How to Read the Bible as One Story

Restoring the Foundations · Article 1 of 14

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB), a public-domain translation.

The opening question

Many of us were handed the Bible already sorted. A list of proof texts. A set of doctrines to defend. A publication or a creed that told us, before we opened the book, what each verse was allowed to mean.

So here is the question this series begins with: What happens if we read the Bible the way it presents itself, as one unfolding story from creation to new creation, and let that story teach us?

This first article does two things. It lays out a simple, testable method for reading. Then it previews the road ahead, the thirteen articles that trace the Bible’s story from beginning to end. You do not need to trust us. You need an ordinary Bible and a willingness to check.

The text in context: how the Bible reads itself

Jesus himself showed how the Scriptures fit together, so we begin with him.

Jesus on the road to Emmaus

On the day of his resurrection, two disciples walked away from Jerusalem confused and grieving. Jesus joined them. Luke records what he said:

“Foolish people, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Didn’t the Christ have to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?” Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:25-27)

Later that evening, with the wider group of disciples, he said it again:

“This is what I told you while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms concerning me must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures. (Luke 24:44-45)

Notice the setting. The speaker is the risen Jesus. The audience is his own disciples, Jews who already had the Scriptures. “The law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms” names the Scriptures Israel already possessed. Jesus did not hand them a new book to replace the old one. He showed them that the book they had was going somewhere, and that it was going to him.

He also summarized what those Scriptures contain:

“Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:46-47)

In one sentence: a suffering and risen Messiah, repentance and forgiveness, preached to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. That is a storyline, and it has an order.

Jesus and Moses

In an earlier dispute with religious leaders, Jesus said:

“You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me.” (John 5:39)

For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me. (John 5:46)

Here is a warning for anyone who has studied hard inside a system. These men searched the Scriptures. Effort was not their problem. They missed where the Scriptures were pointing.

The apostles read the same way

Paul says the earlier Scriptures were written with later readers in view:

For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that through perseverance and through encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15:4)

And he gives a concrete example. God told Abraham, “All the families of the earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3). Paul comments:

The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you all the nations will be blessed.” (Galatians 3:8)

According to Paul, the good news did not begin in the first century. It was announced in Genesis. Earlier and later parts of the Bible belong to one message.

What the text says: five reading commitments

From passages like these, we draw five commitments. Each one is meant to be tested.

1. Read the whole Bible as one story

The Bible opens with “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). It closes with “a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1). In Genesis, humanity is driven from the garden and from the tree of life (Genesis 3:22-24). In Revelation, the tree of life appears again, its leaves “for the healing of the nations”, and “There will be no curse any more” (Revelation 22:2-3).

The ending answers the beginning. Between them runs a story we can trace in six movements:

Creation: the one God makes a very good world and places humanity in it.
Covenant: after human rebellion, God binds himself by promise, to Noah, to Abraham, to Israel, to David.
Israel: God’s chosen nation, rescued, given the land and a king, then sent into exile with the prophets’ promise of restoration.
Messiah: Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, born “of the offspring of David according to the flesh” (Romans 1:3), crucified, raised, and exalted.
Apostolic gospel: the good news preached “to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47), calling people to repent and be baptized (Acts 2:38).
Restored earth: Jesus remains in heaven “until the times of restoration of all things, which God spoke long ago by the mouth of his holy prophets” (Acts 3:21), and God himself comes to dwell with people (Revelation 21:3).

A verse read outside this story can be made to say almost anything. A verse read inside it is much harder to bend.

2. Read each passage in its own setting

Before asking “What does this mean for me?” we ask: Who is speaking? To whom? When? What kind of writing is this: law, history, poetry, prophecy, letter, or vision? What do the words on the page actually say?

This is not a modern invention. When Ezra read the law to the returned exiles, the Levites helped the people understand it:

They read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly; and they gave the sense, so that they understood the reading. (Nehemiah 8:8)

Reading distinctly and giving the sense is still the task.

3. Let later Scripture interpret earlier Scripture, without erasing it

The Bible develops. Later writers show where earlier promises were heading, as Paul did with Abraham. But development is not cancellation. When God promises something to a named recipient, the promise still belongs to that recipient.

Covenants with names on them

Between Genesis and Jesus, God bound himself by covenants, each made with named people and each with stated promises:

With Noah and every living creature: “All flesh will not be cut off any more by the waters of the flood” (Genesis 9:11).
With Abraham: a great nation, a great name, and “All the families of the earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:2-3); then a covenant “between me and you and your offspring after you”, with “Kings will come out of you” and “all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession” (Genesis 17:6-8).
With Israel at Sinai: “if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples… a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6).
With David: through Nathan, a son from his body and “Your throne will be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:12-16). At the end of his life David says God “has made with me an everlasting covenant” (2 Samuel 23:5).
The new covenant: “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah… I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their heart… I will forgive their iniquity” (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

These covenants are not interchangeable, and none of them says a later covenant removes the people named in an earlier one. Through Jeremiah, Yahweh ties Israel’s future to the sun, moon, and stars: “If these ordinances depart from before me… then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before me forever” (Jeremiah 31:35-36).

That raises the obvious objection, and it deserves a fair hearing. Paul writes, “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:29). He says “the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 3:6). Hebrews says that in speaking of “A new covenant,” God “has made the first obsolete” (Hebrews 8:13), and the first there is “that first covenant” (Hebrews 8:7), the covenant God made when he led Israel’s fathers out of Egypt (Hebrews 8:9). Many read these verses as moving Israel’s promises to the church.

They do teach that the nations share the promise through the Messiah (explicit). They do not say Israel’s promises are cancelled. Paul asks the nearest question himself, “did God reject his people?”, and answers, “God didn’t reject his people, whom he foreknew” (Romans 11:1-2). Even of Israelites who reject the gospel he says, “concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sake. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:28-29). Hebrews, quoting Jeremiah, still names the new covenant’s parties as “the house of Israel and with the house of Judah” (Hebrews 8:8). And Paul says Christ came “that he might confirm the promises given to the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy” (Romans 15:8-9). Fulfillment, in Paul’s own words, confirms the promises. It does not empty them.

That Israel’s own named promises do not pass to another people is our conclusion from these texts read side by side, and Article 12 sets out the case in full.

A note on translation. The King James Version reads “seed” in Genesis 17, Jeremiah 31:36, and Galatians 3:16 and 3:29, where the current WEB reads “offspring.” Both render Hebrew and Greek words that can mean one descendant or many. Paul’s argument in Galatians 3:16 (“He doesn’t say, ‘To descendants’, as of many, but as of one”) rests on that word, not on the English choice, and Article 4 takes it up.

4. Separate what the text says from what we conclude

Every article in this series labels its claims in three kinds, and you will see the labels throughout:

Explicit: what a text says. “God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).
Canonical connection: where a later biblical writer takes up an earlier passage by quoting it, naming it, or using wording distinctive enough to point back to it. Paul calls Adam “a foreshadowing of him who was to come” (Romans 5:14). Revelation shares Genesis’ “tree of life” (Genesis 2:9; Revelation 22:2). A word that is common all over Scripture is not enough.
Our conclusion: what we infer from the texts but they do not state, such as “the Bible tells one story.” Some conclusions are strong, some are close calls, and we will say which. None is ever presented as if a verse said it.

Where a biblical writer draws a figurative connection, as Paul does with Israel’s wilderness years, which “happened to them by way of example, and they were written for our admonition” (1 Corinthians 10:11), we receive it as Scripture’s own. A correspondence no biblical writer draws is at most our conclusion and must be argued. No figurative reading may empty an earlier text of its own meaning or its named recipients.

Words outside quotation marks are our summary. Test them against the text. Where our wording and the text differ, the text wins.

5. Let silences stay silent, and add nothing

Moses told Israel:

You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you. (Deuteronomy 4:2)

And:

The secret things belong to Yahweh our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29:29)

Where Scripture is silent, we will say so. We will not fill gaps with dates, chronologies, hidden meanings, or philosophical formulas that the text does not give. That restraint applies to every tradition, including the ones we came from.

What the text does not say

It does not say a reader needs an organization to understand Scripture. The Bereans were commended because “they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11). No reader today is above that test, including us.
It does not say creeds, councils, or publications are equal to Scripture. Paul told Timothy that the Scriptures are “able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” and that “Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that each person who belongs to God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:15-17). Teachers can help us read. Only Scripture is God-breathed. So no later document can serve as the authority over it.
It does not say the Old Testament is obsolete. Hebrews calls “that first covenant” obsolete (Hebrews 8:7, 13), not the Scriptures. The Scriptures Jesus and Paul pointed to were what we now call the Old Testament. They were “written for our learning” (Romans 15:4).
It does not say every verse is a coded picture of something else. Luke does not even record which passages Jesus explained on the Emmaus road. We trace only the connections Scripture itself makes.
It does not say “one story” means every detail is simple. Some passages are hard. A method does not remove difficulty. It keeps us honest when we face it.

Where the story ends: renewed, or replaced?

The method has to be tested on a hard question, so here is one. Is the “new heaven and a new earth” of Revelation 21:1 this world made new, or a different world put in its place?

Some texts point toward replacement, and they deserve full weight. John says “the first heaven and the first earth have passed away” (Revelation 21:1). Earlier, the earth and the heaven “fled away” from the one on the throne (Revelation 20:11). Peter writes that “the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat” (2 Peter 3:10).

On the other side stand “Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5), Peter’s own hope for “new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13), and Paul’s hope that “the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay” (Romans 8:21). Making things new, and delivering the creation, sound like rescue rather than disposal. And the direction of travel is downward: John sees the holy city “coming down out of heaven from God,” and hears, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people” (Revelation 21:2-3). In this vision, people are not carried off the earth; God comes to live with them. Texts that are often read the other way, such as Paul’s words about being “caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:17) and his “desire to depart and be with Christ” (Philippians 1:23), are weighed in Article 13.

That the new earth is this creation renewed, not discarded, is our conclusion from these passages read together. It is the conclusion this series follows, and Article 14 weighs it in detail. Scripture does not tell us exactly how the old world and the new one are related, and we will not pretend it does. That is commitment 5 at work.

Objections answered

“Isn’t ‘Scripture alone’ just another tradition?” Every reader brings assumptions. The question is which authority gets to correct them. Jesus held his opponents to the Scriptures they searched and to what Moses “wrote” (John 5:39, 46). The Bereans tested teaching by “examining the Scriptures” (Acts 17:11). Our method does not claim we have no blind spots. It claims the text should be able to correct us, and it invites you to do the correcting.

“Doesn’t reading everything as pointing to Jesus erase the Old Testament’s original meaning?” It can, if done carelessly. That is why commitment 2 comes before commitment 3. We first ask what a passage meant to its first hearers. Genesis 12:3 was a real promise to a real man, Abraham. Paul’s reading in Galatians 3:8 shows its reach to the nations. It does not dissolve the promise to Abraham’s family.

“I was taught that only a special group can interpret the Bible correctly.” Many of us were. But on the evening of his resurrection, when he met with his disciples in Jerusalem, the risen Jesus himself “opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45), and the apostles kept pointing people back to those Scriptures. Teachers have a real place in the assembly. But the Bereans tested even the apostle Paul. That pattern leaves room for no gatekeeper who cannot be checked against the text.

“Who decided which books are in the Bible?” This series works from the 66 books of the Protestant canon, which include the Scriptures Jesus called “the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms” (Luke 24:44), along with the apostolic writings. A full discussion of the canon’s history goes beyond this article. We name our starting point openly, so you know exactly what is being read.

The road ahead: the fourteen articles

Here is the story we will trace together. Each article stands on its own, but they are built to be read in order.

Part One: The Beginning

01. How to Read the Bible as One Story. The method you have just read.
02. The One God and His Very Good World. Who the Creator is, and what he made humanity for.
03. What Went Wrong, and the First Promise. Rebellion in the garden, death, and the promise about the woman’s offspring (Genesis 3:15).
04. From the Flood to Abraham. Judgment, God’s covenant with Noah, and the call of Abraham, through whom “All the families of the earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:3).

Part Two: Israel’s Story

05. Rescued and Called. The exodus, Sinai, and Israel’s vocation as God’s people.
06. The Land and the King. Life in the land, and God’s oath to David: “Your throne will be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:16).
07. Exile and the Prophets’ Hope. Judgment, exile, and the promise of a new covenant and a coming restoration.

Part Three: The Messiah

08. The King Arrives. Jesus of Nazareth, son of David, announcing the kingdom of God.
09. The Cross. Why “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3).
10. Raised and Exalted. The bodily resurrection, and Jesus at God’s right hand.
11. The Spirit, the Gospel, and How to Respond. The apostolic message, and what Peter told his hearers to do: “Repent and be baptized” (Acts 2:38).

Part Four: The Hope

12. One People: the Assembly, Israel, and the Nations. How the nations are brought in without Israel being written out.
13. The King’s Return, the Resurrection, and the Judgment. What the Scriptures promise about the end of this age.
14. The New Creation. “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people” (Revelation 21:3), where the story the Bible begins in Genesis reaches its goal.

Summary of tested claims

Each of these can be checked in an ordinary Bible:

Jesus taught that the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms speak about him (Luke 24:27, 44).
Jesus summarized the Scriptures’ message as a suffering and risen Messiah, with repentance and forgiveness preached to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem (Luke 24:46-47).
Studying the Scriptures hard is not the same as seeing where they point (John 5:39-40, 46).
The earlier Scriptures were written for later readers’ learning and hope (Romans 15:4).
The good news was announced beforehand to Abraham (Galatians 3:8 with Genesis 12:3).
The Bible begins with the creation of the heavens and the earth and ends with a new heaven and a new earth, with the tree of life restored and the curse removed (Genesis 1:1; 3:22-24; Revelation 21:1; 22:2-3).
Jesus remains in heaven until the restoration of all things spoken by the prophets (Acts 3:21).
God’s people are told not to add to or take away from his word (Deuteronomy 4:2).
Readers are commended for testing teaching against Scripture (Acts 17:11).
God’s gifts and calling are irrevocable (Romans 11:29).
God made covenants with named people, and through Jeremiah tied Israel’s continuance as a nation to the fixed order of the heavens (Genesis 9:11; 17:6-8; Exodus 19:5-6; 2 Samuel 7:12-16; Jeremiah 31:31-36).
The nations share the promise through the Messiah, and Christ came to confirm the promises given to the fathers (Galatians 3:29; Ephesians 3:6; Romans 15:8-9).

Canonical connections: Paul reads Genesis 12:3 as the gospel announced beforehand (Galatians 3:8). Revelation shares Genesis’ “tree of life” (Genesis 2:9; Revelation 22:2). Hebrews quotes Jeremiah’s new covenant with its named parties (Hebrews 8:8).

Our conclusions, stated as such:

Because Jesus and the apostles read the Scriptures as one connected message, we should read the Bible as one story and test every teaching, including ours, against it. (Strong.)
Israel’s own named promises do not pass to another people. (Strong.)
The new earth is this creation renewed rather than replaced. (A conclusion this series follows; Article 14 tests it.)

Verify it yourself

Set aside an hour this week:

Read Luke 24:13-49 in one sitting. List what Jesus says the Scriptures contain.
Read Genesis 1-3, then Revelation 21-22. Write down every echo you notice.
Read Genesis 12:1-3, then Galatians 3:6-9 and Romans 11:25-29. Ask: what does Paul add, and what does he leave in place?
Read Acts 17:10-12. Ask: whose teaching did the Bereans check?
Pick one belief you were taught. Find the verses used to support it, and read each one in its full chapter.

Scripture index

Genesis 1:1, 31; 2:9; 3:15; 3:22-24; 9:11; 12:1-3; 17:6-8 · Exodus 19:5-6 · Deuteronomy 4:2; 29:29 · 2 Samuel 7:12-16; 23:5 · Nehemiah 8:8 · Jeremiah 31:31-36 · Luke 24:13-49 · John 5:39-40, 46 · Acts 2:38; 3:21; 17:10-12 · Romans 1:3; 5:14; 8:21; 11:1-2, 28-29; 15:4, 8-9 · 1 Corinthians 10:11; 15:3 · Galatians 3:6-9, 16, 29 · Ephesians 3:6 · 2 Timothy 3:15-17 · Hebrews 8:7-9, 13 · 2 Peter 3:10, 13 · Revelation 20:11; 21:1-5; 22:1-3

Next article: The One God and His Very Good World
Series: All 14 articles in Restoring the Foundations

© 2026 Elvis Lucas, Open the Text. Original: https://openthetext.com/series/restoring-the-foundations/01-how-to-read-the-bible-as-one-story/
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