Deliver Us From Evil

The last chapter of Wright’s book has the title, “Deliver Us From Evil.” Frankly, I was surprised by the direction that he took in this chapter. His central thesis is that forgiveness is a key in deliverance from evil and it is an absolutely essential aspect of the fullness of God’s kingdom. Without forgiveness, the evil from the past will have a hold on us and prevent us from entering fully into the joy of the Lord.

He writes,

Thus, just as when we offer genuine forgiveness to someone else we are no longer conditioned by the evil that they have done—even if they refuse to accept this forgiveness and so continue in a state of enmity—so when God offers genuine forgiveness to his sinful creatures he is no longer conditioned by the evil they have done, even if they refuse to accept his forgiveness.

He continues by saying,

But the point—and this is really the central point of this book, the ultimate answer to this aspect at least of the problem of evil [i.e. the hold that evil from the past can hold over us]—is not only that in the new world God himself will be beyond the reach of the moral blackmail of unresolved evil, but that we shall be as well.

According to Wright one of the joy’s that those rescued and redeemed by God is that they will have the ability to give complete forgiveness to those that have wronged them so that nothing from the past might in any way diminish their experience of joy.

In the meantime, we are to practice forgiveness in the hear and now because it is God’s way, and the way ultimately of releasing us from the hold with which evil grips us. Forgiveness

releases not only the person who is being forgiven but the person who is doing the forgiving…forgiveness can mean not only that I release you from the threat of my anger and its consequences, but also that I avoid having the rest of my life consumed with anger, bitterness and resentment.

Included in the forgiving is ourselves. Wright notes that sometimes forgiving ourselves is the hardest task of all. How many times I have heard the statement that runs something like, “I know that God has forgiven me, but I can’t forgive myself.” He writes, "Part of the answer to the prayer ‘Deliver us from evil’ is that we learn to forgive ourselves, both for our own sake and for the sake of those around us.”

I must confess that this book wasn’t what I expected it to be. I was expecting it to be a book of theodicy [the justification of God’s goodness and justice in light of the evil and suffering in the world]. He begins by saying that he is not addressing the “why” question. His intention is more practical and wants to help us deal with the evil that exists in the world and in our lives.