Rethinking God With Tacosਨਮੂਨਾ

Day 2: Viewing God Through Jesus:

Today, we’re diving into how we read the Bible—and how Jesus reshapes everything we thought we knew about God.

For a long time, I approached Scripture like a rulebook, treating every verse as if it spoke equally and clearly about God’s nature. But the more I grew in friendship with Jesus, the more I realized: The Bible is a story about God, often written through the lens of humanity’s misunderstanding. As Pete Enns says, “God let His kids tell the story.” But let’s be clear, this story ultimately points us somewhere—or rather, to Someone.

Take Exodus 21:20–21 (NIV) for example:
“Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property."

That passage used to confuse me. It disturbed me. How could the same God who forgives His enemies, weeps with the brokenhearted, and dies for His creation...endorses something like this?

This is where a Christological hermeneutic—a way of interpreting Scripture through Jesus—changes everything.

As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:2 (NIV), “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

Jesus is the final Word. He is the clearest picture of what God is like—not Moses, not David, not Job—Jesus. He doesn’t just reveal part of God’s character; He is God, the Word, in the flesh, full of grace and truth.

And when we read the Bible through Jesus, we begin to see it differently. We start to notice the arc of a story—one that’s always been pulling us toward union, healing, and love. Jesus is the one who untangles the distortions, especially where fear or punishment have shaped our picture of God.

But to see that, we have to be willing to unlearn. We have to return to the posture Jesus described in Matthew 18:3 (NIV): “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Children ask questions. They stay curious. They’re not afraid to admit when something doesn’t make sense. Somewhere along the way, many of us were told to stop questioning, to stop doubting, to stop wondering. But Proverbs 25:2 (ESV) reminds us: “It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.”

Faith was never meant to be a system we master—it was always meant to be a relationship we live from. Relationships grow through conversing, searching, and trusting.

So today, if you’ve ever wrestled with the Bible—if you’ve ever read a passage and wondered, How can this be good?—You’re not failing. You’re waking up. You’re asking the right questions. And Jesus will walk with you through each passage and verse.

We don’t follow a violent God with a split personality.

We follow Jesus: He is Love, and He is God.