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The Bible is relevant to all people in all times and in all places because it serves as a vast narrative that gives an account of universal history.

By Carlos A. Corro

The Bible is relevant to all people in all times and in all places because it serves as a vast narrative that gives an account of universal history. This is evident throughout Holy Scripture as it begins with a cosmic history of the origins of the world, then continues to the history of a nation that God chooses to reveal the divine secret of God’s purposes for humanity, then to the particular person, Jesus Christ, who embodies both the nation of Israel and the Church, God’s new humanity.

While the Bible is the primary unifying object for Christians around the world, I believe that our unifying practice is confession.

To explain this, it is particularly helpful for me to think about the time of confession during the worship service in the small RCA church where I recently ministered. When introducing the time of confession in the service, I would always preface the time by saying that confession is when we tell the truth about God and the truth about ourselves.

I believe that the plethora of interpretations regarding Christianity can find its roots in humans telling the truth about ourselves. It is in this part of confession where human particularities and cultural differences among sisters and brothers in Christ become quite evident. However, I also believe that what gathers all Christians together throughout history and throughout the world is the most basic and essential practice of confession that Christians with one voice may firmly make about God and humankind, regardless of cultural, geographical, and historical context:

We joyfully confess that God has come in the person of Jesus Christ (the truth about God). We are loved by this God who has entered into human reality (the truth about ourselves). We are invited by this God to live in a new reality marked by grace (the truth about God and ourselves).

Carlos A. Corro spent 10 years serving churches in California and moved east in 2013 to pursue an M.Div. at Princeton Theological Seminary. He currently serves as youth director for Liberti Church (RCA) in Philadelphia. “My Voice” shares the views and experiences of RCA women and men between the ages of 18 and 29.