earth was full of God's shalom, the kind of peace in which everything works according to God's intention. The world was made for human flourishing, there we could live in joy in the presence of our Maker, worshiping God by loving Him and one another forever.

Fall: Adam and Eve rejected God's rule over them. We refer to their rebellious choice as "the fall," and because the represented all of humanity, their action affects us too. We have-- through our attitudes and actions-- declared ourselves to be God's enemies. This rebellion results in physical and spiritual death.

Redemption: Thankfully the loving Creator who rightly shows Himself to be wrathful toward our sin is determined to turn evil and suffering we have caused into good that will be to His ultimate glory. So the next movement shows God implementing a master plan for redeeming His world and rescuing fallen sinners. In the Person of Jesus Christ, God Himself comes to renew the world and restore His people. The grand narrative of Scripture climaxes with the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Restoration: The story doesn't end with redemption. God has promised to renew the whole world, and the Bible gives us a peak into this glorious future. The restoration of all things will take place in two ways. Christ will return to judge sin and evil, and He will usher in righteousness and peace. God will purge this world of evil once and for all.

Here are some resources that use that framework.