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As we move closer to Reformation Day 2007, the anticipation builds towards the release of what should be a very important book: The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright by John Piper – Crossway Books (October 23, 2007)

Book Description:

“N.T. Wright, a world-renowned New Testament scholar and bishop of Durham in the Church of England, has spent years studying the apostle Paul’s writings and has offered a “fresh perspective” on Paul’s theology. Among his conclusions are that “the discussions of justification in much of the history of the church—certainly since Augustine—got off on the wrong foot, at least in terms of understanding Paul—and they have stayed there ever since.”Wright’s confidence that the church has gotten it wrong for 1,500 years, given his enormous influence, has set off warning bells for Christian leaders such as John Piper, a pastor and New Testament scholar. If Wright’s framework for interpreting the New Testament text and his understanding of justification find a home in the church, not only could the doctrine of justification be distorted for generations to come, but the New Testament writers’ original intent could be silenced. So Piper is sounding a crucial warning in this book, reminding all Christians to exercise great caution regarding “fresh” interpretations of the Bible and to hold fast to the biblical view of justification.”

Since this topic has been confined to within the circle of New Testament Scholars, many people have never heard of it. Those who have heard of it might only know it by name, but really have no idea what it’s about.

At first, it can be an intimidating subject to become familiar with. This is because some of the terms used in the arguments are particular to high level scholarship, something that the everyday Christian isn’t familiar with. For me, it was, and still is, a tough topic to fully understand.

However, that doesn’t justify remaining completely ignorant of it. The more we learn and understand, the better we will understand Piper’s arguments. John Piper is a very large, in fact, the largest stage that NPP has appeared on since it’s inception in the late seventies or thereabout. Piper has a large following, and because of this, the discussion is bound to spill over from the ivory tower theologians inner circle of New Testament Scholarship, and into the pews that the layperson occupies.

Therefore it is wise that we take advantage of the time that we have between now and then (10/23/07) to learn as much as we can about NPP so that when the discussion becomes the latest fashion trend as the result of the book release, we’ll be better equipped to defend the Faith!

It is my desire to provide you, the reader, with a “New Perspective on Paul Crash Course”, a series of short, bite-sized, easy-to-understand posts regarding the New Perspective on Paul. I intend to describe the key points of the arguments for and against it, as well as a summary of my own personal studies on the subject.

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God willing, I plan to publish at least two posts per week. With about seven weeks left, committed readers will benefit from at least 14 articles. The articles will allow for comments and open forum discussion so that we may discuss amongst ourselves the difficult issues at hand.

The education will be provided free of charge, and upon completion of the course, the articles will be gathered and edited into one final document to be released at about the same time as Piper’s book. My critical evaluation will be from a Reformed perspective, using Scripture ALONE as the Objective measure of Truth, the Final Arbiter in the matter, in defense of THE FAITH once delivered to the saints! (Jude 3)

Pray for me as I attempt to take on this task, that the Lord would give me the strength to complete this vision of achieving a settled and convinced position for us all on this heresy that denies Justification by faith and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness, and much more.

Crash Course #1 – scheduled for Thursday evening – “What is the New Perspective on Paul?: A Summary”