more from "The Mission of God"

Wright's book is really good. Really, really good. Here's another short quote:

"God's mission is to bless all nations through this people whom he has chosen, redeemed and bound to himself in covenant relationship. But that divine purpose calls for human response. All three pillars of Israel's faith and identity (their election, redemption, and covenant) are connected to God's mission. The ethical challenge to God's people is, first, to recognize the mission of God that provided the heartbeat of their very existence and, the, to respond in ways that express and facilitate it reather than deny and hinder it"

His writing raised another question for me yesterday. This is gonna come as a shock to those of you who know me as a 7 point Calvinist. Israel's election was for the nations - they would be a beacon that would draw others, the nonelect nations, into relationship with God. Wright does a wonderful job of showing how each covenant had a particularizing element to it (choosing Abraham, Israel, David, etc), but alongside this there is a universal elemnt to each one as well (they were chosen to be a blessing to the nations, the whole earth, all peoples, etc.). Just got me thinking about election in terms of service and not salvation. The nations were'nt elect, only Israel. Yet the nations will be saved through the elects witness to God. Need to think more about how this translates to the individual level. Also, even assuming election has more to do with service and not salvation (which I'm not ready to concede), it still wouldn' t necessarily move me far from my 7 points.