R. Scott Clark: For Evangelicals Tempted by N. T. Wright's Revision of Paul

http://heidelblog.wordpress.com/2010/08/15/for-evangelicals-tempted-by-n-t-wrights-revision-of-paul/
 
 

For Evangelicals Tempted by N. T. Wright's Revision of Paul

Posted on August 15, 2010 by R. Scott Clark

 

There seems to be a cadre of biblicist, evangelicals, who don't know much about the medieval church (and who think it might even be cool to get back there in some ways), who don't know much about the Reformation (except that it had an uncool, legal, fictional doctrine of justification), and who don't know much about earlier versions of evangelicalism (an "evangelical" is someone who loves Jesus, right?), who like the doctrine of predestination (God is sovereign, so why does it matter what one says about justification, it comes out in the wash, right?), who have no real connection to Reformed churches ("Dude! We like couches, coffee, and candles"), who are tempted by N T Wright's ("Man! He is so cool!) revision of Paul. It's grounded in the first century, and that has to be good, right? It's different. It's hip and it's socially relevant (after all, NTW has a plan to transform society and that has to be good, right?).

 

This society of  fairly uncritical supporters seem to be quite unaware that there are serious, even fatal, flaws in NTW's revision of Paul (and of Reformed theology), beginning with his redefinition of Paul's doctrine of justification and carrying through his entire program of "God's faithfulness." There are good reasons not to be persuaded by NTW's revisionism. Those reasons are not just mere knee-jerk conservatism of the past but are grounded in the text of Holy Scripture, in biblical exegesis that takes account of the Judaic setting of the NT, in a coherent account of the history of redemption, grounded in faithful attempts to correlate passages with one another, including their implications (what we used to call "theology"), and in an attempt to relate our contemporary reading of the Holy Scriptures to that of the church before us (historical theology and the history of exegesis, something that NTW freely admits and regularly demonstrates he little cares about or understands). The pastoral consequences of NTW's program might also be mentioned as reasons for doubting.

 

Here are some critical resources you should read before inviting Tom Wright into your heart:

 

• Guy Waters, Justification and the New Perspectives on Paul.

• Michael Horton, Covenant and Salvation
• R. Scott Clark, ed. Covenant, Justification, and Pastoral Ministry.
• Don Carson et al, ed. Justification and Variegated Nomism (2 vols)
• Stephen Westerholm, Perspectives Old and New on Paul
• Seyoon Kim, Paul and the New Perspective: Second Thoughts on the Origin of Paul's Gospel.
• Peter Stulmacher and Donald Hagner, Revisiting Paul's Doctrine of Justification: A Challenge to the New Perspective
• Chuck Hill on NTW's definition of justification
• Questions about the whole business of re-interpreting "works of the law" as mere ethnic boundary markers
• N. T. Wright's Revision of Paul's doctrine of Christ's Obedience
• Guy Waters on NTW's reply to Piper
• Yes, confessionalists (and non-confessionalists) have actually read NTW and still disagree with him!
• The Old Perspective on Paul
• Who is N. T. Wright and Why Should I Care?
• Dan Wallace Raises Questions About NTW's Account of the Dikaisune tou Theou
• Paul Helm on NTW and the Reformation (or when does Semper Reformanda = Going Back to the Middle Ages?)
• Paul Helm: The Problem with Covenantal Faithfulness
• Helm on Wright and Baxter
• The White Horse Inn on NTW
• Horton Reviews Wright (PDF)
• Audio: Gerald Bray Critiques NTW
• Text: Gerald Bray Takes NTW to Task
• Guy Waters Reviews Daniel Kirk on Unlocking Romans
• Brief Tabletalk Essays on NTW
• More Resources on the NPP and Related Movements (including the Federal Vision)