nt wright theology paul

An Interview with N.T. Wright: Paul, Discipleship, Love & Justice

Tom N.T. Wright is one of today’s best known and respected New Testament scholars. Born in 1948, he studied for the ministry at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, and was ordained as Junior Research Fellow and Junior Chaplain at Merton College, Oxford. From 1978 to 1981 he was Fellow and Chaplain at Downing College, Cambridge, and then moved to Montreal as Assistant Professor of New Testament Studies at McGill University. He returned in 1986 to Oxford as University Lecturer in New Testament, and Fellow and Chaplain of Worcester College, Oxford. He became Dean of Lichfield in 1994, and Canon Theologian of Westminster Abbey in 2000. Tom has written over thirty books, both at the scholarly level and for a popular audience.

KW: The Washington Post just listed your new book, Paul and the Faithfulness of God, as one of the 10 most intriguing religious books of 2013. What intrigued you with the figure of Paul and what about the subject, do you believe, is drawing renewed interest from the public?

NTW: I came to Paul at quite an early age, having already studied Plato and Aristotle; and I found Paul easily their intellectual equal, though he was handling these amazing questions about God, Jesus, Israel, faith and so on. He continues to be an amazingly stimulating thinker, especially when we try to understand the flow of thought in letter after letter rather than just combing him for a few verses on ‘our favourite topics’, which, sadly, some Christian teachers do just as some journalists and broadcasters do! As a witness to this, note the way in which today many who are interested primarily in politics and/or philosophy are turning to Paul as a source of help and insight. I think they often misrepresent him, too, but it shows just how much personal, intellectual and spiritual power and insight is packed into his quite short writings.

KW: What is it that drew you to Paul as a focus area for your research and writing?

NTW: From my student days I found him a compelling and fascinating, though often puzzling, figure. It’s a lifelong fascination now and I don’t expect that to stop! His vision of God, God’s faithfulness, God’s purposes and so on is so much bigger and richer than almost any subsequent Christian thinker has ever managed. In addition, I have always loved ancient history, especially the history of the early Roman empire, and of course Paul fits right into that.

KW: What is one of your favorite things you learned through writing this recent work?

NTW: I was and am very excited about Paul’s view of the Holy Spirit. When he talks about the Spirit ‘leading us’ to our ‘inheritance’, he is evoking the picture of the children of Israel being led by God himself, in the pillar of cloud and fire, to their promised land. This means that Paul has a very, very ‘high’ vision of the Spirit – as Israel’s God himself, in person, guiding his people. I am also very excited by the way in which we can see Paul wrestling not only with his Jewish world and its scriptures but also, by clear implication, with philosophical and political issues that were ‘out there’ at the time. The thing is that for Paul this is all part of the same larger, whole vision of God and God’s purposes. Watching how everything comes together is an intellectual treat of the first order – as well as a spiritual and practical challenge to me personally and to the church…

KW: Did Paul have a vision of social justice?

NTW: Depends what you mean by ‘social justice’ of course. Certainly Paul shares the view of the Old Testament prophets that God will one day flood the world with justice and joy – and that this has begun to be fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus. Paul’s vision, though, is starting small, with actual communities in which reconciliation and justice has to be practiced – like the rich/poor distinction in the Corinthian church, for instance, or the projected reconciliation between Philemon and Onesimus. But he clearly believes (Ephesians 3) that communities like this send a signal to the wider world that Jesus is Lord – which is aimed at then the whole world coming into line.

KW: In what ways do Paul’s view of righteousness and justice inform his views of poverty and compassion?

NTW: For Paul ‘righteousness’ and ‘justice’ are the same word, as they were in Hebrew. Paul clearly believes that helping the poor is a central and ongoing part of Christian commitment, precisely because in Jesus Christ God has unveiled and launched his plan for the rescue, redemption and renewal of the whole creation. Justification and justice go very closely together.

KW: How strongly does the Sermon on the Mount critique our contemporary Christian understanding of social ethics? What’s an example from the Sermon on the Mount that we should we hear afresh or in the prophetic manner Jesus intended?

NTW: This is a huge question about which I have written hundreds of pages! Again and again the Sermon on the Mount calls and challenges us to a life of radical discipleship. Note: when Jesus says ‘Blessed are the . . . . merciful, peacmakers’, and so on, he doesn’t just mean that they themselves are blessed. He means that the blessing of God’s kingdom works precisely through those people into the wider world. That is how God’s kingdom comes. That’s one thing to hear afresh. Another is to note that Jesus himself, as the gospel story goes on to its dramatic conclusion, lives out the same message of the Sermon on the Mount: he is the light of the world, he is the salt of the earth, he loves his enemies and gives his life for them, he is lifted up on a hill so that the world can see.

KW: Does the bible envision love of God and love of neighbor as two separate actions or as informing each other? Explain?

NTW: Again, a huge question. If you read 1 John you’ll see that love of God and neighbour are very closely tied together. Partly this is because all humans are made in God’s image, so that when you love another human you are loving someone who is reflecting God himself. Of course there is a distinction but the minute you try to drive a wedge between the two things start to fall apart.

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