Justification, Volume 2 (New Studies in Dogmatics)
Overview
Building on his historical-theological exploration of justification in volume 1, in this second volume Horton embarks upon a constructive task of investigating the biblical doctrine of justification in light of contemporary exegesis. Here he takes up the topic of justification from biblical-theological, exegetical, and systematic-theological vantage points, engaging significantly with contemporary debates in biblical, especially Pauline, scholarship. Horton shows that the doctrine of justification finds its most ecumenically-significant starting point and proper habitat in union with Christ, where the greatest consensus, past and present, is to be found among Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant theologies. At the same time, he proposes that the union with Christ motif achieves its clearest and most consistent articulation in forensic justification. The final chapter locates justification within the broader framework of union with Christ.
Top Highlights
“Crucially missing from Wright’s courtroom setting is the third party: the mediator who, as representative head, fulfills the law and merits for himself and his covenant heirs the verdict of ‘righteous’ or ‘just’ before God. Although the one who fulfilled the terms of the law-covenant as the human servant is also the divine Lord, it is his active and passive obedience rather than the essential divine attribute of righteousness that is credited to believers. In this covenantal interpretation, Christ becomes the believer’s righteousness both in justification (by imputation) and in sanctification (by impartation), just as Adam’s federal headship yielded both condemnation and corruption. Wright may not agree with this conclusion, but we must recognize that it was at least the Reformers’ view.” (Page 343)
“when it comes to future justification, the term ‘justification’ is loosened from its new perspective soil” (Pages 384–385)
“For Paul, grace is not merely a divine attribute but an act.” (Page 125)
“First, Wright seems to conflate imputation with declaration. According to the traditional view, the declaration that the defendant is righteous before the court is not itself imputation. Rather, imputation is the reason why he or she is declared righteous. In other words, believers are declared righteous because they are righteous—not in themselves but because Christ’s righteousness is credited to them.” (Page 342)
“By the time that Paul writes Romans, the wrath of God is still the central problem, but justification has become more fully articulated as the heart of its solution.” (Page 182)
- Title: Justification, Volume 2
- Author: Michael Horton
- Series: New Studies in Dogmatics
- Volume: 2
- Publisher: Zondervan
- Print Publication Date: 2018
- Logos Release Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subject: Justification (Christian theology)
- ISBNs: 9780310585831, 9780310578383, 031058583X, 0310578388
- Resource ID: LLS:JUSTIFICATION02
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2023-08-07T17:52:41Z
Michael Horton has taught apologetics and theology at Westminster Seminary California since 1998. In addition to his work at the Seminary, he is the president of White Horse Media, for which he co-hosts the White Horse Inn, a nationally syndicated, weekly radio talk-show exploring issues of Reformation theology in American Christianity. He is also the editor-in-chief of Modern Reformation magazine. Before coming to WSC, Dr. Horton completed a Research Fellowship at Yale University Divinity School.
A member of various societies, including the American Academy of Religion and the Evangelical Theological Society, Dr. Horton is the author/editor of 20 books, including a series of studies in Reformed dogmatics, whose final volume (People and Place: A Covenant Ecclesiology) was published in 2008. In addition to the popular Putting Amazing Back Into Grace, Dr. Horton’s latest books are Covenant and Salvation: Union with Christ, Lord and Servant: A Covenant Christology, and A Better Way: Rediscovering the Drama of God-Centered Worship. He has written articles for Modern Reformation, Pro Ecclesia, Christianity Today, The International Journal of Systematic Theology, Touchstone, and Books and Culture. Dr. Horton is a minister in the United Reformed Churches in North America. He has served two churches in Southern California. He resides in Escondido, California, with his wife, Lisa, and their four children.