The Bible’s unique literary style 2.22.24
The Bible is not a code book of instructions laid out one after another. It’s not a how-to book. Imagine for a moment if it was. Perhaps it could be titled, Here’s What To Do To Get To Heaven. Inside the very brief pamphlet would be a bullet list of necessary things to do. To some folks, there wouldn’t even be a list. There would only be one item— simply believe in Jesus. To others there would be more, including the tenets of faith and teaching on holiness of life.
Interestingly, the Bible is not constructed in that simple way. It actually requires study to ascertain true salvation doctrine (2Timothy 2:15). It is, perhaps, debatable which style would more effectively save souls. One thing is sure. In the infinite wisdom of God, the Bible that we have is the best means for presenting and convincing sincere souls of the truth. Let’s consider its literary style.
The Bible is a narrative context, a chronicle of redemptive history. It’s a record of God’s dealings with mankind from the beginning. From that interaction, divine revelation and a basis for understanding truth ensues. It happens over the course of the biblical record, here a little and there a little (Isaiah 28:9-10).
Through study of the Bible, we learn of the covenants God has made with man and of the various dispensations necessary to bring us to the current means of obtaining right standing with Him. Understanding that dispensational flow enables a person to draw correct conclusions about salvation doctrine. The Bible is, above all things, a self-revelation of God and a reliable history of redemption offered by our Creator. If we are inclined to know this one, true God and receive His gracious salvation, we must regard the timeline of redemptive history, especially as relates to the time period in which we live. In other words, we must come to understand how the people in the Bible who lived in the Christian era, which began on the Day of Pentecost, were saved. The safest means to do that is to simply look at the record the Bible gives us of their conversions. That inspired history is found exclusively in the book of Acts. And, it’s not at all difficult to see. Honesty of heart is the credential needed more than anything else.
The plan of salvation is not arrived at theologically by landing on a verse of Scripture that sounds like a salvation Scripture or that sounds easy and appealing.
We arrive at salvation doctrine by seeing what Jesus taught about it for the Christian era, what He specifically gave to His Apostles in His Great Commission, and what they followed through with as they took the Gospel into the world. Acts records thousands of people being saved under various ministries. The Epistles, which reference the very salvation we observe in Acts, must be interpreted in the light of it. The conversion and ministry of Paul himself, who wrote most of the Epistles, is recorded in Acts, giving us assurance of what he meant as he theologized about the faith. To be sure, Jesus, Peter, and Paul all taught the same thing for salvation tenets, the substance of which is Acts 2:38-39.
The Gospels may present the story of Jesus Christ in a systematic way, but Acts is a narrative history of Christian salvation taking place, and the Epistles were essentially written to correct problems of faith or practice that had arisen. Hence, the book of Acts gives us the best picture of how to be saved.