The Wright Insight

Those who know something about current debates in evangelical and reformed theology will find a measure of pleasing irony in the following quotes from Anglican Bishop N. T. Wright. Those who are unfamiliar with the debates can read these words for the profit in them. For these are great and wise words.

[Caveat: Do not presume to make a judgment regarding my opinion on the matters of debate. I simply find the observations made here to be so true and so well said that I wanted them to be heard more broadly. No doubt the one making these observations is making them from the crucible of experience.]

“…There is an ever-present danger of false teaching in the church. Coupled with this there is, of course, an ever-present danger that people will imagine false teaching where there is none, or will label as ‘false teaching’ something which just happens not to coincide with the particular way they are used to hearing things said.

“But noting the dangers of wrong analysis doesn’t mean there isn’t after all such a thing as false teaching. There is, and it matters.

“The trouble is, of course, that false teachers seldom give themselves away easily. What they say sounds clear, convincing and attractive – as does a great deal of good and wholesome teaching. Many Christians, for good reasons, like to believe what they are taught and to take it on board with humility and trust, and so are easy prey for those who have subtly different ideas and a clever way of putting them across. But Paul sees that the church is caught in the crossfire of spiritual warfare. It isn’t a matter of simply getting one’s doctrine correct out of a sense of intellectual pride. There is a battle raging for the redemption and renewal fo the the world and of individual people, and the church is up against the powers of darkness. …What they need is both the assurance that victory will be theirs and the promise and prayer of fresh grace to be with them in every need.”

N. T. Wright, Romans for Everyman, Volume 2, pages 136-137