Emerging Liberalism Part Three

Scholar and theologian, N.T. Wright, has emerged as a favorite writer of folks like Brian McLaren and others who identify with the Emerging Church Movement. Who is N.T. Wright? He is a respected Evangelical scholar from England who has written and spoken quite eloquently in defense of the Christian faith, particularly against the attacks from the now infamous Jesus Seminar.

Wright has also espoused a new way of looking at some of Paul's writings called New Perspectivism. Simply put, it challenges some of the Historic Reformation teachings on such doctrines as, Justification by Faith, Imputed Righteousness, and first century Judaic Legalism. According to Wright, Justification by Faith should not be included (or apart of) Soteriology (the study of salvation). He believes that we have largely misunderstood Paul's writings against the Judaizers and have wrongly applied the concept of "Justification by Works" to the Jews of that day. Justification is not "a legal act" that gives us peace with God, but is a "covenantal sign" of our ecclesiastical belonging. In other words, we are not immediately made Righteous in God's sight (through an act of Justification) but are actually Justified (to other Christians) by our common faith in Christ.

This is, as Phil Johnson states in his fine essay on this subject, a pretty "audacious claim." (Download Johnson's Essay Here). Have Christian commentators been wrong about this all along? Was Luther wrong? Was Calvin wrong? Has N.T. Wright finally discovered what no other theologian has seen? Wright claims that this new understanding can actually unite Catholics and Protestants---it should not be used to divide them.

Why does McLaren speak at conferences with evangelicals, liberals, and even Roman Catholics? I don't know if it is a direct application of Wright's teaching, but it is part of the same spirit. When we become theologically "fuzzy" in our understanding of such essential truths, we lose our sense of direction and purpose in the church. Justification by Faith is at the very heart of the Gospel. To discard it would be disastrous.