Not unlike 2,000 years ago when the Apostle Paul was divinely inspired to pen his letter to the church in Philippi, Tom “N.T.” Wright desires to remind everyone that the Gospel continues to be unchained.
The 76-year-old New Testament scholar, Pauline theologian and Anglican bishop kicked off a three-day conference on Paul’s letter to the Philippians at Park Cities Baptist Church, where 650 attendees from Texas and across the U.S. filled the historic church sanctuary.
Wright quickly zeroed in on the letter’s prison context, noting that while most scholars agree Paul was writing to the first-century assembly in Philippi, a Roman colony positioned in northern modern-day Greece, there continues to be some debate on whether the prison from which Paul wrote was positioned in Ephesus, modern-day Turkey, or Rome.
What’s indisputable, said Wright, is that Paul didn’t consider himself or the excellent news of Jesus Christ sure by his imprisonment.
“Paul is in prison when he’s writing [Philippians],” he said. “But the wonderful thing about Paul writing from prison is he makes it clear that the Gospel isn’t locked up. He could also be shut up, however the Gospel isn’t.”
Wright framed the whole epistle as a first-century showdown between two gospels set against the historical reign of Octavian, the primary emperor of ancient Rome.
According to Wright, Paul’s entire focus in Philippians was to affirm the Lord Jesus over Caesar’s rule and reign. “In Jesus Himself, in other words, we see who the true God really is. The Creator, the God of Israel, who has shown His a part of hand in keeping His guarantees to His people, raising Jesus from the dead and establishing Him as Lord,” he said.
Diving into the text, Wright pointed to Philippians 1:27 because the very heartbeat of Paul’s letter. “Our foundation is to be the real alternative society, sharing with the remaining of the world that there may be a unique strategy to be human,” he said. “And it’s a gorgeous way, even when it’s dangerous, because not everyone approves of putting another person, on this case Jesus, within the place of or ahead of Caesar himself in Rome.”
Wright moved on to Philippians 2:12–18, one in every of the more well-known passages of the epistle during which Paul encourages those in Philippi to “work out your individual salvation with fear and trembling.” According to Wright, Paul isn’t contradicting “salvation by grace,” but fairly, he’s urging the Philippians to actively live out the unconventional, costly, cross-shaped salvation that God is already working in them.
“He doesn’t suggest ‘do moral good work to learn your salvation,’” said Wright. “… He noticed that God is indeed at work in them. And his job was to point them in the suitable direction and to encourage them, then, to think it out for themselves.”
Presenting Philippians 2:6–11 because the theological and poetic heartbeat of the whole New Testament, Wright contended that Paul didn’t quote an existing hymn but composed a panoramic six-stanza masterpiece in perfect chiastic form whose very structure places the cross on the literal center of the cosmos.
He compared the passage to a picture of an awesome “V” shape, with six stanzas of three lines each, with one extra line — “even death on a cross” — in the midst of the passage.
“So you’ve got this perfect three steps down, three steps up, with the cross within the very center,” he explained. “And the structure says, as I said, precisely greater than the sum total of the words themselves. It’s a way of claiming at the guts of every part — the guts of the cosmos, the guts of God — stands the cross.”
As he concluded the opening day of the conference, Wright contrasted the fact of the cross of Christ with the pagan religions of ancient Philippi, and traced the passage’s depiction of Jesus because the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 as an indication of God’s faithfulness to His guarantees and His people.
“The word ‘love’ doesn’t occur, but by placing the cross in the center and showing how the exaltation flows from it, that’s clearly what it’s all about.”
 Not unlike 2,000 years ago when the Apostle Paul was divinely inspired to pen his letter to the church in Philippi,...){kind=link}