N.T. Wright: Christians don't go to heaven? (Part 2)

Faith Lab

Nate Hanson

Tim Mackie, Bible, Biblical Archaeology, Faith And Doubt, Resurrection, Humble Skeptic, Mike Licona, Biblical Scholarship, Christian Faith, Bible Podcast, Old Testament, Ancient History, Church History, Gary Habermas, Bible Evidence, Rebecca Mclaughlin, Theology, Alisa Childers, Reconstruction, Faith Deconstruction, Philosophy, Christianity, Shane Rosenthal, Apologetics, Scripture, Early Christianity, Religion & Spirituality, N.t. Wright, Gospel Reliability, Jesus, Deconstruction, Bible History, New Testament, Biblical Scholars, Society & Culture, Richard Bauckham, Francis Chan, Historical Jesus, Bible Study, Christian Podcast

4.6 • 583 Ratings

🗓️ 11 March 2026

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Most Christians assume the end of the story is leaving earth for heaven. N.T. Wright says that is not the story the New Testament is telling. (Listen to Part 1 here, and the full interview here.)

If Christian hope is really resurrection and new creation, then death, salvation, and the church's mission all start to look different.

🔓 Get the full unedited interview with N.T. Wright, including his unused answer on why Paul carries so much weight in Christianity and why he sees Paul as a trophy of grace, at https://faithlabshow.com/premium

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Transcript

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0:00.0	the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven to earth, not saved souls going up from earth to heaven.
0:05.3	The strapline is this. The dwelling of God is with humans, not the dwelling of humans is with God.
0:13.7	That's the world's foremost New Testament scholar Tom Wright, or N.T. Wright. I'm Nate Hansen,
0:19.2	and this is Faith Lab. This is part two of our conversation with
0:22.9	Tom Wright. Last time, we asked whether the resurrection actually happened. Here, we're asking the
0:28.6	question most Christians ask next. What actually happens when we die? And why do so many of us
0:35.1	picture the end of the story all wrong? This is a fascinating question, which is why I've written an old book about it,
0:40.3	because I grew up with an implicit belief that though I was taught that the Bible was God's word
0:45.7	and I should take it all seriously, it divided sharply down the middle with the Old Testament
0:50.7	being all about land and family and all of that and all the works of the law.
0:55.0	And then suddenly we change gear and we have Jesus in the New Testament saying, here's how to
1:00.4	go to heaven, which are completely different.
1:03.6	However, the New Testament again and again roots what it's saying and doing in the scriptures of Israel, which are pointing towards God
1:15.9	coming to restore the whole creation. So when Jesus in the beatitude says, blessed of the meek,
1:21.8	for they will inherit the earth, that's awfully bad luck if he means at the same time, everyone
1:27.2	else is going to heaven,
1:28.1	but the meat can have the earth.
1:29.4	Tough luck guys.
1:31.5	The whole point is that this is the promise in Israel's scriptures, that God is going to renew
1:38.2	the whole creation and that that will be the place where and the means by which his people are then themselves
1:45.9	raised from the dead to share in the new world that he's making, and that the promises of
1:51.6	the Old Testament are fulfilled in the new, not abrogated. So where do we go wrong?
	...

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