Guard the Good Deposit

28 • Guard the Good Deposit: The Great Tradition for the Whole Church

The Story of God: Our Sacred Roots What exactly is this good deposit that we are guarding? By ‘the good deposit’ we mean the scriptural witness to the person and work of the Triune God, focusing especially on Christ and his Kingdom, confessed in our theology, retold and reenacted in our worship, embodied in our spirituality, and continued in our witness. At its heart, the Great Tradition is simply the story of God infused into the whole life of the Church. This short book depends heavily on Sacred Roots by Dr. Don L. Davis. What follows here is a summary of his excellent guide to the Great Tradition. 1 Our faith is founded on the objective fact that God moves first. In grace and love he has acted in human history. As the Church, we are always in the position of responding to and participating in his story.

The Objective Foundation: The Triune God’s Unfolding Drama

Christianity can never be understood when we begin with ourselves. We must recognize that the God of the universe, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is acting in history to bring about his own purposes for his glory. “God is telling his own Story and acting in his own unfolding drama, a true tale which culminates in the person and work of Jesus Christ.” 2 The person and work of the Triune God as revealed in Scripture are the objective foundation of the story.

1 Davis, Sacred Roots , pp. 74-83.

2 Davis, Sacred Roots , p. 75.