The guides in this series by Tom Wright can be used on their own or alongside his New Testament for Everyone commentaries. They are designed to help you understand the Bible in fresh ways under the guidance of one of the world’s leading New Testament scholars. Thoughtful questions, prayer suggestions, and useful background and cultural information all guide you into a deeper understanding of the Christian story and the Christian life.

Creation is in anguish. Paul’s letter to the Romans, as well as the merest glance at our world, shows this clearly. The Church shares in the suffering, groaning in the tension between the ‘already’ of possessing the fruit of the Spirit and the ‘not yet’ of our present existence. Paul, however, also makes it abundantly clear that God doesn’t stand apart from the pain. Rather, he entered it through Jesus and dwells in the middle of it in the Spirit. These studies present the whole picture of a suffering, sinful world and God’s deep love, still working today to reconcile that world to himself.