What is the theme of the Bible?

I’ve started a study series with questions and answers called, “The Teaching of Christ for Families and Congregations.” Today’s article is a translation of one of the lessons, “What Is the Theme of the Bible?”

ANSWER: The theme of the entire Bible is God’s plan to reconcile us to himself through Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1.11: “… according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will” (CSB).

DETAILS: Jesus is the theme of the Bible. The Old Testament shows God’s preparations for his coming to earth. “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son” Galatians 4.4-5.

This is because God’s plan is eternal. Before the foundation—or creation—of the world, God planned everything, Ephesians 1.4. “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you” (1 Peter 1:20). Peter also said that Christ was crucified according to God’s plan:

Though he was delivered up according to God’s determined plan and foreknowledge, you used lawless people to nail him to a cross and kill him. God raised him up, ending the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by death. Acts 2.23-24 CSB.

The term “foreknowledge” (Greek: prognōsis), together with God’s “determined plan,” indicates that the crucifixion was not an unpredictable accident or an event that caught the Lord by surprise. He not only knew it in advance but determined that it would be this way—and even announced it in the Psalms that it would happen.

A false doctrine, a form of premillennialism, claims that Jesus came to establish a political kingdom on earth; when men rejected him, he supposedly established the church as a temporary measure until he could return to earth to establish his kingdom once and for all.

Christ came to earth at the right time. God worked to create the perfect conditions for his coming. This happened “in the dispensation of the fullness of times” (literal translation), that is, to unite all things in Christ at the appointed time. History is being administered—or guided—by God toward his determined end. Only the final chapter remains, when Christ will come to gather his people.

HYMN: “Tão Simples Homem” — This original hymn in Portuguese celebrates Jesus as a simple human being who came and walked among us and gave his life for us. Here’s a translation of the third stanza: In eternity God thought / of his saving plan in the Cross; / We by purest blood were bought / by the sacrifice of Christ.

PRAYER: Thank you, Lord, for not forgetting us, for sending Jesus to die in our place.

Please pray I can finish all 52 lessons. Last year, I wrote 365 daily meditations!

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J. Randal Matheny

Randal and his wife Vicki have lived and worked in Brazil since 1984. He is one of God's little ones. He seeks to speak the truth simply and lovingly. Comments at this link.

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