Originally Posted by Pilgrim
Right off the top, since this is a view held by N.T. Wright, it should be automatically suspect. wink

I agree. However, I did not know if this was a new interpretation introduced by him or if it had a historical basis. It was the first time that I had heard of it, but I can't claim to be well-read in this area. In the group that this was brought up in, many seemed to be quite taken by the idea.

Originally Posted by Pilgrim
I personally find no indication that what good works a true believer does here on earth will have any part in the New Heaven and New Earth, which are spiritual in nature, i.e., where holiness and perfection will come to their full expression. This is not to deny the physical reality of the New Earth, of course. But it is God's design and His only which will be evident there.

Secondly, even the best of our "good works" and efforts to further the Kingdom of God, which is the calling of sinners to repentance and faith in Christ and then the making of them as disciples, are fraught with error and sin. Jesus said that the kingdom of God is not some physical entity, which the Jews and Dispensationalists and in some measure Postmillennialists foresee, but rather it is a spiritual reality (cf. Lk 17:21).

Thirdly, one must also consider what future this present world holds when all of it is to be destroyed by the wrath of God through fire and a New Heaven and Earth created (2Pet 3:10,13; Isa 65:17-19; Rev 21:1). What then will what is done by God's elect here on earth exist and be part of the New Heaven and Earth? scratchchin

Thanks for your comments. Your final question is also a good one to consider.

John