Jesus and the Powers: Christian Political Witness in an Age of Totalitarian Terror and Dysfunctional Democracies

by N.T. Wright

To put it negatively: anarchy is hopeless, because the bullies will always prey on the weak (so God therefore intends his world to be governed by humans). But authority is problematic, because the vocation to rule constitutes a temptation to abuse power (so God will hold authorities to account). All this is on display, again and again, throughout the Bible, but as an open-ended story, indicating that the Creator’s last word has not yet been spoken. And that last word will itself emerge from within the parameters already set in Genesis 1 and 2 and Psalm 8 (the human vocation), Genesis 12 – 22 (the Abrahamic vocation) and not least Psalms 2, 72, 132, 2 Samuel 7 and the messianic passages in Isaiah (the Davidic vocation). If the world is to be held to account, it will be through a human; through an Israelite; through a Davidic king. One could say that this is one of the questions, deep rooted in Israel’s Scriptures, to which the New Testament offers a clear answer.