Saturday 4 April 2009

Justification: Piper on Wright


I've been reading John Piper's book on 'The Future of Justification: A response to N T Wright'.
It is good to have such books as this which engage with other major scholars.
My concern about Piper's book is that all the way through he seems concerned only to show where N T Wright diverges from Reformed Orthodoxy. I'm not sure that Piper has taken seriously the possibility that Reformed Orthodoxy may itself need reformed. As Wright claims, it is not impossible that Christian thinking about theology and biblical interpretation went wrong with Augustine and has been on the wrong foot ever since. This is a bold claim, which I am not yet endorsing, however, we know that every great theologian of these past 1600 years has been human and therefore fallible, there is no a priori reason why the work of Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Edwards and other might not need reformed. A critque of N T Wright needs to do more than demonstrate that the Bishop is out of step with received Reformed Orthodoxy.
I rejoice to read the following:
"... Wright loves the apostle Paul and reverences the Christian Scriptures. That gives me hope that engaging with him will be fruitful. I know I have learned from him, and I hope that our common ground in Scripture will enable some progress in understanding and agreement." Piper, page 27.
We have had more than enough of name calling and anathematising between Christians, between those who love the Scriptures, between those who are sisters and brothers in the Lord Jesus Christ. This example of recognising a brother in Christ, of desiring to learn and to share from what one has learned is an example we should all aspire to follow.

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