N.T. Wright's "Surprised by Hope": The Pirate Review, Day 8
Chapters 10
The Redemption of Our Bodies
Chapter 10 constitutes essentially an 18-page summary of Wright's 740-page scholarly masterpiece, The Resurrection of the Son of God. Inasmuch as this post is a summary of that summary, please don't make the mistake of assuming the points/issues raised here are the complete story. This post is kind of like doctrine: its an attempt to fit a long, complex story into a tight, portable package. Never mistake the package for the wealth of stuff contained within it.
Given the unanimous witness of the NT regarding the promise of the bodily resurrection of God's people, Wright questions how the issue could have become as muddled as it is today. The popular modern understanding of the ultimate Christian hope in a one-stage post-mortem journey (going to heaven or going to hell), and the attempts of some to squeeze the concept of bodily resurrection within that picture, are both serious distortions, according to Wright. The NT talks very little about life after death. It is concerned primarily (when it is concerned with post-mortem issues) about life after "life after death.
Wright provides a brief survey of the mountain of available evidence from the NT. The final lines of Philippians 3 are cited as containing Paul's thought on the subject, i.e., that "the risen Jesus is both the model for the Christian's future body and the means by which it comes." Colossians 3:1-4 and Romans 8:9-11 are also cited to clarify the Pauline vision. Not to limit the argument to Paul, Wright cites John 5:25-29, and the OT passages on which it depends.
Wright then goes on to clarify some of the passages that have traditionally been misinterpreted to lend credence to the muddled view of the ultimate Chistian hope. The reference to 'many dwelling places (or rooms) in my father's house' in John 14:2 is explained by the fact that Greek word monai means a temporary resting place (like an inn). Similarly, the passage in Luke 23:43 where Jesus tells the dying theif that he will "be with him in Paradise" is explained by pointing out that "Paradise" was regularly used in Jewish texts to refer to the garden where the dead are refreshed as they await the dawn of the new creation. And, as in 1 Peter 1:4, when the NT speaks of a "salvation kept for you in heaven," Wright points out the logic of such passages:
"If I say to a friend 'I've kept some beer in the fridge for you,' that doesn't mean that he has to get into the fridge to drink the beer."
He then turns to the two central areas of the Pauline corpus where the issue of the bodily resurrection is discussed, in First and Second Corinthians. Starting with 2 Cor., he points out that, in Ch. 5, Paul speaks of "new tent" or "new tabernacle" to be "put on" atop the old one. The point here is that what will happen is not a removing of the physical to get to the spiritual, but the addition of a new mode of physicality that will make our bodies, if we can put it this way, more real, more tangible. "We sometimes speak of someone who'se been very ill as being 'a shadow of their former self.' If Paul is right, a Christian in the present life is a mere shadow of his or her future self..."
Wright then tackles the language of 1 Cor., where Paul speaks of what has often been translated as "a physical body" and "a spiritual body." He points out that the adjectives in both cases use the suffix -ikos, and that these types of adjectives do not describe the material out of which things are made, but the power or energy which animates them. "It's the difference between asking on the one hand 'is this a wooden ship or an iron ship?' and asking on the other 'is this a steam ship or a sailing ship?'"
After touching on some of the post-NT debates about the nature of the resurrected body (from Origen to C.S. Lewis), Wright turns to the details of the issue, as far as answers can be had; that is, to the who, what, where, when, why and how of the matter. Wright gets into more detail, but...
Who? According to John and Paul, everyone, but for Paul there is a special sense of resurrection that applies to those who are in Christ and indwelt by the Spirit.
Where? "On the new earth, joined as it will then be to the new heaven."
What (will the resurrected body be like)? That's where, according to Wright, we must turn to our imaginations, precisely because of new kind of physicality we are discussing, there really is no way of using our present language to describe it (which, Wright says elsewhere, is why we have such strange and conflicting stories about the nature of Jesus' resurrected body in the NT).
Why? "According to the early Christians, the purpose of this new body will be to rule wisely over God's new world. Forget those images about lounging around playing harps. There will be work to do and we shall relish doing it."
When? We don't know, but it hasn't happened yet.
How? Wright likes the contemporary metaphor offered by John Polkinghorne, one that I've heard him use on several occasions: "God will download our software onto his hardware, until the time when he gives us new hardware to run the software again." While this may be an understandable metaphor for the end process, but the particular and specific question of "How?" is answered in the NT without dispute: by the Spirit.
"The early creed spoke of 'the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life.' That is exactly true to the New Testament."
Grace and Peace,
Raffi
Raffi,
I've enjoyed reading your summaries when I get the chance. I'm close to the end of "Simply Christian" and the ideas from one book seem to lead right into the content of the other. I look forward to reading the book when I get the chance.
I have found Wright's paradigm shifting explanations of the Christian worldview to be helpful and also consistent with some of what I picked up from David Bentley Hart. I am convinced that we are blessed in the era in which we live by some outstanding theologians.
I hope to do a decent job teaching this understanding of the Christian worldview to my congregation as it resonates with Scripture and makes sense out of some difficult issues.
God bless,
mofast
Mofast:
Thanks for the kind words. Maybe one of us can do one of these on "Beauty of the Infinite" one day. I nominate you.
I'll pray for you in your quest to relay the message to your congregation. God speed, my friend.
Grace and Peace,
Raffi