Seven Words That Sum Up the Entire Bible
INTRODUCTION
Sometimes our deepest spiritual insights arrive unexpectedly—not in the middle of a sermon or while reading Scripture - but are birthed during an ordinary conversation. A few words, spoken almost in passing may, through God’s providential care, help us to see God, ourselves, and the life of faith in an entirely new way.
This happened to Tony Robinson during a visit to a historic church several years ago. He arrived expecting to learn something about the congregation's remarkable past and its hopeful future. Instead, he left carrying seven words that have been etched in his heart ever since. At first, they struck him as uninspiring, even unsettling. But as he pondered them, he realized they were not words of rebuke but of grace—not a burden to bear, but a burden lifted.
May you blessed this day by the simple truth in this article but also may you know the truth about what God thinks of you as shown in the image below and in the moving video of the song, “You Say”, by Lauren Daigle at the end of this post. Amen.
Relevant Scripture
Genesis 1:26 . . . Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
Isaiah 40:28 . . . “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.”
Isaiah 46:5 . . . “With whom will you compare me or count me equal? To whom will you liken me that we may be compared?”
Job 38:4-7 . . . “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?
Isaiah 46:8-13 . . . “Remember this, keep it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’ From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do. Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted, you who are now far from my righteousness. I am bringing my righteousness near, it is not far away; and my salvation will not be delayed.’
Isaiah 55:10-11 . . . “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
Isaiah 55:9 . . . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Ecclesiastes 3:11 . . . “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
Job 5:9 . . . “He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.”
Micah 6:8 . . . “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
Jeremiah 29:11-13 . . . “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”
Luke 14:11 . . . “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Matthew 6:19-21 . . . Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide yourselves with purses that will not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Colossians 1:15-20 . . . “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”
Romans 5:8 . . . “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
1 John 3:1 . . . “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”
1 Peter 5:6-7 . . . "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand... casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you."
Ephesians 3:17-19 . . . “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
Seven Words That Sum Up the Entire Bible
By Tony Robinson, 4/23/24
A decade ago, I had been invited to speak at a conference that was being held at an historic and prestigious church, the kind we once referred to as “a tall steeple church,” in one of America’s great cities.
I arrived early for the events of the day. I was met by the President of the congregation, an elderly African-American man. As we had time on our hands, he asked if I would like to have a tour of the church, a huge edifice. It covered an entire city block. “Sure,” I said.
The church had, he explained to me, once been known as “The Grand Central Station of the Underground Railway.” It’s pastor, Henry Ward Beecher, was one of the great orators of the 19th century, and a towering leader of the Abolitionist movement and cause. People packed the church to hear Dr. Beecher.
As we toured the church, I noticed that there were quite a few paintings, statues and plaques dedicated to their beloved pastor. “Yes,” said my guide, “there are twenty-three such memorials in all throughout the church.” Those memorials, that proud history, could, I thought, be a mixed blessing. Such a bright light inevitably cast quite a shadow. It’s not always easy to live in the shadow of such past glory. It was tough, I’m sure, to be one of Beecher’s successors.
So I wasn’t entirely surprised when my guide said that then, in the early decades of the 21st century, he wasn’t sure that his once great church was going to survive.
“Yes,” he said, “we were down to about fifty members, most as old as me, here in this sanctuary, a sanctuary that seats 1,200.” But then he smiled and said, “Lately, though, we seem to be growing. Things are picking up. Now, we have a couple hundred here on Sundays, including some younger people.”
“Really,” I said, “that’s great. Tell me, how has that happened?”
“It isn’t all our new minister, but he’s a big part of it.”
“Yes, what’s he done?”
“Well, he has gotten us reconnected to the community, the neighborhood, which is changing. And he’s gotten us back into the Bible, into God’s word. He gives an excellent Bible study.” Pause. “In fact, he can summarize the Bible’s whole message in just seven words.”
I had, of course, to ask. “And what are the seven words that summarize the entire Bible?
He smiled and said, “I am God and you are not.”
Honestly, I had expected something, well, friendlier, something more upbeat and inspiring, maybe a clarion call to action.
“I am God and you are not.” It sounded a little abrupt, a little sharp. A bit like that after-shave commercial where the tonic has the effect of a brisk slap, after which the user says, “Thanks, I needed that!”
In an age when we are accustomed to being reminded of our unlimited potential, of our capacity to accomplish or become anything we conceive or imagine and to which we put our mind, “I am God and you are not,” seemed an unlikely mantra for church growth or revitalization.
“God has not designed us to do everything, be everywhere, or know everything. We can value our work, our bodies, and our relationships without thinking we must have endless energy, always be strong, or have unending emotional reserves. God simply didn’t create us in this way.”
But then I thought of my friend in AA, John. John keeps a post-it note on his refrigerator. It reads, “There is a God, John, and it’s not you.”
I guess that too could sound deflating or diminishing. But that’s not how John took it. He heard it as a great relief. As good news. It wasn’t all up to him. He wasn’t, and didn’t have to be, in control of everything. It wasn’t all up to him. He could let God be God for him.
“There is a God, John, and it’s not you,” came as good news, a great relief.
So, too, for a congregation whose past greatness may have become a crippling burden. A congregation that perhaps felt they could never quite live up to the storied legacy of its glory days. Good news, it’s not all on you. “I am God, you are not. Listen to me. Trust in me. Cling to me.”
Not only do golden eras turn into golden handcuffs in a subsequent era, but they tend to make us think, as our history is recounted, that we have been the active agents in the story of redemption. We become the subject of the verbs in such a story of church greatness.
But in Scripture, that’s not how it is. We are not the subject of the verbs, nor are we the active agent in the salvation story. God is. In the Bible, we humans are a decidedly mixed bag.
While there have been all sorts of casual explanations for the decline of the Protestant mainline — demographic shifts, secularization, cultural shifts in a conservative direction — one that is seldom cited, and may be crucial, is a loss of divine agency in favor of human agency. In the world of moralistic, therapeutic deism it’s all on us.
While on another more recent speaking gig I met the pastor of another church that had dwindled to nearly nothing, but was now experiencing new vitality. I said, “I’d like to visit your church.” She said, “Do come, we’d love to have you.” Then she said, “Come and see what God is doing.”
There it was again. God the subject of the verbs. God as an active agent. Jesus up to something in the world.
I realized that were I inviting someone to my church I would be likely to make us the subject of the verb, saying something like. “You’ll like our church, we’re very warm and friendly.” Or, “our church is very active, lots going on.”
Her framing seemed far more interesting, and frankly, inviting. “Come and see what God is doing.”
As with the “seven words that sum up the message of the entire Bible,” it’s less about us and more about God. Which is another way of speaking of grace. “Grace,” as a friend reminded me recently “is shorthand for God is the active agent in the story of salvation.”