The insight granted to Luther has remained at the heart of Protestant Christian thought. 'Justification by faith' is a sharp sword which punctures all inflated thoughts of self-importance. It is a sharp knife which cuts away all reliance on human effort, on human cleverness. It is a sharp spade which undermines any attempt to build our own protective barriers or control our own destiny. It cuts through all human pretence, all human self-assurance, all human boasting. God accepts not the important, or the activist, or the clever, or the powerful as such. It is the sinner he accepts. That is an insight which has been applied over and over again in Christian critique of false religiosity and political systems. It is an insight which must never be lost from the gospel....J. D. G. Dunn, A. M. Suggate, The Justice of God: A Fresh Look at the Old Doctrine of Justification by Faith , 8-9, from Scot McKnight, Community Called Atonement, 96.
There is more to it, of course.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Jimmy Dunn (of "the new perspective") on justification and self-righteousness
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2 comments:
Nothing new about that perspective. Powerful statements on justification - I'm not sure about everything else Dunn says but this statement I wholeheartedly agree with
ESI,
Jimmy Dunn states here what is included in "the new perspective." But "There is more to it, of course," is also part of this quote.
Just like the major Reformers: Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli, those recognized as the major proponents of "the new perspective," E.P. Sanders, Jimmy Dunn, and N.T. Wright, all have serious disagreements among themselves.
But I do believe they make some valid points/observations that need to be heard, only because they prove to be Biblical.
That's my view, but I plan to keep reading. And yes, Dunn does make that point well, here.
Thanks.
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