Theology is tied to the stories and history of God's dealings with the people of Israel, with Jesus of Nazareth, and with the Christian Church.
God acts creatively and redemptively, and this implies that God is intimately involved in our existence. The term Heilsgeschichte means “salvation-history.”
Christian history is not simply a meaningless succession of events; history is the self-disclosure of God in certain mighty acts. History has a beginning and an end.
It is linear rather than cyclical. It originates with an act of God and will come to fulfillment with a divine consummation.
3 Salvation history begins with the creation of the universe. The Bible contains several important confessions of faith in God's creative activity in nature; for example, the creation stories in Genesis, in the Book of Job (38-40:5), Psalms (19 1 6, 24:1-2, 29), and parts ofisaial1 (40:12-31).
In these passages, the Hebrews testify to the God who creates, maintains, and preserves the whole universe. According to salvation history, God created man and woman in His image. Adam is both the first man and a symbol of every man. Eve is both the original woman and the mother of all the living.
Thus, man's dignity comes from his creation in the divine likeness. But men and women are also sinners in need of salvation. The story of the Fall introduces the perplexing problems of freedom and sin.
Genesis relates several stories of human sinfulness: Cain and Abel, the building of the tower of Babel, Noah, and the flood; all these illustrate divine judgment upon sin. Salvation history continues with accounts of God's successive covenants with mankind. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob founded Israel upon the basis of God's election and covenant.
God binds Himself to Abraham and his descendants so that they can create a chosen people who will be a blessing to all nations.
After the stories of the Hebrew patriarchs, salvation history deals with the epic of Moses, the exodus from Egypt, the giving of the Torah (Law) at Mt. Sinai, and the dream of living in the promised land. Yet, the history of Israel is a record of God's troubles with a stiff-necked people.
Repeatedly, they sin, break the covenant, and rebel against God. Therefore, the righteous God has to punish Israel and divide the nation. Later came the conquest of Israel by the Assyrians and the conquest of Judah by the Babylonians. During this tragic period of political chaos and military disaster, the great prophets appeared.
Jeremiah proclaimed his vision of a new covenant not written upon stone but engraved upon the human heart. In exile, there survived a remnant, the true Israel, who learned to live without a temple.
This period was followed by a return to Palestine. Judaism then produced its wisdom literature and an apocalyptic interpretation of history.
The Old Testament concludes with the hope that God will at last intervene decisively in the affairs of men to inaugurate the messianic age. For Christian salvation-history, all this serves to prepare for the coming of Jesus. Jesus gives men the new covenant. But even more important are Jesus' death on the cross and his resurrection.
When Jesus was crucified, he was alone. Everybody else had deserted God; he alone remained loyal to the covenant relationship with God. However, because of the resurrection, the eleven disciples renewed their faith and became apostles for the new covenant. It was an unrestricted covenant for all people, regardless of race, sex, or economic status.
Christians preached a gospel for the whole world. Even though Jesus' mission, death, and resurrection fulfilled God's promise, they did not consummate God's purpose for man. Thus, the last book of the Bible ends with the vision of a new heaven and a new earth yet to come.