Justification as the Speech of the Spirit

A Pneumatological and Trinitarian Approach to Forensic Justification

Jeffrey K. Anderson

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9781725294028
  9781725294011
• eBook ISBN:
  9781725294035
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

In the past few decades there have been an increasing number of authors and movements that reject the classic Protestant understanding of justification (e.g., the New Perspective on Paul, Auburn Avenue Theology, the Renewal Movement, etc.). While the various proposals differ in many respects, they are generally united in their rejection of justification as a legal declaration made by the Father about the believer based on the work of the Son. In particular, among renewal (Pentecostal/Charismatic) authors, there have been several attempts to redefine justification, insisting that it is an umbrella term incorporating numerous redemptive ideas rather than a declaration of the believer's righteousness. These attempts are in part rooted in the absence of any overt pneumatology in the doctrine's typical formulation. One need only read the above sentences to see that there is no mention of the Holy Spirit. This book addresses these and other concerns, especially by renewal authors, and demonstrate that the doctrine is, in fact, pneumatologically informed, albeit latently rather than blatantly. As a result, there is no need to redefine the theology of the Reformers and their successors.

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Abstract

In recent decades, the Protestant doctrine of justification has undergone unprecedented levels of criticism, originating from many different sectors. Although the concerns expressed are many and varied, one recurring theme is the absence of any overt pneumatology within the doctrine. Since the early centuries, the church has believed opera trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa (i.e., that “the external works of the Trinity are undivided”). However, during the Reformation, when justification began to take such a central role, it was understood as a legal declaration by the Father based on the redemptive work of the Son. Given the earlier dictum, such a formulation raises the question: Where is the Holy Spirit in such a formulation? If every act God performs is necessarily a trinitarian act, then where is the Holy Spirit in this construction? It would appear, prima facie, that Luther developed and passed on a “pneumatologically barren” notion of justification. Consequently, the past three decades have seen numerous attempts to redefine the meaning of the word justification, usually along pneumatological lines. Further, a significant number of these reformulations attempt to recast justification as a broad umbrella-term that covers nearly all of soteriology, rather than as a specific forensic term within the ordo salutis. My contention is that the conclusions drawn from the above (valid) question are, at best, premature and, at worst, misguided. The heart of this project is to show that justification, as it came from the Protestant Reformers, is already a pneumatologically rich concept. The major obstacle is in the traditional framing, or wording, of the doctrine, so that it appears to be lacking pneumatology. However, through the use of speech-act theory and some observations from biblical theology, it can be demonstrated that the Protestant doctrine of forensic justification is genuinely spiritual—truly trinitarian.

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Introduction

The Problem to Be Addressed

The history of justification is long and involved, characterized by almost unremitting controversy. Yet it is the very complexity of the subject that demands it be handled with care. In the first few centuries of the church, justification did not play the kind of pivotal role it would during the Reformation era. Instead, topics such as the Holy Trinity or the dual natures of Christ took center stage during those formative years.1 As an article of faith, during the first three and a half centuries of the Christian era, justification was more often assumed than argued. It would have to wait until the early part of the fifth century, when Augustine took up the topic, before it took on any real prominence; and it would wait still another millennium before it became the central doctrine for Protestantism—“the article upon which the Church stands or falls.”2 Additionally, during the Reformation era, justification was disputed like no other doctrine.3 The slow development of the doctrine notwithstanding, today justification continues to be among the most contested topics within the theological world. R. C. Sproul has aptly noted that the controversies surrounding justification have not reached such a fevered pitch since the days of the Protestant Reformation.4 When one considers the disputes over justification within the so-called “New Perspective(s) on Paul” (NPP), or those surrounding the “Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification” between Roman Catholics and the Lutheran World Federation in 1999, as well as recent conflicts within the evangelical church between authors like John Piper5 and Robert Gundry,6 not to mention the innovative contributions from Pentecostal/Charismatic authors like Frank Macchia, Amos Yong, and L. Lyle Dabney, or the highly visible conflict over the justification between N.T. Wright7 and John Piper,8 or even the dispute among conservative Presbyterians over the “Federal Vision” or “Auburn Avenue Theology” with its implications for the doctrine of justification—Sproul’s claim does not appear to be overstated.

It is obvious that no single work could appropriately survey all the above movements and ideas. Therefore, the goals of this project are far more modest. First and foremost, the aim will be to show that the traditional Protestant idea of forensic justification is an accurate representation of the biblical message. Second, and contrary to the claims of many recent contemporary theologians, I will seek to demonstrate that the Protestant understanding is actually pneumatologically informed—a view wherein the Holy Spirit is not merely present in some “static,” “shallow,” or “barren” fashion9 but rather active, working together with the Father and the Son to bring about our justification.

To accomplish this goal, we will explore some of the comments on justification in the work of a few representatives from the Reformation era and more recent church history. Specifically, we will briefly survey the history of justification, beginning with the traditional dating of Luther’s initial Romans’ lectures (May 1516) and concluding with the modern Joint Declaration on Justification between the Lutheran World Federation and representatives of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church on October 31, 1999. Of necessity, this will be only a cursory overview, nothing like Alister McGrath’s wonderful two-volume Iustitia Dei10 or Michael Horton’s outstanding two-volume set Justification.11 In other words, our historical survey will start with the beginning of t...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1: Abstract
• Chapter 2: Introduction
• Chapter 3: Methodology
• Chapter 4: A History of God’s Righteousness
• Chapter 5: God’s Declaration in Justification and the Role of the Holy Spirit
• Chapter 6: Speech-Act Theory
• Chapter 7: Conclusion
• Bibliography