Are people basically ‘good’ or ‘evil’? Who was the ‘beloved’ disciple? And is the Sermon on the Mount legalism?

Are people basically good, or fundamentally sinful? Did Jesus teach salvation by works in the Sermon on the Mount? In this episode of Ask NT Wright Anything, Tom Wright and Mike Bird explore what the Bible really says about human nature, arguing that our primary identity is not simply “good” or “bad,” but that we are people created for God’s vocation. They also examine one of the New Testament’s enduring mysteries, the identity of the “beloved disciple” in John’s Gospel, and ask whether we can know who he really was. Finally, Tom tackles a common misunderstanding of the Sermon on the Mount, explaining why Jesus’ teaching is not legalism but a vision of what life looks like when God’s kingdom breaks into the world.