Chapter Four Discussion Questions
Question 1: Chapter 4 introduces the challenges and difficulties of reading and interpreting scripture. In this instance, we’re dealing with the gospels and Jesus’ descriptions of the coming kingdom of God…the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5-7. The larger truth, he states, is this: God’s future is arriving in the present, in the person and work of Jesus, and you can practice, right now, the habits of life which will find their goal in that coming future. What exactly does this statement mean to you? How does it assist you in shaping your attitude and actions?
Wright draws a clear distinction between happiness and blessedness (p. 104). How do you understand each and why is this distinction so crucial to us as Christians today? In the end, the Sermon on the Mount points to the signs of life, the language of life, the life of new creation and new covenant. How have these “habits of heart” equipped you with strength and hope?
Question 2: Wright warns against interpreting the Beatitudes as a set of rules. They are more like virtues. Through them, Jesus invites us to adopt an “eschatological authenticity” (my new favorite expression), whereby we receive a “God-given second nature, a new way of being human.” Such transformation cannot be imposed from the outside, but rather authentically received from within. We experience such transformation through faith, hope, and love.
Thus, perfection points not to specific outward actions, but our inward character…“a character formed by overflowing generous love.” Jesus understands his vocation as both king and priest, the one who launches this new kingdom into being through his own obedient sacrifice. In what ways is your character being shaped and “perfected” by Jesus? Where are you being invited and challenged to grow even deeper in faith, hope, and love?
Question 3: This section is complicated at first, yet elegant in its final explanation. Several themes converge to offer a hopeful resolution at our personal attempts to make ourselves right with God. These combined themes include: epistles/gospels people; receivers/agents, kingdom/cross; Jesus/Temple; rulers/priests; Aristotle/Jesus; and Jesus as priest/king.” All of these direct us toward the new creation…established on the cross, “where the true God defeated the false gods and established, with deep and resonating paradox, his kingdom on earth as in heaven.” As a result, Jesus – through his resurrection – is now King and Priest. He is the “end,” the goal. Thus, Christian virtue says, “What you will be is what you already are in Christ.”
In what aspects of your faith can you directly apply this claim? How is your life changed as a result?
Question 4: Wright enters his discussion with the premise that we (our hearts) are unclean and that a cleansing is needed (by Jesus). Jesus understands this priestly function to be inherently central to his vocation and his work on the cross. As the disciples discovered, to be changed of heart in this way was to become “heart-changers” themselves as followers of Jesus: “They were to become kings and priests.” This will no doubt seem utterly strange to you, but ask yourself, “Now that I am a king and a priest, how does that shape my conduct, my words, my interactions with others and the world?” What specific opportunities and responsibilities accompany these remarkable vocations in each of us as Christians?
Question 5: Wright zeroes in on Jesus’ central purpose…not as some mere moral example or religious mascot, but as one who invites us, not to copy him, but to follow him (with our crosses in tow). In other words, Jesus provides an example not so much of how to do it, as of what to do. Like Jesus, we are to learn obedience in the ways of virtue…a virtue transformed by the kingdom and the cross. Where have you experienced this “obedience in virtue” in ways that have recently changed or shaped your life? What goals do you have for yourself now where such obedience is necessary for newness to be born?
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