Justification in Douglas Campbell’s Apocalyptic Perspective: A Dialectical Inquiry

Abstract

Since the time of the Reformation, justification has been both a defining and essential doctrine of the church. Justification has been indispensable to the Protestant faith as it recounts how God declares sinners to be righteous on account of Christ through faith. Yet, within contemporary Pauline scholarship the New Perspective and the Apocalyptic Perspective have called into question whether the Traditional Protestant understanding of justification captures what apostle Paul taught and thought. At present there is a diversity of perspectives and much contestation over this key Pauline doctrine. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the topic of justification through engaging the scholarship of Douglas Campbell. Employing a dialectical enquiry, Campbell’s approach to justification is compared with the approaches found within the Traditional Protestant Perspective and the New Perspective. Campbell contends that Traditional Protestant approaches to justification should be rejected, and completely replaced. The Traditional Protestant Perspective has been captured by contractualism, foundationalism and a retributive portrayal of God. For Campbell, the New Perspective has helpful insights, but it cannot offer a solution to the underlying problems of contractualism and foundationalism. Campbell argues that it is only from within the Apocalyptic Perspective with its emphasis upon God’s unique revelation in Christ, the cosmic scope of Christ’s salvation and God’s unconditional benevolence towards humanity hat justification can be understood correctly. Justification in this apocalyptic key should be understood as referring to God’s liberation of humanity from the power of sin through Christ, rather than as God’s acquittal of guilty sinners to save them from his retributive wrath. Campbell’s proposal for justification’s future is bold and revolutionary. Positively, Campbell offers invaluable insights from his Apocalyptic Perspective. However, I contend that Campbell’s proposal is too swift in rejecting the insights of others and too slow to incorporate biblical themes such as God’s retributive wrath, the need for faith and the clear forensic context of Paul’s justification language. Finally, I propose that a synthesis of Pauline Perspectives is the best method for understanding and applying Paul’s doctrine of justification today.

Since the time of the Reformation, justification has been both a defining and essential doctrine of the church. Justification has been indispensable to the Protestant faith as it recounts how God declares sinners to be righteous on account of Christ through faith. Yet, within contemporary Pauline scholarship the New Perspective and the Apocalyptic Perspective have called into question whether the Traditional Protestant understanding of justification captures what apostle Paul taught and thought. At present there is a diversity of perspectives and much contestation over this key Pauline doctrine. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the topic of justification through engaging the scholarship of Douglas Campbell. Employing a dialectical enquiry, Campbell’s approach to justification is compared with the approaches found within the Traditional Protestant Perspective and the New Perspective. Campbell contends that Traditional Protestant approaches to justification should be rejected, and completely replaced. The Traditional Protestant Perspective has been captured by contractualism, foundationalism and a retributive portrayal of God. For Campbell, the New Perspective has helpful insights, but it cannot offer a solution to the underlying problems of contractualism and foundationalism. Campbell argues that it is only from within the Apocalyptic Perspective with its emphasis upon God’s unique revelation in Christ, the cosmic scope of Christ’s salvation and God’s unconditional benevolence towards humanity hat justification can be understood correctly. Justification in this apocalyptic key should be understood as referring to God’s liberation of humanity from the power of sin through Christ, rather than as God’s acquittal of guilty sinners to save them from his retributive wrath. Campbell’s proposal for justification’s future is bold and revolutionary. Positively, Campbell offers invaluable insights from his Apocalyptic Perspective. However, I contend that Campbell’s proposal is too swift in rejecting the insights of others and too slow to incorporate biblical themes such as God’s retributive wrath, the need for faith and the clear forensic context of Paul’s justification language. Finally, I propose that a synthesis of Pauline Perspectives is the best method for understanding and applying Paul’s doctrine of justification today.