Wright's Radical Dismantling of the Gospel

Theologians can never be cavalier in their communication of ideas. Nor should they be ambitious in the quest for originality and notoriety. In our time rigorous revision is proposed for everything that has constituted trusted tradition - doctrine, interpretation of ecclesiastical history, and the comprehension of eminent Christian lives; their significance and worth to subsequent generations.

The crafting of theological thought is a service to Christ the Lord and to his Church. It is not the pursuit of glory in the academy, or in the professional sphere of education and research. It is not a parade of intellectual gifts or literary versatility. Theological endeavor is never to be stimulated by rivalry and competitiveness. Theology is a reverent and holy discipline fostering a deeper knowledge of God and his ways in wonderment and worship. As is often recognized, theology is a doxological enterprise, an opening into the glory of God in order that the human mind may perceive divinity aright, the heart may be stirred to praise, and the observer persuaded to absolute trust in the Lord who discloses himself. Theology is intended to furnish a well-informed and reasonably intelligent faith.

Theology ought to be the most humble of sciences and the least patronizing. Whether at the podium or in the pew the theologian, however much celebrated, is to be lowly among the little folk of God, for there will be many inconspicuous believers much closer to the One whom the specialist seeks to discover and describe (1 Corinthians 1:26ff). Only the grace of the Spirit reveals the Lord, and there are many theologians who work without modesty and the resources of grace. Their heart does not feel that which engages the intellect. The supposedly high things of heaven, that should deflate any tendency to arrogance, actually elevate the oversized ego that credits itself with exceptional acumen. By virtue of theological skill, so say, there are some academics who exist in a rarefied zone and exude an air of superiority as if long lists of publications guarantee admission to paradise as a reward. Any goals they achieve academically, that may be good and useful, are in consequence of a divine gift. But in some persons knowledge puffs up (1 Corinthians 8:1-3; 2 Corinthians 12:1-10). Love for the Lord himself is the receptacle of true knowledge which love then dispenses.

Whatever may be the achievements of theology they are for the benefit of the whole church for its ministry in the world, and hence the task is supremely pastoral (helpful), making the Lord God thoroughly and thrillingly accessible to those who seek to know him. Edification is the purpose of the theologian, preparation of nourishment for every member of the flock that has an appetite for the food of the soul. The true theologian leads the sheep into the lush pastures of the Lord's ever fresh word. Preacher and professor proclaim the word of the Lord. The adept theologian assists the pastor (ordained or lay) in his appointed role. Every element of theological understanding contributes to the promotion of a full-orbed gospel, for all truth points to God and every elaboration of the nature of reality drives us further into contact with him, his vastness and verity.

MINISTERING IN THE CONGREGATION: Article 23

No man is permitted take upon himself the office of public preaching or ministration of the Sacraments before he has been called and appointed to fulfill this office. And those persons should be accepted as lawfully called and appointed who have been selected by men entrusted with public authority in the Church to call and send ministers into the Lord's vineyard (APB, PBS USA, 2008).

The ordained or licensed Anglican preacher or theologian has two considerations in mind as he performs his ministry. He is not a lone, unaccountable individual in a field conducive to experimental and private notions in contradiction of the Scriptural standards of the body in which he serves. If he disagrees with or dissents from the essential truths of the way of salvation (for this is the key message of the Church of Christ) then he must question his conscience and if he is convinced that he cannot conform he must quit his attachment. He must be able to walk in concert with the settled mind of the Church with its foundation in divine revelation derived from the Bible. Of course, things are lax in this age due to the general departure from doctrinal discipline. Our low condition is self-caused. Anglicanism is a city without walls.

Furthermore, the location of Christian ministry is in the Lord's vineyard. It is no one else's property, and is reserved and run for his pleasure, conformity to his will, and for the kind and quality of produce that he desires. Deviant doctrine, disposition, determinations, and practice are nothing short of theft allied to audacious rebellion.

The minister must adhere to his Master's manual in his toil in the vineyard, and must observe the boundaries. He must render faithful and reverent service and avoid behaving in the manner of a renegade. Therefore, every wind of doctrine that is strange to the people of God must be adjudged as to whether it is ill or fair, that the teachings swept toward us are fine or foul (Ephesians 4:14-15).

Novel teachings, erroneous doctrine, re-hashed heresy is presented repeatedly in the history of the Church. For its protection the Church, and the individual Christian, need to cultivate a sound historical perspective. Alertness is essential. Peddlers of mischief are always recycling pre-used wares of ancient devilish manufacture cheaply titivated for current acceptance. Revised teaching warrants close examination. It is possible that a new emphasis may arise that is an amplification of the truth, an aspect that is consistent with the core of orthodoxy, more light from the original source shining more brightly on some particular or other. But the way of salvation to be gained through Jesus Christ is simply spelt out and so plain as to be unchanging.

"Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved." Trust entirely in the crucified and the blood shed for our salvation. Faith is the inner eye that gazes upon Jesus our Justifier. Faith is not of itself our salvation, but rather the One whom faith apprehends. Faith as the gift of grace, relies on Messiah himself as our justification perfect and complete. Nothing remains to be done. Christ's atoning work is finished. It is Luther who sums up the gospel in these terms: there is nothing to do or contribute. The Gospel is not do, but done! Receive salvation freely! Faith is the evidence of justification, and the mark of grace, and the assurance of election. It is not of our own creation. Faith and repentance are entwined. Each accompanies the other. Neither are works of the flesh. They are inwardly wrought by the Holy Spirit through his change of our nature.

N.T. Wright seriously disputes this way of salvation. It is often difficult to determine what he does believe. Offer an objection to what appears to be a plain statement and he denies its clear and inevitable grammatical sense. He is indeed a clerical chameleon. Nonetheless, the drift of his message counters the truth of justification by faith alone. He swoops and soars in rhapsodic verbosity, issuing sweeping asseverations that are simply and wildly untrue after a moment's analysis (e.g. Current Christians are asking 16C questions, whereas we should be 21stC Christians posing 1st C questions. Where lies his authority or credibility for such a blanket and silly expression?). He is dramatically rhetorical but at depth he is flagrantly denunciatory of the simple folk he deigns to correct (old fellas, country preachers, the theologically illiterate), but strictly speaking he is heretical with regard to the divine method of salvation (faith, atonement, regeneration) and the nature of both sin and grace.

His teaching is masqued in an element of biblical terminology (so that recipients drop their guard), laced with bombastic novelties of interpretation (if one were really smart the term "fancy hermeneutics" should have been utilized). When he utters ideas that are controversial he magically resorts to loopholes that afford a route of escape. His respectable academic critics are far too polite, for his errors are far more than mere academic irregularities - they are disasters in a soteriological sense. They are potentially hazardous to salvific benefit. There is fiction contrived from Scripture, show-off pagan allusions, and a stealthy foundation of Pelagianism. He lectures on bringing heaven to earth, mocks the convenient language of the three-storey universe (of which the Bible itself is guilty with prepositions such as "above" & "up") and regards those who think in terms of three dimensions as simpletons - "most Christians", he says.

But of course, sophistication is an essential ingredient in his ambitious theological construction. (Where did you inadvertently mislay your copies of Heiddeger, Cicero, or Seneca?) His linguistic panache is spellbinding. Look closely for misrepresentation and his preening of himself in new light, falsely appealing to John Robinson: "God has more light yet to break out of his holy word". Every false teacher can abuse this wonderful observation. The principal value in godly reading is William Cunningham's axiom: "Does it save?" Measures of culture, philosophy, sciences etc. are improving, intoxicating, but not to be controlling. We love to advertise our learning in the interests of one-upmanship, but only sound knowledge, true and simple, of the gospel will point us "whether upwards, sideways, stationary on earth" to heaven. Many will rue immersing themselves in the Encyclopedia Britannica for most of their lives rather than opening Matthew Henry's Commentary.

NTW's major evaluations are suspect. Citing them at any length is tiresome. Read him for yourself and ponder honestly and prayerfully. See if he really does square with Scripture under the Spirit's tutelage. Rigorously apply "the analogy of Scripture" principle for understanding. Taste as to whether your soul is wonderfully fed and satisfied. Does he truly reach the inner man? Does he fruitfully pastor the soul? Does he engage the eager heart with the Word of God?

Some quotes to think about:

*It's important to say that I haven't seriously read Luther for about 20 years.

*Luther comes to the question, /How can I find a gracious God? ". . . This we do know - his antithesis of grace/works or faith/works, or faith/law, was very strongly conditioned by his own soul struggles, the struggles to be an obedient monk and what he thought this all hinged upon. This was all routed in the world of late medieval Catholicism. Luther, then, is reading Paul looking for the bits and pieces that will help him resolve this particular question".

*And I want to say, as I said with regard to Aquinas, if you come with this question and you look at it within his worldview, this is the right answer! But, just like the matter of transubstantiation, the problem here is that this has led us down some pretty murky paths.

*I can see how frustrating it is for the preacher who has preached his favorite sermon all these years on the imputation of Christ's righteousness from 2 Corinthians 5:21 to hear this is not the right way to understand it but I actually think there's an even better sermon waiting to be preached. You can always preach one on 1 Corinthians 1:30 so long as you do wisdom, sanctification, and redemption, all three." NB Reformed preachers have presented this kind of sermon "doing wisdom, sanctification, and redemption" for centuries. A little modern history wouldn't go amiss!
The Reformation & Revival Journal Interview, Vol II, Number I, Winter 2002

*The language of "salvation' and "glorification", central to Romans, Paul's greatest letter, was assumed to mean the same thing: being "saved" or being "glorified" meant "going to heaven," neither more nor less. We took it for granted that the question of "justification," widely regarded as Paul's principal doctrine, was his main answer as to how salvation worked in practice; so, for example, "Those he justified, he also "glorified" meant, "First you get justified, and then you end up in heaven." (What a crass, inept, simplistic caricature of traditional belief - so demeaning and flawed. So intolerably pompous). Looking back now, I believe that in our diligent searching of the Scriptures we were looking for correct biblical answers to medieval questions. Paul, Introduction, pages 7-8.

*If we come with the question, "how do we get to heaven," or, in Martin Luther's terms, "how can I find a gracious God?" And if we try to squeeze an answer to those questions out of what Paul says about justification, we will probably find one. It may not be totally misleading. But we will miss what Paul's "justification" is really all about. It isn't about a moralistic framework in which the only that matters is whether we have behaved ourselves and so amassed a store of merit (righteousness") and, if not, where can we find such a store, amassed by someone else on our behalf. It is about the vocational framework in which humans are called to reflect God' image in the world and about the rescue operation whereby God, has through Jesus, set humans free to do exactly that.

For Paul, therefore, questions of "sin" and "salvation" are vital, but they function within worldview different from the one Western Christians have normally assumed. For Paul, as for all devout Jews, the major problem of the world was idolatry. Humans worshipped idols and therefore behaved in ways that were less than fully human, less than fully image-bearing. That was a core Jewish belief, and Paul shared it. What he did not share, as he thought through his tradition in the light of Christ and the spirit, was the idea that the people of Israel, as they stood, constituted the answer to this problem - as though all one had to do was to become a Jew and try to keep the Torah , and all would be well not only with Israel, but with the world. Paul knew that view, and he firmly rejected it." (ibid) Page number not cited.

The biography of Paul is serviceable as a primer to the theology of NTW. It is only fair to advise those interested to read it. Most library systems will surely possess copies available on loan.

Some Personal Comments in Closing Part 5

Paul evaluated Jew and Gentile as equally parted from God, observing, "No, a man is a Jew if he was one inwardly, and circumcision is circumcision of the heart by the Spirit" (Romans 2:29) i.e. new birth facilitating justification by faith, a state not attained through the written code (human obedience). Such a man's praise is not from men, but God" (hence being right with him).

External circumcision does not count in this crucial instant of reconciliation between the Lord and the believer: "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness" (Romans 4:3) cf "For all have signed and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ" (Romans 3:23-24).

It is crystal clear that Abraham was justified by faith through Christ as his promised Justifier. Genesis and Paul are dealing with deliverance from the morass of moral corruption.

"Most Christians" were probably not so naive as NTW alleges as regards the matters of salvation, life as Christians, and the future hope of cosmic renewal - about which he instantly expounds in the pages mentioned above. In addressing the matter of heaven, it was understood as fellowship with God forever. Change was expected on a colossal scale - the pure, just, loving kingdom of God. Total Transformation.

The essential true religion of Christ may be beneficially explained by experts, but it does not depend on them. Academic arrogance has led many adherents into a murky ditch of doubt and despair.

Klaas Runia

"Because Luther and the other Reformers placed all their faith in the declaratory act of the justifying God and rejected any possibility of human contribution at this point, they had a firm basis for assurance. Because man's salvation in no way rests on anything he himself does, not even on his faith, but rests solely on that wonderful justitia aliena [strange righteousness] of Christ, such a man may know for sure that his sins are truly forgiven and that, in spite of the sinfulness that remains in him, he will never fall out of the hand of his gracious God. 'At once justified and a sinner' is not a Lutheran one-sidedness, but it touches the very heart of salvation. Solus Christus [Christ alone], and sola fide [by faith alone] belong together in unbreakable unity, and because of this unity the last word is and remains: soli Deo Gloria [to God alone be the glory]!"

Justification and Roman Catholicism, Right With God: Justification in the Bible and the World, edited by D.A. Carson, p215


By Roger Salter
Special to Virtueonline
www.virtueonline.org
May 20, 2020


TO BE CONTINUED...

Luther's Interpretation of Scripture and Pastoral Skill

When Luther was made a Doctor of Theology, he made a solemn vow: "I swear manfully to defend the truth of the Gospel."

During the ARCIC discussions, debates, and group studies between Anglicans and Roman Catholics in England over recent decades it was customary in Church of England circles to hear apologetic or disparaging comments about the great Saxon Reformer. He was either a religious fanatic or psychologically deranged. He was, in softened voices, described as rash, obsessive, and abusive. Lutherans were politely and well thought of, but "their master" was so problematic. Some of us wished that there were more Anglican clergy who were as mad as Luther!

But given his flaws and unfortunate tendencies which cannot be justified, and considering the factors that affected his temperament (the hazards he faced, the poor health he endured, the tensions, burdens, and constant strains of his high profile ministry) some degree of leniency must be allowed. Luther was a vulnerable and sensitive soul and not the ironclad super hero that many suppose. John Osborne captures his doubt and distress in his play based on Luther.

Luther's humanity is so clear to see; his godliness evident. All of us can rage under sufficient pressure. All of us are driven by prejudice if the opportunity to vent presents itself. Those who rail against Luther are almost imitative of the character they deplore. He arouses hatred attributable to something beyond personality and behavior. He wields the sword of the Spirit with such adroitness that minds are disturbed and consciences wounded. Man's self-reliance and pride are offended.

Intimacy with Luther discovers his dominant side. A wholehearted servant of Jesus Christ, a humble student of the Word, a sensitive administrant of the consolation of the Gospel. A good way to meet him on a frequent and convenient basis is through James Galvin's "Faith Alone, A Daily Devotional, Martin Luther", Zondervan. Luther excites, uplifts, convicts, encourages, emboldens, strengthens, reassures as a pastor virtually unequalled. He transports you to the Gateway of Heaven. How? Because he has fought hard as an embattled soul, and been found by Christ. He knows the darkness of evil, the depths of the sinner's plight. He knows his theology, but beyond that he really knows Christ, and Christ knows him as he knows so many great sinners - perhaps even ourselves if grace seeks us out. Luther did not know a painted Christ, a stained-glass figure, nor a Christ portrayed merely in print and words. He knew Christ himself through the Spirit and that is why he chimes with troubled spirits everywhere.

There is nothing abstruse in his gospel, nothing medieval but truth timeless in the tradition of the faith before his time and beyond it. Luther speaks to the human heart because he had a large and generous heart, and a converted one. You can't sit stock still with Luther. You don't pore, mystified, over a baffling, tedious manual that leads you through a maze of muddled ideas. He stirs your soul, moves your body, and activates your voice. Praise the Lord! No one preaches grace better than Luther. He banishes the misery and mists of doubt. Look to Jesus, for Christ is our justification. Luther is a pastor not a perplexity! He could controvert with Erasmus and compose pastoral notes to his barber. He could criticize the pope and care for his people.

"When I preach I regard neither doctors nor magistrates, of whom I have above forty in my congregation; I have all my eyes on the servant maids and on the children And if the learned men are not well pleased with what they hear, well, the door is open."

A life could be spent in reading the thought of Luther - great commentaries, treatises, sermons, his favorite work on the Bondage of the Will, his wonderful counsel, his hymns, and his intimate thought preserved in Table Talk. None will agree with him totally, it is suspected. But the way of salvation is vividly, accurately delineated. He could be quoted endlessly. His publications are readily available. NTW should not have neglected him for so long. Better acquaintance would have led to a better assessment.

Luther can fire you with exuberance and inspire you toward ecstasy as his doctrine of justification by faith takes its hold upon your mind and cheers your heart.

BIBLE

It is most certain that the Holy Scriptures cannot be fathomed by study and scholarship alone. Therefore, your first duty in approaching the Bible is to begin to pray, and to pray to this effect:

That if it please God to accomplish something through you for his own glory, and not for your own glory nor that of any other man, that of his grace, he will grant you a true understanding of his words. The reason for this is that no master of the divine word exists, except the author of these words, as Christ himself says, 'They shall all be taught of God.' Therefore, you on your part must stand in complete despair of your own industry and scholarship, and rely solely and utterly on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Believe me, I know the truth of this in my own life.

GRACE

I am seeking, searching, thirsting for nothing else than a gracious God. Yet God continually and earnestly offers himself as a God of grace, and urges even those who spurn him and are his enemies, to accept him as such. The promises of grace are all based on Christ from the beginning of the world, so that God promises his grace to no one in any other way than in Christ and through Christ. Christ is the messenger of God's promise to the entire world. Grace consists in this: that God is merciful to us, shows himself gracious for the sake of the Lord Christ, forgives all sins, and will not impute them to us for eternal death. This is grace: the forgiveness of sins for the sake of the Lord Christ, the covering up of all sins. Grace makes the Law dear to us. And then, sin is no more there, and the Law is no longer against us, but with us.

CHRIST THE WAY TO GOD

No man can obtain Christ, the Bread of God, by dint of his own efforts. Neither will he find him by studying, hearing, asking, seeking. If we are to know Christ all books are inadequate, all teachers incompetent, all intellects incapable. It is the Father himself who must reveal him, as Christ himself taught. 'No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the Last Day.'

JUSTIFICATION

By the one solid rock we call the doctrine of justification by faith alone, we mean that we are redeemed from sin, death, and the devil, and are made partakers of life eternal, not by self-help but by outside help, namely, by the work of the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ alone. God does not want to save us by our own personal and private righteousness and wisdom. He wants to save us by a righteousness and wisdom apart from this, other than this: a righteousness which does not come from ourselves, is not brought to birth by ourselves. It is a righteousness which comes into us from somewhere else.

It is not a righteousness which finds its origins in this world of ours. As men without anything at all, we must wait for the pure mercy of God, we must wait for him to reckon us righteous and wise. As long as I recognize that I can in no way be righteous in the sight of God . . . I then begin to ask for righteousness from him. The only thing that resists this idea of justification is the pride of the human heart, proud through unbelief. It does not believe because it does not regard the word of God as true. It does not regard it as true because it regards its own understanding as true, and the word of God runs contrary to that.

The dean of Reformed theology of the 20th century, Holland's G.C. Berkouwer, enthusiastically endorses the doctrine that Luther derives from the New Testament. "Whenever Paul speaks of the justification which has come to us, there is a single refrain - Christ has not died in vain. All striving and grasping makes sense only when it has been taken hold of by Christ (Phil 3:12). Our contribution amounts to precisely zero. Faith knows this and is thus true faith, given by God. For it knows that Christ died for us while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8.10).


Justification on the ground of nothing is not a one-sided juridical concept. It is the preaching of grace, sheer, unalloyed, unmerited grace (Faith and Justification, Eerdmans, page 89).

"Faith is the 'yes' of the heart, a conviction on which one stakes one's life"

"When by the Spirit of God, I understood these words [The just shall live by faith. Rom 1:17] I felt born again like a new man. I entered through the open doors into the very Paradise of God!"

"Your faith comes from God, not from you. And everything that works faith in you comes from him and not from you."

"God creates out of nothing. Therefore, until a man is nothing, God can make nothing out of him."

"Certain it is that man must completely despair of himself in order to become fit to receive the grace of Christ."

"It is pleasing to God whenever you rejoice or laugh from the bottom of your heart."

Luther does not sound unscriptural by any means. He doesn't sound unhinged in the least. He hasn't had to squeeze anything out of Scripture at all, as someone well known alleges. "No one understands Scripture unless it is brought home to him, that is unless he experiences it." For Luther Scripture came home to him by the grace of God and his rich experience is enviable. It is communicable because he is human like us. His knowledge of God and grace is infectious.

Luther's Prayer On his Deathbed

O heavenly Father, God of all comfort, I thank thee That thou hast revealed to me thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ, in whom I have believed, whom I have preached and confessed, whom I have loved and praised . . .

I pray thee, dear Lord Christ, let me commend my soul to thee.

O heavenly Father, If I leave this body and depart this life, I am certain that I will be with thee for ever and ever, and that I can never, never tear myself out of thy hands.

So God loved the world that he gave his only Son, Jesus Christ, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life (repeated thrice).

Father into thy hands I commend my spirit. Thou hast redeemed me, thou true God. Amen.


By Roger Salter
Special to Virtueonline
www.virtueonline.org
May 12, 2020


MORE TO COME...

Whom would each of us prefer as our pastor?
The New Testament Speaks

The reading of Holy Scripture requires great care and prayerful humility. The Old Testament spells out the basics of two natures - the nature of God and the nature of man. God in all his power, wisdom, and goodness is the author of creation. Man, in his creature-hood is dependent upon the strength and compassion of his Maker. God is glorious and sovereign. Man, as the spectator of divine majesty is given the capacity to admire the Deity, acknowledge his supremacy, enjoy his favor, and worship and work with him as a Friend. In this partnership the Lord is lofty and man duly lowly. The relationship is designed to be harmonious and affectionate. It is to be characterized as holy for the purpose of compatibility. God is intrinsically holy, and man endowed with pristine integrity at his origination is disposed to imitate and obey the Lord in willing likeness to him.

Genesis records the tragic rift between God and man through an act of prideful defiance on the part our first parents. The writings of the former covenant describe the continuous rebellion of our race and the opening measures of the Lord to recover us to himself. An accurate comprehension of the content of the first Testament is determinative of a clear understanding of the New. The history of redemption is one, recounted in two phases. They match in the basic matter of human salvation and vary only in the temporal details of the development of the scheme of our rescue. The central concentration of both Testaments is trained on the great Figure of our Restoration, the Messiah of Promise who is the Christ of eventual appearing.

In Christ the two installments of the drama of salvation merge in united testimony to the will and ways of the Saviour God and the formation of the Israel of God, also styled as the Body of Christ. The way of inclusion in this people, this body, is delineated in the Gospel, and the preservation and presentation of this gospel is of the utmost importance. This is why the reading of Scripture is a matter of great care and holy caution. We are to detect, as Tyndale advises, the themes, motifs, lines that run through Scripture that lead us to correct thoughts of Christ and salvation so that he might be grasped in good sense and with confidence.

Students of the Bible are notorious for forcing their own preferences of meaning upon the text. None of us are entirely clear of this tendency, but the meek are subject to kindly and judicious correction. God's word is not under the control of man, and no man has truly mastered it in its complete sense. We are always learners, and the danger is to jump ahead of ourselves, claiming maturity where we are really novices in any knowledge acquired.

When we fall in love with any particular theory, one that seems to be a fresh discovery and world-enlightening, we defend it ardently until our preference becomes predominant in our thinking. We have to check ourselves as honestly as we can before the Living God and adopt a posture of modesty before him. We want his word from Scripture and not the echo of our invented ideas. The word "heresy" comes to us from the originally innocent term from the Greek meaning merely preference or difference (1 Corinthians 11:19), but in the Church it has evolved into any theological notion that imperils salvation. Differences in interpretation are common among believers but they are usually located in the realm of "adiaphora" (things indifferent, or of the second order of belief) and do not affect eternal destiny (sacraments, millennial views, legitimacy of ceremonies etc.)

However, the word of God warns us of that dangerous distortion of vitally important doctrine that can have serious effects that may jeopardize the gaining of salvation if soul and mind are given-up and surrendered to them. Where trust is misplaced the place of safety is missed. Paul alerts us to the human perversion of the gospel and goes so far as to say that if even "an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned" (Galatians 1:8). His anxiety for the Galatians is immense, "You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?"

Bewitching teaching is abroad in so many ways and from so many people of high repute in all sectors of the Christian community. Their approach is ingenious and their message plausible. False prophets will be so convincing as to be able to deceive even the elect - if that were possible. They will be so inordinately clever and confident as to win wide acceptance and acclaim. But although the bait they dangle before the people of God is enticing their deviation from the truth will soon manifest itself as their ever-so-subtle teaching veers away from the simplicity of Scripture in a welter of confusion and obfuscation. Their thoughts seem to run parallel to Scripture but their deceit is in the detail and the wiliness of their definition. Truth is never merely parallel to Scripture. It runs on the very track of biblical revelation. The parallel path breaks down in so many parts of the terrain of Scripture and is proven false by many features so clear to the eye. Error tends to jar with the resort to the analogy of Scripture. Error is discordant with the sweet melody of pure grace. There may be difficulties in Scripture, it is true, but the understanding of the essential gospel is not dependent upon the expertise of high-flying academics.

It is a principle of Holy Scripture that the elect can never finally defect from the way of salvation: "Fundamentally and finally the elect cannot possibly be deceived . . . but God in worst times reserved a remnant, and at all times will not see nor suffer any of his to miscarry" (John Trapp, Matthew 24:24). The disposition to trust Christ exclusively is too deeply embedded in the soul even where there might be a degree mental confusion and inconsistency of expression.

The Old Testament in a multiplicity of ways prepares us for the thrilling concept of justification by faith. However much Paul may have been familiarized with the thought of other cultures at the University of Gamaliel, and from other possible sources, it is indisputable that in his complete fascination with the Lord Jesus as the substance of the Promise made to Israel, the word of God conveyed to his ancestors through the writings of the former covenant would have been supreme in the shaping of his mind and message. "Paul's basic concepts are drawn, as we have seen, from the Old Testament, and Paul had learned the Old Testament in the context of the Judaism of his day" (Paul: The Man and His Letters, An Introduction to the New Testament, Carson, Moo, and Morris, Zondervan).

What is pre-eminent in our consideration of the source of Paul's gospel is that it was not determined by any tradition of interpretation per se, any human individual however influential, or from his own inventive mental powers: "I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ" (Galatians 1:11-12). Paul strenuously counsels the Galatians not to exchange his gospel for any alien ideas imposed upon it. His authority is Jesus Christ, which tops any other authority.

It is impossible, utterly futile, to attempt to obliterate the now "protestant" teaching on justification by faith from the letters of St. Paul. Any impartial, objective, cumulative perusal of the texts makes it plain that the apostle is asserting that the believing sinner is pardoned and declared righteous by virtue of trust in the shed blood of Christ on their behalf. Imputation of the merit of Christ to the penitent offender appealing for mercy before the Lord is a necessary and inevitable conclusion from a fair scrutiny of the teaching of Paul as we encounter it. It is too much of a strain to argue otherwise. There is only one mean by which we are put right with God. Any muddying of this divinely revealed fact is unholy mischief to be shunned.

Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses. Acts 13:39

For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith." Romans 1:17

But now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known, to which the law and the prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement through his blood. Romans 3: 21

However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: "Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven; whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him." Romans 4:5-8

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." [The curse is leveled against a serious moral offense. It is deadly condemnation preceding doom. Jesus lifts the curse from God's people evidenced as such by faith]. Galatians 3:13

What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. Philippians 3:8-9

So that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:7

After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty of Heaven. Hebrews 1:3b

So that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil - and free all those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. Hebrews 2: 14-15

For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful high priest in service of God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Hebrews 2:17

The above selection of biblical quotations makes it absolutely clear that human nature is condemned as evil; that we are enslaved by the Evil One; that mankind needs a work of atonement wrought on its behalf by a blameless High Priest; that an alien righteousness is necessary for its reattachment to God; that an advocate is essential to commend us to God. That access to complete and permanent salvation is only available through a grace that bestows repentance and faith.

Sin is a profoundly grave matter; it emanates from our heart and courses through our veins; it pollutes our minds totally; it degrades our affections; it collides fatally with the beautiful holiness of God; our guilt merits eternal death; our condition is utterly hopeless, our capacity to make amends is nil. What else can avail? Only Christ Jesus in whom alone we can trust if God grants us the confidence to do so. There is no other alternative. It must come from gracious divine intervention. Nothing within, nothing under the sun can help us. Aid is beyond our reach. Assistance must reach out to us and fix its grip upon us. Christ is our only hope. He donates the good sense to call upon him, and then there follows the full range of mercies that confirm us in salvation. God places us in the strong and enfolding arms of his Son for full deliverance and safety for evermore: "It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God - that is our righteousness, holiness, and redemption." 1 Corinthians 1:30. (Divine initiative; Divine inducement; Divine provision)

The most compelling statement in which justification by faith is averred is in Luke's retelling of a parable of Jesus. It has nothing to do with NPP*, or NTR's* cockeyed and faddish point of view. It is Jesus' pronouncement on this vital topic relayed by Luke. Luke, who was Paul's devoted and constant companion, no doubt discussed many things as a fellow intellectual with the apostle, including the teaching of Christ and the philosophies of the pagans. Having most likely completed his writings circa AD 62, and knowing the mind of Paul (died approximately AD 64), that it was shaped by Christ (Gal 1:11-12) the evangelist must have observed the perfect agreement between apostle and Redeemer on the nature of justification, and also known, as a Gentile, precisely the teaching on Justification that Paul presented to the non-Jewish world of the first century.

Comparing the dispositions of the Pharisee (self-righteous) and the tax collector (unrighteous) in the temple before God (Luke 18:9-14) Jesus remarked of the spiritually bankrupt tax official, "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God." And how Luther-like the tax collector was under the weight of his sin. At a distant point in the temple and miserable in his unworthiness. Downcast and not daring to look heavenwards. Beating his breast as Martin would have beaten his in the monastery. Conviction of sin was anguished and pain of conscience acute. And the medieval era was centuries away! All the tax collector could do was admit his debt of sin and, like very awakened offender before God cry, "God have mercy on me a sinner."


*NPP - New Perspective on Paul
*NTW- Nicholas Thomas Wright


By Roger Salter
Special to Virtueonline.org
www.virtueonline.org
May 9, 2020

TO BE CONTINUED...

Does Wright really grasp the gravity of sin and the plight of our condition?
 
Our Anglican Confession of Faith [The Articles of Religion] articulates the classic Reformational teaching on the doctrine of Justification by faith alone with succinct clarity.
 
ARTICLE XI. Of the Justification of Man
We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith, and not for own works or deservings: Wherefore, that we are justified by faith only is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort, as more largely expressed in the Homily of Justification.
 
This statement establishes the truth that sinners are only put right with God through trust in the merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ - his qualifications, achievements, and virtue accounted as ours and transferred to our credit. By his active and passive obedience, his perfect compliance with the will of the Father throughout his untainted, holy and moral life, and in his sacrificial death, the Son of God has made we rebels who believe just, faultless, blameless, and perfect in the sight of God. Jesus' righteousness is accounted as ours. We have become fully forgiven and accepted by the Lord.
 
We sinful persons absolutely have no capacity to make any amends to God for the innumerable offenses that we have committed against him. Not even one misdeed of a guilt-laden sinner can be erased by any human intention or futile effort, let alone the ever-increasing toll of our evil thoughts, words and deeds that accumulate daily throughout the course of our lives. Our history is horrid with the secret evils and the openly impure acts that have sprung from the heart. Our present is a struggle with lingering perversities. Our future will be despicable and doomed if we are permitted to continue in the course of wickedness and darkness. We are altogether defiled.
 
Our demerit increases minute by minute. Rather than improve our deservings before God every product of our fallen nature tallies up heavier and fiercer divine condemnation. Our hearts are veritable springs of unspeakable evil, always gushing forth, instinctively, mentally, and in bodily activity. Our sins and constantly sinning self are forever storing up retribution before the holy and heavenly court, and they inevitably render us wretched and miserable. Every attempt at our impoverished notion of righteousness is iniquitous and only amplifies our arrogant self-reliance, swells our self-praise and inflates our loathsome pride. We are repugnant in our attitudes, the flattery of our egos, smug in our self-esteem.
 
Sharp conviction of sin, consciousness of unworthiness in the sight of God, anxiety at our sorry plight, fear of our ultimate end in our passage from this life to the next, characterize in varying degrees the state of the awakened conscience, This conversion experience and perturbation of soul is not confined to the medieval mentality. Many times, the question is posed whenever NTW is read or heard; does this man really grasp the gravity of sin and the plight of our condition? The concern is genuinely troubling. Does the Lord merely have to tinker with ordinances and rites (ceremonial law and religious custom) to make it possible for all ethnicities to enter the community of Christ the King? Is there not a thoroughly debased and helpless nature that requires renovation - the gravity of which the apostle Paul is continually addressing in his correspondence to the churches?
 
It is terribly trite for NTW to belittle Luther's great matter, "How can I find a gracious God?" This quest is to the fore of every awakened seeker's desire for the mercy of our Maker and Judge, before whom we must one day stand. The sense of alarm inevitably poses the question enunciated by our brother Martin.
 
It is the enquiry the entirety of Holy Scripture, Old and New Testaments, address with maximum appeal and solace.
 
RIGHT WITH GOD: The Fundamental Consideration.
 
From the fall of the human race in our first parents all the pages of the biblical narrative and its attendant propositional instruction lay out the divinely wrought Way of Salvation. From the shame and self-concealment of Adam and Eve to the universal flight of mankind from God, the Scriptures affirm that we have departed very far from him. "Man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the spirit; and therefore in every person born into this world, it deserveth God's wrath and damnation." (Article IX. Of Original Sin or Birth-sin).
 
Sacred Scripture is the horrifying record of the progressive and persistent evil of humanity. Our disposition is depraved and it is our continuous occupation to give vent to our corruption in wrongdoing, willfulness, and waywardness. We hate God, and we hate each other, and in moments of dejection we even loathe ourselves. Having turned our backs on the goodness of God we have fashioned our world in lovelessness and callousness, a lovelessness we deceitfully conceal under a veneer of self-serving civility, pretense of goodwill, and an introverted obsession with our own estimate of wellbeing. We live according to a profound tendency to please ourselves, denying the supremacy of the Lord and unwilling to yield to him.
 
The marvel of the word of God is his summons to turn back to him through the message of the Gospel of grace, his pledge to the penitent to restore their nature to righteousness, and establish the contrite in an affectionate relationship to him. The full extent of Scripture, in warning and welcome, is invitation and gracious command to get right with him.
 
"Come mow, let us reason together," says the Lord. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool." (Isaiah 1: 18).
 
SELECTED OLD TESTAMENT WITNESS
 
We are not right with God: fellowship broken. Disobedience cannot be covered or put to rights by any human devices at all.
 
Conscience, the internal court within us, convicts of guilt. "Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" Genesis 3: 7 - 11. All the elements of offense toward God, alienation from God, guilt before God, and utter helplessness to make amends (fig leaves) are present in this narrative of the Fall. Thereafter, wickedness, estrangement from the Lord, a saga of human depravity, and enslavement to sin, characterized Adam's race.
 
Many measures are undertaken by God to return sinners to himself, various provisions as the Way of Deliverance develops, principally the law to awaken conscience, his Word to guide through the ministry of prophets, and the observance of the sacrificial system. All point to individual and corporate culpability and highlight the Promise of a Redeemer. Intimations of the Promise are dispersed throughout the testimony of the Scriptures of the former covenant and are related by personal disclosure from God and individual cases of wounded conscience which are to related to the nation of Moses in order to facilitate the People Of God, a people for himself. The conversion and call of the individual precedes the call to the collective. Community is of great importance, but it does not negate the religious experience, understanding, and maturation of the individual in the beauty of holiness.
 
"Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge". Psalm 51 : 2 - 4.
 
David, predating Luther's medieval obsession, seems deeply concerned by his iniquity, sin, and transgressions (such emphasis on his innate and active evil), and recognizes God as his judge. Here he provides not only references to God's justness but also his own lack of righteousness. Quite a basis for being concerned about being right before God cf "David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: 'Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.'" Romans 4 : 6 - 8.
 
Isaiah confronts his own corruption in the smoky presence of the Lord, ' "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." ' Isaiah 6: 5 - 7. Here we see justification partnered to atonement. They are entwined in the way of salvation, and atonement is another area where NTW is decidedly dubious, bordering on blasphemy.
 
A chorus of sayings emerge from the Old Testament extolling the fact of justification by faith through grace, by virtue of the righteousness and atoning achievement of the Lord Jesus Christ e.g. "I, even I, am he that blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins" Isaiah 43 : 25. "Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives he transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl our iniquities into the depths of the sea." Micah 7 : 18 - 19.
 
A cleansing and a new righteousness is intimated in Zechariah 3 : 1 - 4. "Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. The Lord said to Satan, 'the Lord rebuke you Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?" Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him him, "Take off his filthy clothes." Then he said to Joshua, "See, I have taken away your sin, I will put rich garments on you." What can be more plain from the citations for Holy Scripture that God provides a righteousness, alien - not of themselves - for his chosen ones. It is conferred in the setting and vital relationship of faith (union with Christ), and ultimately we come to realize, as we pare away subjective states and efforts, that it is Christ himself and alone who is our justification.
 
It is Isaiah 53 that is the Old Testament summit of prophetic thought on justification and atonement that is realized in Christ, and won for us by Christ, and wrought within us by Christ - the whole process of reconciliation with the Lord. He makes us right with God by his blood and righteousness. He puts us right with God as substitute and satisfaction. He deflects divine wrath and displeasure away from us by interposing himself between anger against sin and our annihilation because of sin. "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." (vv 5 - 6). "By his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bare their iniquities." (v IIb). The Lord Jesus has the wisdom and will to do just what is right to put sinners right with God through his knowledge of our plight and his knowledge of his ability to save - the method of redemption.
 
The whole of the Old Testament's concern about man's avoidance of judgement and want of a Justifier is summed up in Psalm 143:2: "Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you." There is a heavenly court by which we are examined, and the rendition included in the introductory sentences, Morning Prayer, BCP, 1662, renders the gist of the quotation most accurately: "Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord; for in thy sight shall no man be justified."
 

By Roger Salter
Special to VIRTUEONLINE
www.virtueonline.org
May 1, 2020


TO BE CONTINUED...