After You Believe, by N. T. Wright

Chapter Five Discussion Questions

Question 1:  Wright characterizes Paul as a morning person.  That’s me, too…though not by choice.  How about you?  Hey, you’re here at Panera early in the day, so you get bonus points either way!  (Do I detect a rhyme?)  “Paul’s vision of Christian virtue, centered here as elsewhere on faith, hope, and love, is all about developing the habits of the daytime heart in a world still full of darkness.”  What are some of those “daytime habits” for you, and how do they operate “in the dark?” 

Wright connects all such efforts as Christian virtue…reflecting the divine image fully to the world and to God.  This is our work as “rulers and priests.”  Take a moment in class now and pair up with one person.  Take turns describing one characteristic of your partner that reflects the “divine image” to others.  Don’t be shy…it’s good for you to see it in others and to have it seen in you!

Question 2:  Wright says that Paul is instructing the Colossians “to develop, in the present age, the character which will truly anticipate the life of the coming age.”  This involves doing what does not come naturally.  Therefore, certain behaviors must be “put to death” in order to make way for our new “habits of life.”  He goes on to describe this renewal in terms of team sports, where we benefit from the virtues of community.  From there, the analogy shifts to the “putting on of new clothes.”  Together, they point toward the difficult reality of change… deliberate change.  Take a moment with this last metaphor and consider the variety of “clothing” you’ve cast off and put on lately.  Did this change of clothes take 5 minutes or 5 years?  Give some examples.

Question 3:  The focus of this section is the transformation of the mind.  This, he claims, is the “antidote to the power of the present age.”  He then notes that “the failure to worship the one true God leads to a failure to think, and thence to a failure to act as a fully human being ought.”  How has your life of worship over these many years both equipped and taught you to think in this way?  Wright goes on to draw major distinctions between modernity’s misappropriations of feeling over thinking.  Page 156 provided a delightful, if not stinging, portrayal of the problem before us.  “The more genuinely spiritual you are…the more clearly and accurately and carefully you will think”…p. 158.  What do you think (not feel) are appropriate ways to balance thoughts & feeling?

Question 4:  In this discussion of the conscience, Wright leans on Paul in defining it as “an inner witness, a voice within one’s self, assessing the moral worth of what has been done and, perhaps, what might yet be done.”  He also notes that a conscience needs both educating and listening to.  Moral, as well as intellectual, approval is needed.  What role has your conscience played in the shaping and utilization of your morals?  How does the Holy Spirit both inform and interact with the human conscience? 

Question 5:  On page 169, Wright asks, “How then is the mind to be renewed?”  His response: “The aim is that individual Christians might have their minds and hearts awakened and alerted to fresh visions of God’s reality, of the final hope set before them, and be able to discern in a fresh way what habits of mind and heart and body are necessary if they are to grow into the people God intends.”  Let’s work with the phrase, “awakened and alerted to fresh visions of God’s reality.”  What does this phrase mean to you?  Such visions serve to direct the development of our habits of heart, mind, & body.  How have you experienced these visions?

Question 6:  Citing the centrality of prayer in Ephesians, Wright goes on to define the classic structure of virtue: “glimpse the goal, work out the path toward it, and develop the habits which you will need to practice if you are going to tread that path.”  Transformation and renewal of the mind remains the key here.  And I would add, “imagination fueled by the Holy Spirit.”  How are you doing in this aspect of your discipleship?  How might our congregation benefit from a deeper realization and practice of this “structure of virtue?”

Question 7:  In this last section (yes, we finally made it!), Wright emphasizes “hope and character construction.”  He then asks, “But if God’s glory is the goal, what is the route toward it?”  What are the character-forming habits that allow us to reach our goal of being “complete humans?”  The first step, he says, is suffering…which then leads to endurance, character, and hope.  Why is suffering the cornerstone of this progression?  What forms of Christian suffering have you witnessed and why were they such powerful motivators in your life?  Where might we enter into new opportunities of meaningful and productive “suffering” for the sake of the gospel?  And finally, why is the transformation of the mind so critical to such obedient risk-taking?