John Piper: The Future of Justification

Pastor John Piper has written a book refuting N. T. Wright’s view of the doctrine of justification. The book is titled The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright, and it is set to be released by Crossway this Fall. Anyone who has been following the impact that the New Perspective on Paul has had on this critical biblical doctrine will want to read this book.

The Desiring God website has an excerpt from the conclusion of the book on its website. Here’s a piece of it:

“God has not ordained that living the Christian life should be the basis of our hope that God is for us. That basis is the death and righteousness of Christ, counted as ours through faith alone. All the punishment required of us because of our sin, Christ endured for us on the cross. And all the obedience that God required of us, that he, as our Father, might be completely for us and not against us forever, Christ has performed for us in his perfect obedience to God.”

Against N. T. Wright, Piper is arguing that it is Christ’s life and redemptive work alone that is the basis of justification. Our hope is not ultimately in our faithfulness to Christ, even the faithfulness that is wrought in us by the gracious work of the Holy Spirit in sanctification. Our hope is in Christ alone. I am eager to read the argument and the exegesis that have led him to this rather traditional (and I believe biblical) conclusion.

We’ll all be enthusiastically awaiting this volume. In the meantime, you can pre-order the book from Amazon.com.