For years, Tom Wright has been accused of denying penal substitutionary atonement (PSA) - but is this fair? In a special bonus episode of Ask NT Wright Anything, Tom sits down with Mike Bird to clarify his true views on the cross, challenge common caricatures, and invite listeners into a richer, more biblical understanding of atonement that goes beyond slogans and controversy.
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For years, critics have accused NT (Tom) Wright of denying penal substitutionary atonement (PSA). From online forums to American pulpits, the charge has been repeated so often it risks becoming “received wisdom.”
Take this comment from a Logos community board back in 2019:
“Please stop pushing N. T. Wright. Wright has gone off the rails and is no longer orthodox. His views on Paul and penal substitution are absolute heresy.”
Strong words. But are they true?
In a brand-new bonus episode of the Ask NT Wright Anything podcast, Tom sits down with Australian theologian Mike Bird to set the record straight and to explain why the caricatured versions of the atonement are the real distortion of the gospel.
Not Denial, but Nuance
“After my book The Day the Revolution Began, there were one or two angry American preachers who denounced me,” Wright recalls. “They said, ‘This book just tells us what Tom Wright doesn’t believe and doesn’t have anything positive to put in its place.’ I hope people will now see that actually I do say yes to penal, yes to substitution, yes to atonement.”
But Wright insists these must be understood within the whole biblical story: the covenant with Abraham, the Exodus and Passover, temple imagery, and the Gospels’ announcement that God’s kingdom has come in Jesus.
“The Bible doesn’t talk about models of atonement,” Wright says. “It talks about Jesus dying on a cross. The question is: which story are we putting these slogans into? Get the story right, and the models will fit.”
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Caricatures and Misunderstandings
So where does the charge of “heresy” come from? For Wright, it’s rooted in a distorted popular preaching that he has long resisted.
“I caricature it this way,” he explains. “Not ‘God so loved the world that he gave his Son,’ but ‘God so hated the world that he killed his Son.’ Many students actually think that’s what the gospel is. But that is not the biblical picture.”
Instead, Wright draws attention to Romans 8:3-4:
“God has done what the law could not do… He condemned sin in the flesh [of Jesus].”
“That is penal, that is substitutionary, that is effective atonement,” Wright says. “But notice: Paul doesn’t say God condemned Jesus. He says God condemned sin in the flesh of Jesus. We must read every word carefully.”
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What the Apostles Actually Preached
Mike Bird raises another striking point: if penal substitution is the essence of the gospel, why don’t we see it spelled out in the book of Acts?
“Acts is a digest of apostolic preaching,” Bird observes. “You’ve got sermons by Peter, Stephen and Paul. Which sermon mentions penal substitutionary atonement? None. They speak of Jesus’ death and resurrection, yes, but never in that exact form. That should make us pause.”
Wright agrees: “The gospel in the New Testament is the announcement that the crucified and risen Jesus is Lord of the world. That includes the meaning of crucifixion, but it’s far bigger than a formula about how my sins are dealt with so I can ‘go to heaven.’ It’s about God’s reign breaking into the world through the cross and resurrection.”
A Deeper Conversation
Far from being “off the rails,” Wright’s view pushes Christians to read Scripture more deeply, avoiding simplistic slogans and recovering the richness of the biblical witness.
“If you’ve ever wondered what Tom Wright really believes about the cross,” says Bird, “this is the conversation to hear.”
And the good news? You can hear it right now—and get fresh content each week in addition to the main show, by subscribing to the Ask NT Wright Anything bonus episodes on Apple Podcasts directly or go to this link
Get more from NT Wright and Mike Bird
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