Justification as Forensic Declaration and Covenant Membership: A Via Media Between Reformed and Revisionist Readings of Paul

Abstract

The emergence of the New Perspective on Paul has led to renewed debate concerning Paul’s statements on justification. Discussion is divided over whether being ‘righteous’ signifies a legal status before God or represents a legitimisation of covenant membership. This study argues that both elements are necessary for a comprehensive understanding of Paul. Proponents of the New Perspective attempt to squeeze all ‘righteousness’ language under the umbrella of ‘covenant’, whilst Reformed adherents divorce Paul’s talk of righteousness from the social context of Jew-gentile relationships in the Pauline churches. I argue that, in Paul’s reckoning, justification creates a new people, with a new status, in a new covenant, as a foretaste of the new age.