250. Stephen Westerholm on Paul's Doctrine of Justification
In this episode, we welcome Dr. Stephen Westerholm to discuss his book Justification Reconsidered: Rethinking a Pauline Theme. What is the Doctrine of Justification, and why is Paul so central to a Biblical definition of the doctrine?
Noting “how we construe Paul’s claim that one is ‘justified by faith, not by works of the law’ depends, at least in part, on the question we think it addresses” - we discuss the impact of more recent scholarship that shifts the definition of Justification based on an updating of our view of the first-century context, interpreting “works of the law” to primarily mean horizontal boundary markers, and a view of the “righteous” and “righteousness” that emphasizes covenant inclusion and covenant faithfulness. Indeed, many are saying today that concerns over sin and salvation are more tours of the introspective consciences of Augustine, Luther and Calvin than of the historical Paul in his actual context.
Taking us into the clear teaching of 1 Thessalonians, we see that the question of how one is saved from God’s wrath is clearly the question at the heart of Paul’s message, even before the “first clearly formulated ‘doctrine’ of justification” we find in Galatians: “A person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.” Moreover, we see the concern over “righteousness” - for example: in Genesis 18, the Psalms, and Proverbs - as deriving from Creation, not just covenant. As Dr. Westerholm writes: “The apostle is using language of ‘righteousness’ in ordinary ways to speak of the extraordinary divine answer to the human predicament...stated in terms of universal human culpability before God.”
Listen in as we ask Dr. Westerholm about how to best understand the more careful scholarship about the first-century Jewish backdrop and how it may impact our view of Paul’s teaching, whether Paul and James contradict about faith and works, as well as whether Augustine is the source of the confessional Protestant view of Justification – rather than the historical Paul in his authentic context.
Book: Justification Reconsidered: Rethinking a Pauline Theme
Also, check out Dr. Westerholm’s new commentary on Romans!
Other books by Dr. Westerholm:
- Perspectives Old and New on Paul: The “Lutheran” Paul and His Critics
- Romans: Text, Readers, and the History of Interpretation
- Understanding Paul: The Early Christian Worldview of the Letter to the Romans
- Understanding Matthew: The Early Christian Worldview of the First Gospel
Other resources:
- Augsburg Confession Article IV
- Belgic Confession Article 22-23f
- WCF ch. 11; WLC Q.70f; WSC Q. 33
- Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians by Martin Luther
- John Calvin’s Letter to Sadoleto (1539)
- The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross by Leon Morris
- Interpreting Galatians by Moises Silva
- Also, “Faith Versus Works of the Law in Galatians”, found in Justification and Variegated Nomism (2 vols.), edited by D. A. Carson, Peter T. O’Brien, and Mark A. Seifrid
- Augustine of Hippo by Bradley Green
- Notes on Galatians by J. Gresham Machen
- Original Sin by Henri Blocher
- Where is Boasting?: Early Jewish Soteriology and Paul’s Response in Romans 1-5; Defending Substitution: An Essay on Atonement in Paul by Simon Gathercole
- Cracking the Foundation of the New Perspective on Paul by Robert J. Cara
- Justification and the New Perspectives on Paul by Guy Waters (also here, and here)
- James Revisited by Brandon Crowe
- Uncovering the Theme of Revelation in Romans 1:16-3:26 by Marcus Mininger (also here, here and here)
