The New Testament lies hidden in the Old, and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New. ~ Augustine, A.D. 354-430
One of the most important gifts we hope Workshop participants will take away is the sense that the Bible tells a coherent, interconnected story about God’s intention to save a people for Himself through Christ. Each book and passage fits somewhere on the timeline of this story, and our understanding of this “Big Picture” will affect our ability to carefully interpret each smaller part.
If the concept of “redemptive history” is new to you, Women in the Word recommends that you listen to Paige Britton’s talks from the 2012, 2013, and 2014 Workshops for an overview. You can also view the two videos on this page, “Traces of the Christ” from the 2015 Workshop and “God’s Blessing to the Nations: Connecting the Dots” from the 2014 Workshop. Another good resource is the article “Reaping the Fruits of a Redemptive-Historical Reading of Scripture” written by Paige, excerpted and linked to below.
Workshop 2012: “Beginning with Moses: Jesus’ Story from Genesis to Revelation”
Workshop 2013: “Connecting the Dots: Preaching the Big Picture in Acts 13”
Workshop 2014: “Connecting the Dots: God’s Intention to Bless the Nations”
Reaping the Fruits of a Redemptive-Historical Reading of Scripture
by WRF member Paige Britton ~ an excerpt
“The id
ea that one should read the Bible from beginning to end as if it were a unified whole is not a given in contemporary Christian circles. … According to Jesus, there is indeed more to it. Undergirding every moral message one could glean from the biblical text is a grand story, centered on God’s plan of redemption in Christ: “And beginning with Moses and the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27, ESV). At this point along the road to Emmaus, Jesus opened to his companions the entire Old Testament, showing them in psalm and prophecy, law and narrative, scenes in the drama of redemption. And we, too, at this point along the road to heaven, may read in both testaments the progressive revelation that leads to and past the cross, into resurrection life and the hope of the world to come. These are the riches of what has come to be called the redemptive-historical approach to interpreting God’s Word.”
Paige Britton
Paige and her husband live in Lancaster County, PA, where she home-schools her son and daughter. Paige is a writer and moderator for the Reformed blog Green Baggins (greenbaggins.wordpress.com) and does freelance editing for pastors, seminarians, and The Confessional Presbyterian. Her writing has also appeared in Modern Reformation Magazine, beginningwithmoses.org, and the World Reformed Fellowship website (wrfnet.org). Paige has created a new website called “the Grass Roots Theological Library” to support people who study Scripture largely on their own. Check it out! She and her family are members of Faith Reformed Presbyterian Church in Quarryville, PA.
“Traces of the Christ” is intended as an introduction or review to the Big Picture of God’s redemptive plan for the world and demonstrates how the Christian Bible presents a coherent history of this redemption.
“God’s Blessing to the Nations”: Connection the Dots in Redemptive History” is an overview of biblical redemptive history that traces God’s plan to include the Gentiles in salvation through the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures.