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Question: "Is the New Perspective on Paul
biblical?"
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.
Related Topics:
What are the Pauline epistles?
What is the Hebrew Roots movement?
Who were the authors of the books of the Bible?
What is Pauline Christianity?
What is the Messianic secret?
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