Today I want to focus briefly upon the final two portions of the juxtaposition of Piper's and Wright's statements. I focus upon their respective statements concerning How This Happens and Future Justification.
How This Happens
Piper: By faith we are united with Christ Jesus so that in union with him, his perfect righteousness and punishment are counted as ours (imputed to us). In this way, perfection is provided, sin is forgiven, wrath is removed, and God is totally for us. Thus, Christ alone is the basis of our justification, and the faith that unites us to him is the means or instrument of our justification. Trusting in Christ as Savior, Lord, and Supreme Treasure of our lives produces the fruit of love, or it is dead.
Wright: God himself, in the person of Jesus Christ (the faithful Israelite), has come, allowing the continuation of his plan to rescue human beings, and, through them, the world. The Messiah represents his people, standing in for them, taking upon himself the death that they deserved. God justifies (declares righteous) all those who are "in Christ," so that the vindication of Jesus upon his resurrection becomes the vindication of all those who trust in him. Justification refers to God's declaration of who is in the covenant (this worldwide family of Abraham through whom God's purposes can now be extended into the wider world) and is made on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ alone, not the "works of the Law" (i.e., badges of ethnic identity that once kept Jews and Gentiles apart).
Future Justification
Piper: Present justification is based on the substitutionary work of Christ alone, enjoyed in union with him through faith alone. Future justification is the open confirmation and declaration that in Christ Jesus we are perfectly blameless before God. This final judgment accords with our works. That is, the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives will be brought forward as the evidence and confirmation of true faith and union with Christ. Without that validating transformation, there will be no future salvation.
Wright: Present justification is the announcement issued on the basis of faith and faith alone of who is part of the covenant family of God. The present verdict gives the assurance that the verdict announced on the Last Day will match it; the Holy Spirit gives the power through which that future verdict, when given, will be seen to be in accordance with the life that the believer has then lived.
Summary statements, even provided effectively by others such as by Trevin Wax, give expression to the most salient features of ideas or beliefs. This is especially true when those whose views are being summarized have an opportunity to adjust, correct, expand or otherwise rectify summary statements concerning their beliefs about matters as crucial and vital as those that John Piper and N. T. Wright were asked to address by Trevin Wax.
It may be a surprise to some of my readers, who seem to misunderstand some of my beliefs, that I find my own expressions concerning these matters resonating with the summary expressions that John Piper approved rather than the summary expressions N. T. Wright approved. By this I mean that in order to make the above summaries my own I would not need to offer any correctives but only perhaps a brief expansion to the two summaries of John Piper's beliefs, but to the two summaries of N. T. Wright's beliefs I would need to offer correctives or at least significant qualifications or clarifications. My agreements with the summaries of N. T. Wright's views are heterogeneous and variegated, calling for qualifications, adjustments, and corrections. My agreements with the summaries of John Piper's views are quite homogeneous, not that I wouldn't add a statement here or there to supplement what is said.
Within the two brief summary statements cited above I find at least two significant points of departure between N. T. Wright and John Piper. First, under How This Happens John Piper understands the essence of justification to be soteriological--how one is set right with God. N. T. Wright understands the essence of justification to be ecclesiological--who is set right with God. As they endeavor to define justification, the two focus upon very different questions. Piper sees justification as concerned with how a sinner is set right with God; Wright sees justification as concerned with who is set right with God. Recognition of this fact that the two men view justification as oriented around two significantly different questions seems largely lost in the exchange between the two, featured in their respective books--Justification: God's Plan & Paul's Vision and in The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright. Not only does it seem to be lost in the exchange between the two men but also among most who follow the debate.
Under How This Happens the summary of John Piper's beliefs entail the following statement: "By faith we are united with Christ Jesus so that in union with him, his perfect righteousness and punishment are counted as ours (imputed to us). In this way, perfection is provided, sin is forgiven, wrath is removed, and God is totally for us."
Compare and contrast this statement with the summary of Wright's beliefs. Yet, as we consider the summary of Wright's beliefs, it is important to take note that the summary entails pulling in two diverse directions.
First, Wright's view of justification entails soteriological aspects: "God himself, in the person of Jesus Christ (the faithful Israelite), has come, allowing the continuation of his plan to rescue human beings, and, through them, the world. The Messiah represents his people, standing in for them, taking upon himself the death that they deserved. God justifies (declares righteous) all those who are 'in Christ,' so that the vindication of Jesus upon his resurrection becomes the vindication of all those who trust in him." This is a soteriological summary. For Wright, justification is soteriological in that "God justifies . . . all those who are 'in Christ'" and this means that "the vindication of Jesus upon his resurrection becomes the vindication of all those who trust in him." This statement, though expressed differently from the summary statement that captures Piper's belief, agrees that justification is soteriological and that what belongs to Christ Jesus God declares to belong to all who are in him.
However, for Wright, justification is essentially ecclesiological, and this aspect has come to loom large in, even dominate, his expressions concerning justification, with the consequence that it draws much attention even accusation. "Justification refers to God's declaration of who is in the covenant (this worldwide family of Abraham through whom God's purposes can now be extended into the wider world) and is made on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ alone, not the "works of the Law" (i.e., badges of ethnic identity that once kept Jews and Gentiles apart)." The issue I am pointing out concerning Wright's view finds reinforcement under Future Justification with the summary statement: "Present justification is the announcement issued on the basis of faith and faith alone of who is part of the covenant family of God."
There is some biblical warrant for Wright's belief that our formulations concerning justification ought to account for who is justified, for, after all, the apostle Paul does speak to the question of who will be justified when he says, "For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified" (Romans 2:13).
Given Paul's statement, when we formulate our doctrinal statements concerning justification, surely we need to account for the fact that the New Testament speaks to the question concerning "who will be justified before God." This is especially so because the New Testament itself actually speaks this way. Consequently, I would include within my own summary statement concerning justification a statement that reflects this biblically warranted concern.
Nevertheless, I am not persuaded that Romans 2:13 and passages like it (e.g., Matt 25:31-46) warrant reorientating the focus of the definition of justification to focus upon who is justified rather than how one is justified. How one is set right with God is the essence of what justification entails. Who is set right with God surely is essential to the gospel and as such biblical assertions concerning who is justified inseparably link justification in Christ before God and sanctification in Christ by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, our doctrinal formulations ought to represent these biblical facts as accurately as possible. In my estimation, this is getting to the heart of N. T. Wright's concerns, though I am convinced that my expressions state more carefully his concerns than he himself has expressed his concerns. The way I express it above and elsewhere (e.g., throughout this blog), I avoid the problems that adhere to Wright's formulations as, for example, I point out below.
I find a second point of departure between Piper and Wright. Given the above crucial distinction between the views of the two ministers of the gospel, Piper's defining justification exclusively in terms of soteriology and Wright's definition of justification spanning both soteriology and ecclesiology but with the latter being the essential feature, it should not be surprising that under How This Happens Piper's and Wright's expressions concerning the basis of justification are quite different. Piper's view is summarized: "Christ alone is the basis of our justification, and the faith that unites us to him is the means or instrument of our justification." It is not as though Wright does not believe this. Surely his writings indicate that he does believe it. Nevertheless, given his empasis upon defining justification essentially in terms of ecclesiology rather than in terms of soteriology, Wright's view is summarized: "Justification refers to God's declaration of who is in the covenant . . . and is made on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ alone, not the "works of the Law" (i.e., badges of ethnic identity that once kept Jews and Gentiles apart)." Again, under Future Justification Wright's view is well summarized as "Present justification is the announcement issued on the basis of faith and faith alone of who is part of the covenant family of God."
I offer my own critical assessment of Wright's formulation here. Elsewhere I address the issue of the basis of justification such as here but especially here, where I pose the question, "Is Our Faith the Basis of Our Justification before God?" I point out the common evangelical mistake of identifying our faith as the basis of justification before God. I even point out that John Piper made such statements until my blog entry became the occasion for him to recognize the error and to correct it. My blog entry includes the following update.
In response to this blog entry interaction with his expressions concerning justification, John Piper has adjusted the way he expresses the relationship between faith and justification in the on-line document "What We Believe About the Five Points of Calvinism." No longer does the document speak of the first act of faith as the basis of our justification.
Thus, as far as Trevin Wax's summary statement goes concerning John Piper's understanding of justification in the Day of Judgment it comports with my own. The statement reads,
Present justification is based on the substitutionary work of Christ alone, enjoyed in union with him through faith alone. Future justification is the open confirmation and declaration that in Christ Jesus we are perfectly blameless before God. This final judgment accords with our works.
Justification before God, whether spoken of in terms of the already or the not yet is based solely on the substitutionary work of Christ Jesus, not upon our faith in Christ Jesus. Belief is instrumental but not the basis or ground of our right standing before God now or in the Last Day. I am persuaded that formulation of John Piper's view has this correct in contrast to N. T. Wright's formulation, which in my estimation is confusing at best when he approves the summary statement: "Present justification is the announcement issued on the basis of faith and faith alone of who is part of the covenant family of God."
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