Israel in Adam

One of Michael Horton’s criticisms of NT Wright has to do with the way he construes the relation of Adam’s sin and Israel’s calling. Wright emphasizes that God’s call to Abraham is the beginning of His response to the sin of Babel, ultimately the sin of Adam. Israel is God’s instruments for redeeming the world. Horton replies, “It is not . . . that the whole world is in Israel, but that even Israel is ‘in Adam.’”

But this criticism misses a major theme of Wright’s work. He emphasizes again and again that the great crisis of the world is precisely this, that Israel ends up being another Adamic people. The reason why the grace of Yahweh is not flowing to the Gentiles is that Israel herself is under a curse; instead of spreading the knowledge of God over the earth,. Israel has caused the Lord’s name to be blasphemed among the nations. In missing this point, Horton misses most of Wright’s argument about the specific place that the cross has in Israel’s history: Jesus comes to bear Israel’s curse and to be the true, faithful Israel, so that the blessing of Abraham can flow out to the Gentiles.