ntwright-justificationweek3

7/30/2019 NTWright-JustificationWeek3

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The Doctrine of Justification

in the Work of N. T. WrightBy William N. Wilder

Center for Christian Study

Week 3To Whom It Belongs: The Disputed

Righteousness of God


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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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Chose Israel

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 God2. Justification

covenant membership law court eschatology

(Covenantal Nomism)

A Map to Pauls Thought World

According to N.T. Wright

Chart by William N. Wilder

To Be a Blessing to the WorldThe Creator God


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Chose Israel

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 God2. Justification

covenant membership law court eschatology

(Covenantal Nomism)

Chart by William N. Wilder

Chose Israel

Election

To Be a Blessing to the WorldThe Creator God


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Adam Christ

Disobedience Obedience

Curse Blessing

Humanity

New

Humanity

Breach of

Gods law

in the

Garden

Imputation

of Adams

sin to

mankind

Death on the

cross(Passive

Obedience)

Imputation of

churchs sin

to Christ

Fulfillment

of the law(Active

Obedience)

Imputation of

Christs

righteousness to

his church

1. Original

Sin

2. Substitutionary

Atonement

3. Justification by

Faith

Covenant of Works Covenant of Grace

Israel Church

Israel

The WCF does

not exclude views of

the Mosaic covenant

that saw an aspect of the

Mosaic covenant that saw

an aspect illustrative of the

works-inheritance principlein it, subservient to its

position as an administration

of the covenant of grace.

This was a quite commonviewpoint. Rowland

Ward,Adam &

Christ

WCF 7.6 There are

not therefore two

covenants of grace

differing insubstance, but one

and the same

under various

dispensations.


6/37Copyright 2005 William N. Wilder

So which is the controlling story?Is it the story of Adam in Gen 1-

3, understood as a covenant of

works, elaborated perhaps by

the national story of Israel under

the Mosaic law?

Or is it the story of Israel, the proper

answer to the story of Adam, but with its

own meaning and purpose revealed in the

Abrahamic covenant and summed up in

the mysterious vocation of the Servant?

Adams

Disobedience

Christs

Obedience

Adamic

administration:

A covenant

of works

Abrahamic

covenantMosaic

law


Israel Church

Works

principle

WCF 7.2 The first covenant made with man was a

covenant of works, (1) wherein life was promised to

Adam, and in him to his posterity, (2) upon condition

of perfect and personal obedience.(3)

(1)Gal. 3:12.

(2)Rom. 10:5; Rom. 5:12-20.

(3)Gen. 2:17; Gal. 3:10.

Adams

Disobedience

Christs

Obedience

Intended to heap upsin in one place so

that the Messiah

can deal with it

An anticipation

of Israelsdisobedience

and exile from

the land Gods

commissionto bring

salvation to

the world

Chose Israel To Be a Blessing to the WorldThe Creator God

Mosaic

law

Abrahamic

covenant



Galatians 3:10-1410 For all who are from the works of the law

are under a curse; for it is written,

"Cursed be everyone who does not remain

in all things written in the Book of the Law,to do them."

11 Now it is evident that no one is

justified before God by the law, for

"The righteous by faith shall live."

rather

"The one who does them shall live by them."

13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law

by becoming a curse for us- for it is written,

"Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"-

12 But the law is not from faith,

curseCursed

curse

curseCursed

do

does

live.

live

faith

faith

blessing of Abraham

14 so that in Christ Jesus

the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles,

so that we might receive the promised Spiritthrough faith.


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9/37


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The same Last Adam/Servant connection

may be found in Romans 5

Isa 53:11 (ESV) Out of the

anguish of his soul he shallsee and be satisfied; by his

knowledge shall the righteous

one, my servant, make manyto be accounted righteous, and

he shall bear their iniquities.

Rom 5:19 (ESV) For as by

the one man's disobediencethe many were made

sinners, so by the one

man's obedience the manywill be made righteous.

With audible overtones of Isa 53:11, he declares that,as Adams disobedience gave the many the status of

being sinners so Christs obedience has given the

many the status of being righteous.Wright, NIB Romans, p. 529


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And this then solves theproblem of Israels (and

Adams) disobedience.The Torah brings the curse for Israel,

because Israel has not kept it.

Rather, Israel as a whole has failed in her task of being the

light to the nations, of being the seed of Abraham through

whom the varied families of the world would be blessed.

Climax of the Covenant, pp. 155-156

..the death of Jesus finally exhausts the curse which stood

over against the covenant people, so that the blessing of

Abraham might after all come upon the Gentiles.



One might be temptedto see here a modified

covenant of worksThe Torah brings the curse for Israel,

because Israel has not kept it.

Rather, Israel as a whole has failed in her task of being the

light to the nations, of being the seed of Abraham through

whom the varied families of the world would be blessed.

..the death of Jesus finally exhausts the curse which stood

over against the covenant people, so that the blessing of

Abraham might after all come upon the Gentiles.

Climax of the Covenant, pp. 155-156

corporatean

redemptive-historical



Wright does not.when the Torah arrived in Israel it meant that Israel copiedand recapitulated the sin of Adam, showing that Israel was

indeed sinful

Some people have seen this as an indictment of Israel, of the

Jew trying to earn justification or salvation by works-

righteousness, to gain favour with God by keeping the law

But that is not the point. Paul exonerates not only the law, but

also, interestingly, the I: it is no longer I that do it, he says

(verses 17,20 [in Rom 7]). Not only the law, but Israel itself,

appear to be trapped in a negative spiral But whereas the

law was spiritual, Israel belongs, in other words, on the Adam

side of the equation. The law does not enable Israel to get out of

that problem; it merely intensifies it

God wanted sin to be brought to its full height in order that he

might deal with it, condemn it, punish it once and for all.

Why?

Why?

Romans For Everyone, pp. 127-128



Wright does not.when the Torah arrived in Israel it meant that Israel copiedand recapitulated the sin of Adam, showing that Israel was

indeed sinful

Some people have seen this as an indictment of Israel, of the

Jew trying to earn justification or salvation by works-

righteousness, to gain favour with God by keeping the law

But that is not the point. Paul exonerates not only the law, but

also, interestingly, the I: it is no longer I that do it, he says

(verses 17,20 [in Rom 7]). Not only the law, but Israel itself,

appear to be trapped in a negative spiral But whereas the

law was spiritual, Israel belongs, in other words, on the Adam

side of the equation. The law does not enable Israel to get out of

that problem; it merely intensifies itWhy?

Why?

Romans For Everyone, pp. 127-128

ThedeathofJesus

exhausts

thecursean

dbringsGods

peopleoutfromt

heBONDAGE

OFSINintothenewexo

dus

trektowardthe

newcreation.

God wanted sin to be brought to its full height in order that he

might deal with it, condemn it, punish it once and for all.



So which is the controlling story?

Is it the story of Adam in Gen 1-

3, understood as a covenant of

works, elaborated perhaps by

the national story of Israel under

the Mosaic law?

Or is it the story of Israel, the proper

answer to the story of Adam, but with its

own meaning and purpose revealed in the

Abrahamic covenant and summed up inthe mysterious vocation of the Servant?

Adams

Disobedience

Christs

Obedience

Adamic

administration:

A covenant

of works

Abrahamic

covenantMosaic

law


Israel Church

Works

principle

WCF 7.2 The first covenant made with man was a

covenant of works, (1) wherein life was promised to

Adam, and in him to his posterity, (2) upon condition

of perfect and personal obedience.(3)

(1)Gal. 3:12.

(2)Rom. 10:5; Rom. 5:12-20.

(3)Gen. 2:17; Gal. 3:10.

Adams

Disobedience

Christs

Obedience

Intended to heap upsin in one place so

that the Messiah

can deal with it

An anticipation

of Israelsdisobedience

and exile from

the land Gods

commissionto bring

salvation to

the world

Chose Israel To Be a Blessing to the WorldThe Creator God

Mosaic

law

Abrahamic

covenant


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To Whom It Belongs:The Imputed Righteousness of GodDis



Presbytery of the Mississippi Valley

We believe that the clarity of the Gospel, the

freeness of grace and justification, and theassurance of the believer are all underminedby the formulations of the NPP, NTW, NS,and AAT/FV theologies. No greater tragedycould befall the PCA today than to

compromise the lucidity of her preaching ofthe glorious Gospel of grace, yet that is, wefear, precisely what we are facing.

February 1, 2005 Pastoral Letter and Summary:



N. T. Wright

I believe passionately that scripture must be

the judge of all our traditions, no matter howvenerable, and that the way imputation hasdeveloped as a particular major theme insome protestant theology may be one of thosetraditions that needs reassessing in the light

of scripture itself (not just of what ourtraditions traditionally tell us that scripturesays!).

Wrightsaid Q&A, March 2004 (www.ntwrightpage.com):



Imputation & IncorporationMy sense is that within certain sub-traditions ofProtestantism the word imputation has been made tocarry far, far more baggage than it even begins to in theNT, and thats a warning sign to me. As far as I can see,Pauls central statements of something that I might beprepared to say imputation about are in a passage like

Romans 6, where the logic runs: by baptism, you are inChrist; therefore what is true of Christ is true of you;therefore, specifically, his death and resurrection are true ofyou; therefore you must calculate this, do the sums, work

out who you actually are -- and then live accordingly. But Ithink this provides a somewhat different grid ofunderstanding to normal imputation theology. Thereckoning thus takes place within, and as part of,

incorporation into the people of the Messiah.Wrightsaid Q&A, March 2004

(www.ntwrightpage.com)


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The Righteousness of God in 2 Cor 5:21There is probably no passage in the Scriptures in whichthe doctrine of justification is more concisely or clearlystated than in [2 Corinthians 5:21]. Our sins wereimputed to Christ, and his righteousness is imputed tous. He bore our sins; we are clothed in hisrighteousnessChrist bearing our sins did not make

him morally a sinnernor does Christs righteousnessbecome subjectively ours, it is not the moral quality ofour souls.Our sins were the judicial ground of the

sufferings of Christ, so that they were a satisfaction ofjustice; and his righteousness is the judicial ground ofour acceptance with God, so that our pardon is an act ofjustice. It is not mere pardon, but justification alonethat gives us peace with God. Charles Hodge, quoted by Piper,

Counted Righteous, p. 83


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The Righteousness of God in 2 Cor 5:21There is probably no passage in the Scriptures in whichthe doctrine of justification is more concisely or clearlystated than in [2 Corinthians 5:21]. Our sins wereimputed to Christ, and his righteousness is imputed tous. He bore our sins; we are clothed in hisrighteousnessOur sins were the judicial ground of the

sufferings of Christ, so that they were a satisfaction ofjustice; and his righteousness is the judicial ground ofour acceptance with God, so that our pardon is an act of

justice. It is not mere pardon, but justification alonethat gives us peace with God.

Charles Hodge, quoted by Piper, Counted Righteous, p. 83

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new

creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has becomenew! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through

Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in

Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their

trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to

us. 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his

appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to

God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so thatin him we might become the righteousness of God.

Th d i 2 C i thi 5 21 hi h I h


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The Righteousness of God in 2 Cor 5:21There is probably no passage in the Scriptures in whichthe doctrine of justification is more concisely or clearlystated than in [2 Corinthians 5:21]. Our sins wereimputed to Christ, and his righteousness is imputed tous. He bore our sins; we are clothed in hisrighteousnessOur sins were the judicial ground of the

sufferings of Christ, so that they were a satisfaction ofjustice; and his righteousness is the judicial ground ofour acceptance with God, so that our pardon is an act of

justice. It is not mere pardon, but justification alonethat gives us peace with God.

Charles Hodge, quoted by Piper, Counted Righteous, p. 83

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new

creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has becomenew! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through

Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in

Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their

trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to

us. 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his

appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to

God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so thatin him we might become the righteousness of God.

The second passage is 2 Corinthians 5.21, which as I have

argued elsewhere is not, as a matter of good exegesis, a

statement of soteriology but of apostolic vocation. The entire

passage is about the way in which Pauls new covenant ministry,through the death and resurrection of Jesus, is in fact Gods

appointed means for establishing and maintaining the church. So

that we might become Gods righteousness in him means that in

Christ those who are called to be apostolic preachers actuallyembody Gods own covenant faithfulness. NTW, Rutherford Lecture,

(www.ntwrightpage.com)


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The main argument for taking dikaiosune theou to denote

an aspect of the character of God himself is the way in

which Paul is summoning up a massive biblical and

intertestamental theme, found not least in Isaiah 40-55

which I have argued elsewhere is vital for him. Gods

dikaiosune, his tsedaqah, is that aspect of his character

because of which, despite Israels infidelity andconsequent banishment, God will remain true to the

covenant with Abraham and rescue her none the less. This

righteousness is of course a form of justice; God hasbound himself to the covenant, or perhaps we should say

Gods covenant is binding upon him, and through this

covenant he has promised not only to save Israel but also,thereby, to renew creation itself. NTW, Rutherford Lecture(www.ntwrightpage.com)

The Real Meaning of Righteousness of God


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The Real Meaning of Righteousness of God

You can see this most clearly if you remember the context of

the Jewish lawcourt which forms the background for Pauls

forensic use of the dikaiosune theme.... For the judge to be

righteous, it is necessary that he try the case fairly, refusebribes or other favouritism, uphold the law, and take special

note for the helpless, the widows, and so on. When either the

plaintiff or the defendant is declared righteous at the end ofthe case, there is no sense that in either case the judges own

righteousness has been passed on to them, by imputation,

impartation, or any other process. What they have is a status

of righteous which comes from the judge. NTW, Rutherford Lecture(www.ntwrightpage.com)

Righteousness is not an object, a substance or a gas which can be

passed across the courtroom To imagine the defendant

somehow receiving the judges righteousness is simply a categorymistake. That is not how the language works. NTW, What Saint Paul

Really Said, p. 98


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Is Philippians 3:9 a Clarification

Of What Paul Means by theRighteousness of God?

Philippians 3:8-9 [I want to] gain Christ 9 and be found in

him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from

the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the

righteousness from God based on faith.

The key phrase here, importantly, is not dikaiosune theou, Gods

righteousness, but dikaiosune ek theou, a righteousness from God. All

too often scholars have referred to this passage as though it could be

the yardstick for uses ofdikaiosune theou; but this is impossible.

Thinking back to the Hebrew law court, what we have here is the

righteousness, the status, which the vindicated party possesses as aresult of the courts decision. This is a righteous status from God; and

this is not, as we saw, Gods own righteousness. NTW, WSPRS, p. 104

Wrigh

tsaysn

o!


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This brings us to RomansWell begin with Romans 3:21-26.


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NIV Romans 3:21-26 But now a

righteousness from God, apart from

law, has been made known, towhich the Law and the Prophets

testify. 22 This righteousness from

God comes through faith in Jesus

Christ to all who believe. There is no

difference, 23 for all have sinnedand fall short of the glory of God,

24 and are justified freely by his

grace through the redemption that

came by Christ Jesus. 25 Godpresented him as a sacrifice of

atonement, through faith in his

blood. He did this to demonstrate his

justice, because in his forbearance

he had left the sins committed

beforehand unpunished-- 26 he did

it to demonstrate his justice at the

present time, so as to be just and

the one who justifies those whohave faith in Jesus.

NRS Romans 3:21-26 But now,

apart from law, the righteousness of

God has been disclosed, and is

attested by the law and the

prophets, 22 the righteousness of

God through faith in Jesus Christ (1)

for all who believe. For there is no

distinction, 23 since all have sinnedand fall short of the glory of God; 24

they are now justified by his grace

as a gift, through the redemption that

is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God putforward as a sacrifice of atonement

by his blood, effective through faith.

He did this to show his

righteousness, because in his divine

forbearance he had passed over the

sins previously committed; 26 it was

to prove at the present time that he

himself is righteous and that he

justifies the one who has faith inJesus.

(1) Or through the faith of Jesus Christ


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righteousness from God

righteousness from

God

righteousness of

righteousness of

God


righteous

righteousnessjustice

just

justice


33/37








































righteousness from

God

righteousness of

righteousness of

God


righteous


just

justice

Oncethe specific argument of 3:21-26 is grasped, itis quite impossible that this phrase should mean, as

NIV, a righteousness from God, that is, the righteous

status that believers enjoy as a gift from God and inGods presence (NIB Romans, p. 465).


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righteousness from

God

righteousness of

righteousness of

God


righteous


just

justice


through faith in Jesus

Christ

through faith in Jesus Christ (1)


35/37








































righteousness from

God

righteousness of

righteousness of

God


righteous


just

justice


through faith in Jesus

Christ

through faith in Jesus Christ (1)

But now, quite apart from the law (though the law and the prophets

bore witness to it), Gods covenant justice comes into operation

through the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah, for the benefit of all

who have faith. For there is no distinction: all sinned, and fell short of

Gods glory and by Gods grace they are freely declared to be in

the right, to be members of the covenant, through the redemption

which is found in the Messiah, Jesus (Wrights translation; RomansFor Everyone, p. 51).

Wrights Translation


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NIV Romans 4:1 What then shall we say that

Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this

matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by

works, he had something to boast about-- but

not before God. 3 What does the Scripture say?"Abraham believed God, and it was credited to

him as righteousness." 4 Now when a man

works, his wages are not credited to him as agift, but as an obligation. 5 However, to the man

who does not work but trusts God who justifies

the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.

Next time: Romans 4:1-5!


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The Importance of Definition:Righteousness, Justification,

Faith & Works

Next week.

ntwright-justificationweek3

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