God as Righteous Agitator: Grounding Biblical Theology

Abstract

Biblical theology should be grounded in a broad perspective, an Überblick, on the character of God as the main actor in biblical history. Without such a perspective, we will lose sight of what kind of agent motivates the main story-line of the Bible. If our perspective is inadequate, we will fail to recognize how God works in history, including biblical history. Biblical interpreters typically have neglected a key feature of the biblical God: God as righteous agitator for redemptive good in human lives, individually and socially. In doing so, they have failed to give an adequate portrayal of what God is doing or trying to do in history. This article corrects that neglect by acknowledging the biblical God as agitating in history for righteousness among humans as a reflection of God’s unique moral character. It explains how such agitating distinguishes God from the gods of deism and determinism, while enabling the redemptive work of this God to be seen not only in biblical history but also in everyday human life. The article relates divine agitation to the crisis of Jesus in Gethsemane in relation to the kingdom of God and to the apostle Paul on dying-and-rising with Christ.