Atonement and Four Views of Justification

1. THE DOCTRINE OF THE
ATONEMENT
LECTURE FOUR:
JUSTIFICATION & CONTEMPORARY DEBATES

2. Discussion:
Bird, Progressive Reformed View of Justification
Dunn, New Perspective View of Justification

3. Justification
Why talk about Justification at this point?
- It is not a “model” of Atonement (like Christus
Victor or Penal Satisfaction).
- It is a Biblical word (like Reconciliation,
Redemption, Salvation).

4. Review from Lecture #1:
Some Biblical Words and Contexts:
Word: Context:
Justification Law Court
Reconciliation Relationships
Redemption Slavery / Commerce
Triumph; Victory Battlefield
Sacrifice Worship
Adoption Family
All are
borrowed
from the
ancient
world.

5. Justification
Why talk about Justification at this point?
- It is not a “model” of Atonement (like Christus
Victor or Penal Satisfaction).
- It is a Biblical concept (like Reconciliation,
Redemption, Salvation).
- Yet, it is related to the Penal Substitution
discussion from last time.
- And it is a subject of contemporary debate.

6. Justification
Some textual examples:

7. Luke 18
9 To some who were confident of their own
righteousness and looked down on everyone else,
Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the
temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax
collector.
11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I
thank you that I am not like other people—robbers,
evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

8. Luke 18
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would
not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and
said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went
home justified before God. For all those who exalt
themselves will be humbled, and those who humble
themselves will be exalted.”

9. Romans 4
1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather
according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in
fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had
something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What
does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it
was credited to him as righteousness.”
4 Now to the one who works, wages are not credited
as a gift but as an obligation. 5 However, to the one
who does not work but trusts God who justifies the
ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.

10. Romans 4
23 The words “it was credited to him” were written
not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will
credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who
raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was
delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to
life for our justification.
Key Themes:
(1) Reckoning / Crediting / Imputing & Righteousness
(2) Substitution: Christ dies “for our sins”
(3) The relation between Resurrection and justification

11. James 2
21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous
(“justified”) for what he did when he offered his son
Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his
actions were working together, and his faith was made
complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was
fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was
credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called
God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered
righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

12. Justification
Some textual examples:

13. Justification
Defining Terms:
- Justification / Justify “to declare righteous”
‣Gr. dikai- root words
‣Hb. tsedequah
‣Context: From the (Covenantal) Law Court.
Key: Wright will argue that we must not de-sacralize
this Law Court, Israelites were “declared righteous” in
relation to the Covenant (Torah) regulations.

14. Justification
Defining Terms:
- Faith / Faithfulness
‣Gr. pistis
‣Can mean either “trust/belief/faith” or
“Faithfulness”
‣(This causes ambiguities)

15. Justification
Defining Terms:
- Works / “Works of the Law”
‣Gr. erga nomou
‣The Debate: Does Paul use this as a specific
reference to Jewish ethnic boundaries
(circumcision / food laws), or more broadly for
any moral requirements of God (deeds).
‣A similar debate surrounding Nomos (Law).

16. Justification
Defining Terms:
- The Reformation Perspective (on Paul)

18. Justification
Defining Terms:
- The Reformation Perspective (on Paul)
‣About how Individuals get right with God.
‣Jews teaching “earn your way to heaven”
legalism (via works of the law).
‣“Double-imputation”
‣Election seen in relation to Heaven / Hell.

19. Justification
Defining Terms:
- The “New” Perspective (on Paul)
‣Emphasis on People Groups (Jews/Gentiles)
‣Jews not “legalistic” in modern sense, rather
“ethnocentric” (erga nomou=ethnic boundaries)
‣Some in deny “double imputation” (e.g. Wright).
‣Election of people (groups) for a historical
purposes (not heaven and hell)
Warning!
All of these are sweeping
Generalizations!

20. Justification (Debated Issues)
“Works of the Law” (Legalism or Ethnocentrism)
- E.g: Galatians 2.16: So we, too, have put our faith
in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by pistis
Christou and not by the works of the law, because
by the works of the law no one will be justified.
Bird + Dunn are helpful here:
New and Old Perspectives need not be antithetical.
Paul is dealing with an “ethnocentric nomism” here.
Yet the NT also condemns the notion that our moral deeds
are what save us (see again, Lk. 18).

21. Luke 18 Pharisee + Tax Collector
9 To some who were confident of their own
righteousness…Jesus told this parable:
14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went
home justified before God...
Horton (‘Justification: Five Veiws’, 111):
“It is the outcasts—the ungodly— whom God justifies
through faith in his Son…It is the prodigal who, expecting to
be no more than a servant…is welcomed to the feast…The
tax collector asked for mercy rather than for an approval of
his righteousness.”

22. Justification (Debated Issues)
“Works of the Law” (Legalism or Ethnocentrism)
- Conclusion: A False Dichotomy.
- Yet, the Reformation misconstrual of Judaism did
need to be balanced by the New Perspective.
- The real question, is the relation between “works”
and “future justification / judgement.”

23. Justification (Debated Issues)
“Works” and Final Judgement:
- In addition to texts which that that “by works no one
will be justified,” other texts point to fruit / works /
obedience as connected to the Final Judgement.

24. Matthew 25
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all
the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.
32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he
will separate the people one from another as a
shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He
will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come,
you who are blessed by my Father; take your
inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the
creation of the world.

25. Matthew 25
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to
eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I
was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed
clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked
after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did
we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give
you something to drink?…
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you
did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of
mine, you did for me.’

26. John 15
1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit,
while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so
that it will be even more fruitful…
4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch
can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.
Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

27. Romans 2
6 God “will repay each person according to what they
have done.”[Ps. 62.12; Prov. 24.12]
7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek
glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal
life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who
reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and
anger. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every
human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for
the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone
who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
11 For God does not show favoritism.

28. 2 Corinthians 5
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us
for the things done while in the body, whether good
or bad.

29. Revelation 20
12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing
before the throne, and books were opened. Another
book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead
were judged according to what they had done as
recorded in the books.

30. Justification (Debated Issues)
“Works” and Final Judgement:
- In addition to texts which that that “by works no one
will be justified,” other texts point to fruit / works /
obedience as connected to the Final Judgement.
- Some Different models:

31. Four Views:

32. Four Views:
Works determine rewards, not salvation.
Works provide evidence one has been saved.
The NT displays a tension here (Luther / Dunn).
Works merit eternal life, yet they result from the
transformative grace of God (Catholic Position).
• Trent: “If anyone says that the sinner is justified by
faith alone,…let him be anathema.”
• “When God crowns our merits, he does nothing
else but crown his gifts” (Augustine).

33. Justification (Debated Issues)
“Works” and Final Judgement:
- A Synthesis: Justification / Judgement involves
both a Present and a Future dimension.
‣Present: Luke 18.14: “This man…went away
justified before God.
‣Future: Romans 2.13: …it is those who obey the
law who will be declared righteous.

34. Justification (Debated Issues)
“Works” and Final Judgement:
- A Synthesis: Justification / Judgement involves
both a Present and a Future dimension.
‣Present: We are justified in the present
through/by Faith / Belief. (dia / ek)
‣Future: The future judgment will be in accordance
with fruit / obedience / deeds (kata)

35. Justification (Debated Issues)
“Works” and Final Judgement:
- A Synthesis: Justification / Judgement involves
both a Present and a Future dimension.
‣Present: We are justified in the present
through/by Faith / Belief.
‣Future: The future judgment will be in
accordance with fruit / obedience / deeds.
This may even help make sense of Paul and James
Genesis 15 precedes Genesis 22

36. Justification (Debated Issues)
“Works” and Final Judgement:
- In Sum: Once again, New and Old Perspectives
need not be antithetical.
- Still, the Older (Lutheran) position did need to be
balanced, and Christians should read Jesus on this
subject instead of merely reading (certain sections)
from Paul.
- Finally: We must recall that such “works” are not
humanly accomplished, but are the fruit of the Holy
Spirit - thus all boasting is excluded (Bird).

37. Michael Bird (Saving Righteousness of
God)
Paul’s anthropological pessimism about the human
inability to keep the law is matched only by his
pneumatological optimism that Spirit-empowered
persons will be able to fulfill the requirements of the law
when they walk by the Spirit (Rom. 8.4; Gal. 5.25).

38. Justification (Debated Issues)
“Works” and Final Judgement:
- In Sum: Once again, New and Old Perspectives
need not be antithetical.
- Still, the Older (Lutheran) position did need to be
balanced, and Christians should read Jesus on this
subject instead of merely reading (certain sections)
from Paul.
- Finally: We must recall that such “works” are not
humanly accomplished, but are the fruit of the Holy
Spirit - thus all boasting is excluded (Bird).

39. Justification (Debated Issues)
(Double) Imputation:
- Single Imputation: Our sins have been imputed
(charged) to Christ (2 Cor. 5.19; Is. 53, etc.).
- Double Imputation: Christ’s righteousness has been
imputed (charged) to us.
‣Enshrined in Westminster Confession.

40. Westminster Confession
Those whom God effectually calls, he also freely
justifies…by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of
Christ unto them…

41. Justification (Debated Issues)
(Double) Imputation:
- Single Imputation: Our sins have been imputed
(charged) to Christ (2 Cor. 5.19; Is. 53, etc.).
- Double Imputation: Christ’s righteousness has been
imputed (charged) to us.
‣Enshrined in Westminster Confession.
‣Yet the NT never asserts this directly (Wright).

42. N.T. Wright (What St Paul Really Said)
If we use the language of the law court, it makes no
sense whatever to say that the judge imputes, imparts,
bequeaths, conveys or otherwise transfers his
righteousness…Righteousness is not an object, a
substance or a gas which can be passed across the
courtroom.

43. Michael Horton(Justification: Five Views)
If guilt can be imputed from one person to another,
then why not righteousness?

44. Justification (Debated Issues)
(Double) Imputation:
- A Mediating Conclusion: It is because we are made
one with Christ (see Paul’s “in Christ” language)
that what is true of him is true of us.

45. Justification
Conclusion:
- While Justification is not a “model” or “theory” of the
Atonement, it’s (1) proximity to Substitutionary
models, and its (2) place in contemporary debates
makes it a necessary discussion in this course.