Reflection: Justification by N.T. Wright

Justification: God's Plan and Paul's Vision is N.T. Wright's response to John Piper's The Future of Justification. It is a thorough, dense if somewhat brief explanation of Wright's take on Justification and why Piper is wrong. I am not qualified to review this book's content and engage critically with it. It is simply out of my league. It is, however, vintage Wright: Readable, dense, and enlightening, with some good one liners thrown in for good measure. As such, I simply offer some reflections.

Wright believes that justification can only be understood in a covenant setting for a Hebrew lawcourt. Justification is the declaration of God that a certain group of people are in the right and will be found in the right. This declaration is in complete accord with the Abrahamic covenant and so it exhibits God's righteousness. God, in this declaration, has remained faithful to the covenant he established because of the faithfulness of Jesus. Jesus has taken on himself the whole of the law and seen it through to make possible the accomplishment of what the law couldn't do, which was make righteous by the power of the Spirit. Wright works through this belief by emphasizing we read Romans in light of Galatians and all of these in light of Ephesians, Corinthians, and Philippians. Justification is about creating one group of people out of two.

Wright believes this formulations is more trinitarian and that it requires a high Christology and a high ecclesiology. Perhaps this has shied some Protestants away from its full impact. It also has a more robust eschatology because present justification always points forward to a future justification for those in Christ who have participated in the transformative power of the Spirit. Wright's emphasis on transformation as an aspect of justification--not earning it, not solidifying it, but flowing from it--was one of the most pastorally exciting aspects of the work. He believes there has been too much navel-gazing and laziness that has gone on because of fear in "works" and "synergism." He challenges that those who believe he is falling into some kind of works-righteousness have not grasped his pneumatology. It is more reliance on God, not less!

This is not a book that can be read quickly or without thorough knowledge of Romans. It's a challenge, but worth the effort. I expect it will take me several more reads of Romans and another two reads of Justification to begin to get a full appreciation of Wright's argument.