JUSTIFICATION

and the GOSPEL

UNDERSTANDING THE CONTEXTS AND CONTROVERSIES

R. MICHAEL ALLEN

Baker Academic

a division of Baker Publishing Group

Grand Rapids, Michigan

© 2013 by R. Michael Allen

Published by Baker Academic

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakeracademic.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

ISBN: 978-0-8010-3986-7

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2007

Scripture quotations labeled NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

For Wesley Hill

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part 1: Justification and the Gospel

1. The Place of Justification in Christian Theology

2. Justification and Participation, the Ground and Goal of the Gospel

Part 2: Christ for Us

3. “From the Time He Took On the Form of a Servant”: The Christ’s Pilgrimage of Faith

4. “It Is No Longer I Who Live”: Christ’s Faith and Christian Faith

Part 3: Christ in Us

5. “Freedom for Love”: Justification and Sanctification

6. “The Church’s One Foundation”: The Justification of the Ungodly Church

Subject Index

Scripture Index

Acknowledgments

Several persons helped in the preparation of this volume. A number of friends were willing to read through material and offer comments: Todd Billings, Scott Swain, John Webster, Wesley Hill, and Jonathan Linebaugh. The book is surely improved by the wisdom of each of these friends. At Baker Academic, I am grateful for the help offered by Bob Hosack as well as B. J. Heyboer, Bryan Dyer, Jeremy Wells, and Trinity Graeser.

My family encouraged me throughout the writing process. Emily and Jackson have celebrated the project and never begrudged it. I am grateful. My institutional family at Knox Theological Seminary has also been supportive during the time needed to produce this volume. I am thankful especially to Luder Whitlock and Warren Gage for protecting my schedule and ensuring that institutional responsibilities did not crowd out time for research and writing. I should also mention that Jonathan Linebaugh has endured more random interruptions regarding the doctrine of justification than any academic should expect from the person in the office next door. That he is still talking to me, and that he has proven so helpful throughout ...