The Big Idea

The big idea of any given writing is the idea or point the author is trying to communicate. In this post, the big idea is going to be about the big idea of a Bible passage.

As my last few post have stated, I have been working through the book of Genesis on Sunday with my congregation. Recently I have been studying in depth the opening story of Genesis. Most of us know the opening story of Genesis as the story of Creation. The first story of the Bible runs from Genesis 1:1 through the end of the narrative in Genesis 2:3. These verses are the story of God creating everything out of nothing.

As I told my congregation last Sunday, the big idea of Genesis 1:1-2:3 is, "a good sovereign King created a world by structuring and ordering the chaos and filling it with life and purpose all for Him to delight and enjoy". This single sentence is the big idea of the opening story of the Bible.

The question that is raised is how do smaller portions of a story or paragraph fit into the bigger idea? How does one scene or a few sentence fit into a large section that has one big idea?

This Sunday I will be working through the creation of mankind from Genesis 1:26-31. Working through this smaller section of Genesis 1 helps illustrate the challenges of fitting a small scene into a large story big idea. How does the creation of mankind on Day 6 fit into the big idea that Genesis 1:1-2:3 is making clear?

In most cases, a smaller section of either the story (like a scene) or a sentence or two in paragraph, compliment the big idea in one way or another. Maybe the scene sets the setting for the big idea. Maybe the scene shows the opposite of the big idea. Maybe the scene adds tension to the big idea. Or maybe the scene illustrates the big idea. This is the case with the creation of man and the big idea of the story opening the Bible.

God creates man in His image. God creates man in His image and gives a command to be fruitful and fill the earth and to rule and subdue the earth. Mankind, made after the image of God is tasked to cover the earth with life and to rule as a representative of God in His place by subduing the earth. As my congregation will find out on Sunday, the meaning of the image of God in man is tied directly to the purpose and task that man was created for. The image of man is to be a physical representative of God by filling the created world with life and ordering the created world by ruling it.

Understanding the image of God in man and the purpose or commission of man, leads to the realization that man's purpose is exactly what God is doing in Creation, just on a smaller representative scale. Thus the purpose of man is reflecting the big idea of the whole story of Genesis 1. Man's commission at creation is a demonstration, in a likeness way, the big idea of the opening story. The creation of man illustrates what God is doing in the whole story.

This example from Genesis 1, in how the smaller portion is illustrative of the bigger idea overall, helps illustrate how scenes function in other stories in the Bible. It can also be flipped the other way. Understanding the big idea of a passage helps lead to the realization of a smaller section of the story. Or understanding the purpose of a smaller scene can reflect and lead to an understanding of the big idea of the whole story. The whole book of Genesis illustrates this hermanutic truth time and time again.

Find the big idea of a story and the smaller sections will fall into place. Find the purpose of smaller scene and a big idea of the whole will jump out. But most importantly, finding the big idea of a passage will lead to a discovery of what God wants us to know from that story and how that story applies to life. As 2 Timothy 3:16 states, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness".