A thoroughly insightful read, uniquely positioned by Bishop Wright as the follow-on to his thoroughly fascinating book, “Surprised By Hope,” as he responds to the statement and question of “Ok, Jesus resurrected and so shall we. What now?” His treatment of the development of virtue as the transformative work of the Holy Spirit and its application of the power of the Resurrection is incredibly instructive. It bypasses the tired arguments of the legalists/works-based righteousness group that routinely finds itself pitted against the “grace alone” crowd, walking the crucial middle road as it relates to good works and Christian character. Naturally, such is a false dichotomy that leaves much room in the center, wherein the truth is to be discovered.

Virtue, Wright points out, is just as much contingent on habitual patterns that are productive of neurological pathways that allow Christians to function in the ways of virtue as if by nature, not unlike lingusitic or mathematical developments. Essentially, virtue is the cultivation of the “hard=-won habits of life” that causes those that participate in Christ’s kingdom to think and act virtuously, so as to demonstrate the presence of that kingdom, with all of this predicated by the Spirit’s out-pouring because our Lord lives. This is what produces the “good works” to which all that claim a trusting allegiance to Christ are called, as we effect the overlap of heaven and earth by sacrifical and love based actions.

How are we to understand the role of Christian ethics in a morally deteriorating world? Are we to think of the Bible’s moral commands as rules to be followed unreflectively- no thought and pondering necessary, just do what God said? Or rather, on the other extreme, should we operate spontaneously, doing what seems right to us personally (a tremendously scary thought considering the fallen nature of humanity and the wickedness of human hearts)? To both of these options, N.T. Wright responds with a resounding no, challenging us to take seriously Paul’s statement in Romans 12 concerning the renewal of the mind. Christian ethics is not about mindlessly obeying rules or acting in unreflective spontaneity, but about seriously “thinking” through the question of ethics in light of Israel’s God-bestowed mission which climaxed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus as Israel’s faithful representative.
1. Israel’s Vocation: Israel was called to be a nation of priests, the chosen group of people who would bridge the gap between the Creator-God and his fallen creation. All of humankind had been separated from God and exiled from his presence as a result of Adam’s trespass. Yet the nation of Israel was called to “bless all nations of the earth,” to be a “light to the world,” and show the fallen world the true nature of their Creator- the nature of love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness, which is the manner in which God dealt with them. However the nation of Israel had one major problem- they too were the descendants of Adam. They too were born with the same inherent sin nature as the rest of humankind, and thus, surprise surprise, proved to be as sinful as those they were called to bless. In short, Israel had failed.
2. Israel’s Vocation Fulfilled by Jesus: All throughout Jewish history the king represents the nation of Israel so that what happens to him has some immediate and direct affect upon the nation as a whole (one is reminded of David’s sin of numbering the children of Israel which brought a plague upon the people despite their innocence, and his subsequent sacrifice which ended the plague). Jesus, claiming to be Israel’s king, the one who will represent the nation of Israel, takes the vocation of the chosen race upon himself. He will “bless all nations of the earth,” he will be a “light to the world.” Jesus did what the rest of Israel had failed to do in taking the sins of the world upon himself at his crucifixion, and subsequently raising from the dead to conquer death itself and replace that dastardly enemy with life. Adam’s sin has been dealt with by Jesus, the whole world now having the opportunity to be liberated from the menacing clutches of evil, sin, and death by being incorporated into Jesus (the Pauline phrase “in Christ”) as their representative Messiah-king. This is beautifully summarized in the popular verse John 3:16.
3. Renewed Israel’s Vocation: Jesus the Christ was the climax of Israel’s long and checkered history. Though all may not have been able to discern, the earliest Christians believed that the Torah (Hebrew for “Law”- Israel’s God-given Constitution if you will), the prophets, and the story of the Hebrew people pointed toward, and indeed found its fulfillment in Jesus. But this was in no wise the end of the story; au contraire, the story was just beginning. The people who initially followed Jesus before and after his death and resurrection did not see themselves as merely an alternative religion or a race of people apart from their Jewish contemporaries. These were the people who worshipped the God of Israel by confessing the man this God sent to represent his chosen people. Thus all nations of people are reconciled to the God of Israel through the redeeming work of Jesus, all are permitted to fellowship with the chosen community not because they are descendants of Abraham or because they follow the regulations of Torah (particularly the Jewish identity markers of circumcision, dietary laws, and Sabbath-keeping) but through faith in Jesus Christ. Those who are loyal to Jesus and pledge their allegiance to him (the functional meaning of the Greek word pistis- “faith”) are, to use Paul’s language, the “circumcision” (Philippians 3:3), the people who are Jews “inwardly,” whose “circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit” Romans 3:25-29). There is thus continuity between the nation of Israel and the church. The church is to take the task of Israel upon herself; we are called to “bless all nations of the earth” and be “a light to the world.” Christian ethics is to be understood within the framework of Israel’s story which culminated in Jesus, and now continues through his followers the church.
4. Virtue: All of that is a grand ideal, but when one has read the New Testament, the ethic expounded therein seems to be nothing more than just that: a grand ideal. Take, for instance, Paul’s words in Ephesians 5. “But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for the saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks” (vv. 3-4). Fornication, though certainly difficult, I can deal with; uncleanness and filthiness are ambiguous enough for me to sidestep, but foolish talking and coarse jesting is where everyone at some point will undoubtedly fail. We have all done some foolish talking, whispering about someone behind their back, men discussing the cover of the latest edition of Maxim magazine, etc. To assume that one will never again fall into the trap of such sin-ladened speech is seemingly preposterous, yet Paul is unconcerned with our complaints and refuses to let up. The same could be said of Jesus statement that if a man has looked at a woman with desire in his heart, he has committed full-blown adultery. “Well Jesus, what am I to do about that?” one might ask. “Pluck your eye out” is his response. Suffice it to say that the New Testament is presenting an almost unparalleled ethic which doesn’t seem quite possible to attain. This is where Wright is especially brilliant. As opposed to using the tired cop-out phrase “no one is perfect” and stuffing the moral obligations of the New Testament in the closet and out of sight, we are called to practice virtue. Virtue, as taught by Aristotle was something to be worked at. It did not come “naturally,” as it were, but like learning a second language, to fly a plane, to play a sport or whatever, there needed to be deep thought and hard work. However this is not a task anyone is called to do alone. The same Spirit which raised Christ will empower us to live the virtuous Christian life, and though we will fall and bump our heads repeatedly, the point is to practice and work until riding the Christian bike becomes “second nature.” The Holy Spirit will enable us to fulfill our vocation of being a blessing and light to the world; he will assist us in doing what otherwise seems impossible, but not without the moral effort of the individual. This is not perfectionism- once we become Spirit-filled Christians we simultaneously become perfect- nor is it a form of Pelagianism or Semi-Pelagianism- you can be saved if you work hard enough. For the New Testament writers, striving for virtue is the proper response to the grace of God as revealed in Christ, and this can only come by way of substantial, Spirit-empowered effort.
For anyone struggling with why we should even attempt to keep the New Testament ethic and the significance of such moral obligations, this book is a must-read which, in my personal experience proved to be nothing short of radically life-changing. The subtitle is a perfect summation- “Why Christian Character Matters.”

For generations since the Reformation Christians have been deadlocked between those who state that ‘after you believe’ you must now adhere to the explicit rules of conduct outlined in Scripture on the one hand, and those who appeal to continuing within in some sort of un-hypocritical honesty concerning one’s moral incapacities, lest one be ‘meriting’ God’s sheer grace on the other. This either/or stance is shown by Wright to be beside the point altogether, to state it simply, the answer is Christian virtue and character, where one is graced into learning how to be a genuine human being through hard one habits of life, wise choices, and perhaps most importantly, understanding of God’s intention for humanity to re-create the kosmos with image bearing royal priests that both bring God’s wise rule to bear upon Creation and gather up Creation’s praise through articulate worship back to the creator. It has never been an either/or dilemma but rather a both/and situation between God and his human creation as Paul states “I struggle with all my might yet not I but the grace of God of in me” there is a relational-tension that cannot be divided into the time worn arguments of ‘free will or no free will’ because it has always been both.
The exciting thing is God through the Christ event has already launched the coming age in part looking forward to the total renewal of the creation at the parousia when all of God’s faith people will be resurrected and given the creation to exercise their wise stewardship over, the implication for this in-breaking of God’s future is we can start learning now how to be image bearers anticipating what we will be in the future. Thus, Christian mission, worship, and holiness are a part of this larger divine mission to rescue the creation from its subjugation to evil, sin, and death, we are not ‘saving souls’ for a post mortem heavenly existence but rather we are agents of God’s covenant to bring to birth a New Humanity that will be a light to the surrounding world currently trapped in dehumanizing behavior that there is another way to be human. And what we accomplish through God’s transformative grace in Christian virtue on this side of the grave will not be in vain but crossover gloriously solidified into God’s renewed world.
I cannot recommend this book enough; it is both deeply challenging and highly informative, not to mention that Wright is one of the greatest writers of our time. If you are not reading everything this loving brilliant scholar-pastor is publishing you are missing out. I have personally attended his lectures and he is likewise one of the greatest bible teachers in our day. He is certainly someone worth imitating as Paul would have exhorted us to do!

Now that we’ve believed on the good news of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, how then shall we live? Why, as what we were created to be, genuine human beings, creatures before our Creator of course. This is the direction offered by Bishop Wright in this wonderful yet challenging book. So how does one go about becoming a genuine human? Is it by emotionlessly following a list of seemingly arbitrary rules and regulations? Or is it by discarding all restrictions altogether and “following your heart”? Neither of these popular methods, Wright proposes, is the Christian answer, but rather that the proper response is virtue: applying oneself to the high moral standard found in the New Testament and through the power of the Holy Spirit and the renewing of the mind, these things will become an almost “second nature.” They won’t come naturally but practiced long enough they will become embedded in the very fiber of one’s being.

Whereas often in the past I have been discouraged by the daunting moral standard of the New Testament, or gotten off track by following my heart, this book has encouraged me to continue applying myself to the heart of the matter: becoming a truly, genuine human being.