TheLionRampant.net

Now that most everyone who is going to comment has done so, allow me to explain my semi-cryptic last post. This post was an attempt to do two things. 1) Trying to get people to think. Instead of just posting something didactic, I decided to try a different approach. I think it can sometimes be helpful to get people to commit to a response before posting ‘the right answer’. 2) As you may know, I’m working on a Christian education program focusing on interpreting the Bible. So I wanted to test out a sample interpretation that I plan to include as part of this study.

Most of you have said that the interpretation and application I gave was incorrect. I absolutely agree. (Although I heard this very sermon preached not too long ago). For those who decided not to post a response, for whatever reason, here’s a quick rundown: The book of Jonah recounts to story of the prophet who was reluctant to preach God’s grace to gentiles. In order to properly understand the first chapter of Jonah we must read it in light of Jonah’s statement in 4:2–’And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.”‘ The message of Jonah is that no one has a monopoly on God’s favor–God shows his grace to peoples of all nations. The message is entirely one of God’s grace. The interpretation I posted is entirely man-centered. It is Christless. It simply tells people to be good people–the very thing that sinners like us are incapable of doing. The story of Jonah, like every other part of the Bible, points us to the grace God has shown sinners in Jesus. Any interpretation that doesn’t point us to Jesus is therefore invalid*.

A couple questions to ask about: Does it make any difference if the narrative is actually historical? That is, does it really matter if the book of Jonah recounts historical events? Would it make a difference if it was just a parable? In the interpretation I gave in the prior post, it doesn’t make a bit of difference if Jonah is historical or not. Jesus reference to the sign of Jonah (Matt. 12:38-41) clearly indicates that Jonah narrates historical events.

To those who posted a comment that never showed up: Thanks for your comments, I appreciate you concerns. I know that asking for a simple yes or no is simplistic. There was, however, no other way for me to make my little experiment work. I didn’t approve your comments because, well, I asked you not to go into a detailed response. I wanted people to feel free to answer either way, without the influence of others (unfortunately this didn’t pan out, but there are several regular readers who didn’t respond, so…).

So thanks to all who responded. To any who disagreed with the majority, I hope you can see the difference between an interpretation that places man at the centre of the Bible, and and interpretation that exalts Christ.

Now, to any who still feel the need, fire away!

*This is not to say that any interpretation that points to Christ is valid.

This entry was posted by Bryce on Thursday, June 2nd, 2005 at 2:20 pm. . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.