I love posting a seemingly random or controversial question on Facebook and allowing dialogue to take place. The other day on Facebook, I posed this question: "What is the most important word in the Bible?" I got a lot of great responses. My favorite, perhaps, was wine, but I digress. Some of the most popular were love, trust, Jesus, grace, follow, and believe. And all important words. But I want to suggest (and open for more dialogue) another word for the most important. The word is...
Redeem.
And maybe it comes as more as a concept than an actual word, but in that concept of redemption is love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, renewal, and yes, Jesus. The over-arching narrative of the scriptures is how God is redeeming creation. Sin is at work in the world. We are broken people. Creation cries out and groans to be redeemed. Jesus is God's redemptive plan for creation. The mission of God has been working towards the redemption of creation. Jesus came to inaugurate the Kingdom of God and will come again for redemption and the Kingdom to be fully realized.
Two books I've read that do a great job of showing this are The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative by Christopher J.H. Wright and Announcing the Kingdom: The Story of God's Mission in the Bible by Arthur F. Glasser. I would recommend either for someone to read to grasp the scope and unity of the Bible.
If you could pick one word for the most important word in the scriptures, what would it be? Redeem? or something else?
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