ntwright-justificationweek1_000
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7/30/2019 NTWright-JustificationWeek1_000
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The Doctrine of Justification
in the Work of N. T. WrightBy William N. Wilder
Center for Christian Study
Week 1I Love to Tell the Story:
The Narrative Substructure of Pauls Theology
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Copyright 2005 William N. Wilder
Why You Should Spend At Least SixHours Learning About N.T. WrightAnd His View of Justification
NTW is an extremely prolific scholar
who writes faster than you can read.
NTW is a first-rank
scholar and churchman
with increasing influence
in both realms.
His writing
is invariably
fresh and
insightful.
For NTW the original
historical context isdeterminative for the
meaning of the text.
He writes for the
heart as well asfor the head. He has been dogged
by controversy. NTW is a VIP in
the NPP
..and an emergingstorm center in
Reformed circles,
especially the PCA.
He is a monocovenantalist.
He questions the Reformed
understanding of imputation.
He defines justification in a very non-traditional manner.
He has been accusedof undermining Protestant
theology in a way which
threatens the Reformation
and, indeed, the very
truth of the Gospel.
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Copyright 2005 William N. Wilder
Overview of the Series
1. I Love to Tell the Story: The Narrative
Substructure of Pauls Theology2. Adam, Israel, Servant, Christ: Does
Covenant Theology Get It Wright?
3. To Whom It Belongs: The ImputedRighteousness of God
4. The Importance of Definition:Righteousness, Justification, Faith &Works
Dis
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I Love to Tell the Story:The Narrative Substructure
of Pauls Theology
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Copyright 2005 William N. Wilder
The Creator God Chose Israel To Be a Blessing to the World
So Whats the Story?
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6/27Copyright 2005 William N. Wilder
The Creator God Chose Israel To Be a Blessing to the World
What Israel has always been
tempted to forget, from Pauls
point of view, is that the God who
made the covenant with Abraham
is the creator of the whole worldand that the covenant was put in
place precisely in order thatthrough Israel God might address
the whole world. NIB Romans, p. 482
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7/27Copyright 2005 William N. Wilder
The Creator God Chose Israel To Be a Blessing to the World
Monotheism Election Eschatology
with the help of the law
There are three cardinal points of Jewish theology in this period:
and there is one future for allthe world, a future not very far
away now, in which the true
God will reveal himself, defeat
evil, and rescue his people.
eschatology.
There is onetrue God, the
one true God of
all the world;
monotheism election and
What Saint Paul Really Said, p. 31
(Covenantal Nomism)
Israel is thepeople of
this one
true God;
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7/30/2019 NTWright-JustificationWeek1_000
8/27Copyright 2005 William N. Wilder
The Creator God Chose Israel To Be a Blessing to the World
Monotheism Election Eschatology
with the help of the law
This is the patternor the storylineof Pauls thought prior to his conversion.
(Covenantal Nomism)
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7/30/2019 NTWright-JustificationWeek1_000
9/27Copyright 2005 William N. Wilder
The Creator God Chose Israel To Be a Blessing to the World
Monotheism Election Eschatology
with the help of the law
This is the patternor the storylineof Pauls thought prior to his conversion.The first point monotheism was summed up in the Shema:
Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one.
Jewish monotheism in this period was not an inner analysis of the being of theone true God... Instead, it made two claims, both of them polemical.
On the one hand, Jewish mono-
theism asserted that the one God,
the God of Israel, was the only Godof the whole world... and that the true
God would one day decisively defeat
these pagan gods and their powers,
and vindicate Israel as his truepeople. Monotheism, in short, was a
fighting doctrine.
On the other hand, Jewish monotheism
contained the strong assertion that the
dualists were wrong. The material world wasnot the evil creation of an evil god... Jewish-
style monotheism committed its adherents
both to the effort to bring in the kingdom within
the physical world... and to the belief thatthose who died ahead of time would be raised
physically to life when the great day came
What Saint Paul Reall Said, . 63-64.
(Covenantal Nomism)
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7/30/2019 NTWright-JustificationWeek1_000
10/27Copyright 2005 William N. Wilder
The Creator God Chose Israel To Be a Blessing to the World
Monotheism Election Eschatology
with the help of the law
This is the patternor the storylineof Pauls thought prior to his conversion.
(Covenantal Nomism)
God took the initiative, when he made a
covenant with Judaism; Gods grace thus
precedes everything that people (specifically,
Jews) do in response. The Jew keeps the lawout of gratitude, as the proper response to
grace not, in other words, in order to getin
the covenant people, but to stayin. Being in
in the first place was Gods gift. This scheme
Sanders famously labelled as covenantalnomism (from the Greek nomos, law).
Keeping the Jewish law was the human
response to Gods covenantal initiative
(WSPRS, p. 19).
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11/27Copyright 2005 William N. Wilder
with the help of the law
The Creator God Chose Israel To Be a Blessing to the World
Monotheism Election Eschatology
This is the patternor the storylineof Pauls thought prior to his conversion.
The Shammaites, and the revolutionaries in general, were eager to bring these
prophecies to fulfilment by their zeal for Torah... The one true God, YHWH, was
dishonoured by the present state of things; his glory demanded that the pagans,
idol-worshippers as they were, would receive what they deserved. For this tohappen, Israel needed to keep Torah. Observing Torah would hasten the time of
fulfillment (WSPRS, p. 31; my emphasis).
Gaffin: If righteousness constitutes covenant fidelity, what is the standard of
fidelity, or of infidelity?Wright: The obedience of faith. What is the sign of your being faithful to the
covenant [in the Old Testament]? The Shema. The obedience which consists in
faith. This is the Israel-obedience or fidelity: confessing Jesus is Lord. . . . We need
to be unshackled from this works-righteousness view of obedience. The gospel is a
command: bow the knee and obey this Lord - [that is] submit to the statement that
Jesus is Lord. It's an obedience - not meritorious, but the badge of believing.(Auburn Avenue Conference 2005, day 3, session 13; from notes by Tim Gallant, www.RabbiSaul.com)
(Covenantal Nomism)
Election
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7/30/2019 NTWright-JustificationWeek1_000
12/27Copyright 2005 William N. Wilder
The Creator God Chose Israel To Be a Blessing to the World
Monotheism Election Eschatology
with the help of the law
This is the patternor the storylineof Pauls thought prior to his conversion.Jews like Saul of Tarsus were not interested in an abstract,
timeless, a historical system of salvation. They were not
even primarily interested in, as we say today, going to
heaven when they died. (They believed in the resurrection,
in which God would raise them all to share in the life of the
promised renewed Israel and renewed world; but that is very
different from the normal Western vision of heaven).
The purpose of the covenant, in the Hebrew Bibleand in some subsequent writings, was never simply
that the creator wanted to have Israel as a special
people, irrespective of the fate of the rest of the
world. The purpose of the covenant was that,
through this means, the creator would address and
save his entire world.
What Saint Paul Really Said, p. 33.
(Covenantal Nomism)
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7/30/2019 NTWright-JustificationWeek1_000
13/27Copyright 2005 William N. Wilder
The Creator God Chose Israel To Be a Blessing to the World
Monotheism Election Eschatology
with the help of the law
This is the patternor the storylineof Pauls thought prior to his conversion.
DAMASCUS ROAD ENCOUNTERWITH
CRUCIFIEDAND RESURRECTED
LORDThe GOSPEL:
Proclamation of Crucified, Risen King and Lord
(Covenantal Nomism)
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7/30/2019 NTWright-JustificationWeek1_000
14/27Copyright 2005 William N. Wilder
The Creator God Chose Israel To Be a Blessing to the World
Monotheism Election Eschatology
with the help of the law
This is the patternor the storylineof Pauls thought prior to his conversion.
DAMASCUS ROAD ENCOUNTERWITH
CRUCIFIEDAND RESURRECTED
LORDThe crucified Jesus: ...it was the fulfilment of Gods promise that through Abraham
and his seed he would undo the evil in the world. God established his covenant with
Abraham in the first place for this precise purpose... And always the fulfilment focuses
on the death of Jesus, the covenant-fulfilling act, the moment when God executedjudicial sentence on sin itself..., the moment when Gods astonishing love was unveiled
in all its glory... This is fulfilment, not abrogation... Israels fate, in other words -- the
suffering at the hands of the pagans -- had not been swept aside. It was not irrelevant. It
had reached its climax precisely in the death of Jesus, the representative Messiah of
Israel (WSPRS, p. 48).
(Covenantal Nomism)
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7/30/2019 NTWright-JustificationWeek1_000
15/27Copyright 2005 William N. Wilder
The Creator God Chose Israel To Be a Blessing to the World
Monotheism Election Eschatology
with the help of the law
This is the patternor the storylineof Pauls thought prior to his conversion.
DAMASCUS ROAD ENCOUNTERWITH
CRUCIFIEDAND RESURRECTED
LORDThe crucified Jesus: ...it was the fulfilment of Gods promise that through Abraham
and his seed he would undo the evil in the world. God established his covenant with
Abraham in the first place for this precise purpose... And always the fulfilment focuses
on the death of Jesus, the covenant-fulfilling act, the moment when God executedjudicial sentence on sin itself..., the moment when Gods astonishing love was unveiled
in all its glory... This is fulfilment, not abrogation... Israels fate, in other words -- the
suffering at the hands of the pagans -- had not been swept aside. It was not irrelevant. It
had reached its climax precisely in the death of Jesus, the representative Messiah of
Israel (WSPRS, p. 48).
The risen Jesus: When Paul was faced with the fact of Jesus resurrection, he
concluded that the return from exile had in fact happened. Exile had reached its height
in Jesus death; now he had come through death, through the ultimate exile, and wasset free not just from Greece or Rome, from Herod, Pilate and Caiaphas, but from sin
and death, the ultimate enemies (1 Cor 15:25-6)... This meant that the Age to Come,
the Eschaton of Jewish expectation, had already arrived, even though it didnt look like
Paul expected. It meant that the Gentiles were now to be summoned to join Israel in
celebrating the new day, the day of deliverance (WSPRS, p. 51).
(Covenantal Nomism)
-
7/30/2019 NTWright-JustificationWeek1_000
16/27Copyright 2005 William N. Wilder
The Creator God Chose Israel To Be a Blessing to the World
Monotheism Election Eschatology
with the help of the law
This is the patternor the storylineof Pauls thought prior to his conversion.
DAMASCUS ROAD ENCOUNTERWITH
CRUCIFIEDAND RESURRECTED
LORDThe crucified Jesus: ...it was the fulfilment of Gods promise that through Abraham
and his seed he would undo the evil in the world. God established his covenant with
Abraham in the first place for this precise purpose... And always the fulfilment focuses
on the death of Jesus, the covenant-fulfilling act, the moment when God executedjudicial sentence on sin itself..., the moment when Gods astonishing love was unveiled
in all its glory... This is fulfilment, not abrogation... Israels fate, in other words -- the
suffering at the hands of the pagans -- had not been swept aside. It was not irrelevant. It
had reached its climax precisely in the death of Jesus, the representative Messiah of
Israel (WSPRS, p. 48).
The risen Jesus: When Paul was faced with the fact of Jesus resurrection, he
concluded that the return from exile had in fact happened. Exile had reached its height
in Jesus death; now he had come through death, through the ultimate exile, and wasset free not just from Greece or Rome, from Herod, Pilate and Caiaphas, but from sin
and death, the ultimate enemies (1 Cor 15:25-6)... This meant that the Age to Come,
the Eschaton of Jewish expectation, had already arrived, even though it didnt look like
Paul expected. It meant that the Gentiles were now to be summoned to join Israel in
celebrating the new day, the day of deliverance (WSPRS, p. 51).
King Jesus: There are many Jewish texts in which the historical sequence of thought,
in answer to the question how will God be true to his promises to Abraham?, reachesits answer and fulfilment as in the Son of David, the Messiah Central to his argument
is the idea of the seed: the true seed of Abraham, the fulfillment of the promises
Within his overall argument about Abraham, Paul is operating with an implicit royal
theology and exegesis Christos can best be explained in terms of incorporation intothe people of the Messiah. (WSPRS, p. 54).
(Covenantal Nomism)
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7/30/2019 NTWright-JustificationWeek1_000
18/27Copyright 2005 William N. Wilder
The Creator God Chose Israel To Be a Blessing to the World
Monotheism Election Eschatology
with the help of the law
This is the patternor the storylineof Pauls thought prior to his conversion.
DAMASCUS ROAD ENCOUNTERWITH
CRUCIFIEDAND RESURRECTED
LORDThe GOSPEL:
Proclamation of Crucified, Risen King and Lord
This means everything is different now!
(Covenantal Nomism)
-
7/30/2019 NTWright-JustificationWeek1_000
19/27Copyright 2005 William N. Wilder
The Creator God Chose Israel To Be a Blessing to the World
Monotheism Election Eschatology
with the help of the law
This is the patternor the storylineof Pauls thought prior to his conversion.
DAMASCUS ROAD ENCOUNTERWITH
CRUCIFIEDAND RESURRECTED
LORDThe GOSPEL:
Proclamation of Crucified, Risen King and Lord
This means everything is different now!
Eschatology RedefinedElection RedefinedMonotheism Redefined
(Covenantal Nomism)
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7/30/2019 NTWright-JustificationWeek1_000
20/27Copyright 2005 William N. Wilder
The Creator God Chose Israel To Be a Blessing to the World
Monotheism Election Eschatology
with the help of the law
This is the patternor the storylineof Pauls thought prior to his conversion.
DAMASCUS ROAD ENCOUNTERWITH
CRUCIFIEDAND RESURRECTED
LORDThe GOSPEL:
Proclamation of Crucified, Risen King and Lord
This means everything is different now!
Eschatology RedefinedElection RedefinedMonotheism Redefined
Fulfillment in the middle of time
Eschatological purpose of
covenant achieved: inclusion ofGentiles
Gods people marked by
faith, not works of the law
Israels failure: to see
temporary function of law
Jesus and the Spirit seen to
be within the inner being of God
1 Cor 8; Phil 2; Col 1;Gal 4; 1 Cor 12; Rom 8
(Covenantal Nomism)
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7/30/2019 NTWright-JustificationWeek1_000
21/27Copyright 2005 William N. Wilder
The Creator God Chose Israel To Be a Blessing to the World
Monotheism Election Eschatology
with the help of the law
This is the patternor the storylineof Pauls thought prior to his conversion.
DAMASCUS ROAD ENCOUNTERWITH
CRUCIFIEDAND RESURRECTED
LORDThe GOSPEL:
Proclamation of Crucified, Risen King and Lord
This means everything is different now!
Eschatology RedefinedElection RedefinedMonotheism Redefined
Fulfillment in the middle of time
Eschatological purpose of
covenant achieved: inclusion of
Gentiles
Gods people marked by
faith, not works of the law
Israels failure: to see
temporary function of law
Jesus and the Spirit seen to
be within the inner being of God
1 Cor 8; Phil 2; Col 1;
Gal 4; 1 Cor 12; Rom 8
(Covenantal Nomism)
For Paul, all this had now come to pass in Messiah Jesus. Paul's eschatology remains deeply
Jewish, with a retelling of the same key texts. Through his high Christology, Paul details how
God's own future has burst in; through his incorporative Christology, he describes how
Israel's future has burst in.
(NTW: Auburn Avenue conference 2005, day 2, session 10; from notes by Tim Gallant, www.RabbiSaul.com).
For the majority of Jews of this period, theirs was a long story in search of an ending. The
story has somehow "got stuck" - they are still enslaved to the pagans; they are still in exile.
Daniel 9 suggests that notwithstanding the passing of the requisite 70 years, there is going to
be much more: 70x7 (a Jubilee theme). Forgiveness of sins will mean the end of exile, butIsrael will need to wait for it. Many Jews made calculations on the basis of this text.
The end of slavery was seen in terms of a new exodus: God would again rescue Israel; this
was a warning to the pagans and comfort for Israel. This is to be God's future. God will "come
into His own:" "In that day Yahweh will be king of all the earth" (Zech 13.1).
A Long Story in Search of an Ending
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7/30/2019 NTWright-JustificationWeek1_000
22/27Copyright 2005 William N. Wilder
The Creator God Chose Israel To Be a Blessing to the World
Monotheism Election Eschatology
with the help of the law
This is the patternor the storylineof Pauls thought prior to his conversion.
DAMASCUS ROAD ENCOUNTERWITH
CRUCIFIEDAND RESURRECTED
LORDThe GOSPEL:
Proclamation of Crucified, Risen King and Lord
This means everything is different now!
Eschatology RedefinedElection RedefinedMonotheism Redefined
Fulfillment in the middle of time
Eschatological purpose of
covenant achieved: inclusion of
Gentiles
Gods people marked by
faith, not works of the law
Israels failure: to see
temporary function of law
Jesus and the Spirit seen to
be within the inner being of God
1 Cor 8; Phil 2; Col 1;
Gal 4; 1 Cor 12; Rom 8
(Covenantal Nomism)
For Paul, all this had now come to pass in Messiah Jesus. Paul's eschatology remains deeply
Jewish, with a retelling of the same key texts. Through his high Christology, Paul details how
God's own future has burst in; through his incorporative Christology, he describes how
Israel's future has burst in (NTW: Auburn Ave conference, day two, session ten; notes by Tim Gallant).
For the majority of Jews of this period, theirs was a long story in search of an ending. The
story has somehow "got stuck" - they are still enslaved to the pagans; they are still in exile.
Daniel 9 suggests that notwithstanding the passing of the requisite 70 years, there is going to
be much more: 70x7 (a Jubilee theme). Forgiveness of sins will mean the end of exile, butIsrael will need to wait for it. Many Jews made calculations on the basis of this text.
The end of slavery was seen in terms of a new exodus: God would again rescue Israel; this
was a warning to the pagans and comfort for Israel. This is to be God's future. God will "come
into His own:" "In that day Yahweh will be king of all the earth" (Zech 13.1).
A Long Story in Search of an Ending
-
7/30/2019 NTWright-JustificationWeek1_000
23/27Copyright 2005 William N. Wilder
The Creator God Chose Israel To Be a Blessing to the World
Monotheism Election Eschatology
with the help of the law
This is the patternor the storylineof Pauls thought prior to his conversion.
DAMASCUS ROAD ENCOUNTERWITH
CRUCIFIEDAND RESURRECTED
LORDThe GOSPEL:
Proclamation of Crucified, Risen King and Lord
This means everything is different now!
Eschatology RedefinedElection RedefinedMonotheism Redefined
Fulfillment in the middle of time
Eschatological purpose of
covenant achieved: inclusion of
Gentiles
Gods people marked by
faith, not works of the law
Israels failure: to see
temporary function of law
Jesus and the Spirit seen to
be within the inner being of God
1 Cor 8; Phil 2; Col 1;
Gal 4; 1 Cor 12; Rom 8
(Covenantal Nomism)
For Paul, all this had now come to pass in Messiah Jesus. Paul's eschatology remains deeply
Jewish, with a retelling of the same key texts. Through his high Christology, Paul details how
God's own future has burst in; through his incorporative Christology, he describes how
Israel's future has burst in (NTW: Auburn Ave conference, day two, session ten; notes by Tim Gallant).
For the majority of Jews of this period, theirs was a long story in search of an ending. The
story has somehow "got stuck" - they are still enslaved to the pagans; they are still in exile.
Daniel 9 suggests that notwithstanding the passing of the requisite 70 years, there is going to
be much more: 70x7 (a Jubilee theme). Forgiveness of sins will mean the end of exile, butIsrael will need to wait for it. Many Jews made calculations on the basis of this text.
The end of slavery was seen in terms of a new exodus: God would again rescue Israel; this
was a warning to the pagans and comfort for Israel. This is to be God's future. God will "come
into His own:" "In that day Yahweh will be king of all the earth" (Zech 13.1).
A Long Story in Search of an Ending
-
7/30/2019 NTWright-JustificationWeek1_000
24/27
Copyright 2005 William N. Wilder
The Creator God Chose Israel To Be a Blessing to the World
Monotheism Election Eschatology
with the help of the law
This is the patternor the storylineof Pauls thought prior to his conversion.
DAMASCUS ROAD ENCOUNTERWITH
CRUCIFIEDAND RESURRECTED
LORDThe GOSPEL:
Proclamation of Crucified, Risen King and Lord
This means everything is different now!
Eschatology RedefinedElection RedefinedMonotheism Redefined
covenant membership law court eschatology
(Covenantal Nomism)
1. Righteousness of God
2. Justification
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7/30/2019 NTWright-JustificationWeek1_000
26/27
Copyright 2005 William N. Wilder
The Creator God Chose Israel To Be a Blessing to the World
Monotheism Election Eschatology
with the help of the law
This is the patternor the storylineof Pauls thought prior to his conversion.
DAMASCUS ROAD ENCOUNTERWITH
CRUCIFIEDAND RESURRECTED
LORDThe GOSPEL:
Proclamation of Crucified, Risen King and Lord
This means everything is different now!
Eschatology RedefinedElection RedefinedMonotheism Redefined
1. Righteousness of God
2. Justification
covenant membership law court eschatology
(Covenantal Nomism)
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7/30/2019 NTWright-JustificationWeek1_000
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Adam, Israel, Servant, Christ:Does Covenant Theology
Get It Wright?
Next week.
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