November 2007 - Protestant Reformed Churches in America

Book Reviews
ber of respects, they both deny torically used to teach the imputation
of the righteousness of
justification by faith alone.
Five chapters deal with the Jesus Christ. In addition to
issue of justification, the righteousness
of Christ, which is zealously defending this doc-
these exegetical reasons for
imputed in justification, and the trine, he finds another: “the
legal aspect of the imputation. honor and glory of the Lord
The first two chapters deal Jesus Christ” (p. 97).
particularly with N. T. Wright’s C. FitzSimons Allison demonstrates
that Anglicanism has
teaching regarding justification.
Cornelis Venema summarizes
N. T. Wright’s view re-
imputation that it once held; ar-
lost the right understanding of
garding the NPP and his doctrine
of justification. He then trine proceed from a fear of
gues that objections to the doc-
demonstrates from the New antinomianism; and indicates
Testament, and especially that our culture, which speaks
Paul’s epistles, that Wright’s of God’s love at the expense of
view is wrong. Then T. David God’s justice, rather than seeing
God’s love in proper rela-
Gordon deals more specifically
with Wright’s view of the term tion to His justice, fosters a disregard
for the idea of imputa-
“the righteousness of God.”
Whereas Wright argues that the tion. In defense of imputation,
term is not to be understood in he notes: “Imputation is the
a forensic sense, but refers to unanimous testimony of saints
the faithfulness of God, Gordon
argues from Paul’s epistles pleads one’s own infused righ-
on their death beds. None
that the term must be understood
in a judicial sense. the mercy of Christ” (p. 103).
teousness before God but only
The next two chapters deal To skip chapter 5 for the
with the doctrine of the imputation
of Christ’s righteousness. VanDrunen defends sola fide in
moment, in chapter 6 David
Reviewing the Arminian challenge
to this doctrine in decades of Christ. VanDrunen argues
relation to the active obedience
past, Richard Phillips shows that the idea of Christ’s active
that the NPP denies it today. He obedience is basic to a Reformed
understanding, and that
defends the doctrine by examining
several texts that Reformed
theologians have his-
both of the NPP and the Federal
the idea is dismissed by men
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