Tim Chester on From Creation to New Creation

Why write a book unpacking the storyline of the Bible? Why is it important for the health of the church to understand and embrace the overarching story of the Bible and how it “fits” together into a coherent whole?

I’m convinced it’s absolutely vital for the church to have a strong sense of the Bible story as a whole and how we fit in that story. It’s vital if we want to read the Bible properly. But it’s also vital is we want to understand our identity as Christians. Too many Christians are influenced by the individualism of our culture. We think of the gospel as all about how I get saved by God. It is that, but it’s much more than that. The Bible is the story of God saving a family, a nation, a people. Our identity is communal and missional.

What dangers do you see facing the contemporary church with regards to its understanding and application of the whole Bible? That is, do you think the church at large has a good handle on its understanding of the Bible’s plot and how it is to be interpreted? If not, why? What has influenced the trend towards biblical illiteracy and interpretive ineptitude?

One of the greatest dangers we face is moralizing. You see it in far too many sermons, and in a lot of children’s material, where the end point is just - live a better life, or the spiritualised version of that - pray more, read your Bible more, evangelise more!

And what do you do with all those weird stories in the Old Testament? If we haven’t got a good handle on the Bible story then we’ll be left making our own judgments on the behaviour of the characters involved and then reading back those judgments as the voice of Scripture. Seeing everything in the light of the story of God’s unfolding promises allows us to read the Old Testament as gospel, as good news. And that’s when it starts to get really exciting and genuinely life-changing!

Given the widespread rise in recent years of the biblical theology movement, what unique contribution do you see From Creation to New Creation making?

My hope for From Creation to New Creation is that it will really help ordinary Christians to read the Bible, especially the Old Testament. I see the book as a kind of map to help people navigate the Bible. I want people to be confident they can read the Old Testament for themselves and see the gospel shine out from it. By tracing through the four key elements of God’s promise I hope I’ve provided a framework that will equip people to dive into the detail with enthusiasm.

But it’s more than an exercise in Bible reading. The story itself is life changing, and I hope it will give people a stronger sense of their gospel identity, their communal identity and their missional identity.

What two or three books/resources would you most recommend to those looking to go beyond the ground you cover in From Creation to New Creation?

I think I’d pick God's Design: Focus on Old Testament Theology by E. A. Martins and The Mission of God by Chris Wright.