Wright, N. T.

What Saint Paul Really Said: Was Paul of Tarsus the Real Founder of
Christianity? Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997.

Introduction
N.T. Wright is a well-known biblical scholar and professor of New Testament and
Early Christianity at Scotland's University of St. Andrews. His work is widely read by both
academics and laypeople. Wright wrote "What Saint Paul Really Said" to address A. N. Wilson's
contention that "Paul was the founder of Christianity, not Jesus.” Besides, this is the book that
introduced a new perspective on reading Paul to everyday Christians because Paul was used and
abused in the twentieth century just as much as he was in the first. Furthermore, the goal of this
book is to take a step back from the ways we have read Paul justly and learn more about how
Paul himself wants us to read him by studying Paul on his own terms in order to understand what
he really said. This review will include a brief summary of each chapter, an evaluation, and
reflection.

Summary
Paul is depicted by Wright in a way that both contradicts and supports some of our
cherished notions about him historically. The book has ten chapters, each of which discusses a
current area of the New Testament scholarship. Wright introduces the reader to both some of the
more recent developments in Pauline's studies as well as some of the more established
perspectives throughout the book.
Pauline's scholarship is a battleground for several schools of thought in the first chapter.
“Puzzling Over Paul," the focus of this chapter, examines five scholars that Wright considers
crucial for contemporary Pauline investigation and the author Wright responds to other scholars’
view by claiming that many scholars today regard Paul as a very Jewish thinker (historically);
there is no agreement on the center of Paul's theology (theologically); he claims great amounts of
secondary literature are considered but not enough major theological statements (exegetically);
and in terms of application, there is a lot of old-style "preaching of the gospel" highlighting sin
and pride and finding their answer in the cross. He believes that we should confront today's
neopagans in the same way that Paul confronted in his time.

Paul is strongly positioned in his Jewish context as a Shammaite Pharisee in chapter

two, "Saul the Persecutor, Paul the Convert," which also emphasizes the impact of Paul's
conversion on his life and beliefs. Paul saw the rise of Jesus in a vision on Damascus Road.
Saul's worldview was completely altered by this incident.
 The book "Herald of the King," which begins in chapter three, explains that when Paul
used the term "gospel," he did not mean "how one gets saved," but rather the cross, the
resurrection, which marked the beginning of the new age, Jesus as God's Messiah and Israel's
representative King, and Jesus as Lord of all creation. In chapter four, "Paul and Jesus," Wright
demonstrated that Paul was a Jewish monotheist, but redefined it with Jesus and the Spirit
within. Jewish monotheist claims that there is only one God, the God of Israel, and God is
creator of the world and is active in his world.

The fifth chapter, "Good News for Pagans," demonstrates how Paul's pre-Christian
passion against Christianity gave way to his zeal for delivering the gospel to the pagan world.
This expresses Paul's beliefs both before and after his conversion in a stunning manner. Wright is
prepared to discuss justification by faith at the chapter's end. He begins dropping bombs on
conventional reformed theology at this point. Wright was outlining his proposal for how Paul
interacted with pagans and Jews with respect to his revised Jewish monotheism of Christ and
Spirit. According to Wright, Paul offered the reality of the true God, and the creation as his
handiwork. Paul’s preaching indeed challenged the pagan religions with their worldly institutions
at the level of political power, empire. In his teachings, he set out a way of being human which
undermine the ways of being human on offer within paganism. Paul told the true story of the
world in opposition to pagan mythology. Finally, he opposed the pagan philosophies of his day.
In chapter six, "Good News for Israel," it is stated that Jesus also provided a new
understanding of God and a sense of God's love. Wright makes a connection between that vision
and the death of Jesus; this connection, which is closely related to Romans 9–11, will provide the
reader new insights into Paul's perspective on Israel.
The definition of justification and its limitations are discussed in Chapter seven,
"Justification and the Church." Wright offers his own three-point explanation of justification
about the ideas of covenant, law court, and eschatological within an outstanding statement of the
Jewish context of Paul. This makes a significant contribution to our understanding of Paul's
perspective on justification.
Paul's concept of God's regenerated humanity is explored in chapter eight "God's
Renewed Humanity," which is organized around worship, the resurrection, holiness, love, and
mission. Resurrection is both the means and the end of God's restored humanity. Paul believes
that everyone who has been reborn in Christ must exhibit holiness.
The passage "Paul's Gospel Then and Now" in Chapter nine affirms that the gospel of
Paul was and is a reliable source for the revival of the church. He discusses the proclamation of
Jesus as king and Lord in the gospel. People are not justified by their belief in the idea of
justification by faith, but rather by their belief in Jesus.
In chapter ten, "Paul, Jesus, and Christian Origins," A. N. Wilson's most recent book,
Paul: The Mind of the Apostle, is strongly criticized. The age-old debate about who started
Christianity first—Jesus or Paul—reemerges. Wright spends a lot of time disputing with AN
Wilson about his interpretation of Paul in this last chapter. His discussion of Saul's history,
Judaism and Hellenism, the Cross and Resurrection, and lastly Jesus and God are all covered. He
eventually gets down to debating whether Paul or Jesus was the one who started Christianity.

Evaluation
           Firstly, he provided a lot of insightful and practical perspectives on how Jesus was the
pinnacle of Israel's history in the positive points. Additionally, he vehemently rejected the notion
that Paul was discovering something totally dissimilar to what Jesus had come to accomplish.
Wright also very eloquently demonstrated how Paul's underlying thoughts were firmly Jewish
but were fundamentally altered by his encounter with Jesus. The way he introduced this Jewish
idea to the Greek world added to the depth of this Jewish thought. Secondly, Wright also had a
fantastic chapter in Paul's interpretation of Jewish monotheism considering Christ's claims and
the Spirit's arrival. Thirdly, N. T. Wright clarifies that Jesus is rather the source of movement,
called Christianity than Paul. Moreover, he also concludes that Paul was implementing the
achievement of Jesus. In other words, Jesus is the source of emergence of Christian; however, he
didn’t say that he would create a new religion. In this point, the author highlights that Jesus is
prioritized rather than Paul.
However, Wright strongly states that Justification is the doctrine which shows that all
who share faith in Christ belong at the same table as together they wait for the final new
creations. However, 1 Corinthians 5:17 asserts that “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation”.
Our question to the author is Do those who have faith in Christ need a new creation in the future
or Is those who have faith in Christ not yet made a new creation? The author’s statement on new
creation seems contradicting the biblical inference.
Reflection
            This thick work clarifies Wright's contribution to the New Perspective on Paul and makes
it understandable to a larger audience. Best of all, even though this book is about Paul, he
maintains the good news is, the life, death, resurrection, and eternal Lordship of Jesus, front and
center. The huge and in-depth knowledge that Wright has gained regarding Jesus, Paul, and the
history of Christianity is condensed in this book, which is simple to read. “One is not justified by
faith in justification by faith," the author quotes someone as saying. I often wonder what Paul
would think if he could witness the division that justification by faith has brought about in the
church over the past 500 years. Does anyone truly believe that because early Christians rejected
the reformation's version of justification by faith alone, they weren't authentic Christians?
However, According to Wright, Paul's gospel declaration and justification had a huge influence
on my gospel sharing and the connection between the gospel and justification, the post-modern
doctrine, and the modern doctrine has been shown in this book, and I think that every Christian
will be greatly impacted by it, especially evangelists and ministers.

 Conclusion
N.T. Wright approaches Pauline Theology, the notion of justification, and the Gospel
in a systematic manner in a work that is both brief and simple to read. For the first time, I feel as
though I am reading a book that is rationally elucidating to me what I have always thought in my
heart but was unable to articulate. Jesus, who I had always felt in my heart, is suddenly making
sense to me in my mind. The scholarly world, I suppose, is debating N.T. Wright for his noble
efforts and wonderful articulation of a highly controversial topic. A must-read for Christians who
take their studies seriously!