Wright, Tom: The Day The Revolution Began

Part Two: "In Accordance with the Bible": The Stories of Israel

4 The Covenant of Vocation (72)

"they (people) have insisted ... that the (73) human race really needed help to go to 'heaven' when all along the New Testament was insisting that the divine plan was 'to sum up ... everything in heaven and on earth' in the Messiah. And they have insisted on a particular diagnosis of  the human plight and have treated that rather than the real disease." Heaven is the goal and sin the problem: Platonised goal and a moralising diagnosis which have led to a paganised 'solution' in which an angry divinity is pacified by human sacrifice. Humans are not made for 'heaven' but for new heavens and new earth. The problem is much broader than sin and encompasses idolatry (74). The "Works Contract": instruction in Eden to keep a moral code resulted in death for breaking it; sharpened for Israel in the Mosaic Law with the same result so that humanity was heading for hell rather than heaven; but perfect Jesus paid the penalty for the human race in his death, based on Romans 1-3 )75); the gift of righteousness; dire misinterpretation of Romans 1-3. Not a "Works Contract" but a "Covenant of Vocation": the royal priesthood both "... reflecting the Creator's wise stewardship into the world and reflecting the praises of all creation back to its maker". The "image-bearers" in a world where heaven and earth meet (77); idolatry results in slavery and death.

Called to the Royal Priesthood (77). Revelation 1.5-6, 5.9-10, 20.6; ultimately we are redeemed to return to where we started in Genesis 1.26-28 and Exodus 19.5-6 (78); the concepts of royalty and priesthood (79), Malachi 3.3 (80).

Communities of Reconciled Worshippers. 2 Corinthians 5.21 in the context of 5.6 in the context of Isaiah 49: the death of Jesus renews human vocation, 2 Corinthians 5,18, 5.19, 5.21 (81); Galatians 3.13 (82); Galatians 3 and God's worldwide family; Romans 5.17 (83); the Gospel reconstitutes us as genuine humans, sharing the reign of the Messiah. When humans sinned they abdicated (84); more important than sin is idolatry; in Romans 1.8-25 ungodliness precedes injustice; God is known through the things he has made for which the priestly function is to honour, thank and praise; a failure of worship, worshipping creatures not the Creator (85); idolatry leads to slavery; death is not the result of miscellaneous moral shortcomings; "... death is the intrinsic result of sin, not simply an arbitrary punishment" (87); "the powers" gain control (88).

5 "In All the Scriptures"

Genesis 1-2, Exodus 19.4-6 (89); Isaiah 49.6-7, 60.1-3 (90). The incompleteness of Pentateuch, OT narratives.

Israel and Adam. Repeated exiles (91) and the intervention of Daniel 9.24 (92) promising another 500 years of slavery: the metaphors of redemption, justification and sacrifice; (93); only in the context of "in accordance with the Bible" will we understand "for our sins". "... this means renouncing the Platonized views of salvation, the moralizing reduction of the human plight, and ultimately the paganized views of how salvation is accomplished. The first blunts the leading edge of the revolution. The second treats one part of the problem as if it were the whole thing. The third produces a distorted parody of the true biblical picture." Genesis 1-3 a microcosm of the OT (94). God called Abraham and Sarah to reverse Adam and Eve; the promised land the new Eden, a place of life not death (Deuteronomy 30.15-20, cf Genesis 3.22-24), the place of divine presence (Numbers 14.21; Psalm 72.19; Isaiah 11.9; Habakkuk 2.14) (95) where heaven and earth belong together and, finally, an advance signpost for something greater, a promised land prefiguring the whole world (Psalm 72, 89; Isaiah 11). The offer met with repeated rejection (96) but God might act in a new way to deliver a remnant of his people; and this is what early Christians believed had happened through Jesus.

"Sin" and "Exile" in a Biblical Framework. Nit picking (97); ignoring major injustice, sending the majority to everlasting fire; sin talk as a power game (98) switch from fornication to fossil fuels; congratulating ourselves because we are not self-congratulatory. Biblical words for sin: wickedness; transgression to describe inappropriate or illegal behaviour; overall, turning aside from our created purpose; Hamartia, missing the mark; "image bearers" were supposed to transmit (my word for "reflect") the praises of creation back to the Creator and to project (my word for "reflect") the Creator's wisdom into the world (99). The root of sin is the failure of worship; the cross takes us back to the initial, intended goal; infraction gives power and authority to idols (100). Sex, money and power bad masters (101); sin, as opposed to sins, Satan; whatever we call it, it is a failure of worship (102); 1 Corinthians 15 &c: not death as the penalty for breaking arbitrary commandments, then inserting Jesus; death into this picture as divine justice killing him instead, as this is not Biblical because this pulls some proof texts out of context. But sin is the refusal to see ourselves as refusing to play their part in God's purposes; it is a vocational failure as much as a moral failure; choosing worship of the creature over the Creator is the choice of death over life, which is why sin and death are entwined (103); exile results from idolatry; exile is a corporate, national death. Paul and Josephus seem to think Ezekiel 32 coming true; the exile undone will be both a forgiveness of sins and a new life after death, Ezekiel 37 (104); the story is not escape to heaven but heaven and earth becoming one (105). Luke 24, Isaiah 40-55 (106).

6 The Divine Presence and the Forgiveness of Sins

God with his people, Genesis 3.8; Noah; Babel; Abraham called, Genesis 12; God's restored presence responding to worship (107); Exodus, 3.13-15, 6.2; Exodus 20; the tabernacle where God and people meet like Eden under strict conditions.

Presence and Glory (108). 2 Samuel 7.11-14 (109): David's "house" turned out to be Jesus, Psalms 2, 72, 132, 89; 1 Kings 8 and Exodus 40 (110); Isaiah 6.3; Ezekiel 10-11 and the divine departure which would return in Ezekiel 43; Isaiah 40-55, notably 52-53 (111); the post exilic Temple lacked the divine presence, answered in John 1.14 (112); glory unveiled by John in the Cross; Israel not to be redeemed from the world but in it (113), realised in the forgiveness of sins, Lamentations 4.22; Isaiah 40.1-2, 40.3-11, 52.13-53.12 (114); Jeremiah 31; "We have exchanged the glory of God for a mess of spiritualized, individualistic, and moralistic pottage. And ... we have radically distorted the meaning of the central gospel message: that, in accordance with the Bible, sins are forgiven through the Messiah's death. We have domesticated the revolution" (115).

Kingdom of God. Isaiah 52.7 (116); God's sovereignty a hope in the face of adversity, Isaiah 52; whereas Exodus did not involve the forgiveness of sins, the new liberation from exile would (117); Daniel 2, 7, 9 (118). Early Christians on the destruction of the Temple: end of exile, forgiveness of sins, covenant renewal, victory over pagan power, unveiling divine glory, institution of divine kingdom. Jesus one of many First Century revolutionaries based on Daniel (120).

7 Suffering, Redemption and Love

Schweitzer's "apocalyptic" understanding; a king not a death (121); detaching Messiah from suffering; Daniel 12.1; Psalm 22 (122-23); Isaiah 53 (124), suffering as a means and not a context; in 4055 only 52.13-53.12 do we have the new theme of redemptive suffering, summary of plight and promise and a unique statement of hope (125). The problem arises when  the ancient Israelite covenantal understanding exchanged for a pagan understanding, 2 Maccabees 7 (126); the new Exodus that deals with sin (127-28); 2 Maccabees 6.12-16; 4 Maccabees, language of ransom and sacrifice become prominent (129-30); Greek influence on 4 Maccabees: "Within the larger Jewish hope, there are signs that some people at least, under pressure of intense suffering and persecution, reached for ways of interpreting that experience not only as something through which God's people might pass to deliverance but as something because of which that deliverance would come about."

Divine Faithfulness and Covenant Love. Faithful love in Isaiah 40-66 but lacking in Maccabees (131). God's anger at sin is real but it never abridges his love, Deuteronomy 7.6-9 (132), 10.14-15,21; Isaiah 41.1,3-5, 63.8-9; Jeremiah 31.3; Lamentations 3.22-23 (133); Hosea 11.1. Isaiah 40.10-11; Isaiah 41.8-10 (134). The covenant love to be extended to the nations, Isaiah 42.6-7, 55.1-3 (135), 49.13-16, 51.3; after the servant's death in 53, seen as the ultimate punishment for Israel's sin, the Covenant is reasserted (136) 54.5-10.

Redemption and Forgiveness of Sins (137). OT never completely coherent but three themes: the link between end of exile and forgiveness of sin; the awaited event will be new Exodus; redemption will be from God (138). The Servant is some kind of anointed figure (148) through whom YWHW will bring justice to Israel and the nations; the servant as the embodiment of God's power. An enigmatic poem but: redemption involving suffering will come from YHWH, 59.15-16 (1141), 63.5,9 (142).

Buy this book from Amazon.co.uk (commission earned)