New Perspective on "Pauline Justification"
.docx
School
Moody Bible Institute**We aren't endorsed by this school
Course
BI 4406
Subject
Management
Date
Dec 16, 2024
Pages
4
Uploaded by ChiefFlyMaster517
Eaton 1Nicholas C. EatonProfessor KlopfensteinInterpreting Romans for TeachingApril 22, 2024New Perspective on “Pauline Justification”As I read Romans 3:19-20 I see Paul telling the Roman church (and all Christians) that God will not justify any sinners on the basis of following the law. One thing that we need to remember when it comes to the law that God gave is that only one was able to keep it- and that was Jesus. This is the topicthat drove Martin Luther mad. He knew that there was no way that the law could be kept, so therefore there was no way for anyone to be seen as right-eous in God’s eyes. It was only when he came to Romans that he found the answer to his questions. I am going to look at what Paul means when he speaks of the “works of the law.”God initially gave the Israelites the law to set them apart. He called them to be a holy nation, not following the customs of the surrounding pagannations. Over the next few thousand years, the Jewish people would take on a certain entitlement mentality and instead of sharing what God gave them, they kept it for themselves. As well as the entitlement that they began to feel, they also lost sight of the entire point. God never intended for anyone tobe justified through the law. We don’t have to look very far back from the Ex-
Eaton 2odus to see how God intended to redeem mankind. In Genesis 15 we read that Abraham believed God and that God then counted his belief as right-eousness. What this means is that Abraham was not justified through any works (circumcision, or sacrificing Isaac) but he was justified through his faith in God. Nothing has changed. We are still justified by faith, only now it is faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior. If the Jewish people had looked back far enough to see how the father of their nation was justified then they would have understood that the law was never meant to bring righteousness to anyone. Galatians 3:21 says: “Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.” What this tells us is that God gave the law to show that His people were set apart. He did not give the law to bring about justification through the law.The biggest difference between the truth of faith and works, and what the Jewish people believed is that for Christians the works come through our faith. When we believe in Jesus Christ, we are trusting and following Him. We look to Him and how He lived His life, and then we do likewise. When we put our faith in Christ there is a change in our lives and we begin to live a life of works. These works do not justify or redeem us, they are simply proof of thatchange in our lives. I really don’t think that the view that I have about Paul’s idea of justifi-cation is that radical. I simply read what the Bible says at the surface level. Some things that we find in God’s Word don’t need a ton of interpretation to
Eaton 3understand. Certain passages are written as parable, apocalyptic, or prophecy. All of these methods of writing are often metaphoric where things are “like” other things. This is not one of those instances. Paul is not mincing words with what he is saying. And I would like to remind us all that when Paul is writing, he is writing with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (and Jesus gives the Holy Spirit words for us). That being said, Paul's words are the words of God. I think that nothing will change in my church based on what I have written here. It is simply what Romans says. I haven’t agreed with a lot that I have read in the “New Perspectives” book. I don't think there can be new perspectives. Paul wrote what he wrote, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. There is one interpretation to it, but multiple applications.
Eaton 4Works Cited:Westerholm, Stephen. Perspectives Old and New on Paul: The “Lutheran” Paul and His Critics. Eerdmans.Sproul, R.C. ESV Reformation Study Bible, Gray. LIGONIER MINISTRIES, 2021. Sproul, R. C. (2014, February 26). The Works of the Law. Tabletalk Magazine.