Bauckham on the Biblical Narritive

Richard Bauckham's first point aspect of Biblical Narrative is that it is temporal.

"The temporal movement of the biblical narrative runs all the way from creation to the eschatological future. It runs from the old to then new, constantly reconstructing the past in memory and constructing the future in expectation. Within this movement mission is movement into the new future of God. It is the movement of the people of God whose identity is found in the narrative of the past but also in their being turned by that narrative towards the coming of God's kingdom in the future. The possibilities the narrative opens up for them, when they find themselves in it, are those God gives as they live towards God's future. Temporally, then, mission is movement into the ever-new future." Bible and Mission - Christian Witness in a Postmodern World.

Bauckahm argues that from Genesis 12 to Revelation the narrative is in transition from 'a particular past' towards the universal future. This is seen definitively in the gospel - the life death and resurrection of Jesus, the coming of God's kingdom and the opening up of the future for God's creation. For Bauckham then, "Mission is the movement that takes place between Jesus' own sending by his Father and the future coming of Jesus in the kingdom of his Father."