Should Church Leaders Be Ordained? Are We Needed To Usher In The New Creation?

Ask NT Wright Anything

Premier Unbelievable

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity, History

4.8 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 7 September 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Mike Bird and Tom Wright take on three big listener questions. First: how do we actually cooperate with the Spirit in God’s plan for new creation? Tom reflects on what it means to anticipate heaven and earth being joined, and how our present faithfulness participates in that future hope. Next: ordination and church leadership. Are we in danger of over-structuring the body of Christ? Drawing from the New Testament and church history, Tom considers why ordination emerged and what it means for today. Finally: egalitarian roots and resurrection hope. Were the earliest churches more like Corinth’s fluid gatherings? What about para-church movements? And in Revelation 20, what sort of resurrection is Peter really speaking about? Tom explores continuity, community, and the call to live as people of the age to come.Support us: https://www.premierunbelievable.com/geolink/donateGot a question for Tom? Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠askntwright.com⁠⁠⁠Start going deeper in the Bible with a free trial at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠logos.com/NT⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠👉 If you’re enjoying this exclusive series, leave us a comment or share what you’re learning Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, welcome to the AskMT Write Anything podcast, the program where we answer your questions
0:09.8	about Jesus, the Bible, and the life of faith. I'm Mike Bird from Ridley College in Melbourne,
0:16.6	Australia, and of course I'm joined by... By Tom Wright from Oxford in England.
0:21.6	And Tom, you're surviving one of those balmy English summers where it's a horrible, what,
0:28.6	25, 26 degrees, I believe?
0:30.6	Actually, it's worse than that. In Oxford right now, it's going to be getting up around 30 today,
0:36.6	and then today and tomorrow is going to be worse, and then I think it's going to cool off after that. But Maggie and I are heading off up to Scotland quite soon, so it'll be cooler up there. I'm glad to hear. I'm glad to hear. I mean, 32 was like a spring day in Brisbane. I know. Oh, I know. Well, anyway, Tom, we've got some good questions that our listeners have sent in about
0:57.9	the Holy Spirit, church hierarchy, and the resurrection in Revelation chapter 20.
1:05.4	Now, Tom, I think this may be one of the unique episodes where you and I might actually disagree,
1:12.5	but our listeners are going to have to be very attentive to reach the point where that happens.
1:18.8	So let's get on with our first question from Mark Wiley in Long Beach, USA.
1:24.8	And he's got a question about cooperating with the Holy Spirit. And this is what
1:28.8	he asked, he says. Dear Professor Wright, I have read several of your books and enjoyed them all.
1:35.9	Thank you for all of this great edifying work and for doing this podcast. I know I've read it
1:41.7	before, but can't remember where, I am getting old, but could you explain
1:46.2	how we cooperate with the Holy Spirit in helping to usher in the new creation and the new world
1:53.3	when heaven and earth are joined together? Also, is this a project achieved through many small
1:59.7	steps or one that when the conditions are right,
2:04.4	heaven and earth just come together suddenly? So Tom, is the new creation project something
2:10.5	that's just going to run an autopilot or is there kind of a cooperation between us and the
2:16.1	Holy Spirit? And what does that cooperation look like?
2:20.4	I think Mark would definitely love to hear your thoughts.
	...

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