Bible Story

The basic story of the Bible is a unified narrative about God's plan to restore His rule and relationship with humanity and all creation, which was broken by human rebellion.

This overarching story generally follows a four-part structure:

• Creation: God creates the world and humanity, whom He places in charge of creation as His representatives. Everything is declared "very good."

• Fall: Humanity rebels against God, leading to sin, brokenness, and separation from Him, affecting both people and the created world.

• Redemption: God initiates a plan to rescue humanity and creation. This plan unfolds through a chosen people (Israel) and ultimately culminates in Jesus Christ, who lives a perfect life, dies to pay the penalty for human sin, and rises from the dead to defeat death and offer forgiveness and new life.

• Restoration (or Consummation): Jesus commissions His followers to spread this good news, and the story concludes with the promise of His return and the final restoration of a new heaven and a new earth, where God fully dwells with a redeemed humanity.

Salvation and Glory: An Integrated Plan

The question of whether the story is about human salvation or God's glory is best answered by seeing them as inseparable aspects of the same divine plan.

• It is about God's Glory: The Bible consistently states that God's ultimate purpose in all things is the manifestation and exaltation of His own glory (e.g., His perfection, power, justice, and love). His creation and His actions—including the act of salvation—are all intended to display His character.

  The plan of salvation is the means by which God demonstrates His attributes (like justice and mercy) and proves the goodness and triumph of His purposes.

• It is about Human Salvation: The specific way God chooses to glorify Himself is by graciously saving a broken humanity. Salvation is the necessary step to reconcile people back to Him so they can fulfill their original purpose: to reflect His image and rule alongside Him.

  Without the need for salvation (due to the Fall), the deepest demonstration of God's love, mercy, and faithfulness would not be possible in the same way.

Therefore, you could say that the ultimate end is God's glory, and the primary means to achieve that end, given the reality of sin, is human salvation (redemption), which results in a people who will forever glorify Him. They are not competing themes but two sides of the same grand narrative.