Even though there
are many theology books out there about the mission of God, a select few
reserve the time it will take to wade through their presuppositions and
conclusions. Few modern theological writers have attempted provide a biblical
framework for studying Missio Dei, but Christopher J. H. Wright’s
The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative frames this
study on the meta-narrative of history as God’s missiological story. Wright
theorizes that the Bible can be read with a missional hermeneutic. In fact, he
not only postulates that it can be read that way; he states that this holistic
approach is really the only way the Bible’s truth can be discovered. When done
so, the testaments reveal a fluid continuity between the players, and there is
the possibility of seeing the full revelation of God in the person of Jesus
Christ as the central Servant for God’s missional plan beginning before
creation and finding its fulfillment in the picture of all nations joining
together to bring him glory. It is Wright’s stubborn adherence to the
foundation of the bible that makes his tome worth reading.
From a human perspective, it seems there have been events that would have
thwarted God’s original plans, but the entirety of Scripture reveals a beautiful
overarching plan that cannot be frustrated. Central to that plan is the image
of Christ as the suffering servant foretold in the Old Testament in answer to
man’s problem of sin. The apostle Paul adopted the same symbolism when he
continued to frame the missional narrative for the New Testament church. The
story of Scripture is His story, His narrative, not only about His person but
about His acts of reaching out to seek, save and serve those He has created.
Wright’s greatest contributions in developing this hermeneutical approach is
his insistence on a missional map or script, a holistic approach to reading
that script, identification of key players, and narrative continuity between
parts.
Missional
Hermeneutical Script
Wright handles
the whole idea of Missio Dei through a literary lens. He believes that
all of the parts of this script should be understood as a whole and thereby
allow individual parts to interpret each other. Using Scripture as a
“hermentical map” (68) to guide his understanding of individual parts, he
approaches the Bible in the same way that a reader might read the script of a
play. When done so correctly, Wright suggests, it is possible to see that the
Bible is a drama script of God’s mission.
In fact, Wright believes it is an error
to divorce traditionally accepted verses about missions from the larger context
of God’s mission throughout Scripture. For example, many have pointed to Jesus’
great commission to his disciples as the primary foundation upon which the
church must find its missions calling. But Wright believes this is a mistake.
In answer to
this problem, Wright suggests a narrative approach for viewing all of
Scripture. This narrative has three parts. Part one involves YHWH as “one true
living God who made himself known in Israel and who wills to be known to the
ends of the earth” (71). Part two involves Jesus as “one who embodies the
identity and mission of YHWH, the one to whom the Lord God has given all
authority in heaven and earth, and the one to whom every knee will bow and
every tongue confess that he is Lord” (71-72). The third part involves
spiritual warfare that takes the form of Christian conflict with demonic
idolatry. Read together, these parts lead us toward social action in
conjunction with evangelism.
Two models
of redemption and restoration rise to the forefront of this narrative as well.
In chapter 8, the exodus of the children of Israel
from Egypt
marks a clear example of God’s redemptive purposes for mankind. In chapter 9,
Wright identifies the year of jubilee as the primary example of God’s
restorative purposes for the world. There is a greater emphasis on spiritual
redemption than physical of course, but Wright balances his approach in that he
blasts modern evangelicals for not being socially involved and blasts
liberation theologians for being unbalanced in their biblical hermeneutic.
Holistic Approach
to the Biblical Narrative
Another huge
contribution of Wright’s book is his emphasis on a missional reading of the
whole canon of Scripture. Wright insists that the Old Testament cannot be read
apart from the New Testament, nor the latter apart from the former. This
holistic approach provides a missional framework upon which he believes we can
understand more fully Jesus’ messianic role.
In other words, Jesus
himself provided the hermeneutical coherence within which all disciples
must read these texts, that is, in the light of the story that leads up to
Christ (messianic reading) and the story that leads on from Christ
(missional reading). That is the story that flows form the mind and purpose of
God in all the Scriptures for all the nations. That is a missional hermeneutic
of the whole Bible (41).
In chapter 8
Wright suggests that missions as we understand it is rooted in Christ’s role as
messiah and fundamentally it is God’s before it is ours. Therefore, to approach
missions from anything less than holistically would be a grave error. It cannot
rest on a few text-proofed verses like Matt 28:19-20, but instead it must come
from a holistic reading of the entire Bible.
Key Players in
the Biblical Narrative
Another
significant contribution is the classification of roles in this narrative.
Wright deals with the covenant promises in the Abrahamic covenant by
identifying key players in a universal application. Each player has a unique
role, but again the parts played are intertwined.
God as Player
God is God over
all creation. He is Creator, so as Lord over what he has made, he exhibits his
grace. He exercises judgment over His creation as He identifies a set of people
and calls them to be His own. But this quickly moves from God’s chosen people, Israel , to a
relationship that includes blessings upon Gentiles as well. Then it moves to an
inclusion of blessing upon all mankind and a messianic promise that creation
groans in anticipation (Romans 8:18-25).
Mankind as
Player
Man is the
hallmark of God’s creation. He is fallen, but he is still valued by God. In
spite of still bearing the image of God, man falls continually into sin,
bondage and idolatry. Mankind is redeemed and becomes a co-worker with God in
fighting against the demonic idolatry that has perverted God’s message of
grace. Through redeemed mankind, God reveals the object of His mission. Wright
places a big emphasis on mankind’s role in this larger story as both the
recipient and the conduit of God’s revelation.
Moreover,
God’s model for restoration of creation is found in Israel ’s jubilee. Wright expands his discussion of God’s
purposes for the world in chapter 9 as he focuses on how the year of jubilee
presents a clear picture of what awaits the world. Forgiveness and restoration is the theme. All
creation awaits a final restoration.
Jesus as Player
Jesus is creator,
ruler, judge and savior. His role is the main one. “Christ crucified and risen
is the key to all history, for he is the one who accomplished the mission of
God for all creation” (535). Jesus is the “focal point of the whole Bible’s
grand narrative, and therein also the focal point of the whole mission of God”
(535). Wright suggests that the whole narrative is interpreted in the person of
Jesus Christ.
Church as Player
Finally, Luke and
Acts show the link between the Abrahamic covenant and God’s grace to all
nations. The church plays the same role as Israel for New Testament
revelation. In the book of Revelation, all tongues will make a confession as to
the lordship of Christ, and Wright believes this is a direct influence of the
church in making Him known to the nations.
There is a
small element of replacement in the church’s role as being grafted in to Israel . “Along
with the other apostles at the council of Jerusalem [Paul] rejected any
interpretation of such Scriptures that perpetuated the old system of the
Jerusalem temple and all the requirements of proselytism” (527). Accordingly,
the church today is God’s representation before the nations as to His mission.
Narrative
Continuity between Testaments
Interestingly,
Wright describes this thought as the pivotal point for the narrative’s plot. In
chapter 6, Wright points out that Gen 12:1-3 outline the intentions and
parameters for God’s blessing. Wright
takes issue with universalists directly by focusing on the required obedience
to receive the blessing. He even suggests that the whole of the Old Testament
is wrapped around the theme of God’s mission to mankind and the plot of using
his people to channel that blessing.
Particularly
Wright focuses on the unique relationship between God and Israel , but he
makes general applications on New Testament passages as well. Paul’s use of the
Shema (Hear O Israel, the Lord God is One) to combat idolatry is an
example of the continuity between the testaments. Israel’s role as recipients of God’s promise
quickly moves to humanity as the greater beneficiary. Wright’s focus on
continuity throughout the whole of Scripture helps hold together his argument
for the Bible as a missional map, and it works for him as a template for a missiological or devotional read of Scripture.
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