"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." - Jerome

Friday, September 11, 2009

Horton vs Wright


In reading the debate between John Piper and N.T. Wright on Justification, though thankful for Piper's work, I have been disappointed with aspects of Piper's approach. Piper leans more "New Covenantal" rather than classical covenantal in his approach to the concept of covenant and imputation, which oddly means that there are times that I agree with Wright over Piper, even though I agree with Piper's conclusion and not Wright's.

Michael Horton, however, has taken up the task of critiquing N.T. Wright's view of justification (which denies a covenant of works and imputation) from a classical covenantal perspective. The series is very helpful:
[UPDATE: Get the entire review in one place here]

Part 1: Introduction

Part 2: Unity of the Covenant in justification

Part 3: Justification and God's People

Part 4: Justification and Eschatology & Imputation

Part 5: Justification and Imputation (cont.)

Part 6: Justification and the Works of the Law
 
Part 7: Is Wright Biblical or reading in his Systematics in Paul?

Part 8: Justification and Romans

Part 9: Works of the Law: Soteriology and Ecclesiology

Part 10: Conclusion

2 comments:

mattldn said...

This definitely caught my eye Jared, I really look forward to reading this... I came to some similar conclusions when I read Piper's work.

A said...

It's funny because I think N.T. Wright is one of the most anti-Catholic bishops in the Church of England. In his book "Surprised By Hope" he constantly criticizes Catholic doctrine from purgatory, saintly intercession, transubstantiation, etc. But the odd thing is, his teaching on justification is - I think - leading many towards Catholicism.

If I were a Reformed Protestant, I'd be with Horton. If you deny imputation by faith alone, you deny the Reformation and are left with peripheral issues to criticize Rome on.

But that's just my opinion, and I probably don't think I appeciate the depth of all the issues at hand.