Debating Justification & Liberation | Douglas Campbell & Douglas Moo

The Henry Center Archive

Debate Question: Is the Lutheran Approach to Pauline Justification "Justified"?

Martin Luther and other reformers viewed Pauline justification as primarily, if not exclusively, a forensic matter between us and God. We are justified before God, through faith in Jesus Christ, according to his finished work on the cross. If one believes the gospel message, then one is justified before God. Reconciliation (with God and with other humans) is a necessary implication of justification but is not part of justification as such. New perspectives on Paul have challenged this account of justification (both historically and exegetically). Rather than being merely a forensic matter focused on human salvation and its relationship to divine satisfaction, this approach suggests that Pauline justification is essentially about human liberation and the reconciliation of people one with another. Rather than being merely a forensic matter focused on human salvation and its relationship to divine satisfaction, this approach suggests that Pauline justification is essentially about human liberation and the reconciliation of people one with another.

Douglas A. Campbell (PhD University of Toronto) is Professor of New Testament at Duke Divinity School. He is author of Framing Paul: An Epistolary Biography (Eerdmans, 2014), Paul: An Apostle’s Journey (Eerdmans, 2018), and Pauline Dogmatics: The Triumph of God’s Love (Eerdmans, 2020).

Douglas J. Moo (PhD University of St. Andrews) is Kenneth T. Wessner Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College. He is author of The Letter to the Romans (NICNT; 2nd edition) (Eerdmans, 2018) and A Theology of Paul and His Letters: The Gift of the New Realm in Christ (Zondervan Academic, 2021). He currently serves as chair for the New International Version translation committee.

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