The Bible's Better Story in an Age of Simplistic Narratives

If you have been reading or listening to a variety of news sources regarding ICE’s presence in Minneapolis, perhaps, like me, you are alarmed at how different one narrative (i.e., the stories we believe to make sense of the world) can be from another. These narratives are often overly simplistic, highlighting certain issues while ignoring others. Because of these overly reductionist perspectives, it is no exaggeration to say that we may be living in a very different world from our next-door neighbor. This underscores the importance of this question: What is the core story we believe about God, ourselves, our neighbors, and our world? It is vital because the narrative we believe will determine how we engage the culture. So, where do we begin in answering this question? Rather than take our cue from the cultural narratives around us, I contend that the church should turn to biblical theology to frame our worldview, fortify our convictions, and form our hearts.

What is the core story we believe about God, ourselves, our neighbors, and our world?

In what follows, I will define biblical theology and show how it forms our hearts. Then, I will provide two examples of doing biblical theology: a biblical theology of the sojourner, and then a theology of the church’s relationship to civic authorities. I chose these examples because they are most relevant to our current situation. Finally, I will draw some implications for connecting a biblical-theological reading of Scripture.

Forming the Heart through Biblical Theology

What is biblical theology? Many definitions, especially within the scholarly guild, are overly convoluted and difficult to understand. For our purposes, Michael Lawrence provides the clearest and most helpful description: “When we talk about biblical theology, we mean a theology that not only tries to systematically understand what the Bible teaches, but to do so in the context of the Bible’s own progressively revealed and progressively developing storyline” [1]. In other words, biblical theology assumes the unity and connectedness of the biblical narrative, a narrative that points us ultimately to Jesus.

Narrative Reading as Worldview-Shaping

A close reading of the biblical text within the context of the church community is worldview-shaping. James Hamilton says it this way, “For the believing community, the goal of biblical theology is simply to learn this practice of interpretation from the biblical authors so that we can interpret the Bible and life in this world the way they did” [5].

The narrative lens through which we see the world should be the biblical narrative leading to the person of Jesus. This is the way the early church read and interpreted the Scriptures. In underscoring this emphasis, Stephen Presley notes that for the early church, “The Bible is the center of a worshiping community that gathers around its pages, embraces its contents, and lives its narrative” [6]. One of the benefits of understanding the Bible as a unified story about Jesus is that it provides a context to interpret numerous themes Christocentrically (seeing Christ as the fulfillment and resolution) as they unfold across the narrative (see the examples I provide below) [7]. This gospel-centered understanding of various themes realigns our heart priorities.

Firing the Mind, Softening the Heart

So, how does this type of reading form the heart? I like the way that Matthew Bingham puts it, “For such a regenerate person, firing the mind with God’s truth becomes the primary way to whet the appetite and stir up a greater taste and desire for God and the things of God” [8]. Bingham identifies “meditation” as the key practice that takes “mere thoughts about God and the things of God into heartfelt, soul-stirring, life-transforming convictions about the same” [9]. Biblical theology is not just a cerebral, academic exercise. Meditating upon the unity of the Scriptures unleashes a torrent of life-giving water to the soul. Biblical theology is a practice that “fires the mind with God’s truth” and softens the soil of our hearts so the Spirit can cause growth.

I'll show you two examples of how to trace a theme across the biblical storyline, and then draw some implications.

A Biblical Theology of the Sojourner

Although the Bible does not use the term “immigrant,” it frequently references the closely related term, “sojourner.” Seeing how the biblical theme of sojourner maps onto the biblical story calibrates the church’s heart to view the immigrant not as stranger but as neighbor. In what follows, I will demonstrate how the Bible speaks about the sojourner in five movements.

Movement 1: God’s People as Sojourners

The Bible describes the Patriarchs as sojourners. For instance, God calls Abram from his home in Ur to the land of Canaan. The father of Israel becomes a sojourner, an identity he maintains throughout the narrative. For instance, when famine impacts the land, he “sojourns” in Egypt (Gen 12:10). When he returns to the land of Canaan, he also “sojourns” in the land of the Philistines (Gen 20:1; 21:34). We don’t often think of Abraham as an immigrant, but it is an identity fundamental to his story. This is evident in how God himself references the Patriarchs when he speaks to Moses, “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners” (Ex 6:3-4).

God’s people carry this identity into Egypt. For over 400 years, God’s people live as foreigners in the land of Goshen (Acts 7:6). As they await God’s promise to obtain their own land, being sojourners is part of their identity. After God leads his people out of the land of Egypt, he calls them to remember their former identity in their dealings with sojourners. “You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt (Ex 23:9).

Movement 2: Laws for the Sojourner

Throughout the Levitical Code that God gave at Sinai, there is a remarkable concern for the welfare of the sojourner. For instance, Leviticus 16:33 says, “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.” Not only were the Israelites to do no wrong, they were also to care for the immigrant. When you “reap the harvest of your land,” God says, “you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner” (Lev 23:22).  

Movement 3: The Sojourner in Prophetic Literature

The prophets frequently connect the state of the heart of God’s people and their treatment of foreigners. For example, when Jeremiah calls the people of God to repentance, he says, “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever” (Jer 7:5-7, see also Jer 22:3). For Jeremiah, one of the fundamental issues is the way the people treated the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. And he is not the only prophet to address such concerns. Ezekiel and Malachi also condemn the unjust treatment of the sojourner in the land of Israel and Judah (Eze 22:7; Mal 3:5).

The prophets not only decry the heart posture of God’s people toward the sojourner, but they also look forward to a day of hope for the foreigner. Isaiah anticipates that on the day of the restoration of God’s people, “foreigners” will also worship the Lord at his holy temple (Is 56:3-7).

Movement 4: Jesus as Sojourner

Although the New Testament does not specifically refer to Jesus as a sojourner, it conceptually makes this connection. The Gospel of John notes that Jesus “came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:11). He was a stranger, an outcast, even among his own people. Matthew notes that, like Israel, Jesus and his family fled to Egypt (Matt 2:13-15) to escape the paranoid king in Jerusalem. And when describing his own ministry, Jesus says, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Luke 9:58, cf. Matt 8:20). This is the language of sojourning. Regarding the redemptive work of Jesus, Nick Batzig says it well, “The eternally glorious Son of God was treated as a stranger among His own people (John 1:10–11). But He came to make us heirs of the world to come. He came to fulfill the hope of Abraham, Joseph, and Moses. He entered that state of sojourning to secure redemption for His people” [10].

I suggest that this story, rather than the loudest narratives we hear from culture, enables us to find solidarity with the immigrant. Yes, there is a time and place to debate immigration policy. But that is neither the goal of this article nor should it be the primary concern of the church. Why? Because policy can’t form the church’s heart or praxis, only the biblical narrative can. Throughout the biblical narrative, the call is clear: the church is to care for the immigrant. When we remember that we are sojourners, citizens of another kingdom—indeed a better kingdom—we can live with abundant compassion.

...policy can’t form the church’s heart or praxis, only the biblical narrative can.

A Biblical Theology of Authority

One of the most complex matters for the church today is the relationship between the church and civil authorities. Opinions, cultural influences, theological streams, and different political systems are just some of the issues that add to the complexity. Although I can’t do full justice to the topic here, I will show how a biblical theology of the relationship of God’s people to the government is a helpful starting point for wise living.

For this example, I want to address Romans 13, the most frequently cited text related to civil authorities. “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment” (Rom 13:1-2).

• Does Paul mean that Christians are to do whatever a governing body tells them?
• How should God’s people think about their relationship to civil authorities?

Biblical theology can help us answer these questions.

God Establishes Human Authorities

Paul is likely drawing on several passages from Daniel as he frames his argument in Romans 13 [11]. When Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, he tells the pagan king, “You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory” (Daniel 2:37). These words are striking, especially in reference to a pagan king, and if we are honest, they may make us a bit uncomfortable. But as the narrative unfolds, Nebuchadnezzar’s pride and refusal to acknowledge the Lord’s sovereignty result in his humiliation. He becomes like an animal—less than human—until he recognizes that “the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will” (Dan 4:32).

If God establishes earthly powers, then what is their role and function? First Peter 2:13-14 provides one of the clearest answers, “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.” To paraphrase, Peter is saying that the purpose of civil authorities is to enforce and reinforce what is good, right, and just. Paul says something very similar in Romans 13:3-4, “For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.”

When Paul and Peter command the church to “submit” to civil authorities (Rom 13:1; 1 Peter 2:13), they are reminding the church that human institutions have legitimate authority, an authority and rule that is established by God. This is why Paul can say “the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command” (Rom 13:2). But of course, both Paul and Peter know that there are times to resist a law, when a law violates a scriptural command.

Resisting Authority

Again, the book of Daniel is a helpful biblical example of justified resistance. Right in the middle of Daniel 2 and 4, which reinforce divine and human sovereignty, is the well-known episode about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These three men remain faithful to the Lord, refusing the king’s decree to worship the Babylonian gods (Dan 3:17-18). Because of their refusal, the king casts them into the fiery furnace (Dan 3:20-23). Several points are worth noting:

• First, these three Jewish men recognize that God is the ultimate Sovereign (Dan 3:17). They are not willing to compromise their obedience to God to obey an earthly ruler’s decree.
• Second, by implication, they recognize that any human law that goes against the law of the Lord should be resisted because there is a higher authority.
• Finally, they resist Nebuchadnezzar’s command, but not his punishment. In this way, they still submitted to Nebuchadnezzar’s rule, even when they resisted the command to worship false gods.

Civil Disobedience

In light of Daniel, which likely provides context for Paul’s words in Romans, we can confidently say that Paul’s command to “submit” has limits. Consider Paul’s own life. Frequently, throughout his letters, Paul speaks about being imprisoned for the sake of preaching the gospel (Acts 16:23-24; Col 4:18; 2 Tim 2:9). For Paul, the command to preach the gospel supersedes any human command to the contrary. This underscores an important principle. When, in the words of John Stott, “laws are enacted which contradict God’s law, civil disobedience becomes a Christian duty” [12]. In civil disobedience, Stott notes an important nuance in the biblical examples, such as the one cited above. The purpose is “to demonstrate their submissiveness to God, not their defiance of government” [13]. This means that Christian protest should always have a theological foundation. Civil disobedience is the necessary response when God’s ultimate authority and delegated human authority conflict. When Christians recognize and submit to God’s ultimate authority, they can call civil authorities to a kind of justice that accords with God’s law.

Wisdom for the Present, Resolution in the Age to Come

As the church, we first and foremost want to be shaped by the biblical story. The biblical story is not only the true story, but also the only “comprehensive” story through which to interpret our complex world [14]. Church, let us not be seduced by the spirit of the age, where soundbites and simplistic narratives rule the day. Rather, let’s be “transformed” in the way we think (Rom 12:2). Yes, we can love and care for the immigrant, we can be subject to civil authority as established by God, and we must engage in civil disobedience when necessary. These are not contradictory narratives that need a contrived resolution.

I recognize that some may be frustrated that I have not provided a prescriptive answer for how to think about our present time. But the lack of prescription is intentional. Application of these biblical themes to our present context requires wisdom, not a simplistic answer. There are many issues at play: the federal government’s response, border policy, the immigration system, and excessive federal force in our city, just to name a few. The biblical themes that I have presented above don’t provide a neat answer to these complicated realities. They give us something better, a biblical framework for wise thinking and living. Scripture presents various themes as tensions to hold rather than contradictions to harmonize. And as we hold these themes in tension, we can trust that every narrative arc will ultimately find its fulfillment in Jesus in the New Creation. Jesus will bring resolution when he makes all things new. So as ambassadors of this New Creation, let’s be praying along with the church throughout every age: “Amen, come Lord Jesus!” (Rev 22:20).

Works Cited

[1] Michael Lawrence, Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church: A Guide for Ministry. 9Marks (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 26.

[2] James M. Hamilton, God’s Glory in Salvation Through Judgment: A Biblical Theology (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 45.

[3] Beale and Gladd, “Introduction to the CSB Connecting Scripture New Testament,” in Connecting Scripture New Testament (Brentwood, TN: Holman, 2025), vi-vii.

[4] Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

[5] Hamilton, 42.

[6] Stephen O. Presley, Biblical Theology in the Life of the Early Church: Recovering an Ancient Vision (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic: A Division of Baker Publishing Group, 2025), 6.

[7] Timothy Keller, Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012), 43.

[8] Matthew C. Bingham, A Heart Aflame for God: A Reformed Approach to Spiritual Formation (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2025), 88.

[9] Bingham, 136.

[10] https://tabletalkmagazine.com/posts/we-are-not-home-yet-2019-12/

[11] Connecting Scripture New Testament, 294.

[12] Stott, John R. W. Stott, The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World. The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 342.

[13] Stott, 342.

[14] Craig G. Bartholomew and Michael W. Goheen, “Story and Biblical Theology” in Out of Egypt: Biblical Theology and Biblical Interpretation (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004), 157.