★★★★★ 5
17 – “For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit
Format: Paperback
Everyone should read this book! A very important redirection for Christians today. Though I wanted to address something I disagreed with Wright about, and that is COMMANDMENTS. I want to address the intriguing notion by Wright that the commands given by Paul and others in the NT are more or less guidelines to get them started on the right path of what Wright calls “habits of the heart” (198). Wright also sees the commands in the NT to be concerned with some imminent threat or immoral practice he sees about to happen in the church and puts rules in place (200). He would also say rules are more for the immature or newbies.
I am intrigued by it because I have thought that this might be true of what Paul is trying to say as well. Though now I am not so sure. If one reads Psalm 119 one sees that one should seek for God’s salvation and keep his commands. Verse 166 – “I hope for your salvation, O LORD, and I fulfill your commandments” (NRSV). 1 Corinthians 7:19 says that keeping the commandments of God is everything! But key to what is happening with Paul I believe is that 1 Cor. 7:19a says that circumcision is nothing! So obviously Paul is not here referring people back to the OT law. What is true of all believers is that we are “bought with a price”. Psalm 119:166 applies no matter what covenant we are under. It is the apostles who have authority and keys of the kingdom.
Wright underplays the authority of the apostles in this instance. The commandments of God are now, apostolic teaching. We can find in many places where obedience is a theme. “Romans begins and ends with the theme of ‘the obedience of faith’…Paul’s message has to do with obedience from the heart (Romans 6:17) to the truth (Rom 2:8, Gal 5:7), the gospel (Rom 10:16, 2 Thess. 1:8), or Christ (2 Cor 10:5,6)” (Rosner 129).
Wright does not need to talk about the idea of the commands in the NT being only guidelines, because for Paul if the “obedience under the old covenant was meant to lead to life, obedience under the new is the fruit of new life in Christ” (Ibid 130). All Wright needed to say about the difference between the old and new was what he said earlier on pages 46 and 47. The OT law was “designed to be restrictive”. It is just the opposite for the NT law. It is designed to be freeing. Gal 5:1 – “For freedom Christ has set us free”. Paul says this because some in the church wanted to run back to being slaves under the OT law. In fact Paul uses “obedience” to describe what they were doing right. Gal 5:7 – “You were running well; who prevented you from obeying the truth?” (NRSV).
The OT law is summed up by loving God and loving neighbor as well as the new, but the difference comes in the new maturity wrought by Christ. This new teaching has transformed the thinking. The Spirit is on all God’s people. So it is not “guidelines” versus “rules”, it is “liberating rules” vs “restrictive rules”. Romans 14:17 – “For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The one who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and has human approval. Let us then pursue what makes for peace…”(NRSV).
Rosner, Brian S. Paul and the Law, New Studies in Biblical Theology (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press 2013).
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Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2015
