Justification and - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Justification andUnion with Christ in Paul

Lionel WindsorSlide2

No condemnation now I dread;

Jesus, and all in him, is mine!

Alive in him, my living head,

And clothed in righteousness divine,

Bold I approach the eternal throne,

And claim the crown through Christ my own.

Charles Wesley, “And Can It Be,” c. 1738Slide3

We do not, therefore, contemplate him outside ourselves from afar in order that his righteousness may be imputed to us but because we put on Christ and are engrafted into his body—in short, because he deigns to make us one with him. For this reason, we glory that we have fellowship of righteousness with him.

Calvin,

Inst.

3.11.10

Slide4

1. Surprised by JustificationSlide5

1. Surprised by Justification

1.1 The theological problem:

the God who justifies the ungodly

And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works [ . . . ]

Rom 4:5–6 ESVSlide6

1. Surprised by Justification

1.1 The theological problem:

the God who justifies the ungodly

You shall keep away from every unjust (

ἀδίκος

) utterance. You shall not kill an innocent or righteous (

δίκ

α

ιος

) person, and you shall not justify (

δικ

α

ιόω

) the ungodly (

ἀσε

β

ής

) for the sake of a gift.

Exod

23:7 LXX

If

a dispute arises between people, and they enter into litigation, and [the judges] judge and justify (

δικ

α

ιόω

) the righteous (

δίκ

α

ιος

) and condemn the ungodly (

ἀσε

β

ής

) [ . . . ]

Deut

25:1 LXXSlide7

1. Surprised by Justification

1.2

The Reformers’

answer:

The

imputation of righteousness through union with Christ

Slide8

2. Justification and Union with Christ

in modern Pauline scholarshipSlide9

2. Modern Pauline Scholarship

2.1

The salvation-historical impulse:

defuse the problem by redefining the words

Slide10

2. Modern Pauline Scholarship

2.1

The salvation-historical impulse:

defuse the problem by redefining the words

“Righteousness”, within the

lawcourt

setting—and this is something that no good Lutheran or Reformed theologian ought ever to object to—denotes

the status that someone has when the court has found in their favour

. Notice, it does

not

denote, within that all-important

lawcourt

context, “the moral character they are then assumed to have”, or “the moral behaviour they have demonstrated which has earned them the verdict.” [ . . . I]t is possible for the judge to make a mistake, and to “justify”—that is, to find in favour of—a person who is of thoroughly bad character and who did in fact commit the crimes of which he or she had been charged. If that happens, it is still the case that the person concerned, once the verdict has been announced, is “righteous”, that is, “acquitted”, “cleared”, “vindicated”, “justified

”.

Tom Wright,

Justification

, 69–70Slide11

2. Modern Pauline Scholarship

2.2

The

apocalyptic impulse:

explode the problem by redefining the normsSlide12

2. Modern Pauline Scholarship

2.2

The

apocalyptic impulse:

explode the problem by redefining the norms

The Christ-event has revolutionized the believers’ existence, recalculating their norms. If they think that “righteousness” is Torah-defined, or act as if it were, they are no longer true to the good news. The gift enacted in the death of Christ has fundamentally reshaped every system of values, and to

reestablish

the Torah as the ultimate norm would be to refuse God’s gift.

John Barclay,

Paul and the Gift

, 387Slide13

2. Modern Pauline Scholarship

2.2

The

apocalyptic impulse:

explode the problem by redefining the norms

We do not have to imagine here a “transfer” of “the righteousness of Christ,” effected through a believer’s union with Christ. It is enough to say that God recognizes as “righteous” those who indicate, by faith in Christ, that the Christ-event has become the ground of their being

.

John Barclay,

Paul and the Gift

, 379Slide14

3. Listening again to the ReformersSlide15

3. Listening again to the Reformers

3.1

Luther on Galatians

Here it is to be noted that these three things are joined together: faith, Christ, and acceptance or imputation. Faith takes hold of Christ and has him present, enclosing him as the ring encloses the gem. And whoever is found having this faith in the Christ who is grasped in the heart, him God accounts as righteous. This is the means and the merit by which we obtain the forgiveness of sins and righteousness. [ . . . ] God accepts you or accounts you righteous only on account of Christ, in whom you

believe.

Luther on Galatians 2:16Slide16

3. Listening again to the Reformers

3.1

Luther on Galatians

But he who believes in Christ and by the spirit of faith has become one with Him not only renders satisfaction now to all but also brings it about that they owe everything to him, since he has all things in common with Christ. His sins are no longer his; they are Christ’s. [ . . . ] Again, Christ’s righteousness now belongs not only to Christ; it belongs to His Christian.

Luther on Galatians 2:21Slide17

3. Listening again to the Reformers

3.2

Calvin’s

Institutes

First, we must understand that as long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from him, all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value for us [ . . . ] To sum up, the Holy Spirit is the bond by which Christ effectually unites us to himself

.

(Calvin,

Inst

.

3.1.1

)Slide18

3. Listening again to the Reformers

3.2

Calvin’s

Institutes

But that we may not stumble on the very

threshhold

[ . . . ] first let us explain what these expressions mean [ . . . ]

Therefore we explain justification simply as the acceptance

with which God receives us into his

favor

as righteous men. And we say that it consists in the remission of sins and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness.

(Calvin,

Inst

.

3.11.2)Slide19

3. Listening again to the Reformers

3.2

Calvin’s

Institutes

We do not, therefore, contemplate him outside ourselves from afar in order that his righteousness may be imputed to us but because we put on Christ and are engrafted into his body—in short, because he deigns to make us one with him. For this reason, we glory that we have fellowship of righteousness with him

.

(Calvin,

Inst

.

3.11.10)Slide20

3. Listening again to the Reformers

3.2

Calvin’s

Institutes

[M]an is not righteous in himself but because the righteousness of Christ is communicated to him by imputation. [ . . . ] You see that our righteousness is not in us but in Christ, that we possess it only because we are partakers in Christ; indeed, with him we possess all its riches. [ . . . ] For in such a way dos the Lord Christ share his righteousness with us that, in some wonderful manner, he pours into us enough of his power to meet the judgment of God

.

(Calvin,

Inst

.

3.11.23)Slide21

3. Listening again to the Reformers

3.3

Calvin on RomansSlide22

3. Listening again to the Reformers

3.3

Calvin on Romans

3.3.1 The stability of creational and legal norms

He

[God] will render to each one according to his

works

(Rom

2:6 ESV)

For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified

.

(

Rom 2:13 ESV)Slide23

3. Listening again to the Reformers

3.3

Calvin on Romans

3.3.2 The centrality of the atonement

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

and

are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

whom

God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

It

was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus

(Rom 3:23–26 ESV)Slide24

3. Listening again to the Reformers

3.3

Calvin on Romans

3.3.3 The imputation of righteousness

in the justification of the ungodly

And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from

works

(Rom

4:5–6 ESV

)Slide25

3. Listening again to the Reformers

3.3

Calvin on Romans

3.3.4 Christ’s

obedience

and

the “gift of

righteousness”

For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

(Rom 5:17

ESV

)Slide26

3. Listening again to the Reformers

3.3

Calvin on Romans

3.3.4 Christ’s

obedience

and

the “gift of

righteousness”

We are not accounted righteous because we have righteousness within us, but because we possess Christ Himself with all His blessings, given to us by the Father’s bounty. The gift of righteousness, therefore, does not signify a quality with which God endows us, for this is a misinterpretation, but is the free imputation of righteousness

.

(Calvin on Romans 5:17)Slide27

3. Listening again to the Reformers

3.3

Calvin on Romans

3.3.4 Christ’s

obedience

and

the “gift of

righteousness”

For

as by the one man’s

disobedience

the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s

obedience

the many will be

established to be righteous (

δίκαιοι

κατασταθήσονται

).

(Rom 5:19, modified ESV)

Christ

, in satisfying the Father, has procured righteousness for us. It follows from this that righteousness exists in Christ as a property, but that that which belongs properly to Christ is imputed to us

.

(Calvin on Romans 5:19)Slide28

3. Listening again to the Reformers

3.3

Calvin on Romans

3.3.5 Union with Christ and sanctification

(Rom 6:1ff.)

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

.(Rom 6:1 ESV)Slide29

3. Listening again to the Reformers

3.4

Calvin on other key texts

2 Cor 5:21

Phil 3:8–9

1 Cor 1:30Slide30

5. Conclusion