{"id":92144,"date":"2022-04-27T05:48:27","date_gmt":"2022-04-27T09:48:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=92144"},"modified":"2022-04-27T18:29:35","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T22:29:35","slug":"justification-and-judgment-in-paul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2022\/04\/justification-and-judgment-in-paul.html","title":{"rendered":"Justification and Judgment in Paul"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Richard Beck has begun a new series on Paul\u2019s theology, after reading (among other things) Gabriele Boccaccini\u2019s book Paul\u2019s Three Paths to Salvation<\/em><\/a> (currently available for only $5 for Kindle!<\/a>). Here is a taste from Beck\u2019s first post<\/a>:<\/p>\n

<\/a>\"\"Paul thought judgment was imminent. So this time of \u201cholding fast\u201d wasn\u2019t going to be very long. It was a doable proposition. Hang in there, be faithful, the time is short. But as generations have passed, the lag time between justification and judgment has grown. Most of us are \u201cjustified by faith\u201d early in life, and we expect to die before the Second Coming. That\u2019s a very long time to \u201chold fast.\u201d Our moral witness ebbs and flows across the lifespan. And as it does, it brings to our attention those New Testament warnings about falling away. It also raises questions about how effortful this moral journey is. You have to work very hard at it, day in and day out, decade after decade. Which raises the question: Isn\u2019t all this work morphing into a works-based righteousness? Especially when we compare ourselves to believers who are putting in precisely zero<\/i>\u00a0work and effort? How, exactly, is justification and sanctification supposed to work? Can those \u201cjustified by faith\u201d behave any way they please, for their entire lives, with no consequences? If so, what\u2019s the point of putting in any work at all in following Jesus if none of it matters? Is not faith dead without works? And yet, if we do work hard, and think that work matters before God and will be rewarded by God, are we are not expecting to be judged by our acts of righteousness instead of grace?<\/p>\n

We enter here the tempest of questions that have swirled around these issues since Martin Luther. But again, these are our issues, not Paul\u2019s. Paul never had to deal with the theological, moral, and pastoral implications of a delayed parousia.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Click through to Beck\u2019s blog Experimental Theology<\/a> to read the rest. In his second post in the series<\/a> he turns to the relationship between Jesus and John the Baptist! I am not sure he comes up with an actual distinction between the two (which doesn\u2019t surprise me). He writes, \u201cJesus retains John\u2019s vision of a coming judgement\u2026Jesus also teaches, as with John, that this judgment will be focused upon works\u2026It\u2019s difficult to avoid the conclusion that Jesus preached that we will be judged by our deeds on Judgment Day. Both Jesus and John agree on this point\u2026Jesus and John were on the same Second Temple eschatological page.\u201d Read the rest of that post on his blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Also related:<\/p>\n

Marg Mowczko shares Judith Gundry\u2019s arguments and conclusions about 1 Corinthians 11:2-16<\/a><\/p>\n

New in\u00a0Hervormde Teologiese Studies\u00a0<\/i>77\/2 (2021)<\/a>: Andries G. van Aarde, \u201cWhat could Paul have meant by \u2018against nature\u2019 (\u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u1f70 \u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd) as written in Romans 1:26? Striving for the well-being and health of all people.<\/a>\u201d B. J. Oropeza has a new article out in\u00a0Religions<\/em><\/a> (also open access, just like the previous one I mentioned) about reader competency and Paul\u2019s use of scripture in Romans.<\/p>\n

Dr. Yung Suk Kim explains why \u201cPistis Christou is a bone of contention\u201d<\/a>and also offers a new translation of 1 Corinthians 12:27<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dr. Patrick McMurray on his new book\u00a0Sacrifice, Brotherhood, and the Body: Abraham and the Nations in Romans<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Frantz argues that Paul was \u201ca First Century Feminist.\u201d<\/a> Do you agree? Why or why not?<\/p>\n

Paul and Pneuma, Justin and Judaism:\u00a0Introduction<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n