Thursday, August 31, 2017

revolution of love

    I just recently finished up my new favorite NT Wright book, which is The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus' Crucifixion. Not only does the book explore the meaning of the death and resurrection of Jesus, but it also puts the rubber to the road of the practicality of what Jesus did for us.  There are several things that NT Wright talks about in the book that caught my attention that is worth exploring.

  The first observation that occurred to me is that NT Wright doesn't give as much time on the  different atonement theories as I would have thought.  The different atonement theories are the Ransom Theory, where Christ death and resurrection was used as a ransom to buy us back from some Satan. The Penal Substitution Theory is where God took our place on the cross.  The Recapitulation Theory is that Christ death and resurrection turns our disobedience to obedience.  The example theory is that Christ provides an example for us so that we have an example to follow.  These theories all have some positives along with glaring weaknesses. The author puts them into their place and the author puts them in their perspective place for something better. 

   The second observation that I made is that NT Wright focused more on covenant theology instead of the atonement theories.  We can see throughout the Bible that God has created covenants with His people.  Covenant is different than a promise because both parties agree to it and there are dire consequences if one or both parties do not meet up to expectation.  Two of the more famous covenants that we see made in the Bible are made with Noah and Abraham.  Noah's covenant was that God will not flood the  earth again and we were given Gods word through the rainbow.  The other famous covenant made was with Abraham and that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars. Gods ultimate covenant is that He will be our God and that we will be His people.  Christ death and resurrection provides the way for it to happen.

  The third observation that I made is this idea that leaving this earth and getting to go to heaven may not be the most Biblical idea out there.  This idea leads to an escapist theology that relies on us getting saved and then wanting to get out of here.  We find in the Creation story in Genesis that when God created the heavens and the earth, He called it good.  There is also the statement in Revelation that Jesus comes to make all things new.  The third question is that why would Jesus suffer a brutal death and be resurrected in bodily form if heaven was our final destination.  Throughout the four Gospels, there is a lot of time devoted to the Kingdom of God. When the discussion of God's kingdom came about, there are two things to notice.  The first one is that Gods Kingdom is in the here and now and also not yet, which means we are living in Gods Kingdom, but it still needs to be completed.  The second observation is that with all of the talk about the Kingdom of God, there is no mention of escaping to that mansion on the hill.  Here is a quick reminder, our salvation can not be bought or even earned.  It comes from Gods grace and Him desiring to be in relationship with His creation.  If salvation and the Kingdom of God is in the here and now, should it change how we live and see ourselves and other people?

   My final observation is an actual quote from the book and here it is.
       What if having our sins forgiven is to small of a thing, but the death and resurrection is about the
        kingdom being restored and a royal priesthood being realized.
   The observation is this, sometimes I think we think to little of Gods grace or we try to limit it to certain things or we just want to place it in a cute little box.  Gods grace is so much more than we realize.  Gods grace and power tore the Vail in the temple to the Holy of Holies so that anyone can have access to God.  When we accept Gods grace, we become a member of the royal priesthood.  What this entails is another blog post.  A quick reference would be to read the book of Hebrews.  Being a member of the royal priesthood means that we are pointing people towards Jesus and putting skin on what grace, mercy and forgiveness looks like. This is reflecting the image of God and realizing that His love is revolutionary and when we embrace the power of love instead of the love of power cool things happen and the world is changed