The New Perspective on Paul: Evaluation and Critique

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The New Perspective on Paul Evaluation and
Critique
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INTRODUCTION

• In his book entitled, Counted Righteous in Christ
  (Crossway, 2002), 42, John Piper suggested that
  there are four significant issues related to the
  concept of justification in theology today

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INTRODUCTION

• 1) The New Perspective
• 2) Evangelicals and Catholics ecumenical
  dialogues
• 3) The conflation of faith and works of faith in
  the instrumentality of justification
• 4) The imputation of Christs righteousness to us

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INTRODUCTION

• What is the New Perspective?
• History of the NPP the writers and their
  writings
• Beliefs of the NPP
• What is the Old Perspective?
• Essential beliefs
• Responses of the Old Perspective to the NPP
• What can we learn from this discussion?

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What is the New Perspective?

• History of the NPP
• E. P. Sanders

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• Paul and Palestinian Judaism (1977)
• Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People (1983)
• Paul (1991)
• Judaism Practice and Belief 66 B.C.E.-66 C.E.
  (1992)

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• PPJ was the groundbreaking work that was actually
  built on the findings of several earlier writers
  including George Foot Moore (1921), Krister
  Stendahl (1963), George Howard (1970), and Joseph
  Tyson (1973).

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• In PPJ Sanders studied a number of Jewish
  writings from the intertestamental (2nd temple)
  period and he concluded that the Jews of Jesus
  day believed in grace and that their works did
  not save them.

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• He suggested that these second temple Jews were
  not legalists who believed in works
  righteousness rather they were covenantal
  nomists who believed in grace they were not
  concerned with getting in they were concerned
  with staying in.

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• In the end Sanders goal was to study patterns of
  religion (rather than to make a theological
  statement), and his agenda was to demonstrate
  that Christianity and Judaism were not as
  antithetical as commonly supposed.

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What is the New Perspective?

• History of the NPP
• James D. G. Dunn

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• The New Perspective on Paul (1983)
• Romans, 2 vols. WBC (1988)
• Jesus, Paul and The Law Studies in Mark and
  Galatians (1990)

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• Galatians, BNTC (1993)
• The Theology of Paul the Apostle (1998)
• The New Perspective on Paul , rev. ed. (2008)

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• Dunn is credited for introducing us to the phrase
  New Perspective.
• His 1983 article was based on the findings of
  Sanders (e.g. that Judaism was not legalistic),
  but he expanded on this view of Judaism by
  arguing two specific points

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• Justification is covenant language.
• When Paul uses the phrase works of the Law, he
  is talking about Jewish works seen as boundary
  markers separating Jews from Gentiles.
• Thus, Pauls problem with Judaism is not just a
  shift from Judaism to Christ (Sanders view).

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• Rather, Paul is attacking actual disobedience on
  the part of the Jews who have an attitude of
  presumption in regard to the Gentiles.

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What is the New Perspective?

• History of the NPP
• N. T. Wright

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• The Paul of History and the Apostle of Faith
  (1978)
• The Climax of the Covenant (1991)
• What Saint Paul Really Said (1997)
• Romans in New Interpreters Bible (2002)

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• Paul in Fresh Perspective (2005)
• New Perspectives on Paul (2006)
• 4QMMT and Paul (2006)
• Justification Gods Plan and Pauls Vision (2009)

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• Wright is by far the most prolific writer
  supporting the NPP.
• His 1978 article, though published after Sanders
  book, gives evidence of Wrights exegetical and
  theological foundation which colors all of his
  writing on the NPP.

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• For example, Judaism, so far from being a
  religion of works, is based on a clear
  understanding of grace, the grace that chose
  Israel in the first place to be a special people.
  Good works are simply gratitude (The Paul of
  History, 80).

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• Further, the works-righteousness that has been
  attributed to Judaism by the retrojection of the
  Protestant-Catholic debates of the Reformation is
  not true. In fact Paul finds Israel guilty not
  of legalism or works-righteousness but of
  what I call national righteousness,

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• the belief that fleshly Jewish descent guarantees
  membership of Gods true covenant people (The
  Paul of History, 65).
• Wright has written most specifically on the
  doctrine of justification.

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• Wright differs from Dunn in at least two ways
• 1) He views justification as both covenantal and
  judicial.
• 2) He believes that his overall covenantal
  approach (viewing all of Paul through the lens of
  Gods-single

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• Saving-plan-through-Israel-for-the-world) is
  more precise than Dunns less covenantal
  understanding of the metanarrative of Gods
  saving plan.

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What is the New Perspective?

• History of the NPP
• Other NPP writers of note
• Richard Hays
• Don Garlington
• Terry Donaldson
• Bruce Longenecker
• Douglas Campbell
• Walter Hansen

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What is the New Perspective?

• Essential beliefs of the New Perspective
• Judaism Jews of the 2nd temple period believed
  in covenantal nomism, i.e. obedience to the law
  was necessary to maintain ones position in Gods
  covenant. These Jews were not concerned with
  getting in to Gods covenant family rather they
  were concerned with staying in.

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What is the New Perspective?

• Judaism Obedience to the law was not thought to
  result in ones salvation. Thus, Judaism was a
  religion of grace, not works.
• Sanders (PPJ, 297) Salvation . . . Is always by
  the grace of God, embodied in the covenant.
• Wright, Founder, 32 We have misjudged early
  Judaism , especially Pharisaism, if we have
  thought of it as an early version of
  Pelagianism.

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What is the New Perspective?

• Dunn, Theology, 345 Second, and fundamental to
  Jewish self-understanding and covenant theology,
  was the recognition and affirmation that Israels
  standing before God was due entirely to the
  initiative of divine grace.
• Sanders, PPJ, 422 Election and ultimately
  salvation are considered to be by Gods mercy
  rather than human achievement.