Chapter
nine.
The Paschal
Community and Justification.
Introduction.
The changing views of justification.
In recent years there has been an ongoing debate over what Paul meant by his use of the term ‘justified’. It has been claimed that the Reformers read their own debate with Rome into Paul’s debate with Judaism. Some Biblical theologians are now claiming that Paul’s understanding of justification was not about being acquitted from sin, as understood by the Reformers. Rather, the term is claimed to be about being part of the covenant community. In this chapter it is my intention to show that justification in the NT has the forensic meaning that the Reformers understood, but at the same time it has a much bigger content which relates to how God brings people into a covenant relationship with Himself.
Methodological problems.
The nature of this chapter is such that it inevitably faces methodological problems. To survey the recently propounded views and evaluate them is a task in itself. To attempt to provide an alternative model and solution is another task. To keep the chapter to a manageable size it will be necessary to limit the amount of detailed exegesis. This is not a plea for special privilege, rather it is a plea to those who are not convinced by what are sweeping statements to refer for more detailed exegesis to my other works mentioned in the footnotes
Setting the scene.
Since E. P. Sanders published his work Paul and Palestinian Judaism, Pauline studies have been radically reshaped. Previously it had been assumed that Paul attacked Judaism for its legalism. The Reformers understood Judaism to have taught that salvation was achieved through keeping the law. Paul, it was thought, attacked this legalist position arguing that salvation was not achieved by keeping the law[1] but that it was a gift given by God.
Sanders challenged this legalistic view of Second Temple Judaism. He claimed that the Second Temple texts showed that Judaism never saw itself to be a religion of works. Indeed, it was the very opposite - it was a religion of grace. Sanders argued that Second Temple Judaism saw itself to be in a covenant relationship with God. Israel had been elected by God who had brought her into His covenant. Sanders argued that the law was not given as a means of achieving acceptance, but because Israel had been accepted. It was because she had this unique covenantal relationship with God that the law had been given. Rather than the law being a crippling obligation, it was a joyous gift and privilege. It provided for the maintenance of the covenant through sin offerings which dealt with the transgressions of both the individual and the nation.
Covenantal nomism.
This position, in which the law was seen as a gift from Israel's loving God,