I would like to comment on a few things I see here. My list of texts is highly selective, but there is no other real option in this format. To offer a full listing would be almost impossible with my limited typing skills, my limited knowledge of the whole of scripture, and I would imagine it would be excruciating to read. However, I was not attempting to pull them out of there context, but instead was trying to show the underlying message of the “good news” to be much the same within all the different contexts. While the message of Jesus and Paul surely had a particular historical context in mind, I do not see how it differs from the whole shape of biblical truth in its specific call for a returning to God by his people.

I also tried to depict texts (albeit not perfectly) that showed the call to be a more corporate matter, instead of relating specifically to a personal relationship. I agree this is a deep concern for the modern church and especially here in the US, as you most likely encountered during your recent TREK in Ohio. The “good news” should be seen in more of “Kingdom of God” terms, especially when we trace Jesus’ Kingdom announcements in the Gospels to their roots in Isaiah. Initiating something much like Barth called, “this strange new world within the Bible.”

But in saying this I am still leary of this idea of going through the Gospel story and landing us beyond it. I imagine in some ways you are referring to NT Wright’s analogy of the five-act play and that we are living in the fifth act while be true to the ‘truths’ of the previous acts. However, my fear is that all to often the ‘truths’ we pick to recognize are purely social in nature and not the central truth of redemption in Jesus Christ. Or as Peter states it, “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice…” 1 Peter 1:3-6