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A recent convert to Christianity shared her difficulty with reading Scripture. She indicated she wanted to read the Bible but found it hard to understand. I explained that the Bible is an integrated whole. Everything fits together but since there are so many details, it is sometimes hard to comprehend. Therefore, it is helpful to understand the big picture of the biblical narrative. The Bible is divided into two parts—the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is the divine revelation of the old covenant, and the New Testament is the divine revelation of the new covenant. The new covenant fulfills the old covenant. The books of Luke and Acts, written by the first-century physician Luke, help connect the old and new covenants.
The backdrop of both covenants is the fallen condition of humanity. The major issue of the Bible is how mankind can be restored to right relationship with God.
The old covenant is centered around the Mosaic Law, which provides a means for mankind to gain right standing with God based on human obedience. According to the old covenant, this attempt completely failed, which is why mankind needed another way—a way that didn’t depend on mankind.
The new covenant is based on a gift given to mankind that provides a way to acquire right standing with God based not on human obedience but on divine grace. The new covenant can be synthesized into the following: Jesus paid a debt that he did not owe so that we humans could receive a gift that we could not earn. This idea is sometimes called double imputation, which the apostle Paul expressed in these words:
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For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV)
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To effect salvation, our heavenly Father used the vicarious work of Jesus as the substitutionary atonement for the sins of mankind. Another way to phrase the grace of God might be: mankind is not saved by works but is saved by the grace of God to work. The apostle Paul wrote:
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For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8–10 ESV)
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This text teaches that each person who expresses faith in Christ has been given the ability to believe in Jesus as Lord and Christ and has been saved from the penalty of sin and eternal death. And one of God’s purposes for each saint is to use them to execute a divinely ordained work assignment in the metanarrative.
Each person’s life can be contextualized in the metanarrative. To understand your role requires profound thought. To begin to think at this level requires guidance from others, such as theologian John Frame who uses a learning tool he calls a triad.
Frame’s triad is an advanced tool but is worthy of consideration. In the foreword to Frame’s Systematic Theology, theologian J. I. Packard wrote:
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There is no doubt that Frame’s triads, all achieved by separating out situation/normative/existential factors in the reality, or phenomenon, under analysis, do again and again bring into his discourse a degree of clarity that is quite stunning.1
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The erudite Packard found value in Frame’s triad. Perhaps we should try it as well.
Let’s begin by defining Frame’s triad components:2
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The normative perspective: understanding the world as God’s revelation, governing how to live in all aspects of reality.
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The situational perspective: understanding factual situations in the world that God, as sovereign controller, has brought to pass.
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The existential perspective: understanding the world as a set of personal experiences granted by God, who is present with us and within us.
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Throughout his Systemic Theology, Frame uses the triad to contrast many aspects of reality. The order is from macro to micro or general to specific. The normative perspective is the big picture, the situational provides a context, and the existential is an individual’s particular experience. To properly view reality requires starting with the normative, then recognizing the relationship of situational to the normative, and, finally, viewing the existential experience in relationship to the situational.
The following are more examples of triads.
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Frame’s model is useful in understanding the books of Luke and Acts. The metanarrative is revealed situationally in historical events and existentially in personal experiences.
For example, the food distributor Stephen was appointed to communicate the truth of the new covenant to the old covenant people who lived in the first century in Jerusalem.3 He recognized the greater reality of life—the metanarrative defined in the old covenant and revealed in Jesus in the new covenant. This revelation was governed by the sovereign, intentional, and strategic Creator of the universe. The outworking of the divine metanarrative was the overarching reality and, therefore, the normative truth that helped Stephen understand his situational and existential experience. His situation was to be an agent of truth, but his audience did not want to receive this truth. Nevertheless, his responsibility was to speak truth and trust the Lord for the consequences. This explains his ability to be at peace as he was martyred.
Understanding the old and new covenants (the normative) is essential to the truth of Christianity. We should not center Christianity on ourselves (existentially), but on our Creator—his will, ways, timing, and glory (the normative and situational). Anytime we measure success by ourselves or other worldly metrics, we denigrate God and elevate ourselves. When we do this, we live self-defined (as humanists) without regard to God’s norms and the situations he sovereignly controls in his universe. May we have grace to see reality as God does and to live like Stephen. And perhaps Frame’s triad may be a helpful tool for us to live selflessly as Stephen did.
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1 John M. Frame, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief (P&R Publishing. Kindle Edition).
2 Ibid., 31.
3 Acts 6:8−7:60.
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Teaching: The Book of Acts and the Transition from the Old to the New Covenant
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Biblical Guidance for Finding Your Life Purpose
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More Biblical Guidance for Finding Your Life Purpose
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