Tom Wright
2 Corinthians - The Messiah's Love Makes Us Press On
2 Corinthians - The Messiah's Love Makes Us Press On
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Messiah’s Love Makes Us Press On 2 CORINTHIANS 5.11-15 ‘What on earth made you do that?’ The newspaper reporter was incredulous. A young woman had just won a competition. The first prize was a three-week trip around the world. The chance of a lifetime. And she had given it up…
2 Corinthians - The Judgment Seat of the Messiah
2 Corinthians - The Judgment Seat of the Messiah
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Judgment Seat of the Messiah 2 CORINTHIANS 5.6-10 The first thing we were shown when we went to Corinth was the judgment seat. You come up the road Paul would have walked, climbing a bit as you get to the middle of the town, and you find yourself standing in the ancient Forum…
2 Corinthians - A House Waiting in the Heavens
2 Corinthians - A House Waiting in the Heavens
by SPCK - N T Wright
A House Waiting in the Heavens 2 CORINTHIANS 5.1-5 ‘Life after death is one of the greatest mysteries in the world, but there’s no need to make it more mysterious than it should be. I recently went for the first time to the magnificent Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, beside St Pet…
2 Corinthians - The God of All Comfort
2 Corinthians - The God of All Comfort
by SPCK - N T Wright
The God of All Comfort 2 CORINTHIANS 4.13-18 ‘To Carthage then I came,’ wrote T. S. Eliot in one of his famous poems. One can imagine someone picking up the poem in a bookshop and wondering what on earth he was talking about. Had he gone to the real Carthage, in North Africa? If …
2 Corinthians - Treasure in Earthenware Pots
2 Corinthians - Treasure in Earthenware Pots
by SPCK - N T Wright
Treasure in Earthenware Pots 2 CORINTHIANS 4.7-12 Sir Oliver Franks was one of the most distinguished men in Oxford during my time as an undergraduate. He had been a professor of philosophy at an early age; he had been head of an Oxford college, still very young; he had been chai…
2 Corinthians - Light Out of Darkness
2 Corinthians - Light Out of Darkness
by SPCK - N T Wright
Light out of Darkness 2 CORINTHIANS 4.1-6 I walked into the smart office, slightly early for my appointment. The porter at the front door handed me on to an assistant, who walked with me up two grand flights of stairs and through an imposing door. It was a long time since I had m…
2 Corinthians - The Veil and The Glory
2 Corinthians - The Veil and The Glory
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Veil and the Glory 2 CORINTHIANS 3.12-18 The story is told of a time when there was to be a total eclipse of the sun. The newspapers and the radio and television stations repeatedly put out warnings, reminding people that they should not attempt to look directly at the sun. E…
2 Corinthians - Death and Glory
2 Corinthians - Death and Glory
by SPCK - N T Wright
Death and Glory 2 CORINTHIANS 3.7-11 The two teenagers were slumped in armchairs. Both of them had their headphones plugged into personal stereos, and had the faraway look of people being carried along by hidden sounds. One of them nodded her head gently in time with the beat. Th…
2 Corinthians - The Smell of Life, The Smell of Death
2 Corinthians - The Smell of Life, The Smell of Death
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Smell of Life, the Smell of Death 2 CORINTHIANS 2.12-17 ‘What does that remind you of?’ The smell came strongly to me, a dark, heavy but essentially friendly aroma. I thought for a while. Pictures flashed to and fro in my memory. I sniffed again. Then, as though from far away…
2 Corinthians - Time to Forgive
2 Corinthians - Time to Forgive
by SPCK - N T Wright
Time to Forgive 2 CORINTHIANS 2.5-11 ‘What can I do for you, then?’ The doctor smiled over his spectacles. ‘It’s my memory,’ said the patient. ‘I just can’t remember things like I used to.’ ‘How long has this problem been going on?’ asked the doctor. The patient looked puzzled. ‘…
2 Corinthians - Painful Visit, Painful Letter
2 Corinthians - Painful Visit, Painful Letter
by SPCK - N T Wright
Painful Visit, Painful Letter 2 CORINTHIANS 1.23-2.4 I was trying to hang a picture and just couldn’t get it right. I didn’t calculate the height accurately enough, and when I stood back I realized it had to be about an inch higher up. Then when I tried to move the picture-hook s…
2 Corinthians - Paul's Plans and God's "Yes"
2 Corinthians - Paul's Plans and God's "Yes"
by SPCK - N T Wright
Paul’s Plan and God’s “Yes” 2 CORINTHIANS 1.15-22 One of my students once arrived very late for a tutorial. I was working on an extremely tight schedule, and I wasn’t amused at having the day disrupted. I thought the student needed to know how far out of line his behaviour was. I…
2 Corinthians - Unbearably Crushed
2 Corinthians - Unbearably Crushed
by SPCK - N T Wright
Unbearably Crushed 2 CORINTHIANS 1.8-14 You watch from a distance as a friend walks down the street. You see him turn and go into a house. He strides in cheerfully and purposefully. You wait for a few minutes. Then you see him come out again – only now you see, to your horror, th…
2 Corinthians - The God of All Comfort
2 Corinthians - The God of All Comfort
by SPCK - N T Wright
The God of All Comfort 2 CORINTHIANS 1.1-7 The weekend I began work on this book was the weekend when Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother died. She had become a unique British institution. She was 101 years old, one of the few people ever to live in three centuries. The message was …
The Pastoral Letters - Judgment is Coming- So Get On With Your WorK
The Pastoral Letters - Judgment is Coming- So Get On With Your WorK
by SPCK - N T Wright
Judgment Is Coming – So Get On with Your Work 2Timothy 4.1-5 I was invigilating an exam on a hot summer day. The undergraduates were tired; it was the fourth or fifth exam they had sat already that week, and there were more to come. The sun beat down outside where their friends w…
The Pastoral Letters - Continue in the Scriptures
The Pastoral Letters - Continue in the Scriptures
by SPCK - N T Wright
Continue in the Scriptures! 2Timothy 3.10-17 There was once an American professor who went for a year to Oxford as a visiting academic. When he and his wife arrived, they were looking round one of the older parts of the college of which he was to be a member. Amid what appeared t…
The Pastoral Letters - Opponents of the Truth
The Pastoral Letters - Opponents of the Truth
by SPCK - N T Wright
Opponents of the Truth 2Timothy 3.1-9 It was a scrappy end to the game, but perhaps it was inevitable. We were winning by what should have been a safe margin; and with a few minutes to go the opposition seemed to realize that their cause was hopeless. Perhaps for that reason, tho…
The Pastoral Letters - Vessels for God's Use