Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters

by N. T. Wright

Publisher:

SPCK

, 2004

Paul wrote the letters to the Ephesian, Philippian, and Colossian churches and the personal letter to Philemon while in prison facing possible death. However, their passion and energy are undimmed. They reveal Paul’s longing to see young churches grow in faith and understanding, rooted in Jesus himself, and to see this faith worked out in practice—in one case, through the rehabilitation of a runaway slave. In Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters, Wright’s stimulating comments are combined with his own translation of the Bible text.

Contents

Top Highlights

“But the point is that we aren’t chosen for our own sake, but for the sake of what God wants to accomplish through us.” (Page 9)

“As you look at the incarnate son of God dying on the cross the most powerful thought you should think is: this is the true meaning of who God is. He is the God of self-giving love.” (Page 103)

“He is referring to the even more basic ‘calling’ of the gospel itself, summoning people to believe in Jesus as the risen Lord and king and to give him complete and undivided allegiance for the rest of their lives.” (Page 43)

“The main point of certain people having special roles is so that every single Christian, and the church as a whole, may be equipped for their work of service.” (Page 48)

“The answer must be that everyone must be focused on something other than themselves; and that something is Jesus Christ himself, the king, the Lord, and the good news which has come to take the world over in his name.” (Page 98)

Product Details

• Title: Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters
• Author: N. T. Wright
• Series: For Everyone Bible Study Guides
• Publisher: SPCK
• Print Publication Date: 2004
• Logos Release Date: 2011
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Bible. N.T. Ephesians › Commentaries; Bible. N.T. Philippians › Commentaries; Bible. N.T. Colossians › Commentaries; Bible. N.T. Philemon › Commentaries
• Resource ID: LLS:EVRYPRISEP
• Resource Type: Bible Commentary
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-08-30T23:59:35Z

About N. T. Wright

Nicholas Thomas “Tom” Wright (1948–) is a New Testament scholar, Pauline theologian, and Anglican bishop and currently Research Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Early Christianity at St. Mary's College in the University of St Andrews and Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. Christianity Today named him one of today's top theologians. 

Wright was born in Morpeth, Northumberland, and recounts an awareness of God's presence from a young age—and that relationship with God ever since is reflected in his life and work. He's a prolific author; one of his most popular books, Surprised by Hope, frames the resurrection of the dead as the appropriate hope for all believers rather than an overemphasis on just "going to heaven when you die." He's among the leading theologians in the New Perspective on Paul debate. Wright has several honorary doctoral degrees, and in 2014, the British Academy awarded him the Burkitt Medal "in recognition of special service to biblical studies." In 2015, he was made a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Wright served as chaplain at Cambridge from 1978 to 1981, then as assistant professor of New Testament language and literature at McGill University in Montreal. Before becoming a chaplain, tutor, lecturer, and fellow at Oxford in 1986, Wright served as dean of Lichfield Cathedral, canon theologian of Westminster Abbey, and the bishop of Durham from 2003–10. In addition to the entire New Testament for Everyone Series, some of N. T. Wright's books include The New Testament in Its World: An Introduction to the History, Literature, and Theology of the First Christians, Who Was Jesus, The New Testament and the People of God, God and the Pandemic, Evil and the Justice of God, Surprised by Hope, and Simply Christian. He coauthored Jesus the Final Days with Craig A. Evans.