Holiness in Fresh Perspective: Covenant, Cross, and Kingdom is the title of my book that is schedule for release in 2015 (Wipf & Stock). The goal of Holiness in Fresh Perspective is to take fresh look at Paul’s understanding of sanctification in light of N.T. Wright’s work.
N. T. Wright is arguably one of the most, if not the most, influential and trusted Christian theologians today. Wright, as the champion voice of the New Perspective, has now dominated the mainstream Protestant-evangelical pulpit and academy for several decades. This movement came to a climax at the end of 2013 with the publication of Wright’s magnum opus Paul and the Faithfulness of God, which sets forth an exhaustive articulation of Paul in “fresh perspective.”
So what is all the fuss about? How has this discussion effectively mushroomed into the hot theological discussion of the century? Wright contends that Protestantism has inherited a theology from a tradition (Reformation) that failed to read Paul on Paul’s terms, thereby resulting in a distorted understanding of Paul’s thought and theology. In turn, Wright, by calibrating the interpretive lens according to Paul’s first-century Judaic context, has proposed that Paul is actually saying something quite different then what folks believed him to be saying for centuries. The explanatory power resulting from Wright’s interpretive conclusions is absolutely unprecedented. All of a sudden, as one reads Paul from this fresh perspective, dimensions of his thought and theology that have eluded interpreters for centuries come into sharp focus.
One dimension of Paul’s thought, however, that remains to be fleshed out in light of the fresh perspective is holiness. Much of the dialogue has focused on the doctrine of justification. Very little has been said about Paul’s doctrine of sanctification. This project responds to this pointed need. How do we understand how Paul thought about sanctification in light of what N. T. Wright and the New Perspective has shown us?
Holiness in Fresh Perspective: Covenant, Cross, and Kingdom, then, seeks to situate the biblical doctrine of holiness within the new framework of understanding Paul’s thought and theology championed by Wright.
Working Table of Contents
Introduction—Covenant, Cross, and Kingdom
This chapter presents the need for understanding holiness in fresh perspective. The introductory chapter sets the framework for the project by explaining the fundamental concepts of the New Perspective as well as the need for study. More specifically, it makes the priority to read and interpret Paul’s theology of holiness on Paul’s terms (respective of Paul’s first-century Judaic context) over and above other contexts. The fundamental concepts or pillars of the New Perspective are summed up in the three terms “Covenant”, “Cross”, and “Kingdom.” Reading Paul’s holiness doctrine with these pillars as our (as well as Paul’s) frame of reference lends tremendous explanatory power and balance to the biblical doctrine of holiness. What do we come away with? Holiness as the fuel for the mission of God through His covenant people.
Chapter 1: The Salvation Narrative: God’s World Renewal Project
Chapter 1 sets the greater framework for understanding holiness in fresh perspective. In this chapter I argue that when we lose the complex backdrop of God’s World Renewal Plan when reading the New Testament and interpreting God’s salvation into our daily lives, it will greatly impact the way we think about holiness. From the perspective of me-and-my-sin-crisis, holiness and sanctification becomes something that’s primarily about me. Sanctification certainly concerns the individual, but when we read the story of Scripture properly, we begin to see that my sanctification is for a purpose that goes beyond my peace of heart and mind. We can be moved with the idea of a perfected will and fully devoted heart, but we must not end there. God forbid! We will see that holiness is something very missional. When we get this piece right we then begin to move into embracing and understanding the full gospel.
Chapter 2: Torah Holiness: The Old Testament Covenant Heritage
Chapter 2 narrows the scope a bit further by exploring how the concept of covenant shapes Paul’s soteriology, and more specifically, Paul’s understanding of holiness. Ultimately, covenant is the means by which God’s Renewal Plan comes to the world. More specifically, the cross and resurrection is the fulfillment of God’s covenant faithfulness to Israel that simultaneously redeems both Israel and Gentiles (and the cosmos). This means that it is crucial that covenant becomes a central point of reference when reading Paul. The New Perspective situates this point against mainstream protestant evangelical interpreters of scripture that tend to overlook (or at least misinterpret) the concept of covenant when reading Paul. It is when we have the proper grasp of Paul’s thinking about covenant as it relates to salvation that we can arrive at a more profound and historically oriented understanding holiness as the goal of God’s World Renewal Plan.
Chapter 3: The Life of the King: The Living Torah and the True Israel
This chapter goes a bit further by looking at how the life of Jesus fits into God’s World Renewal Plan. We will answer the question, “Why did Jesus live?” The New Perspective refreshes the memory of interpreters of the fact that Jesus is first and foremost the Jewish Messiah through whom God’s World Renewal Plan is fulfilled. From this perspective we will find that the answer to our framing question (Why did Jesus live?) is that Jesus’ life ultimately reveals God’s holy nature as well as his intended standard for human life. In other words Jesus is the Living Torah and the True Israel.
Chapter 4: The Cross and the New Covenant
This chapter moves us forward by evaluating how the death of Jesus fits into God’s World Renewal Plan. We will answer the question, “Why did Jesus die?” We will lend special attention to the death of Jesus as the pinnacle event of God’s covenant faithfulness to Israel by solving the sin-death problem for both Israel and Gentiles (as well as the cosmos at large) by fulfilling the stipulations of the Torah. Finally, we will see that the willful death of the Son of God is the exemplary testimony to holiness as well as The Great Divine Act of Justice to the Israel and to the world.
Chapter 5: Kingdom: The New Creation, the Faithfulness of God, and Holiness
In this chapter we conclude our study with an exploration of the kingdom of God and how it fits within the bigger picture of God’s World Renewal Plan. We will see that when all the dimensions of Pauline Christology, soteriology, ecclesiology and eschatology merge together in the kingdom of God we gain a clear and fresh perspective of the biblical doctrine of holiness. We will see that the glory of God that descended on the Tabernacle in Exodus 40 is a type of Pentecost. Just as the Passover isn’t solely for the purpose of deliverance from Egypt, so the cross is not solely for the purpose of atoning for sin-guilt. Both of these (the Passover and the cross) are a means for God’s coming glory. God delivered Israel from Egypt so that they would become his holy nation, his nation of priests through whom the effects of the Garden would be reversed. In the Garden humanity took upon itself moral autonomy thereby corrupting the vocational dimension of the image of God. Jesus recapitulates this failure through his perfect obedience and servanthood. Through expressed faith in the Lordship of Jesus believers submit once again to the reign of God by the means of the Holy Spirit that recreates the heart of humanity for servanthood, humility, trust, and complete obedience according to the Spirit of Jesus the king. In this feature of the cross, the role of servanthood and perfect obedience comes to light. With the character of humanity conforming to the perfect obedience of the Messiah, the image of God once again is restored in humanity and his righteous, good, just, and loving reign is reestablished on the earth.
