In August 2003, I heard Christopher J.H. Wright lecture at the University of St Andrews and offer what became the central thesis for his book “The Mission of God,” published in January 2006. I can still remember the central points he drew from Luke 24. The risen Jesus himself taught that the Old Testament Scriptures were about him, thereby offering his own authoritative Christological interpretation (see especially Luke 24:13-27, 44-46) about God’s gracious message to the nations, thereby authorizing missiological interpretation (Luke 24:28-49, especially verses 44-49).
Like that live, exhilarating presentation, his first edition of “The Mission of God” argued that we should give the resurrected Jesus his requisite hermeneutical authority over our reading of the Scriptures. Famously, Wright argued from Luke 24 and the whole biblical narrative not merely for the “biblical basis for mission,” but for the “missional basis of the Bible.” In other words, if there is no gracious mission of God for people, through people, and for the sake of his glory in his whole good creation, then there are no people who will be rescued and no promises nor plans to tell them.
In October 2025, InterVarsity Press published a second edition “The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative.” The 20th anniversary second edition maintains the major contours of the first edition and also engages with scholarship on the biblical theology of mission and missional hermeneutics since 2006. Simply peruse the updated bibliography! Wright has helpfully placed an asterisk next to more than 190 new works, most published since 2006, that he engages in this new edition. This book is not a “how to” missions text, apologetics book, or call to evangelism, though that’s included. It is a thorough and up-to-date engagement with a global theology of missions that takes the whole Bible seriously.
Wright continues his robust contention that we need a missional hermeneutic to understand Scripture in light of questions, critiques, and fresh insights related to his first edition, or emerging in the field more generally. The footnotes are full of references and responses to questions. More than that, Wright added some interesting chapters in response to serious questions and critiques of the first edition.
Part One of the book covers the Bible and mission. Wright establishes his hermeneutical orientation to move believers — whom he considers God’s partners on his mission — beyond “prooftexting” (misconstruing the relationship between God’s mission and the Scriptures), multiculturalism, and postmodern hermeneutics. He wants readers to avoid the kind of contextualization that erodes God’s authority as the God who speaks and saves.
This orientation leads to the “Shaping of a Missional Hermeneutic” (chapter 2), in which Wright argues for the Bible as “the product, record, and tool of God’s mission.” A missional hermeneutic fits the Scriptures because God is actually on mission, a mission he reveals, promises, guides, and ultimately accomplishes for, with, and through his people.
In Part Two, “The God of Mission,” Wright elucidates how “the Living God” makes himself known “in Israel,” and then “in Jesus Christ.” This section discusses monotheism in helpful ways, leading to important reflections on how God confronts idolatry: God’s mission includes God’s own critique and defeat of idols.
Part Three, “The People of Mission,” is the longest section of the book and includes a significant new chapter, “Election and Supersessionism.” This new chapter addresses some critiques leveled against Wright’s scholarship. He engages with lines of critique related to his original, core thesis and general approach. Some scholars, Kendall Soulen and Collin Cornell in particular, thought his “dramatic paradigm” approach was too linear, assumed too much organic continuity throughout Scripture, and leaned toward a type of supersessionsim that made earlier commitments and covenants (and people and promises) redundant.
This section is a model for how to engage with critics. Wright agrees with his critics whenever he can, clarifies his original position, sensitively argues his points (in some cases omitting or altering vocabulary from the first edition), and disagrees charitably. He affirms what he can, even with people who may have imputed unfavorable virtues to him, and he disambiguates his own positions for the sake of further clarity.
A brief comment about the final subsection in this chapter about election and supersessionism helps me clarify the broader concerns of this book. Wright is not addressing debates about Reformed and Arminian positions. As an example, when he writes about “election and incarnation” (275-278), he is engaging with other interlocutors who are also addressing others besides him. For those of us who are confessionally Reformed, it is fascinating to read Wright’s engagement with scholars asking questions about supralapsarian views, the resurrection, the ascension, and the ongoing incarnation of the Son. Wright is focused on topics broader than Reformed debates with Arminian theologians. But he addresses the kinds of things we have debated among ourselves (lapsarian views) or with Arminians in a different light and for different reasons.
Chapter 13, “Gospel-Centered Integral Mission,” completes section 3 and clarifies more explicitly how Wright’s overall thesis relates to the spiritual realities of human depravity, divine judgment, and eternal life in Christ. He argues that God’s gracious response to the world’s pervasive brokenness is as comprehensive as the problem; the response extends as far as the curse is found. This chapter works against dualisms and reductionisms by reminding readers that the arrival of God’s kingdom is good news for the nations (all kinds of people and their political postures) and the whole of God’s good creation (every place).
Wright argues that integral (or holistic) mission flows from the whole Bible as God’s Word, that the kingdom of God presents serious challenges to all peoples in all places. But this chapter ends with “the centrality of the cross.” The scope of God’s mission, including the nations and his whole creation, must not obscure the particularity and centrality of the climax of God’s saving action on the cross of Jesus Christ. In a few places Wright argues that God’s gracious mission required dealing with the guilt of human sin to vindicate God’s own justice (quoting Isaiah 53:6 and 1 Peter 2:24), defeating the forces and powers of evil (quoting Colossians 2:15), destroying death itself (quoting Hebrews 2:14), removing the hostility between Jew and Gentile (quoting Ephesians 2:14-16), and redeeming his whole creation (quoting Colossians 1:20 and citing 1:15-20).
He argues that all of these central and significant missional objectives were achieved by God in Jesus Christ on the cross (see pages 409-422 for the most focused discussion of the cross). “The cross was the unavoidable cost – for God – of God’s mission” (410, similarly 411). This means “the cross is the unavoidable center of our mission. All Christian mission flows from the cross – as its source, as its power, and as that which defines its scope” (412, emphasis original, and also 414).
Part Four, final section, covers Mission and God’s Earth (chapter 14), Mission and God’s Image (chapter 15), and two concluding chapters about God and the Nations, first surveying the Old Testament (chapter 16) and then surveying fulfillment, development, and culmination in the New Testament (chapter 17).
If what you really want in a book “about missions” is a robust and detailed description of God’s plan to rescue “a great multitude from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages,” chapter 16 is worth the price of the book. If you’ve never heard, or have forgotten, how thoroughly this theme is woven into the Old Testament, this chapter will show you. Jesus said what we call the “Old Testament” was about him and God’s plan to bring the nations to repentance and forgiveness in his name. This chapter underlines this theme again and again.
As in other sections, Wright addresses divine judgment as part of the biblical picture of God’s just, right sovereignty over every nation and people group. In a thorough section discussing “The Nations in Creation and Providence,” he explains, “all nations are under God’s judgment.” Further, “[a]ny nation can be the agent of God’s judgment.” God remains the sovereign judge over all. Thankfully, “[a]ny nation can be the recipient of God’s mercy.” The combination of these two biblical affirmations concerning God’s judgment and God’s mercy “surely has to be one of the most foundational elements of the Old Testament contribution to our theology of mission. If it were not the case that all nations stand under the impending judgment of God, there would be no need to proclaim the gospel. But if it were not for the fact that God deals in mercy and forgiveness with all who repent, there would be no gospel to proclaim” (490-491).
Wright discusses how the nations witnessed Israel’s history, including her covenantal obligations, God’s judgment upon her, and her restoration. He surveys the law, prophets, and writings, demonstrating how God’s plan and (sometimes) his people’s prayers and songs included the nations sharing in the blessings promised to Abraham and his seed.
Chapter 17 concerns how the New Testament clarifies God’s mission to the nations. Wright argues that it is indeed time to proclaim and sing of YHWH’s salvation among the nations, the very redeeming work he accomplished in Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel. This chapter explains how the New Testament picks us and fulfills YHWH’s plans and promises explained through the previous chapter and the rest of the book. Wright focuses on Jesus and the Gospels, the early church in Acts, and the apostle Paul.
In this revised edition of “The Mission of God,” Wright updates and defends his original discussion, considering many ways the conversation on missional hermeneutics has developed since the book’s original publication in 2006. While the confessionally Reformed Presbyterian will have a few areas of disagreement, we can also learn from our brother in Christ and give thanks for this massive work, coming in at 563 pages and 39 full pages of bibliography – a massive achievement!
Robby Holt is the senior pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama.