Discovering the Messiah-shaped Purpose of the Church
A Review of
The Vision of Ephesians: The Task of the Church and the Glory of God
N.T. Wright
Hardcover: Zondervan Academic, 2025
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Reviewed by Stephen Clark
The expansiveness of God’s mercy has become increasingly clear as I’ve aged. This is a change from the legalistic environment where I started. I am still grateful for my spiritual heritage in my little hometown Pentecostal church. There was good and not-so-good mixed together because the people in our churches are imperfect yet usually doing the best they know.
Despite theological thinness, the imperfect people in my church excelled in showing love. According to N.T. Wright in The Vision of Ephesians: The Task of the Church and the Glory of God, that is a key component of being the church since “God the creator wanted to be known as the God of generous love.”
God’s love is a hallmark of the kingdom, and, Wright insists, the church is called to be “a small working model of God’s new creation,” a foretaste of what’s to come. He explains that in Paul’s time, “what stopped people in their tracks and won them to the Christian faith was…the sharp contrast of lifestyle:” a lifestyle that cared for those others discarded, that exhibited unity, embraced diversity, and preached the gospel. In this Wright echoes Francis Schaeffer’s reminder, “If we lived out [before the watching world] what it meant to be the bride of Christ, this would ‘bring the world to a standstill.’”
In The Vision of Ephesians, Wright tackles the letter of Paul in nine parts that look back to the creation, recall the Exodus, and point to the church’s mission until the end of time.
Wright explains that Chapters 1-3 of Ephesians speak primarily to worship intended to glorify God and expressed through the church. Chapters 4-6 zero in on the vocation of the church that encompasses unity and holiness. All of this is embodied in the life of Christ: “The humanity of Jesus was not simply a necessity for the purposes of rescuing the world, but the fulfillment of the creator’s original purpose; and the true humanity of Jesus’s followers is designed to display to the world what human life was meant to be like.”
Wright only briefly touches on the discussion of whether or not Paul is the writer of Ephesians, affirming that he believes he is, stating “Paul is a craftsman and can shape and modulate his writing this way and that.”
He also clarifies that, more than just making it into heaven, “the Christian ‘inheritance’ is not ‘heaven,’ but is the whole of creation, redeemed in the Messiah.” Our focus is not meant to be on being “snatched away from the earth” but, rather, “demonstrate to the watching world who God is.” Paul expounds on this in Ephesians 2:8-10, as Wright explains: “Ordinary Christians are called to produce extraordinary deeds which display the fresh order that God is bringing to this disordered world.” We bring forth these deeds because we are God’s “workmanship,” his “artwork,” his “poetry.” These unique works set us apart from the pagans as well as make faith attractive to unbelievers.
This becomes particularly evident when the life of believers is marked by suffering, as Paul’s was. While the culture might view suffering as a failure or a drawback, for the Christian, “God’s power is made perfect in weakness.”
At the beginning of the book, Wright declares that “Ephesians offers a breathtaking vision of the creator’s purposes for the cosmos, of how those purposes were and are fulfilled in Jesus the Messiah and the holy spirit, and – not least – of the vital role within these purposes that the church is now called to play.” He promises to “open up the text” to make the dense accessible and make the book of Ephesians “clear, fresh, challenging, and encouraging” to the reader. He succeeds admirably.
Wright’s book works as a standalone read or a tool to guide a small group study of Ephesians. It will help equip you to exercise “God-given agency in implementing the victory already won.” He helps us understand that, instead of works and legalism, the life of the Christian is to channel the grace, love, and mercy of God just as Jesus did, embodying the gospel in the midst of cultural chaos, to be living light in the darkness.
Stephen R. Clark
Stephen R. Clark is an award-winning writer who lives in Lansdale, PA with his wife, BethAnn, where they are members of Immanuel Church. His website is www.StephenRayClark.com. He is a member of the Evangelical Press Association and managing editor of the Christian Freelance Writers Network blog. His writing has appeared in several publications including Influence Magazine, The Marketplace, Outreach, Bible Advocate, Christian Century, Publishers Weekly, The Alabama Baptist, The Baptist Paper, Ministry Watch, and others. He also served as editor at Christian Bookseller Magazine(now Christian Retailing), Wiley Publishing/For Dummies, and Bridge Publishing (now Bridge-Logos).
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