Tom, on p. 984, makes much of Phil. 3.2 ‘we are the circumcision’. He is right that this is a statement about who is part of the new covenant community, namely all Jews and Gentiles who confess Christ and have been indwelt by the Spirit, and worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. It will be noted that what Paul is talking about with this metaphor (for his audience is not all Jews, and indeed Paul warns against the... Read more

The rest of the discussion of the Galatians material is basically just a re-run so we will move on to the discussion of 1 Corinthians which begins on p.976. Tom will argue in regard to judgments made now in the church, that it is bringing forward the final judgment into the present, just as he has argued that initial justification is the bringing forward of final justification into the present. The discussion kicks into high gear on p. 977. He... Read more

Here is the third post of Hurtado on Wright– reposted here… “Israel” and the People of God: Wright & Response by larryhurtado In this posting I query another of Tom Wright’s major emphases in his mammoth new work, Paul and the Faithfulness of God (see my previous postings on the work here and here). This concerns his emphatic view that in Paul’s view “Israel” becomes effectively the church, or more specifically becomes simply all those who put faith in Jesus.... Read more

“Paul and the Faithfulness of God”: 2nd Posting by larryhurtado Yesterday, I posted on Tom Wright’s 2-vol opus on Paul, and in this and a couple of subsequent postings I’ll offer further comments about some features of this work. My first observation in yesterday’s posting was that it’s massive, 2 volumes, over 1600 pages. Wright seems to have taken this opportunity to lay out extensively his views, not only on Paul, but on a wide panoply of other/related matters as... Read more

“Paul and the Faithfulness of God”: Wright’s big Opus by larryhurtado Late in 2013 I was asked by the journal, Theology, to review N.T. (Tom) Wright’s then-forthcoming book on Paul. As I am committed to preparing an essay on Paul for a conference in Rome in June this year, I agreed. A few days later a huge parcel arrived for me, and upon opening it I found that I had agreed to read/review a work of two volumes comprising over... Read more

The discussion of Gal. 2-4 which ensues, beginning on p. 966 and here we find Tom making some excellent points about what Galatians is and is not about. For example, it is not primarily about ‘how shall we be saved’ (answer by justification by faith). Paul is addressing those who already are Christians and the question for them is ‘how then shall we now live, and live together as Jew and Gentile in Christ’. Further, Paul’s arguments are meant to... Read more

On p. 957, Tom says this: “the declaration ‘dikaios’ ‘in the right’ is therefore bestowed on those who are both ‘in the Messiah’ and indwelt by the Messiah’s spirit, by the Messiah himself.” Here, this seems to suggest regeneration precedes the declaration. There are two problems with this analysis: 1) it contradicts what Paul specifically says in 1 Cor. 12— there he says ‘by one Spirit we have all been baptized into the one body, and given the one Spirit... Read more

Between pp. 944 and 966 we get as clear a short exposition of Tom’s views on ‘justification’ as one is likely to find, certainly more focused and succinct than in his book on Justification, and it merits a couple of blog posts of discussion. He will make seven points about his ‘seventh’ point in the sequence of Pauline thought that leads to Paul’s treatment of justification. Firstly, it is Tom’s view that present justification is a declarative thing, God declaring... Read more

Here is an excellent post by my friend Timothy George on my favorite metaphysical poet, John Donne (proving that Stanley Fish has no clue what he is talking about when it comes to Donne or his poetry). See what you think. John Donne in Lent April 7, 2014 by Timothy George http://images.firstthings.com/uploads/article_533f0cfa4060e.jpg John Donne, it is clear, is not everyone’s cup of tea. In a notable essay in 1990, Stanley Fish wrote this: “Donne is sick and his poetry is... Read more

Here are three good posts by my friend and colleague Larry Hurtado on all the hoopla about the Jesus’ wife fragments… see what you think… BW3 ——- Breaking News: Published Reports on “Jesus’ Wife” Fragment by larryhurtado I’ve just learned that the long-awaited reports on further analysis and scientific testing of the sensationalized “Jesus’ Wife” fragment (Coptic) have been published in the latest issue of Harvard Theological Review. The link is here, which will take you to the Harvard Divinity... Read more