{"id":10089,"date":"2017-04-26T05:54:49","date_gmt":"2017-04-26T09:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/euangelion\/?p=10089"},"modified":"2017-04-14T19:58:03","modified_gmt":"2017-04-14T23:58:03","slug":"salvation-allegiance-alone-interview-matt-bates-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/euangelion\/2017\/04\/salvation-allegiance-alone-interview-matt-bates-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Salvation by Allegiance Alone – Interview with Matt Bates (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>Matthew W. Bates, Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King<\/a><\/em> (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017)<\/p>\n

MIKE BIRD: I noticed that you translate Rom 1:17 as \u201cThe righteous <\/em>one, Jesus the Christ, will live <\/em>by pistis<\/em> \u2013 that is, by his faithful loyalty to God.\u201d How does this translation change things?<\/span><\/p>\n

MATTHEW BATES: Yes, I translate this way because I think Paul intentionally applies the text to the Christ as the allegiant one, but then through the Christ to each one who likewise gives allegiance. Richard Hays\u2019s book, The Faith of Jesus Christ<\/em>, has helped scholars see the viability of this basic interpretation, although I take it in a more \u201callegiant\u201d direction. In Romans 1:16 Paul speaks of the power of the gospel and its connection to the righteousness of God. Then in 1:17 Paul cites from Habakkuk:<\/p>\n

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who gives pistis<\/em>, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed by pistis<\/em> for pistis<\/em>, as it is written, \u201cBut the righteous shall live by pistis<\/em>.\u201d (Rom. 1:16\u201317, citing Hab. 2:4)<\/p>\n

More could be said (and is said in the book) with regarding why ek piste\u014ds eis pistin<\/em> is best translated here as \u201cby allegiance for allegiance.\u201d But we\u2019ll leave that aside for now and focus on how Paul is mobilizing Habakkuk. Paul is deliberately connecting three ideas: pistis<\/em>, righteousness<\/em>, and life<\/em>. Here I quote directly from Salvation by Allegiance Alone<\/a><\/em> (p. 42):<\/p>\n

Paul says, \u201cThe righteous one will live by pistis<\/em>,\u201d because Jesus, who was both human and divine, gave pistis<\/em> (he acted in loyal obedience) to God the Father in accomplishing the divine plan through the crucifixion; so in judging him, God declared Jesus to be what he clearly already was, the righteous one<\/em> par excellence (cf. Rom. 5:18\u201319). And God proved the reality of Jesus\u2019s total innocence by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand, so now he lives<\/em>. For Paul, Habakkuk had announced this future reality: \u201cThe righteous one<\/em>, Jesus the Christ, will live<\/em> by pistis<\/em>\u201d\u2014that is, by his faithful loyalty to God.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But Paul does not think that Jesus is ultimately the only righteous one who lives by pistis<\/em>. For Paul, Habakkuk proclaims a future reality for all who imitate the Christ\u2019s allegiance: \u201cThe righteous one will live by pistis.\u201d Here again it\u2019s best to quote Salvation by Allegiance Alone<\/a><\/em> (p. 43):<\/p>\n

the person who gives pistis<\/em> (yields allegiance) unto Jesus as the king is declared righteous<\/em> by God and will live<\/em> (participate in eternal life by being raised from the dead). So: \u201cThe righteous person will live by faithful loyalty.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, how does my paraphrase of Romans 1:17\u2014\u201cThe righteous one, Jesus the Christ, will live by pistis\u2014<\/em>that is, by his faithful loyalty to God\u201d\u2014change things? It shows that the Messiah, the righteous one, has resurrection-life through allegiance to God. And we find resurrection-life in a similar way, in and through the Messiah (who is also God), as we are incorporated into his righteousness.<\/p>\n

MIKE BIRD: You claim that understanding faith as \u201callegiance\u201d solves the incongruity between faith and works and better helps us grasp phrases like \u201cthe obedience of faith,\u201d and \u201cthe law of Christ.\u201d How so?<\/span><\/p>\n

MATTHEW BATES: Immediately after detailing the content of the gospel<\/em> in Romans 1:2-4, it is striking that Paul does not<\/u><\/em> speak of bringing about \u201cpistis<\/em> alone unto personal salvation\u201d with respect to the purposes of this gospel, but of the \u201cobedience of pistis<\/em> among all the nations\u201d (1:5). This is a very significant difference! If we think, as did Martin Luther, John Calvin, and the other leading Protestant Reformers, that the chief danger with respect to human salvation is that individuals tend to trust in their good works rather than in Jesus alone, then Paul\u2019s emphasis on \u201cthe obedience of \u2018faith\u2019 among the nations\u201d is strange. If we follow Luther and Calvin, why didn\u2019t Paul say that the purpose of the gospel is to bring about \u201cfaith alone\u201d? Doesn\u2019t the \u201cobedience of faith\u201d introduce a risky works-righteousness?<\/p>\n

But if recognize the royal<\/em> claims with respect to the gospel in the preceding verses we can make better sense of this \u201cobedience of faith among the nations.\u201d In Romans 1:2, Jesus is described as the Son (of God). But in Paul\u2019s description of the gospel in Romans 1:4, after Jesus\u2019s death, he is appointed to a new office, Son-of-God-in-Power. Moreover, in Romans 1:4, there is double (!) affirmation of Jesus\u2019s sovereignty as Paul explains what and who this Son-of-God-in-Power truly is: \u201cJesus the Christ<\/em> our Lord<\/em>.\u201d Contextually the \u201cobedience of pistis<\/em>\u201d (Rom. 1:5; cf. 16:25-26) is best construed as the obedience characteristic of allegiance<\/em> to a king. The gospel articulates Jesus\u2019s enthronement. The purpose of the gospel is to cultivate worldwide allegiance to him as the ruling sovereign.<\/p>\n

Similar arguments can be marshalled with regard to that puzzling phrase \u201cthe law of the Christ\u201d (Gal. 6:2; 1 Cor. 9:2; cf. Rom 8:2). Again, if law in general is the great problem because it breeds attempts to earn salvation through legal performance, why would Paul speak favorable of \u201cthe law of the Christ\u201d? I\u2019d like to give a shout out here to Joshua Jipp and his outstanding book, Christ is King<\/em>. Jipp\u2019s book helped me rethink these texts, bolstering my allegiance thesis. As the ultimate king, the royal Messiah, Jesus both embodies and institutes the ideal law. Allegiance to Jesus the king means that obedience to his law will be freely rendered as a response to saving grace.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matthew W. Bates, Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017) MIKE BIRD: I noticed that you translate Rom 1:17 as \u201cThe righteous one, Jesus the Christ, will live by pistis \u2013 that is, by his faithful loyalty to God.\u201d How does this translation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSalvation by Allegiance Alone - Interview with Matt Bates (Part 2)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Matthew W. 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