“Jesus on the cross towers over the whole scene as Israel in person, as YHWH in person, as the point where the evil of the world does all that it can and where the Creator of the world does all that he can.Jesus suffers the full consequences of evil: evil from the political, social, cultural, personal, moral, religious, and spiritual angles all rolled into one; evil in the downward spiral hurtling toward the pit of destruction and despair.
And he does so precisely as the act of redemption, of taking that downward fall and exhausting it, so that there may be new creation, new covenant, forgiveness, freedom, and hope.”
–N. T. Wright, Evil and the Justice of God, (IVP Books, 2006), p. 92
technorati: emerging church, missional, missional community, spiritual formation, theology, Christ, Atonement
This quote raises a serious question.
ReplyDeleteIf the the Cross exhausts evil, why does the church look so exhausted and evil look so fresh.
Perhaps we have not got hold of the enormity of what Jesus has done.
i am learning more and more it is how you see eschatology and atonement. It's either all hopeless till the end or maybe, just maybe, the cross and ressurection were the beginning of something that is growing and expanding.
ReplyDeleteJesus did NOT die unvillingly, and furthermore, did NOT give his life for social, political, or any other human reason, but rather to pay the price for sin. He did NOT die for 'evil' as you put it, rather for OUR sin that WE have commited against Him!!!
ReplyDeleteJust read John 3v16 again.
A more on this...
ReplyDeleteHe arose the third day showing that He is God, and that His sacrifice was efficacious. Nothing more could have been done, and nothing less. And He ascended to the Third Heaven where He sat (showing that He had DONE the job) on the Right Hand of God. Now, He is interceding on behalf of us, praying for us, showing that He is the ONLY High Priest that we can depend on.
Stephen,
ReplyDeleteNowhere in Wright's quote does he say that Jesus died "unwillingly." In fact, Wright consistently insists that he in fact died willingly for the sins of humanity.
And, Wright is saying that our personal sins are the causes of political, social, cultural, moral, religious, and spiritual evil in the world.
You're knee-jerk reaction to this post shows that you have not put a lot of thought into what is "evil" and what God has done to overcome it. Sin is evil - and it manifests itself in many different ways.