Tom Wright

The Christian Athlete 1 Corinthians 9.24-27 Last night on the television news I saw a sight which might have been funny if it hadn’t been so revolting. People, it seems, are getting bored with ordinary sports and games; so someone has had the bright idea of persuading (and presum…

Written
1 credit

Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - The Apostle's Freedom - to be Enslaved to Everyone

by SPCK - N T Wright

The Apostle’s Freedom – to be Enslaved to Everyone 1 Corinthians 9.19-23 One of the greatest thinkers and statesmen of the Roman world a century before Paul was Cicero. He was a sophisticated philosopher, a brilliant lawyer, a politician, and above all a passionate believer in th…

Written
1 credit

Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Giving Up the Rights for the Gospel

by SPCK - N T Wright

Giving Up the Rights for the Gospel 1 Corinthians 9.12b-18 A haunting song by Joni Mitchell describes a clarinet player standing by the side of the road in a busy city. He wasn’t like ordinary buskers, playing mediocre music in a bored sort of way and hoping for enough small chan…

Written
1 credit

Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - The "Rights" of an Apostle

by SPCK - N T Wright

The “Rights” of an Apostle 1 Corinthians 9.1-12a One of the great moral gains of the second half of the twentieth century is the belief, shared by most people around the world, that all people are to be respected and valued. All people, not just some. Weak people, poor people, li…

Written
1 credit

Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Respecting Weak Consciences

by SPCK - N T Wright

Respecting Weak Consciences 1 Corinthians 8.7-13 I never found out what had really been wrong, but it could have been serious. I was leading a party of walkers in the Scottish highlands, and we found ourselves high up among the crags when the mist came down. I got out the compass…

Written
1 credit

Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Meat Offered to Idols

by SPCK - N T Wright

Meat Offered to Idols 1 Corinthians 8.1-6 There is a restaurant in Rome which is built around the ruins of an old temple. Two of the pillars are still visible. The restaurant makes a feature of them, and is proud of the ancient origins of the building where they now serve excelle…

Written
1 credit

Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Divided Loyalties

by SPCK - N T Wright

Divided Loyalties 1 Corinthians 7.32-40 He came to see me both excited and distressed. He was one of the brightest students I had ever taught at that time; but he was also passionately involved in the plight of some of the poorest people in the world. Most of his fellow students …

Written
1 credit

Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - On Remaining Unmarried

by SPCK - N T Wright

On Remaining Unmarried 1 Corinthians 7.25-31 I remember a cartoon from my childhood days. A young man sits in an office. He is talking on the telephone, but standing beside him is a huge figure with a bristling moustache, staring at him angrily: obviously the boss. The young man …

Written
1 credit

Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Stay the Way You Were Called

by SPCK - N T Wright

Stay the Way You Were Called 1 Corinthians 7.17-24 I once sat in an entranced audience as one of the leading comedians of the day told a very long, very funny, story. The story itself was clever, witty, and amusing in all sorts of ways; but what fascinated me was the way he would…

Written
1 credit

Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Marriage and Divorce

by SPCK - N T Wright

Marriage and Divorce 1 Corinthians 7.8-16 Divorce has swept the Western world like a plague. When I was young, nobody I knew, in our street, my school, anywhere, was divorced. There were occasional mentions of marriage breakdown well outside our close family and friends, but it w…

Written
1 credit

Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Life Within Marriage

by SPCK - N T Wright

Life Within Marriage 1 Corinthians 7.1-7 I was staying for a week in the suburbs of an American city where I hadn’t been before. I had some free time lined up, and after a long flight and many hours at a desk I fancied going for a good walk. I asked my host where he would recomme…

Written
1 credit

Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - What is the Body For?

by SPCK - N T Wright

What Is the Body For? 1 Corinthians 6.12-20 I once knew a student who never bothered to buy a screwdriver. He had a couple of knives that he used instead, one larger and one smaller; and most of the things he needed to screw or unscrew he could do quite well with the point of one…

Written
1 credit

Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Inheriting God's Kingdom

by SPCK - N T Wright

Inheriting God’s Kingdom 1 Corinthians 6.9-11 We stood in line for the ride at the funfair. But as we got closer I saw a sign. This ride was for little people only – for children. Beside the sign was a small wooden archway, and you had to walk through, without stooping, to get to…

Written
1 credit

Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Lawsuits in the Church?

by SPCK - N T Wright

Lawsuits in the Church? 1 Corinthians 6.1-8 The business was just getting going when one of the customers noticed a strange thing. He had begun bringing his car to this particular garage a few months ago, and had believed that it was doing a good job. People in the community seem…

Written
1 credit

Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Get Rid of the "Leaven"!

by SPCK - N T Wright

Get Rid of the “Leaven”! 1 Corinthians 5.6-13 If you’ve ever been in a Jewish home at Passover-time, you’ll know what Paul is talking about in verses 7 and 8. It’s a tradition that’s been kept for more than three thousand years, ever since the Jewish people came out of Egypt at t…

Written
1 credit

Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Scandal and Judgment

by SPCK - N T Wright

Scandal and Judgment 1 Corinthians 5.1-5 When I was a boy, studying Greek and Latin classics, the texts we were given to study often had bits cut out. There were lines missing from poems, and sometimes entire sections; in one case (in the Roman writer Juvenal, I recall) a whole p…

Written
1 credit

Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Puffed Up or Powerful

by SPCK - N T Wright

Puffed Up or Powerful 1 Corinthians 4.14-21 We all know the difference between talk and power. Imagine you are driving along a road, without worrying too much about how fast you’re going. All of a sudden a large car with flashing lights overtakes you and motions you to pull over.…

Written
1 credit

Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Apostles on Display

by SPCK - N T Wright

Apostles on Display 1 Corinthians 4.6-13 We walked down the hill in the bright sunshine. This, our guide explained, is where the Roman generals would come when they returned to the city after winning a great victory. They built massive ‘triumphal arches’, some of which are still …

Advanced Search

How to use Advanced Search

Lectionary Search