Christ, Our Righteousness: Paul's Theology of Justification

New Studies in Biblical Theology #9

by D.A. Carson, Mark A. Seifrid

Since the time of the Reformation, considerable attention has been given to the theme of justification in the thought of the apostle Paul. The ground-breaking work of E. P. Sanders in Paul and Palestinian Judaism (1977) introduced the "new perspective on Paul," provoking an ongoing debate which is now dominated by major protagonists. Foundational theological issues are at stake. In this New Studies in Biblical Theology volume, Mark Seifrid offers a comprehensive analysis of Paul's understanding of justification, in the light of important themes including the righteousness of God, the Old Testament law, faith, and the destiny of Israel. A detailed examination of justification in the letter to the Romans is followed by a survey of the entire Pauline corpus. Seifrid's analysis incorporates a critical assessment of the "new perspective," challenging its most basic assumptions; an evaluation of the contribution of recent German scholarship; and a reaffirmation of the "Christ-centered" theology of the Reformers. In this wide-ranging exposition of the biblical message of justification, Seifrid provides a fresh, balanced reworking of Pauline theology. Addressing key issues in biblical theology, the works comprising New Studies in Biblical Theology are creative attempts to help Christians better understand their Bibles. The NSBT series is edited by D. A. Carson, aiming to simultaneously instruct and to edify, to interact with current scholarship and to point the way ahead.

Genres: Theology, Christian, New Testament, Academic, Biblical, Christianity

222 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2001

About the author

Donald A. Carson is research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He has been at Trinity since 1978. Carson came to Trinity from the faculty of Northwest Baptist Theological Seminary in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he also served for two years as academic dean. He has served as assistant pastor and pastor and has done itinerant ministry in Canada and the United Kingdom. Carson received the Bachelor of Science in chemistry from McGill University, the Master of Divinity from Central Baptist Seminary in Toronto, and the Doctor of Philosophy in New Testament from the University of Cambridge. Carson is an active guest lecturer in academic and church settings around the world. He has written or edited about sixty books. He is a founding member and currently president of The Gospel Coalition. Carson and his wife, Joy, reside in Libertyville, Illinois. They have two adult children.

Reviews

[Allison Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't recommend this book enough as it described and discussed Paul's theology of justification in view of the entire scope of Scripture as I've never seen done before. Seifrid roots justification in the person and work of Jesus Christ and draws out the vastly encouraging implications of our justification. Please read this book if you want to be encouraged in your walk with Christ and assured of the extent to which we are right with him. And let the Lord turn your heart to him in gratitude in light of the great kindness he has lavished on us in making us right with him in the way he has and with all of its implications.

[Neil Kruger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another strong contribution to the study of the doctrine of justification. I found the sections on the 'righteousness of God', 'faith', 'the remnant motif in Romans 9-11', 'imputed righteousness' and 'the relationship between faith and works' illuminating and thought-provoking. Seifrid's proposal that justification be rooted in the 'verdict and vindication' in the death and resurrection of the Messiah should definitely be considered. He builds on the foundation of his Protestant heritage, whilst at the same time challenging some of its conventional convictions. Seifrid's tone is aggressive. The conviction is welcomed, but charity is lacking, especially given that his disagreements often seem like nothing more than a different emphasis.

[Michael Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a difficult but incredibly beneficial read. Sefreid brings great nuance and meat to our understanding of righteousness, justification, faith, and more. He lifts up God's name and power in a way that drew me closer to Jesus. A truly worship-filled book.

The reason I give it a four is because he often lacked clarity in his writing. It would take me looking for summary or thesis statements to understand his argument and thrust. This was a common problem I face in all but some of the later chapters. Some of it was the amount of nuance and complexity of the content, but some of it was a style that was less accessible. It also seemed like he could have defined more terms and structured his argument more clearly.

His conent conceptually was fantastic. He brought incredible perspective to was faith is, how it relates to works, what God's Righteousness is, and how it relates to us and our salvation. He critiques popular new perspective positions without falling into old perspective platitudes or flaws. He truly brings a rich reformed reading that moves the conversation forward beyond old and new in Paul.

Praise God for this book.

[James Horgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seifrid has had a complex history. Raised in strict Lutheranism (Missiouri Synod) he made a deeper commitment to his Christian faith when at university and went on to become a Professor at Southern Baptist Seminary. This book was written during his time there. A little over a decade later he returned to his Missouri Synod roots crediting the writing of this book as significant in helping him rethink his theology.

That background may explain some of the oddities of this work which is both a response to some currents in the New Perspective on Paul (NPP) and a reaction to reductionistic thinking about justification found in some baptist circles.

Rightly rejecting the NPP's view of justification, which reduces to a simple change ethical view that hardly needed Jesus' death to achieve, the bulk of the book is a detailed exegesis of mainly Pauline passages on justification. Notable is the light touch taken to the locus classicus on imputation, 2 Cor 5:21. Justification is seen fundamentally as God's vindication of himself through Jesus' work on the cross. The standard courtroom metaphor is recast to make God injured party rather than just the Judge. Faith is then apprehending a salvation wholly outside of us.

The concluding chapter includes an attack on the concept of imputation. Melanchthon is specifically cited as the originator of this idea. Seifrid thus locates himself with a 'Luther' view of justification which focusses more on salvation as a whole rather than the 'how' of it. (McGrath in his magnum opus Iustitia Dei sees these approaches as complementary, not opposed.)

Though Seifrid cites a sentence of the Westminster Confession approvingly he omits the preceding sentences which explicitly affirm imputation. There is thus a weakness in his approach which downplays the role of the Holy Spirit uniting us to Christ which distinguishes Reformed from Lutheran approaches to justification and resolves many of the tensions Seifrid thinks he has uncovered between Paul and theologies of justification.

Unsurprisingly Seifrid's views caused some controversy at the time which are documented on James White's web site, though the subsequent move of Seifrid back to Lutheranism was not known at the time and does explain what was going on inside him!

[David Perde · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have somewhat mixed reviews with Seifrid's book.

The book offers a consistent understanding of the concept of Christ as our righteousness and Paul's theology of justification in his epistles, especially in the letter to the Romans (perhaps overused in this case), as this is most referenced pauline writing in the book, accompanied by sound exegesis for the most part. In his study Seifrid understands the concept of 'works of the law' as referring to the entire Mosaic law, not just the ceremonial commandments, thus refuting the new perspective on Paul. In regards to justification Seifrid regards it as being by faith, faith which he understands as God's work alone in the one's heart. One essential point that Seifrid makes is that righteousness is not imputed. While he also disregards the idea that righteousness is infused, Seifrid doesn't exactly offer an alternative for this issue, which brings me to one of my complaints with this book. It is many a time too inconsistent, discussions are opened but not finished and besides this the book can usually be incoherent. In the final part of his book, Seifrid opens a 'dialogue' between the Protestant and Catholic view on justification, but unfortunately this discussion is mostly one sided, without exploring at greater lengths the view of the Roman-Catholic Church.

Overall, while some of Seifrid's reasonings are noteworthy, the book has been disappointing too frequently.

[Jeffrey Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book looking at Paul's teaching on Christ, and of Him being our righteousness. It starts off giving an overview of Paul's life in Acts before moving to justification by faith, first through Romans, then looking at Paul's other letters, and finally analyzing how the other NT authors dealt with the subject.

One thought really moved me: That God not only justifies the ungodly, but that He ONLY justifies the ungodly. None of us can justify ourselves.

Another reviewer was disappointed that Seifrid didn't deal much with the New Perspectives of Paul (NPP). I also picked up that he focused more on the letters that all considered were by Paul and less space on those some don't believe were written by Paul (Ephesians, Colossians, the Pastoral Epistles, and Philemon). Unlike the above mentioned reviewer, I had no problem with those issues not being dealt with: The focus was what Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote in his letters about Christ being our righteousness.

I thoroughly enjoy the New Studies in Biblical Theology series that this book is a part of. It also is uplifting to read about justification. I recommend both this book and the series.

[Drew Correll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seifrid here does a great job expounding upon Christ being our righteousness. His thorough exposition of Paul's theology of justification. I found his dive into the book of Romans especially interesting. Paul's understanding of righteousness cannot be understood in light of one verse or passage, but instead, an entire scope of Pauline literature will bring a fuller picture of what Paul really means by Christ, our righteousness. I appreciated the most the consistent and clear reminder that Paul views our justification in light of the death and resurrection of Jesus. As intensely complicated as the death and resurrection of Jesus and deep enough to keep scholars diving for millenia, it is as equally simple, foundational, and encouraging for the life that we live today.

[Andy Febrico Bintoro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Justification according to Paul’s theology. Both Paul and Luke interpret his conversion as an unconditioned act of God’s mercy, to which Paul brought no preparation but his sins. All attempts to find a psychological basis for that conversion shatter against this foundational element of the New Testament witness. Neither anxiety over his guilt nor distress over the condition of his nation prepared him for his encounter with the risen Christ.

[Timothy Decker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though his emphasis on the resurrection in relation to justification was good, his view of imputation along with his lack of explaining the idea of "contention" was a major shortcoming of the book.

[Lal Bahadur]

Nice book

[Bauer Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

My introduction to this new series edited by Dr. Carson. Excellent!

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

The issue of justification is at the heart of the Christian message. What we understand about the Bible's teaching on justification directs how we not only understand our relationship before God, but how we appeal to and invite others into this relationship with God through Christ. Seifrid takes us to Scripture and walks us through Paul's conversion and his primary texts about justification, especially Romans. His teaching is clear and helpful. He engages the modern debates sufficiently to help us understand certain emphasis or points of contrasts in contemporary scholarship. But he doesn't belabor the modern debates, which I found helpful. HIs treatment of Romans is especially insightful. He lands us by pointing out flaws in some Protestant formulations of justification that separate the doctrine and it's parts (vindication, imputation, etc.) as ideas separated out form Christ. That is the great value of this book for all Christians: Seifrid takes us to Christ, and all the wonder of God's work on our behalf through him. This book may be more difficult for some readers, but it is well worth the time. I'd recommend this for all Christians. For pastors this book will be helpful to study yet again that great charge, to hold up Christ and him crucified, and help them to place that message amidst the modern debates about justification.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seifrid's theology of justification in Paul is helpful on many fronts. His careful exegesis and thoughtful analysis of the pertinent texts is thorough and true to the text. It is also helpful in highlighting some of the problems with the New Perspective on Paul. One issue I have with this book, however, is that Seifrid downplays the issue of imputation of Christ's righteousness. While he does not deny the notion of imputation, he says it is incomplete and prefers to simply speak of justification through union with Christ. I appreciate Seifrid's careful exegesis that stands as a helpful corrective to the NPP, but I differ with Seifrid when it comes to his stance on imputation.

[Chuck Bonadies · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book Seifrid does a good job challenging the New Perspective(s) on Paul. My one concern is how he handles the doctrine of imputation. Though I am fairly certain that Seifrid does not seek to deny the doctrine (just look at the title), he could, at times, be a bit clearer. Nevertheless, this is a good read for those who are interested in the topic of Righteousness.

CB

[Jacob · Rating 2 out of 5]

My problem with Seifrid is that he assumes that his view is correct and doesn't consider alternatives. Premise - I'm right - this is the only possible/correct reading - I'm right - complain about how everyone is wrong.

[Nathaniel Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seifrid is difficult to understand at times, but this is the most helpful book I have read on the subject. It's a must for anyone interested in the debate on justification.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good discussion on justification with particular attention to the New Perspective on Paul. I appreciated Seifrid's big view of justification.