NT Wright on the evilness of the material world

The Sea is Evil

Here, the Bishop of Durham writes 'The ancient Jewish writers saw the sea as evil. It floods and destroys the world. It stands between the Israelites and freedom. It rages horribly; monsters come out of it. There is a hint that God had to overcome the dark primal waters in order to create the world in the first place..... the final book of the Bible declares that in the new world, now already begun with his resurrection, there will be no more sea.'

Paul shared the Bishop of Durham's view that the material world was evil, evil in its very nature. 'There is nothing good in my flesh', writes Paul.

Of course, Wright only believes that the sea is evil, but his writings put paid to the lie that ancient Jewish writers regarded the material world as intrinsically good.