A New Luther? by Derek Thomas

FROM TABLETALK | February 2010

The accusation that systematic theology (doctrinal formulations of the Reformation period in particular) overly governs (distorts) exegesis is not new, and Bishop N.T. Wright trots it out with renewed zeal in his latest book, Justification: God’s Plan and …Read More

Has the Church Misunderstood Justification? by Guy Waters

FROM TABLETALK | February 2010

For all their differences concerning the doctrine of justification, Protestants and the Roman Catholic Church have agreed on this: justification fundamentally concerns the salvation of the sinner. To draw this observation is not, of course, to minimize the importance of …Read More

Justification and Ecumenism by Michael Horton

FROM TABLETALK | February 2010

One of the great connections that N.T. Wright emphasizes in his work is the one between soteriology (how we are saved) and ecclesiology (the church: who are the true people of God?). He properly (and repeatedly) reminds us that …Read More

“Works of the Law” in Paul by J.V. Fesko

FROM TABLETALK | February 2010

The definition of Paul’s phrase “works of the law” is one of the more significant disagreements between N.T. Wright and the Reformation understanding of justification by faith alone. On what basis can Wright claim that Paul does not …Read More

A Future Justification Based on Works? by Cornelis Venema

FROM TABLETALK | February 2010

One of the remarkable features of N.T. Wright’s reformulation of the Protestant doctrine of justification is his emphasis upon a “future justification” on the basis of works. According to Wright, the apostle Paul clearly teaches that believers will …Read More

Tilting at Scarecrows by R.C. Sproul

FROM TABLETALK | February 2010

In the past few years, the British bishop and New Testament scholar N.T. Wright has emerged as an icon of biblical theology around the world. His excellent work on the resurrection of Christ has influenced many people including his …Read More

Basking in the Benefits by Kim Riddlebarger

FROM TABLETALK | February 2009

Q. What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?  A. The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are, assurance of God’s love …Read More

For the Love of Slavery by John Sartelle

FROM TABLETALK | January 2009

“Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in — who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery” (Gal 2:4). She was eighty-six and her body was …Read More

Why Is Justification So Important? by Keith Mathison

FROM TABLETALK | November 2009

  During the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century, there were few things more precious to believers than the recovery of the biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ alone. Centuries of semi-Pelagian (and Pelagian) growth were dragged into …Read More

The “New Perspective” on Paul and the Law by Ben Witherington

There is something of a small war going on in Pauline circles on the issue of “the New Perspective on Paul” which actually also involves “the New Perspective on Early Judaism”. This sometimes heated debate was set in motion by …Read More

What Does Justification Have to do with the Gospel? by Sinclair Ferguson

FROM TABLETALK | February 2010

There is a striking plausibility about saying that “justification by faith is not what Paul means by ‘the gospel.’” After all, as N.T. Wright elsewhere observes, we are not justified by believing in justification by faith but by believing …Read More

Rethinking the Gospel? by Albert Mohler

FROM TABLETALK | February 2010

Bishop Wright believes the Christian church has fundamentally misunderstood the gospel. If he is right about this, we must hear him and accept his corrective. But, if he is wrong, he will lead us away from the gospel. The stakes …Read More

A Man More Sinned Against than Sinning?: The Portrait of Martin Luther in Contemporary New Testament Scholarship by Carl Trueman

To put it bluntly, it seems to me that the current revision of the doctrine of justification as formulated by the advocates of the so-called New Perspective on Paul is nothing less than a fundamental repudiation not just of that …Read More

Was Luther Right? by Thomas Schreiner

Martin Luther turned the world upside down in the sixteenth century by proclaiming the Pauline gospel. Luther, who was a professor of biblical exegesis for many years, slowly came to an understanding of the righteousness of God in Rom. 1 …Read More

Justification for Everyone by Burk Parsons

FROM TABLETALK | February 2010

For years we have wrestled with the question as to whether we should produce an issue of Tabletalk devoted to the new perspectives on Paul on the doctrine of justification, and for years we concluded that many of our readers …Read More