Early Thoughts on the Book, "After You Believe"

According to my kindle, I'm 34% through the book, "After You Believe," by Tom Wright. This is a book that focuses on an often ignored but essential topic in our Christian faith that centers on the question, "What is the whole point of our new life in Jesus Christ?" Is the whole point that we get saved so we can go to heaven? Wright says, "no" even though our salvation is an important part of our faith.

Wright suggests that the bible from beginning to end communicates that God's ultimate goal (teleios in Greek) for us is to be rulers and priests in which we lovingly bring to bear God's healing love to the world. Wright offers scripture references throughout the bible which talk about this twin vocation of God's people being rulers and priests.

Even before God brings final new creation upon the world, we as God's people are to anticipate that new future in the way we live in the present.

In the first part of the book, Wright compares Jesus' ultimate goal for this world to be flooded with God's justice and love with Aristotle's ultimate goal which was happiness and where you fit into the Greek-city state framework. Aristotle who lived before Jesus, emphasized the importance of personal character and virtue in order to reach the ultimate goal of happiness. Jesus also emphasized character and virtue but for the larger purpose of remaking God's creation that way it was meant to be.

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Developing Christian character is not easy. It takes a daily focus on practicing the disciplines of our faith and depending on the Holy Spirit so that when we encounter experiences in our daily living, we will be able to respond in ways that reflect our ultimate goal in life which again, is bring to bear God's new creation.

Wright knows that since Western Christianity has not emphasized this aspect of our Christian faith that focuses on what we are to be doing following our acceptance of Christ as Lord and Savior, that some might think that we are getting into some kind of "works righteousness." But Wright is quick to point out that by developing Christian character after we accept Christ, we are simply responding to God's grace, not trying to earn approval from God.

So much else could be said about the first 1/3 of the book, but that's enough for now.