The Bible, stories and faith

If large parts of the Bible consist of stories, can we still believe the Bible. Or rather, what would the relationship between these stories and our faith be? Can we have faith, not in only in the stories, but especially in God? How do stories help us believe?

Stories are a strange phenomenon. They play of in front of you, objectively at a distance. They want to “show” you something and you "view" it as an observer. However, stories also want to engage with its audience and draw them into its world. A good story will do this without the audience realising it. It happens subconsciously. You might listen, read or watch a story and suddenly you feel part of it, you take sides with a character, you wonder how things are going to work out for this or that character. You become tense when things go wrong and are relieved when things work out. In an open-ended story, you are left with an empty feeling wondering how it worked out for the characters at the end. Suddenly you view and experience yourself, others and the world differently.

Bible stories want to do the same thing. It wants to engage you in the life and the story of its characters. It takes you on a journey, God’s journey with his people and Israel’s (the church's in the NT) journey with God. It woos you into its world and makes you part of its story. Once you engaged with this story your view about the world, yourself and God changes – it cannot stay the same. As Vanhoozer (1999, p. 36) states, “Stories…provide an indispensable interpretative framework through which we view the world, ourselves, and God.”

In these stories, we meet different kind of characters. Good characters but mostly, not so good. Even the characters that we expect to be people of faith sometimes turn out to be doing really stupid (and bad) things. It makes one wonder how it is possible for them to act is such a way and end up in “the Good Book”. But, we also meet another character – sometimes he seems to be a bit on the background – God and we see how he deals with the reality he is faced with. How he deals with his people in the light of their (lack of) faith and actions. Then, suddenly, you see yourself with your (little or much) faith, your sin, your failures, in the story and you wonder how God will deal with you.

Human (2011, pp. 54-55) puts it well, “Met die boek vol beskrywings van mense se geloofservarings kan ons vandag met ons baie of min geloof in gesprek tree. Hierin le ‘n diep troos.” (In this book, filled with descriptions of people’s faith experiences, we are able to engage in dialogue with our abundant or our little faith. Herein lays a deep comfort.) [Translation mine]. This comfort is to be found in how the character, God, deals with people with abundant or little faith.

In the Bible's stories we see ourselves, God and the world in a different light. It calls us to faith in the One who stays true to his promises and commitments in the face of the lack thereof in the participating characters. Faith in the One whom it is all about. And we are left with a new hope because of Him.

Human, D. J. (2011). Die Uitdagings Van Bybellees, in: Vos, C. and Human, D. J. (Eds.), Vaste rots op wie ek bou, (pp. 53–78). Kaapstad: Lux Verbi.BM.

Vanhoozer, K. J. (1999). Language, Literature, Hermeneutics and Biblical Theology: What’s Theological About a Theological Dictionary?, in: VanGemeren, W. A. (Ed.), A guide to Old Testament theology and exegesis: an introductory articles from the New International dictionary of Old Testament theology and exegesis, (pp. 11–47). Grand Rapids  Mich.: Zondervan.