Simply Good News by N.T. Wright (Brief Book Review)

Simply Good News: Why the Gospel Is News and What Makes It Good by N.T. Wright
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wright starts off by defining the word gospel (good news) as how it would mean to first century people. For many today the gospel is good advice (believe this and you’ll go to heaven when you die) rather than good news. But, the gospel really is news, and that’s how we should present it.

The good news is that Jesus has become king and He is now restoring the world. He’s not going to whisk us all away to heaven and destroy the world. Jesus started this restoration at the cross and will complete it at the last day. N.T. Wright uses an example of a Roman emperor defeating his enemy and taking power. The news of this would be good to all who support this emperor, and they would be happy to hear that he was now in charge. But first, the emperor would have to consolidate his power before taking his throne. So, the good news of his coming to power would include both something that had happened (the defeat of his enemy) and something that would happen (his coming full rule).

We today are living in that between time. Jesus defeated sin and death at the cross, and now His enemies are being put under His feet, and He will one day come and complete the work He has begun of building His kingdom on earth.

Wright also discusses misunderstood concepts people have today about God (and His anger), sin, hell, eschatology, atonement, creation, covenant, rationalism, and romanticism.

I highly recommend this one.

An excerpt…

Most people who regard the statement that Jesus died in your place as the center of the gospel place this truth, this beautiful fragment, into a larger story that goes like this. There is a God, and this God is angry with humans because of their sin. This God has the right, the duty, and the desire to punish us all. If we did but know it, we are all heading for an eternal torment in hell. But this angry God has decided to vent his fury on someone else instead — someone who happens to be completely innocent. Indeed, it is his very own son! His wrath is therefore quenched, and we no longer face that terrible destiny. All we have to do is believe this story and we will be safe. That is the reconstructed scene offered in many churches, sermons, and books. It is not completely wrong. But as it stands, it is deeply misleading. It distorts the very thing it is trying to frame. It takes the truth that Jesus died in your place and puts it in the wrong context. It does indeed make some sense there. But this is not the same sense that it would make if you put it the right context. This, in anyone’s account, is near the heart of what the early Christians meant by the good news. Since it is also, clearly, near the heart of what many Christians today understand by the good news, it is important that we sort this out.
~Page 68 or Location 976 (Kindle)

* You can take an online course on this book taught by N.T. Wright for (I think) $29USD.
Click here for that.

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The Four Stages Prophetic Fulfillment

When we read the bible and find prophesy we want to know when the prophecy will be fulfilled. Has it been fulfilled already? Still to come? Or, will there be a double fulfillment? I have even heard the term “the law of double fulfillment”, stated as though every prophecy must be fulfilled at least twice.

While listening to lecture by James B. Jordan I learned a different way to look at the fulfillment of prophecy.

Often there is a fourfold fulfillment:

1) Anticipatory

The prophecy is given and there is a near fulfillment of it. The purpose of this stage is to confirm the word of the prophet. It’s way of saying, “This prophecy hasn’t been definitively fulfilled yet, but here’s a small fulfillment to prove that the prophetic word is true.”

2) Definitive

This is the actual definitive fulfillment of the prophecy. All biblical prophesy is definitively fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

3) Progressive

This is the full effect of the prophecy coming to pass through the Church. The Church is in Jesus, and Jesus is in the Church, therefore whatever is fulfilled in Christ will also happen in the Church.

4) Cumulative

This is the full effect of the prophecy coming to final fruition on the Last Day.

One example we can look at is the Temple:

In 2 Samuel 7:1-16 we read of how David decided he wanted to build a temple for God.* When David told the prophet Nathan of his idea, Nathan told him to go ahead and do it. But then God said, “You’re going to build a house for me David? No, I will build a house for you. Your descendent will build a house for me.” If you read the text, it is clear that God is talking about Jesus. God gives the prophesy here of Christ’s kingdom and the true temple of God which Jesus will build.

In 1 Chronicles 22:7-11 the exchange between God and David about the temple is elaborated a bit more. David told Solomon that he wanted to build the temple but his hands were too bloody. He also said that God would give him a son, a man of rest, and that son would build the temple. God also said the son’s name would be Solomon, which means peaceful. Then in verse 11 and following, David tells Solomon to go ahead and build the temple and that he had provided resources and plans for it. Again, read the text and you will see that the words God spoke were referring to Jesus.

In 2 Samuel 12:24-25 it is interesting to see that David named his son Solomon, but God named him Jedidiah.

So, God gave a prophecy that He would provide a king of peace, whose kingdom will last forever, and that this king would build a temple for God.

1) The prophecy was fulfilled in an anticipatory way with king Solomon building the first temple.

2) The prophecy was fulfilled definitively when Jesus built the true temple: the Church.**

3) The prophecy is being fulfilled progressively as time goes on and more and more people are brought into the kingdom.

4) The prophecy will will reach its final complete state on the Last Day when the bride (the Church) is married to her Groom (Jesus). From that point on, the temple will grow more and more glorious for all eternity.

There are several examples of prophecy being fulfilled in this fourfold manner in the bible. It doesn’t have to be this way every time, but when it is done this way we need to take notice of it.

*Notice from the text how it was David’s idea to build the temple, not God’s. God was happy with the continued use of the tabernacle — which was a temporary structure. David wanted to make the temporary structure more permanent. God wasn’t interested in that because He had a whole new structure in mind for the temple: the Holy Spirit filled Church. But, God allowed the temple to be built, He wasn’t against it. God can knock down a stone building just as quickly as a tent.

**Old Testament Israel was always the Church. I don’t believe Jesus created something new called the Church. But, because of His work on the cross, the law was fulfilled and God was no longer confined to the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle. The curtain was torn. Also, with the barrier of the law out of the way, the Gentiles were able to enter.

Morality Wars

Within Buddhism there is a thing called Karma. Karma is based on good or bad deeds which then translates to future happiness or future suffering. If you build up bad Karma in this life you will pay for it with suffering in the next life. If you build up good Karma you will be rewarded. This system is the framework for Buddhist morality.

Christian morality is based on the person and work of Jesus Christ. Because He first loved me, I must love others. Because He has forgiven me, I must forgive others. Because He stripped Himself of His power to come save poor humans, I must work to help the poor.

A Buddhist will be reluctant to help the poor. The poor person may be paying for something horrible he did in a past life, and if someone were to alleviate his suffering, that someone would be going against the Karma system and will put her own future happiness at risk. “Live and let live” is the Buddhist moral standard. This actually creates a kind of tolerance that many western Humanists would be envious of. But where the Buddhist would be tolerant of something like homosexual lifestyles, a tolerance which would be celebrated by the Humanist, the Buddhist would also be tolerant of allowing the poor to stay poor, a tolerance which the Humanist would rail against. This is because Humanist morality is a bastardized version of Christian and anti-Christian values.

I remember telling someone how I was helping poor children in Cambodia to get a proper education. She thought that was wonderful. But then her face dropped and she asked if I was also teaching the people about Christianity. “You’re not trying to convert them are you? Don’t they already have their own religion?”

Sigh. So your morality praises me for helping poor children, but then, that same morality scolds me for opposing a religion (Buddhism) which has a moral system that actually prevents Cambodians from helping their own poor children? But to her, her thinking was completely logical, and that is because she has no idea where her Humanist morality comes from.

Humanism is doomed. So what will be the next moral battle fought in the western world? Nihilism versus Humanism? Islam versus Humanism?

Will Christians wake up to the fact that Christendom fell a long time ago and join the fight?

Coming or Going?

Sometimes we assume something because we don’t know all the facts and we don’t take the time to investigate. We often read scripture and make the same mistake — especially when we’re dealing with the end-times.

Consider this passage:

“And the high priest arose and said to (Jesus), ‘Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against You?’ But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, ‘I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!’

Jesus said to him, ‘It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.’

Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, ‘He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy!’”
~Matthew 26:62-65

It’s easy to think that Jesus is talking about His second coming here. But look at how offended the high priest was at what Jesus said. The high priest knew nothing of Jesus’ second coming. But, the high priest knew very well what Jesus was saying here. And it offended the high priest so much that he tore his own clothes — something he was commanded not to do (Leviticus 21:10).

Jesus was quoting two Old Testament passages, and the high priest would have known exactly what Jesus was saying as he, the high priest, was an expert in scripture.

“The Lord (the Father) said to my Lord (Jesus), 
‘Sit at My right hand, 
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.’

The Lord shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. 
Rule in the midst of Your enemies!”
~Psalm 110:1-2

“‘I was watching in the night visions, 
And behold, One like the Son of Man (Jesus), 
Coming with the clouds of heaven! 
He came to the Ancient of Days (the Father), 
And they brought Him near before Him.

Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, 
That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. 
His dominion is an everlasting dominion, 
Which shall not pass away, 
And His kingdom the one 
Which shall not be destroyed.’”
~Daniel 7:13-14

Jesus “coming on the clouds” is not referring here to His second coming, but rather His ascension and coronation as King (He came to the Ancient of Days, not to the earth). And notice what was given to Jesus at that time: dominion, all peoples, all nations, and all languages. That happened two thousand years ago. Jesus rules now as King at the Father’s right hand.

And how long will He rule in heaven as King?

“But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His (second) coming. Then comes the end, when He (Jesus) delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He (Jesus) must reign till He (the Father) has put all enemies under His (Jesus’) feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For ‘He (the Father) has put all things under His (Jesus’) feet.’ But when He (the Father) says ‘all things are put under Him (Jesus),’ it is evident that He (the Father) who put all things under Him (Jesus) is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him (Jesus), then the Son Himself (Jesus) will also be subject to Him (the Father) who put all things under Him (Jesus), that God may be all in all.”
~1 Corinthians 15:20-28

Jesus is ruling in heaven now and will continue to rule from heaven until God the Father puts all of Christ’s enemies under Christ’s feet. And the last enemy will be death itself. And it is at Jesus’ second coming when all people, saved and unsaved, will be resurrected and judged (John 5:26-29). Then Jesus will hand the kingdom over to His Father.

Work Out Your Salvation

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
~Philippians 2:12-13 NKJV

“Sin is what bubbles up unbidden from the depths of the human heart, so that all one has to do is go with the flow. That has the appearance of freedom, but is in fact slavery, as Jesus himself declared. True freedom is the gift of the spirit, the result of grace; but… it isn’t simply a matter of being forced now to be good, against our wills and without our co-operation, but a matter of being released from slavery precisely into responsibility, into being at last to choose, to exercise moral muscle, knowing both that one is doing it oneself and that the spirit is at work within, that God is doing himself that which I too am doing. If we don’t believe that, we don’t believe in the spirit, and we don’t believe in Paul’s teaching.”
~ N.T. Wright, “Justification~God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision”, pg. 164