Ian & Jocelyn Barker

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon at Barnes & Noble speed reading through Brian McLaren’s book “Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope. I was reading it to help a friend with a project he is working on, but also because I was interested in what McLaren is all about since I have heard about him, but never read him.

If you are intrigued by him and his ideas, don’t be. Instead, be worried.

The essential message of the book is that the Church has had it wrong for too long and Jesus’ message was not about getting to heaven after we die and worrying about our personal relationship with God, but that everyone needs to help the poor of the earth and in doing so, we will be living like Jesus.

It is all fair and good to say that the Church needs to care more for the poor and that the gospel is not about us going away to His kingdom in the sky. But to say we are to do that to the neglect of establishing a right relationship with God, or that we are not awaiting a coming kingdom, is insane. Furthermore, to help the poor at the expense of preaching the gospel and requiring allegiance to Christ is to trample on the blood of Christ.

From what I observed, there are three faulty foundations on which he builds his ideas:

1. Jesus’ Kingdom was established when He walked on the earth and it is our job as His followers to expand that kingdom. We are not waiting for Him to return, but for humanity at large to do what He told us to do.
2. Man is not born into sin, but is capable of progressing and improving themselves if only they are relieved of exterior negative circumstances.
3. Our great hope is not that Jesus the King will one day split the skies and establish His Kingdom on earth, but that man can apply the teachings of Christ in order to improve themselves and be healed.

If we remove the eschatological hope of Jesus returning as a King, then we are left hopeless. If we remove any semblance of sin as being the sickness that plagues mankind and repentance and faith in Christ being the answer, then we are left with vanity.

I have started to read Dallas Willard’s modern Christian classic, The Divine Conspiracy. It’s basic message is that Christianity is about bringing God’s Kingdom into earth, not about getting to heaven. Speaking about the meaning of God’s Kingdom is “at hand,” he says that that phrase more accurately means, “is here,” or “has come.” Thus he writes,

One thing that may mislead us about the meaning of “at hand” in Jesus’ basic message is the fact that other “kingdoms” are still present on earth along with the kingdom of the heavens. They too are “at hand.” That is the human condition. Persons other than God, such as you or I, are still allowed on earth to have a “say” that is contrary to his will…

All of this God still permits. And the lack of human unity in intelligent love under God not only leaves us at the mercy of manmade disasters, such as wars, famine, and oppression, but also prevents our dealing successfully with many so-called natural evils, such as disease, scarcity, and weather-related disasters.

I like that phrase, “human unity in intelligent love under God.” The Church will live in unity and love but will do so with wisdom and under the leadership of God. But the great thing is that we can do so now. The Kingdom of God rules wherever a human heart receives the Kingdom and acts as a ruler in that Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is wherever His will is done and it spreads by His co-rulers. This is great news.

A couple of weeks ago I read a book called “Roma: The Novel of Ancient Rome” by Steven Saylor, an historical fiction book that spans 1000 years. It started at the creation of Rome and finished with the assassination of Julius Caesar. It was an interesting read but made me realize how little I know about Roman history. (Note: The book is sexually explicit in areas.) Not that I need to know much about Roman history, but, being the history buff that I am, this bothers me.

So I got a book from the library called “The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome” by Susan Wise Bauer, and it is brilliant. Even more brilliant is the fact that she is a homeschooling mom who just happens to be writing a four-volume set on world history. She has a blog and it is very interesting as she chronicles the writing of the project. She’s on volume 2. Another note is that her husband is a pastor.

Don’t be alarmed, I’m not going to blog my way through an history of the ancient world. I’m only writing this to tell you what I’m reading and thinking about. Why am I reading about this? Mostly because I want to have a greater perspective of the nations that were alive in the Old Testament years of Israel and to see how the different empires rose and fell according to God’s decrees (Dan. 2:21). Furthermore, I want to see what the pagan nations were like that God continually warned against and see what Rome, the nation that had a hand in killing the Christ, was like.

A further thing that has intrigued me of late is what the patrolling men of Zechariah 1 meant when they reported that the earth was “peaceful and quiet” (Zech. 1:11). I don’t think this is a good kind of peace but relates to how the nations of the earth were treating Jerusalem as she was rebuilt and reestablished as the city of God. What was happening in the earth?

The book is incredibly easy to read and I would highly recommend it to you.

I’m not going to blog on the last chapter of the book because it is mostly a response to another author who proposes that Paul invented Christianity and not Jesus. Semi-interesting, but my mind is too full from the rest of the book to really dig into it.

So what did I think about the book? I loved it. This is probably the most exciting, thought provoking, and deeply truthful book I have read in a while. Of course, his ideas are new to me so it will take a while for me to really sift through it as I read Paul to see what I agree with. I certainly like what I read and want to see where it goes in terms of being accepted by the Christian community at large. One thing I am aware of as we approach the coming of Christ is that revelation will increase and we will understand Him in a greater way. That’s what makes theology so exciting and scary. There are a ton of new ideas out there, but it is the job of each believer to discern what is truth. One thing I do not want to do is to deny new ideas because they do not fit our orthodox theology. I deeply respect the work of theologians over the past 2000 years, but I’m aware of our constant need to asking questions and listening.

I’ve been challenged while reading this book to, as best I can, take off my old goggles and lay aside my preconceived ideas. I certainly don’t want to throw out everything, but neither do I want to hold onto to something so I tight that I have already lost it. What I mean is, I can had beliefs that do not actually matter to my life or make sense in light of the rest of my theology. I want to be open to hear and quick to learn.

I highly recommend this book because it will challenge you and provoke you.

This chapter was called “Paul’s Gospel Then and Now,” and basically relates how Paul’s gospel, his doctrine on justification and righteousness effect us today. It was very good but I will not get into the details of the chapter because it can be summed fairly briefly.

“The gospel itself creates the church; justification continually reminds the church that it is the people created by the gospel and the gospel alone, and that it must live on that basis” (151).

There should be no dichotomy between “preaching the gospel” and social justice. He is the Lord of the world and that should be obvious through our lives. The gospel is not an offer of new experiences but a demand for allegiance. The only new experience it guarantees is that of carrying the cross.

The gospel leads to justification because the gospel saves people into a community; justification sustains it. It is an ecumenical doctrine and our gospel is far too individualistic. This is an important point: “One is not justified by faith by believing in justification by faith” (159). We are justified by faith by believing in Jesus. It comes after our conversion or our salvation. Wright believes that His “call” is when we are saved. “Paul’s doctrine of justification is completely dependent upon his gospel, which as we have seen is the proclamation of Jesus as Lord” (160).

Justification defines members of family who have come in through faith, which means, faithfulness to Christ. This takes away the weirdness of trying to describe why works matter when we are saved by faith. Faith is a vow to obey Christ and justification is the mark that defines us as such. Justification by faith, that we are all equal in God’s family because of faith, tears down powers and principalities and reveals the wisdom of God.

The purpose of the covenant was always to restore the world. The gospel is not individualistic as in it creates a group of people who are saved to the exclusion of others. It is a call to change and transformation of the entire cosmos. Acts of mercy, justice and peace are “signs of hope for a world that groans in travail, waiting for its promised liberation” (164).

What is the effect of Paul’s doctrine? Paul gave a new way of being human that Israel had been called into but had failed. 5 ways in which this was flushed out.

The Centre of Renewed Humanity: Worship
Genuine humanity worships the one true God in contrast to pagans who worship many gods (1 Thess. 1:9). The worship of pagan gods breaks down a society as seen in Romans 1. Unbelieving was not much better and brought dishonor to His name (Rom. 2:17-24). The solution is a society where circumcision/uncirucumcision do not matter but what matters is if one is a Jew in heart. This people is the true humanity. True worship of one true God means you are transformed so as to become “a more complete human being.”

The Goal of Renewed Humanity: Resurrection
Resurrection is more than resuscitation, but is transformation. As opposed to Jewish thought in the first-century, Paul saw that the real enemy was sin and death, not the Gentiles. Consequently, more than resuscitation as a form of vindication was needed.

Before saying that we live in the last days, Paul would have said we live in first days after “the great act of God within history to defeat sin and death and liberate the whole cosmos. He then would have added: these are also the last days before the great act of God which will bring to completion that which was begun in Christ” (141). Goal is that believers share in resurrection of Christ, a reality that Judaism had seen but failed to understand and attain.

The Transformation of Renewed Humanity: Holiness
What happens in between conversion and resurrection? Transformation beings now. Worship and holiness are joined together and connected (Rom. 12:1-2). Holiness and worship is the reality of which paganism parodies (Rom. 1:18-32).

Holiness “characterizes all those who are renewed in Christ” (143). Yet, Paul lives with the tension of the “now” and “not yet” making perfection impossible. Holiness is not dependent upon Torah but on the Spirit. “Genuine holiness is seen in terms of dying and rising with Christ” (145).

The Coherence of Renewed Humanity: Love
The mark of Christianity is love which is demonstrated in a family where everyone is accepted as an equal member. Love is the demonstration to powers and principalities that God has achieved victory (Eph. 3:10). Paganism can only collapse into pride and infighting. Lack of love and a divided church (Jew vs. Gentile) threatens the reality of the renewed humanity in Christ.

The Zeal of Renewed Humanity: Mission
Being in the “image of God” was so that God could be reflected into the world. Complete restoration brings end to groan of creation. Paul saw his mission as more than appealing to individuals to be saved into heaven. He was announcing the reign of the King Jesus to “every creature under heaven” (Col. 1:23) and demanded that they come into obedience to Him. He knows he is a part of the renewal of the complete cosmos.

There is a lot to be said about Romans because he basically went through 1-11 expounding on justification throughout the letter. He starts in chapter 1 by saying that 1:3-4 is the summary of the content of the gospel, and 1:16-17 is summary of the effect of the gospel. The gospel does not reveal “justification by faith as the true scheme of salvation, as opposed to Jewish self-help moralism” (126). It is His covenantal faithfulness that has defeated sin and evil through His Son and helped the helpless through faith.

Romans 2 baffles scholars who see Romans as a book on how to be saved. The first mention of justification in Romans is one where Paul apparently approves the idea of justification through works (2:13). Paul is talking about the final eschatological justification. Who will be vindicated as God’s people on the last day? The Torah alone is insufficient in this process, but God has done in Christ and the Spirit what the Torah alone couldn’t do. But who will these people be?

Wright says that 2:17-24 says “that it cannot be the Jews as defined by race” (127). Their boasting is negated by the fact that their sin still remains so she can’t be affirmed. But what if He inaugurated the covenant with a remnant of true Jews as he says in 2:25-29. This goes beyond race and circumcision. They are regarded as His covenant people. “Justification” is the coming day when He will vindicate His true people.

Yet how can God be true to HIs promises if Israel has been faithless? God “entrusted” Israel with message for the world but the messenger has failed. Does this mean “sender” is faithless? No! God has sent His Son as faithful messenger in order to fulfill His covenantal promises to Israel by extending blessing to Gentiles.

Regarding Romans 3:21-31, he writes, “The passage is all about the covenant, membership in which is now thrown open to Jew and Gentile alike; therefore it is all about God’s dealing with sin in the cross and resurrection of Jesus, because that was what the covenant was intended to do in the first place. The law court takes its proper place as the metaphorical means through which the covenant purposes of God are fulfilled” (128).

The boasting in 3:27 is not a moral boasting but a racial boast of the Jew. Covenantal membership is not exclusive to the racial Jew alone. Justification is declaration that believers in Christ are members of true covenant. “Present justification declares, on the basis of faith, what future justification will affirm publicly (according to 2:14-16 and 8:9-11) on the basis of the entire life” (129).

Genesis 15 is the backbone of Romans 4 because that was when covenant was established. “Covenant membership is defined, not by circumcision (4:9-12), nor by race, but by faith” (129). Faith was what showed or proved that he was a member of the family of God. It wasn’t something he did to “earn the right to be within the people of God” (130).

Chapters 5-8 show that all who believe in the gospel are the true people of God who have been forgiven their sins and assured of their future salvation. 5:12-21 is Paul’s evaluation of how God’s covenant promise to deal with sin of Adam has been accomplished in Christ. Torah offered slavery because it highlighted the problem of sin in Adam. He has accomplished what Law couldn’t in His Son. People of God will be vindicated/justified in the resurrection after temporal suffering (8:31-39).

This leaves us with 9:30-10:21 as final passage in Romans. The Gentiles have been discovering “covenant membership” by having faith in Christ, while Israel had been clinging to the Torah, the marker of covenant. Yet they could not attain to the Torah which resulted in them stubbornly insisting on a marking of membership that was defined by the works of the Law. She did not submit to Christ’s righteousness (or plan of salvation) which was to be the end of the Law (as marker of covenant) that all who believe might have covenant membership. Works of the Law is reference to covenantal markers, not moral effort. Paul’s understanding of covenantal marker was not works of the Law but faith in Christ — died and rose.

Conclusion

1. Covenant. “Justification is the covenant declaration, which will be issued on the last day, in which the true people of God will be vindicated and those who insist on worshipping false gods will be shown to be in the wrong” (131)
2. Law court. “Justifcation functions like the verdict in the law court: by acquitting someone, it confers on that person the status ‘righteous’. This is the forensic dimension of the future covenantal vindication” (131).
3. Eschatology. Declaration is to be done at end of history. But He has done in middle what He was expected to do, and still will do, at the end. “The declaration, the verdict, can be be issued already in the present, in anticipation” (131).
4. “Therefore…all who believe the gospel of Jesus Christ are already demarcated as members of the true family of Abraham, with their sins being forgiven” (131).

In continuing his discussion on justification by faith, Wright turns to some key Pauline texts to prove his point. He first looks at Galatians which is a central letter in our understanding of justification. Wright claims that the topic is not about how a person is saved, but, Should ex-pagans be circumcised?

The Gentiles were being saved and some Jewish Christians were insisting that they be circumcised. Wright says that the Jewish idea of “works” was not about moral effort, but was seen as the badge of the Torah that defined the Jewish people from the pagans. So circumcision was such a badge and not a moral effort. “Who is a member of the people of God? Are ex-pagan converts full members or not?”

He writes, “The context is irrevocably covenantal” (121). Galatians 3 and the discussion about Abraham is placed there to answer the question of who is included in the his family (see 3:29). Paul doesn’t view the law as evil, but as one stage in God’s plan. The new stage had come in Christ bringing salvation to all so the Law has been set aside. The cross has destroyed the distinction between Jew and Gentile bringing justification — that is, the badge of who is in the family of God. Not as the means of how they get in the family, but the identifier of who is in the family.

“Justification, in Galatians, is the doctrine which insists that all who share faith in Christ belong at the same table, no matter what their racial differences, as together they wait for the final new creation” (122).

This makes a lot of sense to me, but I had more difficulty with accepting his understanding of Philippians 3:2-11. Perhaps I need more time or didn’t understand it completely. This passage is an outworking of his desire that they imitate him, as he has imitated Christ, by abandoning their privileges. He possessed “covenant membership according to the flesh” but chose not to use or exploit it. Instead, he laid it aside and gained covenant membership in Christ. 3:9 is a clear statement of how justification works.

1. “It is membership language.” The righteousness he is speaking of is a status within the people of God because of his zeal as a Pharisee. He is refusing “the status of orthodox Jewish covenant membership,” not a “self-help righteousness” (124).
2. “The covenant status Paul now enjoys is the gift of God” (124). This gift is covenant membership that is given because of the faith. It is not God’s own righteousness but a status that He gives. Within justification-language, “faith” is no longer something we do to earn God’s favor because it is not about how we are saved. Rather, faith becomes “the badge of covenant membership” (125).

“Justification is not how someone becomes a Christian. It is the declaration that they have become a Christian” (125).

I had a hard time with this passage because I find it hard to see that Paul was laying aside his privileges when those privileges were outside of salvation in Christ. Next, we’ll look at Romans and conclude the chapter.

In chapter 7, “Justification and the Church,” Wright looks at justification by faith and how it is more about the church than about salvation. I will probably do 2-3 posts on this chapter because it is so rich and new that it warrants a more in-depth look.

Wright contends that our idea about Paul and his gospel has been so shaped around justification by faith that we have lost the heart of his gospel. By starting with his gospel, you get justification “thrown in.” The church’s doctrine of justification by faith concerns itself with God’s salvation of the individual, or, how is a person saved? He believes that when it comes to how people are saved, “[Paul] does not use the language of ‘justification’ to denote this event or process” (p. 117). This process is about preaching, conviction, and “entry into the common life of the people of God” (117).

What is Wright’s understanding?

1. It is covenant language.
2. It is law-court language. It is joined to the covenant setting because the covenant seeks to set the world straight.
3. It can’t be understood apart from eschatology. By this, I believe Wright is talking about the subjection of all things to Christ.

Justification in Jewish Context

The main concern of Saul of Tarsus was the salvation of Israel. The covenant was not just so God could have Israel as His special people without regard for the rest of the world. Since the covenant promised the defeat of sin and evil, it was appropriate to use a law-court setting to see how victory was accomplished. The judge was God, it was the evildoers (pagan nations) who would be judged, and Israel would be vindicated. This “justification” was thus eschatological and could be anticipated because those who adhered to the Torah (true Israel) would be assured of being justified in the future.

“Justification in this setting, then, is not a matter of how someone enters the community of the true people of God, but of how you tell who belongs to that community, not least in the period of time before the eschatological event itself, when the matter will become public knowledge” (119).

It was not a matter of getting in or staying in the family, but a way of telling who was in. It had more to do with church than with salvation.

Tomorrow we’ll look at “Justification in Paul’s Christian Theology.”

Continuing on chapter 6, Wright looks at some biblical passages that include the term dikaiosune theon to determine if it means that God’s own righteousness is imputed or given to believers.

He starts with Philippians 3:9 and determines that the “righteousness from God” described means that believers are given a righteous status from God. This seems simple enough.

The next passage he looks at is 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 which is seen as a sure proof text for the doctrine of imputed righteousness. But most scholars have to separate these verses from the rest of Paul’s argument to understand it as a statement regarding salvation (soteriology). Wright concludes that this is not talking about justification but the apostolic ministry.

The apostles are ambassadors of Christ and their ministry with its “suffering, fear and apparent failure, is itself an incarnation of the covenant faithfulness of God” (pp. 104-05). In other words, they live the message they proclaim. They are demonstrating God’s faithfulness to Israel and the world even though they suffer and it looks like they will fail. This would describe the status of God’s covenant with Israel throughout the OT and indeed, today as Israel is mostly a secular state without the glory of God. Considerable weight is given to this position because of the surrounding context. It fits with his point. (You can read an more in-depth article on this passage here.)

The third passage he looks at is Romans 3, in particular verses 21-26. Verse 5 is clearly a reference to “God’s own righteousness.” It is related to His faithfulness to Israel’s calling, His purpose for them, and is concerned with their failure. It has to do with the covenant and Wright translates it as “God’s covenant faithfulness” (p. 106).

Verse 20 shows that both Jew and Gentile are both guilty before God in His metaphorical law-court. Israel and the pagan nations are now the defendant. God’s intention was to vindicate Israel and save the world through the faithfulness of Israel. God answered the problem by sending His Son as the true, faithful Israelite. He is the means by which His covenant purposes for Israel will be accomplished. He dealt with sin in the cross and vindicated Him at the resurrection. “The faithfulness of Jesus…is thus the means whereby the righteousness of God is revealed” (p. 107). He has been righteous by keeping His covenant, dealing with the problem of sin, and vindicating the helpless (“He is ‘the justifier and the one who has faith’” (p. 107)).

Believers do have a righteous standing before God but it is not God’s righteousness that we receive. He declares us as righteous according to His grace in Christ.

“He has been true to the covenant, which always aimed to deal with the sin of the world; he has kept his promises; he has dealt with sin on the cross; he has done so impartially, making a way of salvation for Jew and Gentile alike; and he now, as he righteous judge, helps and saves the helpless who cast themselves on his mercy” (p. 107).

Next, he looks at Romans 10:2-4. In Romans 9:6-34, the discussion has been about whether God has been “righteous”, or faithful, in keeping His covenant promises.

“Israel, says Paul, is ignorant of what God has righteously and faithfully been doing in her history. In seeking to establish a status of righteousness, of covenant membership, which will be for Jews and Jews only, she has not submitted to God’s righteousness. The covenant always envisaged a worldwide family; Israel, clinging to her own special status as the covenant-bearer, has betrayed the purpose for which that covenant was made” (p. 108).

Submission to “righteousness of God” in 10:2-4 refers back to Romans 3:21-26 where it is declared that Christ was His act of righteousness, or covenantal faithfulness. The Jews had failed to see that God has been faithful to His promises so they resisted salvation in Christ because of their realization that they would share salvation with the Gentiles. This was not the way it was supposed to be. Paul believes that the covenant in Christ will be effective for both Jew and Gentile.

Moving onto Romans 1:17, we see that this is the statement that Paul unpacks throughout the rest of the letter. “The gospel, he says, reveals or unveils God’s own righteousness, his covenant faithfulness, which operates through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for the benefit of all those who in turn are faithful (‘from faith to faith’)” (p. 109).

The gospel is the message of the King Jesus (‘Jesus Christ’) who has revealed the Father’s glory as He who keeps covenant and deals with the problem of evil within His creation. This message is for Jew and Gentile, and elevates God above all other gods, which is much more relevant of a declaration in an idol-laden culture.

Speaking about the book of Romans, he says that it has often been seen as “an exposition of judicial, or law-court, theology.” This is a mistake because righteousness rightly understood is the story of the God who keeps covenant, which is love language. It is not cold and legal, but warm and relational. This leads Paul to exclaim that nothing can separate him from the love of Christ.

This closes the chapter. I hope this is as fun for you as it is for me. I doubt that though! Next, Wright looks at justification.