Over at the Desiring God website, John Piper has posted an excerpt called God Is for Us: Christ Obeyed and Died which is from his forthcoming book The Future of Justification. I won't offer too many thoughts (mainly because I'm laid flat with a virus), but one good thing I did like was that there was an emphasis on union with Christ, talk of the fruit of the Spirit, and bringing in the issue of personal assurance.
HT: Justin Taylor
3 comments:
The Epistle to the Romans was originally about the cleansing work of the Spirit in those who obeyed the Spirit.
It wasn't faith that Abraham had before he was circumcised. It was the Spirit of God. His so-called 'faith' (a Pauline construct along with justification) was his obedience of, or better 'in', the Spirit. The Spirit cleansed the spirit of Abraham before he was circumcised.
'It was credited or counted to him as righteousness' (Rom.4:3). The 'it' was God's promise (Gen.15:5.) Abraham credited 'it' to 'him', that is God, for having righteousness. Abraham had heard 'the voice of the Lord' making the promise about his numerous descendants. Abraham believed that the promise was true and attributed righteousness to the Lord, as distinct from the unrighteousness of the other gods around him.
Thus God did not credit Abraham with righteousness, and the concept of justification by faith, as contrived by the Pauline editor of Romans, falls apart.
Thanks for pointing out the excerpt... I only stumbled onto news about Piper's book a few weeks back, and so I'm interested to find out more about it.
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