Category Archives: New Perspective

The New Perspective: Justification and Pope Benedict XVI

I’ve been reading a new book by N. T. Wright called Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision, in which Wright responds to a challenge of his work by John Piper, The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright, … Continue reading

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The New Perspective: The Theology of Community

One of the most appealing aspects of N. T. Wright’s theology — at least, to me — is his emphasis on the doctrine of community. “Community” is a fair translation of koinonia, the Greek word also translated as “fellowship,” “communion,” … Continue reading

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The New Perspective: Where Are the Dead Before the Second Coming? Part 2 (Modern Physics and the Second Coming)

To this point, we’ve seen that the dead in Christ are most commonly described as being asleep until the Second Coming–the End–when the old earth and old heaven will be destroyed, the living and dead will the judged, and God … Continue reading

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The New Perspective: Where Are the Dead Before the Second Coming? Part 1

In the previous two posts, we considered the idea that at the end of time, after the Judgment, God and the New Jerusalem will come down to a renewed and purified earth, where we will dwell in new, imperishable, incorruptible … Continue reading

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The New Perspective: The End of the World as We Know It–The Second Coming

(Hab. 2:14) For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. With this passage, in The Simple Church, N. T. Wright lays out his theory for how the … Continue reading

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The New Perspective: The End of the World as We Know It–Introduction

I’ve never been particularly interested in eschatology (It’s a ridiculous word and I promise never to use it again. It’s the study of the end times.). I just kind of figure that however things end up, they’ll be much better … Continue reading

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The New Perspective: On Being “Called”

[This material has been relocated from the preceding post. It occurred to me that this material really didn’t add to the baptism discussion but remains important in its own right. So I moved it and fixed it up just a … Continue reading

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The New Perspective: Baptism, additional thoughts

 [The material on the meaning of being “called” has been moved to the following post.] As noted in the previous post, N. T. Wright considers baptism to be the event at which justification occurs and the “call” to be the … Continue reading

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The New Perspective: Baptism

This “new perspective” is, in many respects, very congruent with the traditional teachings of the Churches of Christ. We’ve already noticed  how Wright’s teaching on judgment in accordance with works resonates with historical Church of Christ teaching. Much closer to … Continue reading

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The New Perspective: Imputed Righteousness

One of Wright’s most controversial arguments is that there is no Biblical basis for the doctrine of “imputed righteousness.” This is the view that we are saved because Jesus’ merits are credited to Christians. Now, this should not be confused … Continue reading

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