delegalising the gospel

Three helpful paragraphs from an essay on ‘Forensic Metaphors in Romans’:

"As far as his dealings with believers are concerned, this judge [God] shocks all expectations. He sides with the guilty; he takes painful measures to vouchsafe their acquittal; he shows mercy where he should have punished severely; he acquits unconditionally. Instead of judicial objectivity and equity, mercy is now the norm. The only requirement is that they should accept his offer. Instances of pardon were well-known in Romans legal practice, but these were spasmodic, eclectic, frequently qualified and conditional, and very often politically motivated. A timeless, universal and absolutely unconditional pardon like the one here in Romans, was totally unheard of."

"Metaphors have their strengths and weakness. Paul’s forensic imagery also has its limitations. As such, it can only depict sin as guilt before God. Other metaphors are necessary to portray, for example, its enslaving, estranging or defiling aspects. It also cannot describe the specific effect of Christ’s salvific work. For that purpose Paul had to resort to other metaphors like deliverance (Rom 3:24), atonement (3:25) and reconciliation (5:10-11). An additional weakness is that, apart from their new status as righteous and the imperative resulting from it, the forensic imagery focusses pre-eminently on believers’ entry into the new community. It reveals very little about the nature of their new life in Christ."

"On the other hand, Paul’s forensic metaphors are pre-eminently suited to highlight the sovereign activity of God, the radicality of sin and the even greater radicality of grace. In order to highlight the surprising otherness and the joy-bringing “goodness” of the good news to his Romans addressees, the apostle could scarcely have made a better choice. This was the language they would understand Ironical as it may seem, exactly by using forensic imagery, Paul completely delegalized the Christian message. In God’s gospel court room grace reigns supreme (Rom 5:20-21)."

Andrie B. du Toit ‘Forensic Metaphors in Romans and their Soteriological Significance,’ Salvation in the New Testament: Perspectives on Soteriology, ed. Jan. G. van der Watt (Leiden: Brill, 2005), 213-246 (this quote on 242-243, emphasis original).

what is the Bible?

A cracking line worth pondering from the preface to the 1560 Geneva Bible:

"The word of God (which is the light to our paths, the key of the kingdom of heaven, our comfort in affliction, our shield and sword against Satan, the school of all wisdom, the glass wherein we behold God's face, the testimony of his favour, and the only food and nourishment of our souls)"

God lets his children tell the story?

Let’s say you’re a pastor with some study time pencilled in this summer, or you’re looking for a task to give your ministry trainee, or you’re a Bible college student who can’t wait till September for someone to set you another problem to solve. This might be just the thing:

Respond to the following, bearing in mind the pyramid of arguments:

“The Bible- from front to back – is the story of God told from the limited point of view of real people living at a certain place and time. It’s not like the Israelites were debating whether or not to go ahead and describe God as a mighty warrior. They had no choice. That’s just how it was done – that was their cultural language. And if the writers had somehow been able to step outside of their culture and invent a new way of talking, their story would have made no sense to anyone else. The Bible looks this way because ‘God lets his children tell the story,’ so to speak.”

Peter Enns, The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture has made us unable to read it, 63.