Podcast Summary: Ask NT Wright Anything

Episode: What happens at the End of the Age?
Date: September 28, 2025
Hosts: Mike Bird & N.T. (Tom) Wright
Produced by: Premier Unbelievable

Overview

This episode explores what the New Testament means by “the end of the age”—especially in the Gospels and the wider context of eschatology (end times), faith, works, and the ultimate fate of the earth. Tom Wright responds in detail to questions from listeners, unpacking Jesus’ language in the Olivet Discourse, the traditional Protestant debates over faith and works, and what Christians should expect regarding the renewal of creation.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What is “the End of the Age” in the Gospels?

Timestamps: 04:23–13:49

• Main Listener Question: Are Mark 13, Luke 21, and Matthew 24-25 about the destruction of the Temple, or is there a future cosmic horizon? (04:23)
• Wright's Perspective: Western readers often “screen out” the Temple’s significance, missing how central its fate is to Jesus’ mission.
• Apocalyptic Language Explained:
  • Biblical “sun, moon, and stars” imagery is Old Testament metaphor for tumultuous world events, not literal prophecy.
  • Reference: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel use cosmic collapse language to denote the fall of kingdoms.
• Interpretive Problems:
  • Some schools (liberal or dispensationalist) misread Jesus’ “this generation will not pass away” as meaning either Jesus was wrong or there’s a postponed timetable (08:55).
  • Both views are “radically misleading and radically wrong in terms of simply reading what the text says.” (Wright, 10:31)
• Matthew’s Unique Angle:
  • “There is an option that…Matthew leaves open a kind of ultimate horizon.” (Tom Wright, 05:28)
  • Matthew 24:36 (“Of that day and hour no one knows”) alludes to a further, ultimate future, while Luke focuses strictly on Jerusalem’s fall (12:06).
  • Prophecy often covers multiple fulfillments—“Is it the destruction of the Temple…something out beyond?…the prophets would say it’s all of the above and much more.” (Wright, 10:49)
• Takeaway: The end of the age primarily refers to the temple’s destruction as a seismic event in God’s plan, but Matthew hints at a more ultimate future as well.

Memorable Quote:
"We need to learn to understand how their metaphorical language, soaked as it was in the Old Testament, referred to what we would call geopolitical realities." — Tom Wright (07:22)

2. Faith and Works: Are We Justified by Faith Alone?

Timestamps: 14:23–25:17

• Listener Question (Stephanie from Orlando): Why does Protestantism separate salvation from deeds, when the New Testament integrates faith and works? (14:23)
• Wright’s In-Depth Response:
  • Martin Luther famously added “alone” to Romans 3, reacting to 16th-century Catholic legalism.
  • Luther’s polemic against “works” was aimed at religious rituals, not moral transformation.
  • The real Pauline issue: Jews and Gentiles together forming God’s family, justified not by law (i.e., circumcision, food laws, sabbath) but by faith in Jesus.
  • Not about tickets to heaven, but about new creation and belonging to God’s renewed family (19:20).
• Mike Bird’s Perspective:
  • Protestant impulse “good,” but their framing sometimes “paranoid” on separating faith and works (22:40).
  • Quote: “We’re not saved by works, but neither are we saved without them.” (paraphrasing Calvin and Leon Morris, 23:04)
• Scriptural Focus:
  • Ephesians 2:9-10: “By grace you are saved…not of works…created in Messiah Jesus for good works…”
  • “Good works” are not just moral perfection, but outward signs of God’s new community for the world.

Memorable Quote:
"The good works are the things that Christians are called to do as outward-facing signs to the world that God the Creator is creating a new community." — Tom Wright (24:28)

3. What Happens to Planet Earth at the End?

Timestamps: 27:16–34:26

• Listener Question (Stephen from Auckland): Will the Earth be destroyed (“passed away”) or endure forever? Is there surfing in the new creation? (27:16)
• Wright’s Key Points:
  • In Jewish thought, “the sea” symbolizes chaos and evil, not merely literal waters.
  • Don’t take apocalyptic imagery literally: “as with so much of Revelation, please don’t take this literally, like…the lion who is also the lamb.” (28:56)
  • The beauty and physicality of the current creation is a “pilot project” for something “like this, only much, much more.”
  • The new creation is not about escaping this world for heaven but about “heaven and earth coming together”; what passes away is “corruption and decay,” not matter itself.
• Scriptural Parallels:
  • 1 Corinthians 15 (resurrection as transformation, not abandonment)
  • Romans 8 (creation’s “labor pains,” birth into something new yet continuous)
  • Jesus’ resurrection is the template—transformed but recognizably physical.
• Takeaway: The earth is transformed, not destroyed, in the new creation; biblical “passing away” language emphasizes the end of corruption.

Memorable Quote:
"If the God who made this has this just as the pilot project, then imagine what the ultimate new creation is gonna be. It’s not going to be less than this. It’s going to be like this, only much, much more." — Tom Wright (29:27)

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• On Prophetic Hyperbole:
  “When we read a biblical text saying the sun will be darkened…the next line is not going to be that the rest of the country will have scattered showers and sunny intervals. In other words, this is not a primitive weather forecast.” — Tom Wright (06:52)
• On Interpretive Caution:
  “You shouldn’t try to be too modernist, literalist about it.” — Tom Wright (10:55)
• On Justification:
  “Justification by faith is really all about the fact that the one defining mark of the people of God is indeed faith…as the badge which says we are members of this family.” — Tom Wright (20:48)
• On Good Works:
  “The good works are the things that Christians are called to do as outward-facing signs to the world that God the Creator is creating a new community.” — Tom Wright (24:28)
• On New Creation:
  “God will do for the whole creation in the end what He did for Jesus on the first Easter Day.” — Tom Wright (31:55)

Tone & Style

• Warm, scholarly, conversational—Wright is careful to reference both academic work and popular-level explanations.
• Frequent use of metaphor, analogy, and down-to-earth examples.
• Hosts engage in friendly banter (e.g., hobbits in New Zealand, surfing in the new creation).

Episode Flow (with Timestamps)

• [01:23] Catch-up between hosts (travels in Scotland, NZ, Germany)
• [04:23] Main question on “end of the age” in Synoptic Gospels
• [13:49] Cosmic horizon in Matthew; Parable of the Sheep and the Goats
• [14:23] Listener question on faith vs. works; Pauline justification
• [23:35] On “good works” in Ephesians 2 and the new community
• [27:16] Question about the fate of the earth, Revelation 21, and Romans/Corinthians
• [34:26] Quick episode wrap, preview of next week

Summary Takeaways

• The “end of the age” passages in the Gospels chiefly refer to the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple as a pivotal moment in God’s plan, but Matthew leaves open an ultimate, cosmic fulfillment.
• Faith and works are inseparable in the New Testament; justification by faith is about belonging to the renewed people of God, and good works follow as outward evidence—not moralism or ritual legalism.
• The future for creation is not annihilation but glorious, incorruptible renewal, modeled on Christ’s resurrection, with the union of heaven and earth as the goal.

For deeper study, Tom Wright recommends his book Jesus and the Victory of God (especially chapter 8) and continued reading in Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, 1 Corinthians 15, and Romans 8.