Scot McKnight Interview

Justification again

Oh dear. It's now getting on for ten years since N T Wright wrote What St Paul Really Said, but you're still never more than a few mouse clicks away from a vigorous and often overheated debate over what it was exactly that Wright really said, and how that may or not conflict with what the Reformers really said. To be honest the whole discussion is incredibly boring since it becomes so partisan and uncharitable that very little is actually said that is of any value.

 Expect the debate to hot up even more though, as John Piper has announced that he is just finishing work on writing a critique of Wright's work on Paul:

"My motivation in writing it is that I think his understanding of Paul is wrong and his view of justification is harmful to the church and to the human soul. Few things are more precious than the truth of justification by faith alone because of Christ alone. As a shepherd of a flock of God’s blood-bought church, I feel responsible to lead the sheep to life-giving pastures. That is not what the sheep find in Wright’s view of Paul on justification. He is an eloquent and influential writer and is, I believe, misleading many people on the doctrine of justification."

Now I admit my theological preferences place me somewhat closer to Wright than to Piper, but regardless I find it difficult to comprehend that anyone could say that Wright's work is "harmful to the church and the human soul." Wright's work may be many things, but destructive to the church it ain't.

As I understand it, the main Reformed issue with NTW is that he argues that future judgement will be based on works (in which case, he is in complete agreement with Paul), that we are declared righteous in union with Christ rather than having God's own righteousness forensically imputed to us (in which case, what's the big deal?) and that faith is an evidence of salvation, rather than the means to accquiring it, as salvation is completely and solely a gracious act of God and the Spirit (can I get an 'Amen'?). There are also some who argue that since Wright's views on justification and sanctification are close to that of the Roman Catholic church, we ought to dismiss them outright (which is an argument so stupid that it really requires no refutation).

I've thought a lot about justification by faith recently. Growing up evangelical it's just a given that justification by faith and all its corollaries are the central focus of the Gospel and the Christian faith, but I'm more and more certain that while they are important doctrines, they are not the central substance of the Gospel, and are really incidental to the central messages of both Paul and Jesus. I'm just ruminating out loud really, but I hope to write a little more on this in the neat future.

Snapshots of the Early Church

"Christians are not distinguished from the rest of mankind either in locality or in speech or in customs. For they dwell not somewhere in cities of their own, neither do they use some different language, nor practice an extraordinary kind of life. Nor again do they possess any invention discovered by any intelligence or study of ingenious men, nor are they masters of any human dogma as some are. But while they dwell in cities of Greeks and barbarians as the lot of each is cast, and follow the native customs in dress and food and the other arrangements of life, yet the constitution of their own citizenship, which they set forth, is marvelous, and confessedly contradicts expectation.

They dwell in their own countries, but only as sojourners; they bear their share in all things as citizens, and they endure all hardships as strangers. Every foreign country is a fatherland to them, and every fatherland is foreign. They marry like all other men and they beget children; but they do not cast away their offspring. They have their meals in common, but not their wives. They find themselves in the flesh, and yet they live not after the flesh. Their existence is on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven.  They obey the established laws, and they surpass the laws in their own lives. They love all men, and they are persecuted by all. They are ignored, and yet they are condemned. They are put to death, and yet they are endued with life. They are in beggary, and yet they make many rich. They are in want of all things, and yet they abound in all things. They are dishonored, and yet they are glorified in their dishonor. They are evil spoken of, and yet they are vindicated. They are reviled, and they bless; they are insulted, and they respect Doing good they are punished as evil-doers; being punished they rejoice, as if they were thereby quickened by life. War is waged against them as aliens by the Jews, and persecution is carried on against them by the Greeks, and yet those that hate them cannot tell the reason of their hostility."

Epistle to Diognetus 5:1 - 5:17

Michael Bird Interview

Following on from interviews with Jim West and Ben Myers, I'm pleased to announce that Michael Bird of Euangelion has agreed to be my next victim interviewee. Mike lectures in New Testament at Highland Theological College in Scotland and much of his work is available to read on the web. Two articles I highly recommend are this one on Incorporated Righteousness and also this one on the Post-New Perspective Perspective. Without any further ado, here's Mike:

 1. You've been studying for quite a while now. How do you think the
academic
study of scripture and theology has shaped your own faith?