more on colluding with vs conquering

As I have argued at length in Surprised by Hope, we are not saved from the world of creation, but saved for the world of creation (Romans 8.18-26). Humans were made to take care of God's wonderful world, and it is not too strong to say that the reason God saves humans is not simply that he loves them for themselves but that he loves them for what they truly are - his pro-creators, his stewards, his vice-regents over creation...

'Salvation' is from death itself, and all that leads to it and shares its destructive character (tribulation, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, weaponry) and all the powers that use these things to oppress humans and deface God's world. 'Salvation' does not mean 'dying and going to heaven', as so many Western Christians have supposed for so long. If your body dies and your soul goes into a disembodied immortality, you have not been rescued from death; you have, quite simply, died.

That is why resurrection means what it means: it is not a bizarre miracle, but the very centre of God's plan and purpose. God will renew the whole creation, and raise his people to new bodily life to share his rule over his world. That is 'what the whole world's waiting for' (Romans 8.19).

- N.T. Wright, Justification: God's Plan and Paul's Vision

link: colluding with vs conquering (9 feb 09)