Think Wink.

Douglas Wilson reviews Wright’s new book, Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision. I really enjoyed this review and it reminds me of that old saying, “There’s nothing new under the sun” (or is it “Son”?). Wilson sees a lot of what Wright argues in other authors such as B.B. Warfield, Jonathan Edwards and others ranging from the year 1550 to 1900. Denny Burk notes in his review of the preface and the first chapter, that the book does not start out with the irenic tone that it is touted to have. Both men agree that Wright needs to read more of his American opposition, Lord knows what Wright is saying is very conservative in his own backyard of Anglicanism and academia, because he would have less objections to what they are saying if he would.

For those of you who don’t know, this latest work by Wright is his book-length response to John Piper’s work The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright where Piper seeks to defend the more traditional view of justification against the views found in the various streams of the New Perspective(s) on Paul (aka NPP), with a twist that comes from Piper’s Edwardsian worldview. Before reading Wright’s book, you should read Piper’s book. It probably would be better to read the works Wright has put out on Paul prior to The Future of Justification as well as Piper’s work The Justification of God, a work that has basically exegetically set Piper on the path that has put him where he is today and forms the foundation for how he understands certain words like “righteousness.”

I find it very exciting to see such titans of theology debating like this. It kind of reminds me of the Luther-Erasmus debate from the Reformation! I really hope this does a lot to help people nail down just what is justification?

More Thoughts On N. T. Wright’s Justification

Michael Horton’s Review of N.T. Wright

James White on William Lane Craig and Molinism