The New Perspective

What is it?

The New Perspective on Paul (NPP) is a renewed attempt to understand the historical background of the Apostle Paul, especially with regard to the nature of Judaism during the writing of the New Testament. Over the last few hundred years of New Testament study, Paul has been interpreted against a variety of backgrounds—Roman commercial practices, Roman law, Greek philosophical thought, Judaism, etc. During the past 30 years or so, the majority conviction of New Testament scholars is that the most fruitful background for understanding Paul and his thought is the Old Testament and the Jewish culture of Paul’s day. Because of the increased scrutiny of this cultural background and because of the relatively recent discovery of some ancient Jewish texts, we are able to gain a clearer picture of the nature of Jewish life and thought around the time of Paul.

This renewed look at Judaism had led to a renewed look at the several passages in Paul’s letters where he appears to be critiquing Judaism—Romans 2-3; Galatians 1-3; Philippians 3. Nearly all scholars agree that Paul finds Judaism inadequate, or leveling some critique of Judaism. The question that constitutes the New Perspective debate, however, is this: What is it about Judaism that Paul is critiquing?

So why all the fuss?

The discussions over the NPP had very little to do with the nature of justification and other matters that impact on Christian theological formulations of salvation. What has caused much of the fuss, however, is that with this new load of background material on Judaism, those passages in Paul’s letters that mention Judaism began to receive lots of attention from New Testament scholars. This is only right, since we practice a historical-grammatical interpretive method. The rub comes, however, from the fact that these passages are key passages that articulate the gospel of justification by faith.

Yet with all this increased attention, what many evangelical New Testament scholars had been saying for generations about Paul’s theology started gaining greater exposure. Especially the following items:

• The timing of justification.
• The relationship between justification and future judgment according to works.
• The mechanics of justification.

Since many evangelicals have not had much exposure to some of these complicated discussions of biblical theology in Paul’s letters, they began to assume that the new things they were hearing constituted something that can be called "new perspective theology." This, however, is not the case. There is no such thing as "new perspective theology." As stated above, the NPP is a focused area of study on the Jewish and Old Testament background of Paul’s letters. It is not a theological school of thought, but a study of historical backgrounds to the New Testament

What relationship does the NPP have to justification in the Bible?

None at all. There is no "new perspective view" of justification. It’s just that since the passages in which justification is discussed are receiving greater attention, Paul’s discussions of justification have gained far greater exposure. With regard to justification, Paul teaches that at their conversion, believers receive the promise of justification, a public verdict that will be rendered by God at the day of Christ. Since this promise is based on the word of God, which is completely sure, Paul can speak of believers as "having been justified" (Romans 5, 8).

With regard to justification and a future judgment according to works, Paul does state that we all will be judged for our works in this life. But Paul also teaches that the works that we do as believers were planned from eternity past (Eph 2:10) and completely empowered by the Spirit (Phil/Rom). We can say, therefore, that God will judge us in the future based on what God has produced in our lives by His Spirit. Since our sins (past, present, and future) have already been forgiven, believers have no fear whatsoever of condemnation at the judgment.

With regard to the mechanics of justification, Paul teaches that justification flows from our union with Christ. That is, when believers confess their faith in Christ, God baptizes them into Christ by His Spirit so that we now stand before God with the righteousness of Christ. In fact, Paul says that we become the righteousness of God in Christ.

What is important is that none of these issues are "new perspective" issues, but are historic theological discussions that have been going on for at least the last five hundred years. A big reason they are now associated with the "new perspective" is the popularity of the Christian writer N. T. ("Tom") Wright, who also happens to be a Pauline scholar. Many Christians are reading his books on basic Christian existence, so his writings on more technical exegetical, historical, and theological issues are being studied and read as well. Sadly, much of what he has had to say in more scholarly works is being misinterpreted or misunderstood by those who are trying to capture or summarize his thought.

Conclusion

Many of the historical insights into the nature of Judaism spawned by the NPP have been very helpful, leading to a more complete understanding of what Paul saw as inadequate and corrupt in that religious system. There is no reason to react strongly to the "new perspective" since there really is no such thing as "new perspective" theology. All Christians are responsible to scrutinize every teaching in the light of Scripture so that we may hold fast to that which is good and cast off whatever is harmful to the truth and to the body of Christ. This process of scrutiny must not be short-circuited, however, out of fear or suspicion, since insights into the historical background to Scripture very well may result in greater understanding of the Bible and greater blessing for the people of God, resulting in the end in greater glory to God in Christ.