#39 Wright on Pharisees and Self-Salvation

N.T. Wright says the following in NTPG, page 189:

“The Pharisees sought to bring moral pressure to bear upon those who had actual power; to influence the masses; and to maintain their own purity as best they could. Their aim, so far as we can tell, was never simply that of private piety for its own sake. Nor (one need scarcely add) was it the system of self-salvation so often anachronistically ascribed to them by Christians who knew little about the first century but a lot about the Pelagian controversy. Their goals were the honour of Israel’s god, the following of this covenant charter, and the pursuit of the full promised redemption of Israel.”

The sentence that I think Wright puts the most emphasis on is the one I’ve got italicized. I believe he mentions this elsewhere and I think it especially relates to “The New Perspective” conversation and may be explored more in depth in his fourth volume in the series on Paul. I’m surprised he inserted the phrase “one need scarcely add”. Although those familiar with The New Perspective might see this as anachronistic, the vast majority of the church thinks that the word “Pharisee” and the word “self-salvation” are interchangeable.

Wright, and other New Perspective types seek to correct this notion by making the key distinction that the Pharisees were not so much concerned with how a person becomes part of the people of God, but rather how a person who is a member of God’s people should act. This has broad implications for better understanding possible meanings of several of Paul’s phrases such as justification, “works of the law”, and “seeking to establish their own righteousness.”

Here is a couple of quotes from a lecture that Wright gave on the New Perspective which delve a little further into the issue:

“I was puzzled by one exegetical issue in particular, which I here oversimplify for the sake of summary. If I read Paul in the then standard Lutheran way, Galatians made plenty of sense, but I had to fudge (as I could see dozens of writers fudging) the positive statements about the Law in Romans. If I read Paul in the Reformed way of which, for me, Charles Cranfield remains the supreme exegetical exemplar, Romans made a lot of sense, but I had to fudge (as I could see Cranfield fudging) the negative statements about the Law in Galatians... But as I struggled this way and that with the Greek text of Romans and Galatians, it dawned on me, I think in 1976, that a different solution was possible. In Romans 10.3 Paul, writing about his fellow Jews, declares that they are ignorant of the righteousness of God, and are seeking to establish ‘their own righteousness’. The wider context, not least 9.30–33, deals with the respective positions of Jews and Gentiles within God’s purposes – and with a lot more besides, of course, but not least that. Supposing, I thought, Paul meant ‘seeking to establish their own righteousness’, not in the sense of a moral status based on the performance of Torah and the consequent accumulation of a treasury of merit, but an ethnic status based on the possession of Torah as the sign of automatic covenant membership? I saw at once that this would make excellent sense of Romans 9 and 10, and would enable the positive statements about the Law throughout Romans to be given full weight while making it clear that this kind of use of Torah, as an ethnic talisman, was an abuse. I sat up in bed that night reading through Galatians and saw that at point after point this way of looking at Paul would make much better sense of Galatians, too, than either the standard post-Luther readings or the attempted Reformed ones.”

For centuries, perhaps since the Reformation, or perhaps as far back as Augustine, the church, at least the ones that I grew up in, interpreted the phrase “seeking to establish their own righteousness” in terms of this performance of the Torah as Wright says, rather than as possession of the Torah. He says in the lecture, “I have lived most of my life in and around evangelical circles in which I have come to recognise a strange phenomenon. It is commonly assumed that Luther and Calvin got Paul right.” Wright seems to feel that interpreting righteousness as an indication of ethnic/covenant status rather than moral status is more faithful to the original intent of Paul and fits better with the whole of his writings.

For me, since I haven’t explored this area too much, this concept of not considering the original intent of the author has broader implications outside of The New Perspective debate. For example, when Jesus says that many are called but few are chosen. Upon hearing this phrase we immediately filter Jesus through Calvin and frame this phrase in terms of a predestination vs. free will debate. But I think that perhaps, this might not be what Jesus was trying to say at all. Is there a third way to think of this phrase, a “new perspective” so to speak? Once again, as I mentioned in an earlier post where I said that I believed that our doctrine of prayer has become enslaved by the doctrine which we have crowned as supreme, i.e. predestination, so our doctrine of Israel and covenant might also have become a captive of predestination.

#38 Sufjan Stevens

Either every other album that came out in 2005 just sucked or Sufjan Stevens Illinois is a truly one of the great ones of all time. That according to metacritic.com, a website which complies hundreds of the top critics reviews and year end top ten lists for each year since 2000. Not only was Illinois listed as the best overall reviewed album of the year but it also led the way in being included in more year end top ten lists than any other album. Within the top ten lists, it had more #1 and #2 rankings than its challengers.

Was 2005 just a bad year for music? I don’t know, but I do know that Steven’s record is one of the most unique and indescribable projects I have ever heard. I’ve just finished my third listen through the album and I’m still having a hard time painting him into a stylistic corner. I’ve heard it described as indie folk rock but when I think of that description doesn’t make me think of Sufjan’s music at all. The best way I can describe it is very talented, well thought out, creative, and you can tell a lot of effort went into to making a quality presentation. He said in an interview with Pitchfork Media that he doesn’t like it when artists wear their influences on their sleeve and he certainly practices what he preaches. That’s why it’s so hard to figure out. So to give it my best shot, think indie folk rock with a dash of Polyphonic Spree and a pinch of The Flaming Lips.

The most talked about song on the album is, of course, John Wayne Gacy, Jr. This is possibly the most haunting song I have ever heard. I’ve heard songs with tunes and songs with lyrics that each have left me with an eerie feeling before but never such a perfect combination of the two. This is a song where you turn up the volume, sit alone in an otherwise quiet room, and listen. It’s a song you don’t want to listen to too much and actually feel weird for being so intrigued by it, but you keep coming back.

I think Sufjan speaks with the voice of a postmodern when he says “Oh god of progress, have you degraded or forgot us? Where have your walls gone? I think about it now." I think he is here echoing the sentiments of the generation X and more specifically the MTV generation and its religious side, the emerging church. Speaking of religion, you can’t escape the pervasive Christian imagery throughout his lyrics, both in Illinois and Seven Swans. These being the only two I’ve bought so far and certain to be the first of many I purchase in the future.

#37 Four Reasons the Ten Commandments Should Not Hang In Courthouses

Four Reasons the Ten Commandments Should Not Hang In Courthouses

1. There is a possibility that, one day, Christianity might not be the dominant religion in our country. Assuming, Islam is, I would get a sinking feeling in my heart if I walked into a courthouse to go on trial for my life and saw on the wall the foundational laws of the Islamic faith from the Quran. That is what people of religions such as Islam experience now when they walk into a courtroom with the Ten Commandments displayed on the walls.

2. Justice is supposed to be blind. It should have no respect or take any notice of religion. Obviously in the case of a guy like Zacarias Moussaoui it’s impossible to have a jury blind to this fact. However, when the Ten Commandments hang on the walls of a courthouse it, at the very least, gives the appearance that justice is partial. Sometimes, all it takes is the appearance of injustice to cause citizens to lose faith in the system.

3. Those who walk into any courtroom have their lives in the hands of an imperfect judge and a human jury. Injustice, though I would hope it be the exception, is bound to occur. I wouldn’t want God, the only just judge, who knows the motives of every man’s heart, to be equated with injustice.

4. The Ten Commandments are (were?) the law of God. God desires a true heart of repentance, not multitudes of judges, lawyers, and criminals, who have no desire to follow God, to simply go through the motions. The Ten Commandments are no use without a heart of repentance. It’s like Pharisee’s fasting. While they abstain from eating in accordance with the command of God, they make themselves like Eeor (the Winnie the Pooh character) and seek pity from others for their suffering. If you’re going to follow the law like that, it’s better not to follow at all.

#36 Calvin & Servetus

Wow. This isn’t the kind of story you hear in the reformed church. This is the story of how John Calvin assisted having Michael Servetus put to death for his beliefs. Why can’t the church, in this day and age be open and honest about its history. This reminds me of Republicans who will defend guys like Tom DeLay. Why on earth would you want to defend a guy like that? He is shaming your party. Immediately disown him and move the fuck on. Whether we can find grounds to defend Calvin or not, I’m really saddened that truth is not even heard at all.

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#35 Witherington on Osteen & Ehrman

I’ve wished for a long time that some Christian leader with influence would speak out and reprimand, in a public way, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson for the comments they have made. So I was glad to see a post by Ben Witherington, a fairly influential scholar, on his blog making a semi-public criticism of another Christian leader who appears to have got it wrong, Joel Osteen. Quality article though long. If you’re interested in the phenomenon that Osteen has become and are curious where it might fit biblically, check it out at the following link:

Click Here

Also, he has a good article about Bart Ehrman, an apparently formerly born-again Christian, who is now an agnostic and is on The New York Times best-seller list for a book about Jesus. I originally read about him in The Washington Post and now found that Witherington has made a post on him. It’ll be an interesting read coming from Witherington, a Methodist (meaning I think he does not believe in “Perseverance of the Saints”, other than for those that actually persevere of course), and a fine historical scholar of Jesus. Check it out at the following link:

Click Here

#34 John Piper on Prayer & Sovereignty

If you type the phrase ‘prayer and sovereignty’ into Google, the first link that will come up is an article by John Piper written in 1976. Piper represents the heart of the belief system that I believe I will be up against if I say that there is more to prayer than trying to match our desires to God’s will. I am glad I found this article because though I knew this kind of belief system was out there in the reformed church, I did not know if it was a grassroots thing or an idea taught straight from the top. Well, you don’t get much more top in reformed leadership than John Piper, so I’m convinced that what I’m up against is widespread idea.

“I am often asked, "If you believe God works all things according to the counsel of his will (Ephesians 1:11) and that his knowledge of all things past, present, and future is infallible, then what is the point of praying that anything happen?" Usually this question is asked in relation to human decision: "If God has predestined some to be his sons and chosen them before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4,5), then what's the point in praying for anyone's conversion?"

“The implicit argument here is that if prayer is to be possible at all man must have the power of self-determination. That is, all man's decisions must ultimately belong to himself, not God. For otherwise he is determined by God and all his decisions are really fixed in God's eternal counsel. Let's examine the reasonableness of this argument by reflecting on the example cited above.”

The question that Piper says he is often asked, there in the first sentence, is a question that is not merely bothering me but actually is an example of a belief that has caused me to alter the way I live my life. I do not pray but maybe once a month. When I do, it lasts less then 30 seconds before my mind wanders.

I’m afraid I haven’t found a very satisfactory answer in this quote from Piper from his article at this link: Click Here. The first sentence of the second paragraph is where he makes an assumption based more perhaps on the need of a straw-man for his argument than the actual concerns of people like me. I ask the same question asked in the first paragraph but my argument is not that man must have the power of self-determination. If man must have that power than I think prayer is useless. You see, there is no power in prayer.

There is no power in prayer. There is only power in God. Prayer is merely a way of communicating with him, asking him to use that power. I do not believe that self-determination needs to be a part of the discussion just yet. To contrast with what he claims his questioners’ implicit argument is, here is my implicit argument phrased in his terms: If prayer is to be possible at all, God must have the power of self-determination. It may be better to put it in my own terms: If the kind of prayers and responses offered in the Bible are to make sense at all, God must have the power of self-determination.

What I struggle with is not that prayer doesn’t make sense if we have no self-determination, but rather that prayer doesn’t make sense if every move is planned from the beginning. The two ideas don’t reconcile perfectly. Imagine a bank account where you can tie what you’ve written in your own register to what the bank statement says to the penny by considering outstanding checks and uncleared deposits. Extracting theology from the Bible is very seldom perfect like that. In the case of the current ideas on sovereignty and a simple definition of prayer, there are a lot of uncashed checks floating around out there.

#33 Tilling on Inerrancy

There is a great series of posts on Chris Tilling’s blog on the question of inerrancy. My views on this question have undergone significant changes in the past 6 months and though I’m not yet ready to articulate my view of Scripture, Tilling does a nice job and I find my mind resonating with what he is saying. Anyway, this is quality reading and each post is short and to the point. Click below to read each post:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

#32 The Bugatti Veyron

You know about the McLaren F1...
You know about the Ferrari Enzo...

These cars have now been surpassed by the ____ (fill in the blank with your own superlative) car of all time, the Bugatti Veyron.

My Isuzu Trooper is a V6, the Bugatti Veyron is a “throaty” W16. My favorite stat: 1001 horse power. I mean damn!

0-60 mph in under 3 seconds. What the fuck??? Top speed of 253 mph. Priced well over $1 million.

I first read about in an article in The New York Times where the reviewer said that during his ride, after reaching nearly top speed, the test driver let go of the steering wheel and slammed on the brakes. After more than ten seconds, the car finally came to a stop. The car was still pointed in the exact same direction as it was when the driver took his hands off the wheel. Wow!

Since The New York Times article is gone now, read more at the link below.

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