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Originally Posted by Barnpreacher  Here are Piper's thoughts on the CoW in A Godward Life (p. 172-73): Quote: |
What made Adam's sin so evil was that God had shown him unmerited favor and offered himself to Adam as an everlasting Father to be trusted in all his counsel for Adam's good. The command was that Adam trust God's goodness. Adam's test was whether he would prove the trustworthiness of God in reckoning God more to be desired than the prospect of Satan's offer. There was no hint that Adam was to earn or deserve. The atmosphere was one of testing faith in unmerited favor, not testing willingness to earn or merit. The command of God was for the obedience that comes from faith...Christ rendered to God the obedience of faith that Adam forsook. He fulfilled the Law perfectly in the way that the Law was meant to be fulfilled from the beginning, not by works, but by faith (Romans 9:32). Thus he obtained life for his people, not by wages, but by fulfilling the covenant conditions of a faithful Son.
| I wanted to post those thoughts because I wanted your thoughts on Piper's interpretation of Romans 2:7-10. Quote:
What is in question is how the judgment "according to works" here in Romans 2:6-10 fits together with that. I said that, in general, there are two possible answers to this question. One says that eternal life would be based on perfect obedience if anybody had it. But nobody does, and so the only way to eternal life is by faith in Christ. The other way says that God never promised eternal life on the basis of good deeds, but always makes good deeds the evidence of faith that unites us to God in Christ, who is the basis of eternal life.
Let me try to say it another way, using verse 7 in particular. Verse 7 says, "To those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, [God will give] eternal life." What does that mean?
The first answer would say, it means that God would give eternal life on the basis of perfect obedience if anybody had it. But nobody does, and so the point of the verse is simply to stress the hopelessness of man without the gospel of grace.
The other answer would say, it means that God does indeed give eternal life to those who persevere in obedience not because this obedience is perfect or because it is the basis or the merit of eternal life, but because saving faith always changes our lives in the power of the Holy Spirit so that true believers persevere in doing good. In other words, a changed life of obedience to God's truth (verse 8) is not the basis of eternal life, but the evidence of authentic faith which unites us to Christ who is the basis of eternal life.
Now, I think this second way of viewing these verses is correct. This is why verse 6 says, "[God] will render to every person according to his deeds," not "on the basis of" his deeds, or "because of the merit of his deeds." Eternal life is always based on Jesus Christ and through our faith. But since faith, by the Holy Spirit, always sanctifies or changes us into the image of Christ (one degree at a time, 2 Corinthians 3:18), there will be deeds that "accord with" this saving faith. So while eternal life will be awarded only to believers, it will be awarded "according to" - there will be an accord with -their deeds. There will be a way of life that God can put on display to demonstrate to the world that this person's faith was real.
| Thoughts on Piper's interpretation of this passage? |
James reminds us that "we all stumble in many ways" and IMO Piper stumbles somewhat here. Those who carelessly read him will conclude that he is denying the concept of the CoW and that this denial will have a domino effect in related areas of theology. What I have found interesting is that, when seen against his writings in other places, Piper is not, IMO, so much denying the concept of the CoW as he is, for some reason, denying the label, while adding detail to the concept! I don't understand why he is doing it this way.
For example, in the following passage...
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What made Adam's sin so evil was that God had shown him unmerited favor and offered himself to Adam as an everlasting Father to be trusted in all his counsel for Adam's good. The command was that Adam trust God's goodness. Adam's test was whether he would prove the trustworthiness of God in reckoning God more to be desired than the prospect of Satan's offer. There was no hint that Adam was to earn or deserve. The atmosphere was one of testing faith in unmerited favor, not testing willingness to earn or merit. The command of God was for the obedience that comes from faith...Christ rendered to God the obedience of faith that Adam forsook.
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...Piper does not simply move from obedience to God's command to faith without obedience as opposite concepts of what was required of Adam by God but from an obedience, the source of which is undefined, to an obedience produced by faith in God. How significant a move is this?
First, the obedence required of Adam in Gen 3. is not so defined in the text. Yet, if we look at the situation Adam was confronted with after Eve ate the fruit, clearly he was confronted with a choice and that choice turned at least partially on who he would trust. If he had obeyed God, implicit in that decision would have been a trust that God's threat of sanctions was true.
Piper's CoW is clearly NOT that of the FV. For his
Counted Righteous in Christ is a strong defence of Christ's active obedience which FV denies.
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Originally Posted by Piper He fulfilled the Law perfectly in the way that the Law was meant to be fulfilled from the beginning, not by works, but by faith (Romans 9:32). Thus he obtained life for his people, not by wages, but by fulfilling the covenant conditions of a faithful Son |
Piper is not denying that the Son fulfilled the Law nor that his fulfillment of the Law is imputed to us. Yet he is arguably incorrect that the Son's perfect fulfillment of the law, however achieved, would not "merit" eternal life for himself, a merit which could be imputed to His sheep. For if someone could keep God's law perfectly in life, would not that someone be justified in claiming the wage of eternal life from God? The only part of WCF 19:1 that Piper denies is the clause: "as a covenant of works." In Piper's thinking his position certainly does not make Rom. 5: senseless (see his sermons on Rom. 5:12 ff at the Desiring God website or the relevant sections of
Counted Righteous). Piper does not deny that Adam's fall merited death, nor, as noted above does he deny that Christ's active obedience fulfills the law and is imputed to us.
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Originally Posted by toddpedlar The problem is that Piper puts forth Christ as one who satisfied his covenantal obligations as mediator BY FAITH - and not by a perfect, flawless obedience. |
Piper nowhere asserts that Christ's obedience to the Law was less than perfect, only that it was achieved by faith. Had he more carefully made the point in the above passage that the Son's obedience to the law was what achieved our reconciliation and that his total and perfect faith was the means by which he did it, there would have been no confusion.
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Originally Posted by mshingler Somewhat ironically, it sounds to me like there's a certain commonality between Piper's view, here, and that of Arminianism. If I'm not mistaken, at least some forms of Arminianism teach that God accepts our faith in Christ's work in place of perfect obedience to the law. |
And I hope Calvinists teach that Christ's work achieves perfect obedience to the Law for the elect, for if it doesn't, we are all damned.