Justification of God

John Piper

Description

John Piper presents a careful, reasoned study of the doctrine of election. He dissects Paul's argument to highlight the picture of God and his righteousness painted in Romans 9. Undergirded by his belief that the sovereignty of God is too precious a part of our faith to dismiss or approach weak-kneed, Piper explores the Greek text and Paul's argument with singular deftness.

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 01 février 1993
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781585581580
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

© 1993 by John Piper
Published by Baker Academic a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287 Grand Rapids, Michigan 49516-6287 www.bakeracademic.com
Ebook edition created 2012
Ebook corrections 02.17.2015
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-5855-8158-0
To Daniel Payton Fuller, priceless friend
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Preface
Abbreviations
I. Introduction
II. My Kinsmen Are Accursed! Romans 9:1–5
1. The place of Romans 9:1–5 in the argument
Excursus The place of Romans 9–11 in the epistle
2. Exegesis of Romans 9:1–5
2.1 The privileges of Paul’s kinsmen: Romans 9:4, 5
2.11 “Who are Israelites”
Excursus The theological unity of Romans 9 and 11
2.12 “To whom belongs the sonship”
2.13 “And the glory”
2.14 “And the covenants”
2.15 “And the giving of the law”
2.16 “And the service of worship”
2.17 “And the promises”
2.18 “To whom belong the fathers”
2.19 “And from whom is the Messiah . . .”
2.2 The plight of Paul’s kinsmen: Romans 9:1–3
2.3 Summary
III. The Purpose that Accords with Election: Romans 9:6–13
1. Orientation
2. Romans 9:6a
3. The purpose of God which remains
3.1 God’s means of maintaining his purpose: predestination
Excursus The time of God’s choice
3.2 Predestination of whom to what? Individuals versus nations, eternal destinies versus historical tasks
3.21 Restating the argument for corporate election to historical tasks
3.22 Critique of the foregoing position and argument for an alternative
3.221 The significance of Romans 9:1–5
3.222 The significance of Romans 9:6b
3.223 The vocabulary and structure of Romans 9:6b–8
3.224 The significance of Romans 9:14–23
3.225 Jewish antecedents of Paul’s teaching
4. Conclusion
IV. Exodus 33:19 in Its Old Testament Context
1. The problem
2. The text
3. The context of Exodus 32–34
4. The context of Exodus 33:12–34:9
5. The grammar and vocabulary of Exodus 33:19cd
6. The glory, goodness and name of Yahweh in relation to Exodus 33:19cd
7. Conclusion
V. The Justification of God: Romans 9:14–18 (Part I)
1. The text and the problem
2. “There is no unrighteousness with God, is there?” (Romans 9:14b)
Excursus ’Αδικία in Paul
3. The defense of God’s righteousness in predestination
VI. The Righteousness of God in the Old Testament
1. The question and method
2. Norm versus relationship
3. Is God’s righteousness always a saving gift?
4. An alternative interpretation
Excursus Implications for human righteousness
5. Conclusion
VII. The Righteousness of God in Romans 3:1–8
1. Purpose and orientation
2. The text
3. The position of the opponents
4. Paul’s position and the function of Romans 3:4b
VIII. The Righteousness of God in Romans 3:25, 26
1. The text and the thesis
2. The use of tradition in Romans 3:24–26
3. Critique of the prevailing view
4. An alternative interpretation of Romans 3:25, 26
IX. The Justification of God: Romans 9:14–18 (Part II)
1. “It is not of the one who wills or runs” (Romans 9:16)
2. The scope of God’s freedom in Romans 9:16
3. The γάρ of Romans 9:17
4. The hardening of Pharaoh in the Old Testament context
Excursus The vocabulary of hardening in Exodus 4–14
5. “Whom he wills he hardens” (Romans 9:18b)
5.1 The freedom of God to harden
5.2 The meaning of “hardening”
6. The justification of God
X. The Rights and Purposes of the Creator: Romans 9:19–23
1. Delimiting the text
2. Preliminary exposition of Romans 9:19–23
3. Has the objector in Romans 9:19 interpreted Paul correctly?
4. The authority of the Creator: Romans 9:20, 21
4.1 The traditions behind Romans 9:20, 21
4.2 The context of Romans 9:20, 21
4.3 The metaphor of potter and vessels
4.4 Summary
5. Four problems in Romans 9:22,23
5.1 The logical relationships of the clauses
5.2 God’s patience with the vessels of wrath
5.3 “Fitted for destruction”
5.4 The justification of God in his ultimate purpose
XI. Conclusion
Bibliography
Index of Passages Cited
Index of Authors
Index of Subjects
Other Books by Author
Notes
Back Cover
Preface
Ten years have passed since I wrote the first Preface to this book. During that time I have devoted myself mainly to preaching to one congregation, Bethlehem Baptist Church. The book was written in the context of rigorous academic discipline as I was teaching Biblical Studies at Bethel College, St. Paul. But now for over ten years the thesis has been lived and preached and loved in the context of day-to-day ministry in downtown Minneapolis.
Nothing I have read in the reviews and nothing I have experienced in the ministry has convinced me that the exegesis or conclusion of this book is false. On the contrary, further reflection and experience have sent the roots of God’s sovereignty deeper than ever into my soul and my ministry and the life of our congregation.
Our common theme in worship is the infinite worth of God and his purpose to “make known the riches of his glory for the vessels of mercy” (Rom 9:23). Our confidence in evangelism comes from God’s freedom to “have mercy on whomever he wills” (Rom 9:18). Our commitment to world missions is fueled by the passion of God to exert his sovereign power “so that [his] name may be proclaimed in all the earth” (Rom 9:17). And the ground of our conviction that God is reliable in all of life is this: No matter what heart-wrenching perplexities we face, “it is not as though the word of God has failed” (Rom 9:6).
There is a great advantage to writing a new preface after ten years. I am able to give at least a partial answer to the question: What sort of theology and what spirit of ministry would grow out of such an exegesis of Rom 9? Not that this settles the question of truth. But often such practical questions linger as the final obstacle when argumentation has done all it can do.
The answer I have given is found in the ministry of our church and in four books: Desiring God (Multnomah Press, 1986), The Pleasures of God (Multnomah Press, 1991), The Supremacy of God in Preaching (Baker Book House, 1990) and Let the Nations Be Glad: The Supremacy of God in Missions (Baker Book House, 1993). These books are the unfolding of the vision of God’s sovereignty in Rom 9 for theology, life and ministry. For any who wonders what the fruit of The Justification of God tastes like, I would direct them to these books and invite them to Bethlehem.
In the process of preparing the book for its new edition, Steve Griffith has earned my respect and gratitude for his labor of love. He took the initiative to push the book back into circulation and he took on the difficult task of reformatting a document laden with Greek and Hebrew.
Again my friend Carol Steinbach has devoted her eagle editorial eye to making the text as clean and smooth and intelligible as possible. She has also compiled fresh indexes for this second edition. Philemon Yong and Mark Reasoner helped me comb through the Greek and Hebrew, and corrected dozens of typing mistakes I had missed.
My wife Noël continues to stand by me in all the travail and triumphs of parenting four sons and shepherding the flock of God, and publishing the good news of God’s delight in being God. We stand frail, needy and secure on the sovereign freedom of God’s grace.
I exult once more in dedicating the book to Daniel Payton Fuller whose great work Unity of the Bible (Zondervan, 1992) is now published. Almost 25 years ago I was swept into the love and labor of serious, painstaking, exhilarating exegesis by this man’s classes in seminary. Everything I have preached or written is owing in great measure to the inspiration and exegetical discipline I absorbed from Daniel Fuller.
My prayer, as the book is released again, is that it might serve the great purpose of God expressed in Rom 9:23, “to make known the riches of his glory.”
John Piper
June 1993
Abbreviations ATD Altes Testament Deutsch ATR Anglican Theological Review BDB Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Brown, Driver, Briggs) BJRL Bulletin of the John Rylands Library CJT Canadian Journal of Theology EHAT Exegetisches Handbuch zum Alten Testament EQ Evangelical Quarterly ET English translation ET Expository Times EvTh Evangelische Theologie FRLANT Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments HAT Handbuch zum Alten Testament HNT Handbuch zum Neuen Testament HNTC Harper’s New Testament Commentary HThK Herders theologischer Kommentar HTR Harvard Theological Review ICC International Critical Commentary IDB Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible Interp Interpretation JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JTS Journal of Theological Studies LXX Septuagint MK Meyers Kommentar MNTC Moffatt New Testament Commentary MT Masoretic text NASB New American Standard Bible NIC New International Commentary NIGTC New International Greek Testament Commentary NT New Testament NTD Neues Testament Deutsch NTS New Testament Studies OT Old Testament RB Revue Biblique RevExp Review and Expositor RGG 3 Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 3rd ed. RSV Revised Standard Version SBT Studia Biblica et Theologica SJT Scottish Journal of Theology SNTS Society for New Testament Studies StTh Studia Theologica TDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament THAT Theologisches Handwoerterbuch zum Alten Testament TheolBeit Theologische Beitraege ThQ Theologische Quartalschrift ThW Theologisches Woerterbuch zum Neuen Testament ThZ Theologische Zeitschrift TLZ Theologische Literaturzeitung TOTC Tyndale Old Testament Comm