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Toward A Richer Doctrine of Justification |
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Traditionally,
justification has been understood as God's once-for-all, forensic declaration
that someone is ‘in the right.’ In spite of its shortcomings, ‘the new
perspective on Paul' has recovered other long-neglected facets of the
doctrine. This has led to a richer and well-rounded theology of justification. It has brought, first of
all, awareness of the 'covenantal' facet of justification; secondly, the fact
that there are ‘present’ and ‘future’ dimensions (besides the ‘once-for-all’
dimension); and thirdly, the 'Jewishness' of the
forensic aspect. 1) The 'covenantal' facet of justification. a) For all their prerogatives (Rom. 3:2; 9:4,5), the unbelieving Jews were not justified. What then
did they miss? These blessings in justification are in that portion of Romans
dealing with the destiny of Justification is a
declaration that believers are members of the true Israel, the Elect, God's
Chosen People (9:6,25;11:7); they are the true children of Abraham (9:7, NEB,
RSV, NIV); children of God (9:27, cf. 9:4); salvation is theirs (9:27;
10:1,10,13; 11:11,14,26); they have come into 'riches much more' (11:12);
theirs is life from the dead (11:15); they have arrived 'at law' (9:31;
10:4), i.e., Christ, the 'goal (telos)' of the law. Having arrived 'at law'='in Christ,'
they have attained a right status and holiness (in essence. See also 1 Cor. 1:30. For this understanding of 'at law' see Tim
Gallant's excellent essay, The
Doers of the Law will be Justified). We find roughly the same
blessings set forth in the other two letters dealing with Justification:
Galatians and Philippians. b) Galatians: Justification encompasses freedom from bondage
under the Law (2:4; 4:26; 5:1,13); freedom from the elemental things of the
world (4:3,9); living to God (2:19); the blessing of Abraham = the gift of
the Spirit (3:2,5,14; 4:6); the working of miracles by God (3:5); being sons
of Abraham = children of promise (3:7,29; 4:28); life (3:11,12,21); an
inheritance (3:18,29); being sons of God (3:26; 4:5-7); members of the
'Israel of God,' the truly Elect, Chosen People of God (6:16). The last is
particularly highlighted by N.T. Wright. c) Philippians: To be justified means becoming a member of
the true circumcision (3:2), i.e., the true 'covenant people of God
inheriting all the promises made to ancient 2) The present and future dimensions of justification. In Galatians 2:16 the
verb 'justified' occurs three times: the first time, in 'the present tense'
which 'can cover the whole process’; the second, in the aorist (a ‘once-for-all’
event or reference to the goal of the whole process, as in 2:17 -- the point
being that justification is by faith from start to finish); and the third,
‘in the future tense,’ i.e., ‘at the last judgment' (cf. Dunn, Jesus, Paul, and the Law, p. 208). Of
course the terms dikaiosunē (righteousness), dikaiosunē theou
(righteousness of God), and dikaiow (justify)
have different functions and different ranges of reference. But these
functions and ranges overlap. ‘Righteousness’ is not
only a status granted at conversion, but can also be used in reference to an
ongoing status, or living relationship (as in Rom. 5:21), and to describe the
end-point of the whole process (as in Rom. 6:16 and Gal. 5:5). 'The
righteousness of God’ is to be seen, therefore, as the outgoing power of
grace which grants, sustains and finally secures that 'righteousness,' not
just a once-for-all act. Nearly half the relevant Pauline uses are aorist and
perfect tenses (i.e., justification is a ‘once-for-all’ declaration). But more
than half are present and future tenses. To be sure, the present tenses could
be taken as ‘timeless’ presents, but most of the future tenses are best taken
as referring to future (=final) justification (on the day of judgment; Rom.
2:1; 3:20; Gal. 2:16; 5:4; Dunn, ibid.,
pp. 207, 208. See also R. Lusk's The
Tenses of Justification. 3) The 'Jewishness' of 'legal
right-standing.' Usually, no mention is
made of which legal standard is referred to God's gift of a forensic
right-status. It is as if the legal datum is self-evident. That is not so.
Different audiences/readers will have different data in their minds,
depending on their background/environment. For Paul, however, there can only
be one datum: the Mosaic Law. To him, this is the really true datum. For the
Law is 'the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth' (Rom. |
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