“Catholic” simply means the universal church of Christ Jesus, which consists of all believers in him from every time and place. All people throughout the ages who have placed their faith in Christ Jesus for salvation from sin and death are members of his universal (that is, catholic) church.

When saying the Apostles’ Creed, which is an historical, concise, and biblical summary of the Christian faith, we state that we believe in “the holy catholic church.” What does this mean?
For Christians who are unfamiliar with the Apostles’ Creed, what often comes to mind is the Roman Catholic Church, but this would be an incorrect interpretation of of the meaning of the word “catholic.”
The Heidelberg Catechism, first published in 1563, is a highly regarded summary of the Christian faith. A portion of the Heidelberg Catechism is an explanation of the Apostles’ Creed, which begins each section with the words, “I believe.” In question and answer 54, the Heidelberg Catechism asks what we believe concerning “the holy catholic church”:
Q. What do you believe concerning “the holy catholic church”?
A. I believe that the Son of God through his Spirit and Word, out of the entire human race, from the beginning of the world to its end, gathers, protects, and preserves for himself a community chosen for eternal life and united in true faith. And of this community I am and always will be a living member.”—The Heidelberg Catechism, Q & A 54.
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If man is so sinful that they must constantly seek forgiveness, how could they ever be holy enough to measure up to God’s standard? God’s solution cuts the Gordian knot in a way man’s pride would never allow him to invent: God makes his people holy.

Are Christians hateful? Bigoted? Ignorant? Do they “cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them”? Do they stubbornly retain discredited beliefs, while the world has passed them by, entering into a more enlightened age? You may have heard these criticisms of Christianity, or others like them. You may have heard them go unanswered, or even applauded. You may have heard Christianity mocked until your face stung with shame.
We live in a world where those who reject God, his Word, and his law have convinced themselves they have the moral high ground. “Love is love,” they intone tautologically, and they insist that the argument ends there. Any attempt to distinguish love for what is good from love for what is bad is met with instant, often violent scorn. When Christians won’t get on board with the world’s vision of love, the world feels justified in viewing them with intolerant hatred.
This is especially true in politics. When Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) quoted Deuteronomy 22:4 on the House floor last year, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) responded with what he evidently thought was an epic takedown, “what any religious tradition describes as God’s will is no concern of this Congress.” In other countries, the stakes are even higher. Finnish Member of Parliament Paivi Rasanen faced criminal hate crime charges this spring for authoring a pamphlet that quoted Leviticus 18:22, “Do not lie with a man as with a woman; for it is an abomination.”
Lest we overstate the argument, some self-described Christians are not derided by the world. Just this week, The Washington Post ran a lengthy story promoting the podcast of a “former Christian parenting blogger” who left her husband to “marry” a U.S. women’s soccer star. Some politicians, religious leaders, and even some churches have managed to find favor in the eyes of the world. But what is the difference? Is there a common distinction between the Christians the world hates, and the Christians the world loves? There is, and a good place to see that distinction is in the book of Leviticus.
Introduction to Leviticus
Leviticus is structured in a chiasm (KAI-asm), with the second half of the book mirroring the first half, in reverse order (imagine the reflection of a stick if you held it at an angle into the lake). The climax of the book comes in the middle, with the laws concerning the Day of Atonement in chapter 16. Before and after this centerpiece are laws concerning ceremonial purity (chapters 11-15) and moral purity (chapters 17-20). Then come regulations about how the people can come near to God, including instructions about priests and offerings (chapters 1-10) and about various reminders to keep the people from turning away from God (chapters 21-25). Throughout the book are promises of blessing for obedience and warnings against disobedience, which the concluding chapters of the book (chapters 26-27) punctuate with an exclamation point.
Narrative is sparse in Leviticus, with only brief sections in chapters 8-10 and 24 (the children of Israel remain encamped at Mount Sinai for the entire book). This, combined with seeming repetitiveness and dullness of many long passages, cause many Christians to treat Leviticus as the dreaded doldrums of their yearly Bible reading plan. I am not immune from this flaw. (I have found that it helps to intersperse the more difficult books with New Testament readings, such as reading Leviticus and then reading Luke.) But if we wish to say, “Oh how I love your law!” (Psalms 119:97), then we must learn to love God’s law.
The point of Leviticus is holiness — God’s holiness, and the holiness of his people. If you ever find yourself at a loss to understand the relevance of something in Leviticus, consider how it relates to holiness, and the pieces will likely fall into place.
Drama of Leviticus
Despite the lack of narrative, Leviticus has its dramatic moments. When Aaron is consecrated as high priest and makes his first offerings, “fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces” (Leviticus 9:24). The priests offered the sacrifices God prescribed, and God responded by confirming them by this sign from heaven. Furthermore, the Lord had commanded, “fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out” (Leviticus 6:13). Then the Lord himself lit the fire; this divine fire continued burning on the tabernacle’s altar as long as it was in use.
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Written by Daniel M. Doriani |
Monday, September 5, 2022
In a sense, the Bible is one long narrative. It tells the story of creation, fall, and redemption. Shortly after Eve and Adam sinned, God activates his plan to restore humanity. The whole Bible fits within that narrative. Within the grand narrative, substories abound in the epochs of biblical history. There is a unity to the narrative of the patriarchs, the exodus, the kings, Israel’s exile and return, and the Gospel accounts.

A Likely Story
“Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, and Peter. They lived with their mother in a sand-bank, underneath the root of a very big fir tree.”
“There was once a fisherman who lived with his wife in a poor little hut by the sea . . .”
“Once upon a time there lived a very rich king whose name was Midas . . .”
Lines such as these tell us that a story is coming. When one starts with “Once upon a time,” we expect a children’s story. When we hear that Peter is naughty, a child suspects that he will find trouble, and then escape—since the drawing is so cute, he must survive—and learn a lesson. In fact, Peter does disobey his mother. He goes to Mr. McGregor’s garden, where he munches lettuces and beans until he nearly collides with Mr. McGregor, who almost catches him. After a desperate flight, Peter sees the gate, dashes for it, and escapes. Exhausted, Peter goes to bed with nothing but chamomile tea, while his good sisters enjoy bread, milk, and blackberries.
Simple as they are, the adventures of Peter Rabbit follow the most common structure for drama, from Mark Twain to Shakespeare, from science fiction to the Bible. In that structure, readers meet a hero (Peter) in settings (Mr. McGregor’s garden) that bring adventure (stealing food), followed by tension (the chase). It reaches a climax (almost captured) and a resolution (escape). Finally, the story offers comments that help readers interpret it as it unwinds. When Peter limps home and goes to bed without supper, it suggests that rebellion does not pay.
Broadly speaking, the Bible has two literary forms, narrative and discourse. Narratives are stories or dramas. About one-third of the Bible is narrative. With few exceptions, such as Jesus’ parables, biblical narratives are historical. They describe and interpret what happened in space and time to the people who appear in the account. Narrative is the most common literary form or genre in the Bible, with more pages than law, prophecy, letters, or visions. In this book, we collect all other genres of the Bible under the term discourse. Discourse includes laws, letters, prophecies, proverbs, psalms, speeches, prayers, and visions. Within the CAPTOR format (context, analysis, problems, themes, obligations, reflection), we now move to the first part of analysis. Chapter 6 explains how we analyze biblical discourse. This chapter describes the way that we analyze narratives.
In a sense, the Bible is one long narrative. It tells the story of creation, fall, and redemption. Shortly after Eve and Adam sinned, God activates his plan to restore humanity. The whole Bible fits within that narrative. Within the grand narrative, substories abound in the epochs of biblical history. There is a unity to the narrative of the patriarchs, the exodus, the kings, Israel’s exile and return, and the Gospel accounts. At a granular level, we have individual narratives, such as the history of Samson and Delilah. We usually study the Bible at that level, yet we must always locate individual narratives in the context of God’s wider plan.
Narratives are history, yet they don’t just report what happened. They convey moral lessons, but they are more than morality tales. Biblical narratives describe and explain God’s redemptive acts, as they lead to their climax, the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Biblical authors use various methods to engage readers and enable them to see events as God does. They repeat crucial ideas. They preview the future, so that readers will know where events are leading. They allude to the past, so that readers can observe God’s consistent ways with his people. They present characters with whom we can identify. They leave some things unexplained, so that readers will get involved in the task of interpretation. In these ways and others, authors use stories to teach about God, humanity, and their relationships. It is no overstatement to say that God is the main character in every narrative and that what he does is the main theme (Ps. 66:5; Luke 24:24–27). Whenever we forget this, we court moralism.
Types of Narrative
All narratives report events and tell stories, but they have more than one pattern, so let’s label them. The most common types of narrative are reports, speech stories, and dramas. By distinguishing them, we interpret them better.
Reports are brief records of events such as battles (for example, David’s defeat of the Ammonites in 2 Samuel 10) or building projects (for example, Solomon’s temple and palace in 1 Kings 6–9). Reports also describe dreams and the reigns of minor kings. They present facts or simple events and typically lack dramatic tension. Although they may not reveal much by themselves, reports often develop or allude to important themes.
Reports are brief records of events such as battles (for example, David’s defeat of the Ammonites in 2 Samuel 10) or building projects (for example, Solomon’s temple and palace in 1 Kings 6–9). Reports also describe dreams and the reigns of minor kings. They present facts or simple events and typically lack dramatic tension. Although they may not reveal much by themselves, reports often develop or allude to important themes.
Principle 1: To discover the point of a report, examine several reports together.
Speech stories primarily report what someone said in a historical setting. In a speech story, words matter most.
Principle 2: In speech stories, the main event is the speech, not the events surrounding it.
Dramas, the longest and most complex type of narrative in the Bible, are the focus of this chapter. Apart from parables, dramas are historical events, not mere stories, and we appreciate the evidence of their accuracy. Our faith rests on the assurances that God actually accomplished his plan of redemption (1 Cor. 15:14–17). Biblical dramas do not, therefore, follow the patterns of literary dramas because someone massaged them to make them fit. Rather, God structured the world so that certain elements are present in stories that are worth telling. If biblical dramas have the same structure as fiction, it is because art imitates life, not because the Bible imitates art.
Principle 3: When you find the crisis and resolution of a drama, you usually find the main point, too.
Excerpt taken from Chapter 5: Analyzing Narratives, Getting the Message: A Plan for Interpreting and Applying the Bible, Revised and Expanded by Daniel M. Doriani. A new edition will be released on September 7, 2022 by P&R Publishing. Used with permission.
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