N.T. Wright: How Churches Misread St. Paul — On 'New Creation,' Multiculturalism and Spiritual Warfare

N.T. Wright, a former Bishop of Durham and author of more than 80 books, has spent decades studying the New Testament. His recent work, The Vision of Ephesians, reexamines Paul’s letter to the Ephesians and argues that many contemporary churches misunderstand Paul’s priorities—especially the call to embody God’s "new creation" in communal life.

Why church attendance is changing

Wright rejects a single explanation for declining church attendance. In the United States, he says, many withdraw from organized religion because they associate it with "Christian nationalism," while in Britain attendance has been down for decades. At the same time, Wright notes that some congregations—especially in parts of London and certain U.S. communities—are seeing younger people return.

What the church is for

"The point of the church is worship."

Wright argues that too many Western Christians reduce Christianity to individual salvation—getting one's soul to heaven. Instead, he emphasizes Jesus’ prayer for God’s kingdom to come "on earth as in heaven." The church should be a visible community that models the new creation God is inaugurating: lives, prayers and practical work that show God's restorative love already at work in the world.

Ephesians: a working model of new creation

For Wright, Ephesians envisions ordinary people doing extraordinary things so that the surrounding world can witness God's activity. Paul intends the church to be an attractive, countercultural community whose unity and mutual love prompt outsiders to ask why it differs from surrounding social orders.

Multicultural belonging and DEI

Wright insists that multicultural unity is intrinsic to Christian identity. In Paul's context the decisive division was Jew and Gentile; Paul teaches that Jesus has broken down that barrier to create a single new humanity. Wright worries that many modern diversity efforts are shaped by secular agendas and sometimes leave churches segregated by ethnicity—an outcome he sees as a denial of core Christian conviction.

On Christianity’s relationship to Judaism

Wright contends the earliest Christian movement was a Jewish renewal movement that went global through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. He argues that centuries of anti-Judaism—especially influential in 19th-century European scholarship—led interpreters to downplay specifically Jewish institutions (like the Temple) and thereby weakened modern Christian understanding of the New Testament.

Israel, Gaza and biblical promises

Addressing contemporary geopolitics, Wright urges caution about reading biblical land promises as straightforward modern political endorsements. He describes literalist claims that biblical narratives justify current state boundaries as a "total misreading," arguing that biblical land language functions metaphorically to express God's claim over the whole creation, whose lordship is to be enacted by self-giving love rather than force.

What "spiritual warfare" means—and how it is misused

Wright explains that biblical teaching points to cosmic, spiritual forces as the ultimate enemy, not other human beings. He criticizes contemporary uses of "spiritual warfare" to justify violence, cancel culture or revenge, seeing that as a perversion of New Testament teaching and a form of the worship of conflict rather than sacrificial love.

Marriage, wives' submission, and women's ministry

Wright acknowledges that Ephesians 5 has been misused to oppress women. He emphasizes that Paul pairs the instruction for wives to "submit" with a radical command to husbands to love and sacrifice for their wives as Christ loved the church. In practice, Paul’s teaching situates mutuality and self-giving at the heart of marriage. Wright also points to Pauline evidence of women in ministry—such as Phoebe, a deacon who likely carried Paul's letter to Rome—as a corrective to narrow readings that exclude women from leadership.

Paul on slavery

Writing within an ancient society where slavery was pervasive, Paul does not endorse slavery as an ideal. Instead, Wright argues, Paul instructs Christians to live differently within that structure: treating one another with mutual respect and Christian brotherhood. Wright sees passages such as Philemon as planting a radical challenge to the institution rather than offering its immediate abolition.

Translation and interpretation

Wright identifies Second Corinthians as the most difficult New Testament book to translate because of its turbulent tone and jagged syntax. On biblical inerrancy, he rejects modern absolutist formulations. Rather than an "inerrant" text in the modern sense, Wright sees the Bible as the book God intended for the church—rich with questions and invitations rather than airtight answers.

Leadership and the Church of England

On the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Wright echoes Rowan Williams’ imagery that the office requires endurance and pastoral wisdom. He hopes the archbishop will offer calm, measured leadership. Regarding women’s leadership, Wright expects resistance in some quarters but believes exposure to capable women clergy often softens opposition.

Conclusion: Across this interview, Wright returns to a central theme: the church's calling is to embody God's new creation through worship, communal unity and sacrificial love, resisting patterns of power that imitate force rather than service.

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