The Saving Righteousness of God
Digital Verbum Edition
Overview
The Apostle Paul is the most notable Christian missionary and perhaps the most influential New Testament author. The greatest theologians in the church’s history—Augustine, Calvin, Luther, Karl Barth, and others—have repeatedly turned to Paul, and the central doctrines of the church hinge on the theology found in Paul’s writings. Yet in recent decades, disputes over the historicity of Paul’s letters and the emergence of the New Perspective have led scholars to reevaluate central Pauline texts, leading to controversy, dispute, and a fractured understanding of Paul’s intent.
This book presents a series of studies on contentious aspects of Paul's doctrine of justification including the meaning of righteousness, the question of imputation, the role of resurrection in justification, an evaluation of the New Perspective, the soteriological and ecclesiological significance of justification, justification by faith with judgment according to works, and debates over the orthodoxy of N. T. Wright. The burden of the volume is to demonstrate that both Reformed and new readings of Paul are indispensable to attaining a full understanding of Paul's soteriology.
- Includes a bibliography on the new perspective on Paul
- Contains Scripture and author indexes
Top Highlights
“According to Paul, faith alone in Jesus Christ is the instrument for eschatological vindication, and faith alone marks out the true people of God.” (Page 1)
“To speak of the δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ is to say something about the righteousness of God’s character and how he demonstrates his character as the judge of all the earth and in his faithfulness towards Israel. The righteousness of God then is the character of God embodied and enacted in his saving actions which means vindication (for Israel and the righteous) and condemation (for the pagan world and the wicked).” (Page 15)
“In sum, Romans 4 does not assert that one is justified because of the imputed righteousness of Christ or that God reckons faith as covenantal conformity. Instead, God regards faith as the condition of justification (reckons faith as righteousness) and he justifies believers (credits righteousness) because of their union with Christ (raised for our justification).” (Page 77)
“The background to δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ is in Israel’s sacred traditions which present God’s ‘righteousness’ as somewhat equivalent to God’s ‘salvation’” (Page 14)
“the vindication of the ungodly through the saving righteousness of God” (Page 1)
Michael Bird's treatment is a calm, judicious and irenic voice which ought to be heard widely.
Michael F. Bird is New Testament Lecturer at Highland Theological College in Dingwall, Scotland.
Reviews
2 ratings
Sean
8/4/2025
This is an excellent work, rightly balancing the new and old perspectives on Paul and justification. I agree with Bird's conclusion: "Ultimately the NPP is correct in what it affirms but wrong in what it denies." N.T. Wright and others have brought out valid new insights from Paul on the "horizontal" dimension of justification--what it means for the community of God's people. These insights, however, do not and should not sideline the truths about the "vertical" dimension--how one is made right with God--that the reformers fought so strenuously to recover and conclusions about which are necessary for systematic theology to make. Bird does an excellent job of synthesis between the two without dilutive compromises. Moreover, he touches on a topic most dear to me--the implications of the resurrection of Jesus for our doctrines of salvation, an area that has been terribly neglected in traditional theology. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in any of the topics it discusses.
Paul Cable
2/19/2014
