Justification Undermined

Every generation in the church has faced some challenge to the biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone. One reason why the doctrine faces such opposition is because it strikes at the heart of human pride. The doctrine of justification requires a person to forsake all his own righteousness in order to enter into God’s favour.1 It requires him to cast himself, by faith, entirely on the Lord Jesus Christ and his work for sinners. It is always tempting, even to the Christian, to rest on his own activity in order to enter into God’s favour.

One contemporary challenge to justification in the modern church comes under the name of the ‘New Perspective on Paul’ (NPP). James D. G. Dunn coined the phrase ‘the NPP’ in his 1982 Manson Memorial Lecture, published the following year.2 As one can tell from this phrase, the NPP focuses on the writings of the apostle Paul.3 It is a ‘new perspective’ because it fundamentally departs from the way that Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin and their Protestant heirs have understood the apostle Paul. In fact, the NPP claims that the Reformation’s understanding of Paul’s letters has obscured and distorted rather than elucidated the apostle’s thought. To read more, click here.