What if the Bible is part of a trilogy?

This question

I’ve thought about this question for years. But what do you mean? you ask.  

Within this community, we all know that the two main components of the Bible are the Old Testament and the New Testament. For one to consider the idea of the Bible as a trilogy means we expand how we have traditionally thought about it. Given the plasticity of the brain, this mind expansion is physiologically and psychologically straightforward for us. And luckily, it doesn’t need to involve the use of expensive (or illegal) drugs either :) To expand our minds, I invite you to simply pause and consider this possibility: there are three parts to the Bible – the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Personal Testaments.

To be clear, I’m not advocating for any changes to current Bible printing or to change Bibles of the past. But if we consider the ‘Personal Testaments’ to be a missing puzzle piece, then that mental exercise, in and of itself, releases preconceived notions of what the Bible is and what it is not, which, in turn, allows space for other, new thoughts and ideas to flow in.

Let’s dive deeper into what I believe the Personal Testaments to be, and what it means. 

In the dictionary, we can find the following definitions for the noun ‘testament’: 

1. Either of the two parts to the scriptures of the Christian religion: the New Testament, considered by Christians to be a continuation of the Hebrew scriptures, and the Hebrew scriptures themselves, which are referred to as the Old Testament.
2. Proof of something or a tribute.
3. An expression of conviction, a credo.     

We’re pretty familiar with the first definition.

Sermons are typically centered around a specific Bible passage, which has been read during an earlier part of the service. As you know, this is by design. Then, like a papier-mâché artist adding additional layers onto the base, the sermon speaker forms additional sentences around the main topic, often bringing in examples from their own life to contextualize it, making it more relatable, and highlighting the wisdom from the Bible passage – in other words, crafting and presenting their own Personal Testament.

What’s important here is that with a Personal Testament, there’s a modern-day context and modern-day connection to the very same truth held within the ancient words found in the Bible’s text. Certainly the sermon speaker sees, believes in, and embodies that connection, because they base their sermon around it.

The care and nurturing of Personal Testaments

Our world today is quite a mess. I think hidden within the mess is a call to the church that now is the time!  It’s time for the church to really lean into its role as the body of Christ.

Think about it. Imagine the church walls as the skin, and what we do inside the church walls as the “insides” of a body. Every individual cell and every group of cells inside that body function together for the good of the whole. Dysfunction within the body is detrimental to the whole. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12:21, "The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I don’t need you!' And the head cannot say to the feet, 'I don’t need you!'"  The eye, hand, head and feet each have an understanding – that to function well, they must work together harmoniously instead of dismissing and minimizing each other. 

The beauty of the 'church as the body of Christ' metaphor is that it’s easy to compare where the impactful and transformational work sits. Within the actual, physical body of Christ, every individual cell contained his wisdom because of the actions the entire body undertook through an ongoing, interactive, positive, and mentoring relationship with God. 

If we look inside the church walls, we know sermon speakers embody Christ’s wisdom, and that’s positive, but what about other churchgoers? What do we know about their ongoing relationship with God? One way to discover this answer is through providing time and safe spaces for sharing their Personal Testaments. These will be authentic, powerful, and moving personal stories bearing witness to God’s work within each story sharer. Although those testaments are unlikely to be published in a formal book, they’ll go a long way in expanding how we can work with the Bible’s truths, especially as it applies to modern-day living.