Question: "Is the New Perspective on Paul
biblical?"
Answer: Anytime
a “new perspective” on some biblical doctrine arises, red flags should go off
warning Christians of possible danger. In many cases such “new” ideas,
teachings, or perspectives are not new at all. Rather, they are the same old lie
from the Garden of Eden when Satan first cast doubt on God’s Word: “Did God
really say…” (Genesis 3:1).
In that sense, the “New Perspective of Paul” is ancient in that it tries to deny
what the Scriptures clearly teach and what has been accepted by Christians for
centuries. The “New Perspective on Paul” is not biblical and appears to be an
attempt to redefine and even deny key biblical doctrines that are the foundation
of the Christian faith.
Sadly
however, the teachings propagated by the few who champion the “New Perspective
on Paul” are gaining ground, even among evangelical churches, despite the fact
that some of its leading proponents are liberal New Testament scholars from
secular universities. Most well-known among the “New Perspective of Paul”
proponents is N.T. Wright, a noted Bible scholar and Bishop in the Anglican
Church, whose books seem to be influencing the spread of this troublesome
teaching in evangelical churches.
The heart of this teaching is that for hundreds, if not thousands, of
years Christians have seriously “misunderstood” the Apostle Paul and his
teachings…thus the need for a new perspective on Paul. The idea that these
latter day scholars are so wise that they can figure out the correct perspective
on Paul, when biblical scholars from the time of Christ on could not, is founded
upon audacity and even borderline arrogance. The “New Perspective on Paul” is
not unlike the Jesus Seminar group who several years ago decided they could
determine what Jesus actually said and did not say by voting on which words of
Christ in the Bible should be attributed to Him and which should not. The
implied arrogance of these types of “wiser than everyone else” attitudes should
be clear when they claim that Christians for almost 2000 years have been wrong
about Paul.
There are four basic
tenets of “New Perspective of Paul.” First is the belief that Christians
misunderstand Judaism of the first century. They say that Paul was not battling
against Jews who were promoting a religion of self-righteousness and works-based
salvation and that the Pharisees were not legalists. Yet the Bible describes the
Pharisees as those who “neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and
mercy and faithfulness,” “straining at a gnat while swallowing a camel” and ones
who “cleaned up the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full
of greed and self-indulgence” (Matthew 23:23-25).
The view that first century Pharisees were not legalists and their religion was
not one of self-righteous and works-based salvation directly contradicts Jesus’
own words in this and numerous other passages.
The second tenet of this false teaching is
that Paul really did not have a problem with the doctrine of salvation taught by
the Jewish leaders of his day. His disagreement with them was simply over how
they treated the Gentiles and not a fundamental difference over how one is saved
or justified before a holy God. However, in his letters to the Galatians and the
Romans, Paul clearly and solidly condemned the works-based system of
righteousness promoted by the Judaizers who were trying to lure the Galatians
away from the true Gospel message. In fact, he said that anyone who preached a
gospel other than the one he preached should be “eternally condemned” (Galatians 1:8-9).Once
again Scripture shows that the “New Perspective on Paul” is not based on the
testimony of Scripture but instead is contrary to it, making it an unbiblical
teaching with serious consequences to those that follow it and are led astray by
it.
The third unbiblical tenet of
the “New Perspective on Paul” teaching is that the gospel is about the Lordship
of Christ and not a message of personal salvation and individual redemption from
the condemnation of sin. Certainly the Lordship of Christ is an important part
of the gospel truth, but if that was all it was how is that good news? No one
can make Christ Lord of their life without first being cleansed of sin and
indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Only the Spirit of God can empower us to yield to
the lordship of Christ. Clearly the hope of Christians is that Christ is first
and foremost a Savior whose atoning sacrifice has personally and
completely made atonement for their sins. It is for this reason that the gospel
is the good news because “it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who
believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek” (Romans 1:16).
This leaves us with the fourth and
the most serious unbiblical tenet of the “New Perspective on Paul” teaching—the
view on the doctrine of justification by faith, a central and non-negotiable
Christian doctrine. According to proponents of this unbiblical teaching, when
Paul wrote about justification he was not speaking of personal and individual
justification whereby a guilty sinner is declared righteous on the basis of his
faith in Christ and Christ’s righteousness is imputed to the sinner. Instead
they claim that when Paul wrote about justification he was speaking of how one
could tell if a person was “a member of the covenant family.”
According to N.T. Wright, “Justification in
the first century was not about how someone might establish a relationship with
God. It was about God’s eschatological definition [“any system of doctrines concerning last,
or final,
matters, as
death, the
Judgment, the
future state,
etc.” Dictionary.com],
both future and present, of who was in fact, a member of his people.” The
problem with this tenet of the “New Perspective on Paul” is that it distorts the
biblical teaching on justification by faith and instead teaches that Paul’s
doctrine of justification was only concerned with the Gentiles' standing in the
covenant community and not at all about a guilty sinner being declared just
before a holy and righteous God. Simply put, we cannot disregard or redefine
justification and still be considered Christian or biblical. In his writings,
N.T. Wright often argues against the imputed righteousness of Christ which is
the heart and soul of the true gospel (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Just as Satan called into question the Word
of God to Eve, the “New Perspective on Paul” calls into question the basic
doctrines of the Christian faith as revealed by the Bible and, as such, it
should be rejected.
Recommended
Resource: Pauline Christology: An Exegetical-Theological Study by Gordon D.
Fee.
Is the New Perspective on Paul
biblical?
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