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N.T.Wright on Evil and Justice
"We are called not just to understand the
problem of evil and the justice of God, but also to be part of the
solution to it. We are called to live between the cross and
resurrection on the one hand and the new world on the other, and in
believing in the achievements of the cross and resurrection, and
learning how to imagine the new world, we are called to bring the
two together in prayer, holiness and action within this wider world.
... Let us focus on encouraging one another to work toward that new
world we are promised, in which the earth shall be filled with the
knowledge and glory of God as the waters cover the sea. And let us
encourage in particular those who have the God-given gifts to show
us that world, to inspire our imaginations, so that we may the more
readily and gladly believe in and work for all that God wants us to
attempt and accomplish. ... (128-9)
"Whether we are dealing with international
relations or one-on-one personal relations, evil must be named and
confronted. There must be no sliding around it, no attempt (whether
for the sake of an easy life or in search of a quick fix) to pretend
it wasn't so bad after all. ... (133)
"It isn't that the cross has won the victory,
as there's nothing more to be done. Rather, the cross has won the
victory as a result of which there are now redeemed human beings
getting ready to act as God's wise agents, his stewards, constantly
worshiping their Creator and constantly, as a result, being equipped
to reflect his image into his creation, to bring his wise and
healing order to the world, putting the world to rights under his
just and gentle rule. A truly biblical ecclesiology should locus not
so much on the fact that the church is the community of the saved
but that the church is the community of those who, being redeemed
through the cross, are now to be a kingdom and priests to serve God
and to reign on the earth. Our fear of triumphalism on the one hand,
on the other hand our flattening out of our final destiny into talk
merely of 'going to heaven,' have combined to rob us of this central
biblical theme. (139)
N. T. Wright, Evil and the Justice of God,
Intervarsity Press, 2006.
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