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    Justification: God's Plan Paul's Vision
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    Justification: God's Plan Paul's Vision
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    Justification: God's Plan Paul's Vision
    Ebook406 pages7 hours

    Justification: God's Plan Paul's Vision

    By N. T. Wright

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Biblical Foundations Book Award

    Few issues are more central to the Christian faith than the nature, scope and means of salvation. Many have thought it to be largely a transaction that gets one to heaven. In this riveting book, N. T. Wright explains that God's salvation is radically more than this. At the heart of much vigorous debate on this topic is the term the apostle Paul uses in several of his letters to describe what happens to those in Christ--justification. Paul uses this dramatic image from the law court to declare that Christians are acquitted of the cosmic accusations against them. But justification goes beyond this in Paul's writings to offer a vision of God's future for the whole world as well as for his people. Here in one place Wright now offers a comprehensive account and defense of his perspective on this crucial doctrine. He provides a sweeping overview of the central points in the debate before launching into a thorough explanation of the key texts in Paul's writings. While fully cognizant of tradition and controversy, the final authority for his conclusions is the letters of Paul themselves. Along the way Wright responds to critics, such as John Piper, who have challenged what has come to be called the New Perspective. For Wright, what Paul means by justification is nothing less than God's unswerving commitment to the covenant promise he made to bless the whole world through Abraham and his family. This irenic response is an important contribution for those on both sides of the debate--and those still in between--to consider. Whether you're a fan of Wright's work or have read his critics and would like to know the other side of the story, here is a chance to interact with Wright's views on the issues at stake and form your own conclusions.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherIVP Academic
    Release dateSep 25, 2009
    ISBN9780830878130
    Unavailable
    Justification: God's Plan Paul's Vision
    Author

    N. T. Wright

    N. T. Wright is the former Bishop of Durham in the Church of England and one of the world’s leading Bible scholars. He serves as the chair of New Testament and Early Christianity at the School of Divinity at the University of St. Andrews as well as Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University. He has been featured on ABC News, Dateline, The Colbert Report, and Fresh Air. Wright is the award-winning author of many books, including Paul: A Biography, Simply Christian, Surprised by Hope, The Day the Revolution Began, Simply Jesus, After You Believe, and Scripture and the Authority of God.

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    Reviews for Justification

    4/5

    65 ratings6 reviews

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    • 2/5
      Read for a class. Wright's exegesis is highly selective and dubious - he (and the other proponents of the NPP) just redefine the words they don't like to arrive at their predetermined conclusion. Wright in particular completely discounts other NT books but he gives much weight to the apocrypha and Qumran texts to arrive at his "correct" understanding of 1st C. Jewish thought.
    • 5/5
      This was my first dive into the recent debates on Justification. This particular book was a response to a book put out by John Piper. While it was a dense read (for me, anyway) at times... I found Wright's wit and humor to be engaging... and his chapters on actual scriptural exegesis were fascinating to trace through. This probably isn't a book for everyone... but for those particularly interested in Pauline theology... you may want to check it out. I thought it was fantastic!
    • 5/5
      This was a thought-provoking book. Although, I must say that I haven't read Piper's book that this book is in response to, therefore I missed out on a portion of the counter-arguments presented by Piper. It brings some very interesting issues related to exactly what justification and righteousness are. I hope some of this issues are fleshed out further in his book on Paul coming out in the next year or so. This book appears to be well thought out and his approach to Scripture is particularly thorough while being aware of Christian traditions with regard to the subject and passages under discussion. In the future, I believe I will need to revisit this book and look at the passages involved more closely. Luckily though this book while it did rely on a variety of passages, it largely relied on the flow of the argument and themes of the Pauline works being studied in the exegesis portion of the work. As a final note, though I did find his notes directed towards Piper especially in the first chapter or so, somewhat annoying, but these have little to do with the actual argument being made. These have little to do with the actual ideas being presented however.
    • 3/5
      I am not sure having read the book that I need to worry too much about the "New Perspective" on Paul; it seems that the main thrust of Christian teaching remains reliable. I have not read Piper, the book he is responding to, so why read this book? The exposition of Paul's arguments in his various letters, especially of course Romans is impressive (I mean that both for the explanation and for Paul!) The writing is lucid, vivid with helpful illustrations and leaves me with a better understanding of what seems to have been Paul's aims and motivation. Less relevant to me than Surprised by hope but it begins to answer why the Cross did not feature more prominently in that book.
    • 5/5
      This book was an advance treat. I've already read and thoroughly enjoyed the first three books in Wright's Christian Origins and the Question of God series: 1. The New Testament and the People of God 2. Jesus and the Victory of God 3. The Resurrection of the Son of GodThe proposed fourth book deals primarily with Paul. While waiting for it to be written, this gem arrived. Thank you to Dr. Piper for necessitating Wright's interim volume. (In case you are unaware, Justification is Wright's answer to Piper's The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright.)Along with Sanders and Dunn, Wright forms the trinity of lead thinkers on the New Perspective on Paul. Interestingly, though, Wright doesn't ask everyone to board the New Perspective bandwagon—instead he calls for a synthesis of views that puts everything in its proper perspective.For Wright, the old view of justification had a lot of valuable components, but missed the main point of the story: God's plan to rescue the world through Israel. Traditional justification proponents largely treat talk of covenant in Genesis 15 and Deuteronomy 30 in Paul as illustrative. Wright reads them as essential to the argument.In Justification, Wright pleads with his detractors to join the heliocentric revolution: If you see God's plan to rescue the world through Israel (i.e. covenant) as the sun then every other theme falls into place. All the puzzle pieces can be accounted for. Long arguments make logical sense.Wright's tone is sharp at points, and the commanding metaphor of the earth revolving around the sun is almost insulting. However, with something this fundamental at stake along with a published critique by Piper, it was time for action.This is Wright at his best. Read it.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      N. T. Wright's response to John Piper's critique (The Future of Justification) is his most thorough book on Paul yet. It is, in many ways, a masterful unpacking of Paul's thought. Wright shows how Paul's theology of justification is grounded in God's covenant with Abraham and plan to bring redemption to the world through Israel, and ultimately through Jesus. He explores how justification is informed by Jewish law-court imagery, eschatology, and Christology. Wright's unpacking of the narrative substructure to Paul's thought is, at times, brilliant. And after reading this book, I think that Wright and Piper are actually much closer in their thinking than either one of them may think.However, confusion and misunderstanding continues, and this due not least of all, to Wright himself. It's unfortunate that he sometimes caricatures positions that he rejects out of hand and misconstrues the thought and theology of his opponents. (Can anyone who knows John Piper seriously believe that there is no place for the Holy Spirit in his theology?!) Wright's reasons for rejecting imputation are not fully convincing. I still suspect that he takes some wrong steps in his exegesis at some crucial points. And his articulation of how justification by faith in the present relates to future judgment according to works is still a little fuzzy and subject to misunderstanding.With that said, I think Wright's unpacking of the believer's union with Christ comes fairly close to achieving what imputation achieves for Piper and traditional Reformed theology. Not all his critics agree, but Wright should at least be carefully read and listened to before stones are cast.I've heard Don Carson say before that Wright's problem is in backgrounding what should be in the foreground and foregrounding what should be in the background. I think I understand that critique. But after reading both Wright and Piper (and Waters, and Westerholm, and Carson, and Moo!) I am wanting to see a synthesis of the different insights and strengths these pastors and scholars bring to the table.I recommend this book to those who are following the conversation on the New Perspective on Paul. If you've read Piper, definitely read Wright. But in my opinion, it would be better to read neither than to read only one side of the argument. 3 1/2 stars.

      1 person found this helpful