N. T. Wright’s Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision, cannot be considered an easy walk through pleasant inspirational meadows but is a rigorous climb in theological mountains. Written as a discussion with his critics over his alleged departure from Reformation theology of righteousness by faith and justification, he primarily addresses the work of John Piper in his book The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright. In it, Piper attacks Wright’s exegesis of the epistles of Paul. Wright, a leading New Testament scholar, lecturer, and author of some 40 books, currently serves as Bishop of Durham in the Anglican communion.
Divided into two sections, this book first addresses his issues with Piper and others and secondly does careful exegesis of Galatians, Philippians, Corinthians, Ephesians, and Romans. These are followed by a brief conclusion. Wright insists on a covenant view of the redemptive process beginning with the Genesis 3 account of the Fall and breaking of a relationship with the Creator God. Then he proceeds through the Abrahamic covenant, Torah, and coming of the Messiah, all of which adhere to and fulfill the plan of the Creator God to set the sinful world right. He continues by noting that the Abrahamic covenant also ushers in the eschaton that arrives in the coming of the Messiah and comes to full fruition in God’s final judgment, which ultimately sets right a fallen world.
Wright is given to lengthy and complex sentence structure, such as on pages 95 and 96 where one sentence is more than 250 words in length. His sentences are regularly filled with lengthy parenthetical interruptions that require careful attention by the reader to what Wright says. He is not comfortable using words that may be pre-loaded with meaning by the hearer, such as covenant, law, righteousness, justification, judgment, grace, and faith, thus rendering them of little value in communicating his intent. To avoid this problem, he frequently uses lengthy, hyphenated phrases such as “God’s single-saving-plan-through- Israel-for-the-world-now-fulfilled- in-the-Messiah” as his definition of “covenant.”
The perspective of sixteenth and seventeenth century reformation theology and exegesis—as vital, respected, and important as they are to him—are seen by Wright as giving overemphasis to imputed righteousness in an egocentric manner. This misses the point that a “setting right” of accounts does not equate to rendering one morally perfect and sinless. For him, this misdirection leads to antinomianism and hostility to the Torah–counter to the intent of Paul.
Further, he strongly resists any dispensationalism that would indicate that God provides a different means of salvation in different eras. For him, the promise to Adam, the covenant with Abraham, and the Torah all point to their consummation in the Messiah, an event that was strongly anticipated in Saul/Paul’s day by a calculation of the “Seventy weeks of years” prophecy of Daniel 9 (59).” Wright is a stickler for proper exegesis, using his vast skills as a linguist, historian, and theologian to seek both what the text says and what it means in its original setting. All the while he refuses to allow culture or preconceived notions to dictate the interpretation, as he so clearly indicated in his first paragraph on page 42. His knowledge of the time of Paul, careful and full use of Scripture from Genesis onward, and his amazing, integrating, and prodigious knowledge of the Pauline epistles both astounds and intimidates. This knowledge, that any Bible student would aspire to, will be advanced by reading this book.
