In Chapter 9, John Piper seeks to lay out the structure of Wright’s vision of first-century Judaism. Anyone familiar with the “new perspective on Paul” will quickly understand that the movement represents a new perspective on Judaism, which then colors the way one reads Paul’s epistles. This chapter is more a summary of Wright’s reading of Second-temple Judaism than a substantial critique. Allow me to summarize Piper’s points quickly.
- Wright sees a structural continuity between Judaism and Christianity. The dichotomy that sees first-century Judaism as legalistic and Christianity as grace-centered is a false dichotomy. (134)
- Works of the Law refer, not to meritorious earnings of salvation, but to boundary-markers, “badges” of ethnic identity. Paul was arguing that the ethnocentric badges of covenant membership that separated Jews and Gentiles have been replaced by one badge alone – faith in Jesus (138-141).
- Paul argued against the agitators of Galatia because they were trying to limit the people of God to Jews only (142).
Piper makes other points in this chapter, but I believe he has fairly summarized Wright’s perspective on first-century Judaism. In the next chapter, Piper will critique this vision.
