Tom Wright

The Coming of Faith Galatians 3.23-29 One of the worst evenings of my daughter’s young life was when she was asked to be a babysitter for some friends – a job she had often done before, happily and successfully. Unknown to them or us, the two young children were in a very cross m…

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Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Paul Confronts Peter in Antioch

by SPCK - N T Wright

Paul Confronts Peter in Antioch Galatians 2.11-14 When my brother was at school, he took part in a performance of ‘Noye’s Fludde’ by Benjamin Britten. Actually, he took the part of Noah himself. His costume and make-up were superb. Though he was only 17, he looked like a really o…

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Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Christ the Seed, Christ the Mediator

by SPCK - N T Wright

Christ the Seed, Christ the Mediator Galatians 3.15-22 ‘It’s what he would have wanted.’ How often has that phrase been used to settle an argument, when someone has died and the family are trying to organize the funeral, or the disposal of property, or the appropriate way to brin…

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Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Redeemed from the Law's Curse

by SPCK - N T Wright

Redeemed from the Law’s Curse Galatians 3.10-14 I sat in the traffic jam for two hours. The road signs told me I was pointing in the right direction. From what I knew of the road it looked as though I was in the right place. But nothing was moving. The clock ticked slowly on; I w…

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Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - God's Promise and Abraham's faith

by SPCK - N T Wright

God’s Promise and Abraham’s Faith Galatians 3.1-9 A famous story tells of the tight-rope walker Charles Blondin (1824–97), who set up a rope across Niagara Falls and walked across several times. So confident did he become that he made the journey backwards as well as forwards, an…

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Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Justified by Faith, Not Works of Law

by SPCK - N T Wright

Justified by Faith, Not Works of Law Galatians 2.15-21 A well-known story is told of Margaret Thatcher during the time she was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. She was visiting an old people’s home, going from room to room and meeting senior citizens who had lived there a lo…

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Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Paul's Agreement with Peter and James

by SPCK - N T Wright

Paul’s Agreement with Peter and James Galatians 2.6-10 One of the most famous walks in England is along a high ridge in the Lake District called Striding Edge. It runs to the east of the mountain called Helvellyn, one of the highest mountains in England, and, particularly in bad …

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Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Standing Firm Against Opposition

by SPCK - N T Wright

Standing Firm Against Opposition Galatians 2.1-5 The anthropologist Nigel Barley wrote two famous (and often very funny) books, The Innocent Anthropologist and A Plague of Caterpillars, about the Dowayo tribe, with whom he lived for a while in a remote part of the African republi…

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Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Paul's First Visit to Peter

by SPCK - N T Wright

Paul’s First Visit to Peter Galatians 1.18-24 A few years ago in England a strange advertisement appeared on large billboards. Without explanation, it simply said, ‘IT IS. ARE YOU?’ It was, of course, designed to tease, so that when the answer was revealed a few weeks later every…

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Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Paul's Conversion and Call

by SPCK - N T Wright

Paul’s Conversion and Call Galatians 1.10-17 John Henry Newman was one of the great figures of nineteenth-century England. A brilliant thinker and writer, a spellbinding preacher and a deeply sensitive soul, he left the Anglican Church and became a Roman Catholic in 1845. After a…

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Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Paul's Distress Over the Galatians

by SPCK - N T Wright

Paul’s Distress Over the Galatians Galatians 1.1-9 Imagine you’re in South Africa in the 1970s. Apartheid is at its height. You are embarked on a risky project: to build a community centre where everybody will be equally welcome, no matter what their colour or race. You’ve design…

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Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Introduction

by SPCK - N T Wright

INTRODUCTION On the very first occasion when someone stood up in public to tell people about Jesus, he made it very clear: this message is for everyone. It was a great day – sometimes called the birthday of the church. The great wind of God’s spirit had swept through Jesus’ follo…

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Hebrews for Everyone - Glossary

by SPCK - N T Wright

GLOSSARY age to come, see present age apostle, disciple, the Twelve ‘Apostle’ means ‘one who is sent’. It could be used of an ambassador or official delegate. In the New Testament it is sometimes used specifically of Jesus’ inner circle of twelve; but Paul sees not only himself b…

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Hebrews for Everyone - The God of Peace Be With You

by SPCK - N T Wright

The God of Peace Be With You Hebrews 13.17-25 I was chatting with a friend who had recently become a bishop. He was and is a wonderful man, scholarly, wise, outgoing, full of ideas and devotion and love and goodness. You might have thought any church would be glad to have him as …

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Hebrews for Everyone - Outside the Old City, Seeking the New

by SPCK - N T Wright

Outside the Old City, Seeking the New Hebrews 13.9-16 I mentioned earlier that I had been reading the diary of a clergyman who had been a prisoner of war from 1940 to 1945. It was both fascinating and frustrating. Fascinating as a firsthand, day-by-day account of the life such pe…

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Hebrews for Everyone - The Practical Life of God's People

by SPCK - N T Wright

The Practical Life of God’s People Hebrews 13.1-8 ‘Sex, power, money, suffering. Tomorrow morning’s newspaper will be full of it; it’s what sells, it’s what some people think makes the world go round. Meanwhile, you can look through the newspaper from end to end for a mention of …

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Hebrews for Everyone - From Mount Sinai to Mount Sion

by SPCK - N T Wright

From Mount Sinai to Mount Sion Hebrews 12.18-24 ‘The year we moved to London we gave each of the children a map of the city and a small guide to the main attractions. Predictably, each of them became excited over different things which the city had to offer. One was noting the ma…

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Hebrews for Everyone - Watch Out for Dangers!

by SPCK - N T Wright

Watch Out for Dangers! Hebrews 12.12-17 ‘It was a moment of madness.’ The politician stood shamefully before the press. He had been caught out soliciting for sexual favours in a notorious part of town. His character was in ruins, his reputation in tatters. He would not now get th…

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