{"id":740,"date":"2006-02-20T06:02:17","date_gmt":"2006-02-20T06:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2006\/02\/nt-wrights-fresh-perspective-3.html"},"modified":"2006-02-20T06:02:17","modified_gmt":"2006-02-20T06:02:17","slug":"nt-wrights-fresh-perspective-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2006\/02\/nt-wrights-fresh-perspective-3.html","title":{"rendered":"N.T. Wright’s Fresh Perspective 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

Allan Bevere and I continue today our series on Tom Wright’s new book, Paul in Fresh Perspective<\/em>.
\nBevere’s Summary<\/strong>:
\n1. Introduction
\nIn chapter three Wright analyzes the concept of messiahship and how Paul
\nunderstood Jesus as the Messiah. Drawing on Paul’s use of apocalyptic
\ncategories and integrating them into the implicit narratives of creation
\nand covenant, Wright maintains that a fresh perspective on Paul will
\nemerge “in which the unveiling, or apocalypse, of the Messiah as
\nIsrael’s king and therefore the world’s true Lord challenges, as
\nwithin Jewish thinking it was bound to do, the grand claims of pagan
\nempire” (p. 40).
\nWright acknowledges the controversial nature of the discussion in which
\nhe engages. There has been “much resistance” to the notion that Paul
\nbelieved Jesus to be the Messiah in its Jewish sense, as it was deemed
\ncounter to Paul’s universal gospel. In the same way the notion of
\napocalyptic has been something difficult to grasp. In the classic
\ndiscussions of the subject by Collins and Rowland, for example,
\n“apocalyptic” simply referred to a dualism entrenched within a
\nparticular kind of Judaism; a particular kind of Judaism deeply
\ninfluential on Paul. This kind of apocalyptic dualism is antithetical to
\nany kind of covenantal theology. In opposition to this view, Wright
\ninsists that Paul’s apocalyptic thought within the context of
\nsecond-Temple Judaism reinforced the implicit narrative of covenant.
\n2. Jesus as Messiah in Paul
\nIn reference to Jesus’ messiahship, much of the evidence is heuristic,
\nthat is, certain passages make much better sense if Christos is
\nunderstood as “Messiah,” instead of simply as a last name or a divine
\ntitle for Jesus.
\nPaul’s understanding of Jesus’ messiahship means six things: First,
\nJesus is a royal Messiah. Second, he will fight Israel’s final battle
\nagainst evil and paganism. Third, the Messiah will build the Temple.
\nFifth, he will bring the history of Israel to a climax ushering in a new
\nworld; and sixth, the Messiah will act as Israel’s representative,
\nfighting on behalf of Israel, and he will act as God’s agent to Israel
\nand to the world.
\nIn support of his argument Wright refers to such passages as Romans 9-11
\nin which Paul is engaged in an argument retelling of the story of Israel
\nfrom Abraham through the exile with a view to the remnant and to the
\nMessiah. In Romans 1:3-4 Paul refers to David as Jesus’ ancestor, which
\nis not simply a marginal comment, but frames the argument Paul will
\nmake. Galatians 3 and 4 also involve a major retelling of the story of
\nIsrael. The maturity Paul refers to in Galatians “is described in terms
\nof the coming of the Messiah, who both represents Israel and brings its
\nhistory to its ordained goal” (p. 45). Other passages mentioned are 1
\nCorinthians 15, in which Paul draws on the messianic texts of Psalms 8
\nand 110, and Colossians 2:14-15. Paul also uses Christos incorporatively
\nto refer to Jesus as the King “in whom Israel is summed up” (p. 46).
\nPaul also draws on wisdom and Torah translating them into messianic
\nterms. “In the light of all this the conclusion ought to be clear: Paul
\nsaw Jesus as the true Messiah promised to Israel” (p. 48).
\n3. Apocalyptic in Paul
\nAccording to Wright, apocalyptic represents “what happens to prophecy
\nunder certain historical and theological circumstances, notably
\ncontinued oppression and the puzzle of what God is going to do about it
\nand how” (p. 50). The great unveiling of God’s mysteries has already
\ncome about in Jesus. The plan of the covenant has been worked out in
\nJesus. God has at last done what he said he would do, even though it
\ndoes not look the way everyone thought it would. Paul’s apocalyptic
\ntheology is inaugurated eschatology where the future is pulled forward
\ninto the middle of history. God’s people live one and the same time in
\nthe midst of God’s new world and the present world.
\nIn chapter three, Wright puts forth his case for translating pistis
\nChristou as the “faithfulness of Christ” as opposed to “faith in Christ.”
\nHe also suggests, with the argument to be given more fully in a
\nsubsequent chapter, that justification by faith can only be correctly
\nunderstood within Paul’s covenantal and eschatological framework.
\nResponse by McKnight<\/strong>:
\nOf the chapters in books of Tom Wright\u2019s I have read, especially those designed (as this one is) for non-specialists, this one is one of the more difficult to read. The big ideas are not hard to grasp: Jesus is Messiah (in a fresh sense) and Paul\u2019s theology is apocalyptic (also in a fresh sense). The problem I find is that Tom is sparring with other scholars and his critics in nearly every paragraph and it creates too many suspended sentences and thoughts as he nuances every significant point. Clearly, Wright is ripe to write a new book on Paul putting his views in the right. Paul in Fresh Perspective<\/em> is an interim report of where he is going and I anticipate the fuller versions down the road.
\nFirst, Wright has moved beyond the \u201cnew\u201d perspective by his theory of Paul\u2019s theology as messianic. And Messiah for Wright has to do with Jesus\u2019 universal reign over the whole world, a theme that Wright thinks is inherent to Jewish theology (and not to Paul\u2019s contact with the Roman world). Thus, to say Jesus is Lord is to say Caesar is not. Inherent to Messianic theology is a new order with a new king. This leads to the \u201cfresh\u201d perspective on Paul. And clearly Wright is on to something here and it will be fun to see him unpack this theology. It has been noticeable in his works for at least five years (my guess). Here is a significant shift in Wright\u2019s work and in the new perspective as it gives way to a broader Jewish vision than has been seen heretofore (so far as I know).
\nSecond, unlike anything I\u2019ve seen, Wright contends that Paul\u2019s theology is shaped by his messianic theology: Romans and Galatians (huge portions) are about reading history as coming to their climax in Jesus as Messiah. And being \u201cin Messiah\u201d is to be incorporated into Jesus as that climax of history. And that means \u201cfaith of Christ\u201d is really about Jesus\u2019 own faithfulness to God\u2019s purposes instead of Christians\u2019 faith in<\/em> Jesus Christ.
\nThird, apocalyptic for Paul is not \u201cthis world coming to an end in a new world\u201d but the plan of God for history and the incursion of God\u2019s plan in the Messiah in this world. In this Wright diverges from the end-of-the-world apocalyptic teaching. At the end of the chp, however, Wright then contends that his view of Paul is that Paul believed in inaugurated<\/em> eschatology, and that there is something apocalyptic yet to occur. This means that Wright\u2019s view is not that divergent from people like George Ladd (with proper nuances from all the changes since the mid-70s). But, Wright has always hovered on the edge of a non-apocalyptic (as end-of-the-world) and metaphorical perception of apocalyptic language. Now, so it seems to me, Wright has embraced a traditionalist theory that in Jesus Messiah there is both a genuine eschatological moment (something is realized) and yet a future consummation \u2013 making his view inaugurated eschatology. Justification by faith is to be set in that inaugurated eschatological context: something declared now that will not finally happen until later.
\nFourth, Wright makes comments here about the Second Coming, but I wish they had been more complete \u2013 he can\u2019t, of course, do what I\u2019d like him to do, but he does raise the issue and makes four points: (1) parousia means presence; (2) 1 Thess 4 combines Dan 7 with Exod 19\u201424; (3) the parousia is a \u201cmeeting\u201d with the saints; and (4) some passages along this line have been frequently misunderstood. The first point is clear; the next three deserve to be unpacked.
\nWe’ll do chapter four this Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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