This research will show how that both retributive and remunerative righteousness have been demonstrated in the covenants that God has made with his people throughout history, and how in the exercising of divine justice God is righteous when He punishes violations of His covenants and when He rewards those who are obedient to His covenants.
Project Summary
The righteousness of God is an attribute that is closely related to the justice of God. The justice of God is meted out in His retributive righteousness. In many circles the retributive righteousness of God has been overemphasized at the expense of the remunerative righteousness of God. This is what happened before Martin Luther saw the truth of justification in Romans. Luther was so concerned with God’s retributive justice that he took excessive steps to punish himself for his own sin. When looking at the covenants of God there are clear guidelines for keeping the covenant, and when those guidelines are broken the retributive righteousness of God is meted out to the covenant breaker. However, the remunerative righteousness of God is still at work for those who have kept His covenants. Those who keep God’s commands are blessed in a display of remunerative righteousness. This study will focus on biblical passages that focus on both aspects of God’s righteousness, ending in a discussion of God’s ultimate display of both retributive and remunerative righteousness in the incarnation and death of Christ.
Preliminary Bibliography
Bird, Michael F. “Incorporated Righteousness: A Response to Recent Evangelical Discussion Concerning the Imputation of Christ’s Righteousness in Justification.” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 47, no. 2 (June 2004): 253-275.
Bibliography Summary
Bird’s article brings up a controversy over whether God’s retributive righteousness is necessary. It argues rightfully against the proposition that God’s response to sin is something that He willed but could have willed otherwise.
Preliminary Bibliography
Burk, Denny. “The Righteousness of God (Dikaisune Theou) and Verbal Genitives: A Grammatical Clarification.” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 34, no. 4 (Spring 2012): 346-360. Sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav (accessed November 10, 2013).
Bibliography Summary
Burk’s article will aid in a short etymological section on the Greek word for righteousness and the normative meaning in the New Testament.
Preliminary Bibliography
Chester Stephen J. “Paul and the Introspective Conscience of Martin Luther: The Impact of Luther’s Anfechtungen on his Interpretation of Paul.” Biblical Interpretation 14, no. 5 (2006): 508-536. Religion and Philosophy Collection, EBSCOhost (accessed November 13, 2013).
Bibliography Summary
This article, by Stephen Chester, will be used in a section on Martin Luther’s pre-reformation view of his guilt and sinfulness in the section on retributive righteousness.
In the Second Essay of On the Genealogy of Morals (titled ““Guilt,” “Bad Conscience,” and the Like”), Nietzsche formulates an interesting conception of the origin and function of guilt feelings and “bad conscience.” Nietzsche’s discussion of this topic is rather sophisticated and includes sub-arguments for the ancient equivalence of the concepts of debt and guilt and the existence of an instinctive joy in cruelty in human beings, as well as a hypothesis concerning the origin of civilization, a critique of Christianity, and a comparison of Christianity to ancient Greek religion. In this essay, I will attempt to distill these arguments to their essential points.
Chastisement or punishment can be performed in various forms that can produce in a variety of consequences. In J.B., the sudden punishment of God on J.B has caused a commotion in his family physically and mentally. Nevertheless, J.B’s faith does not die and he also continues to fulfill his responsibility as a “puppet” in a play created by God. After the death of his five children, J.B is placid and not abhorring God for his punishment. “God will not punish without cause, God is just.”, said J.B (109). J.B knows that there must be a reason for God to punish him, because God always acts impartially. Ev...
The Sovereignty and Goodness of God is a primary source document written in the 17th century, by a well-respected, Puritan woman. This book, written in cahoots with Cotton and Increase Mather, puritan ministers, tells the story of her capture by Indians during King Phillip’s War (1675-1676). For three months, Mary Rowlandson, daughter of a rich landowner, mother of three children, wife of a minister, and a pillar of her community lived among “savage” Indians. This document is important for several reasons. First, it gives us insight into the attitudes, extremes, personalities and “norms” of the Puritan people we learn about in terms of their beliefs, and John Calvin’s “house on a hill”. Beyond that, despite the inevitable exaggerations, this book gives us insight into Indian communities, and how they were run and operated during this time.
More broadly, it is possible to see the opposition between "guilt" and "shame" as representative of a larger tension in early modern thought between Christian and p...
In this essay Martin Luther comments upon the role of good works in a Christian's life and the overall goal of a Christian in his or her walk. He writes seventeen different sections answering the critics of his teachings. I will summarize and address each one of these sections in the following essay.
During Luther’s early life he faced a severe inner crisis. When he sinned he looked for comfort in confession and followed the penance, the fasting, prayer and observances that the church directed him. But, he found no peace of mind and worried about his salvation. But reading St. Paul’s letters he came to believe that salvation came though faith in Christ. Faith is a free gift, he discovered, it cannot be earned. His studies led him to a conclusion that, “Christ was the only mediator between God and a man and that forgiveness of sin and salvation are given by god’s grace alone” (Martin Luther, 01). Historians agree that, “this approach to theology led to a clash between Luther and the Church officials, precipitating the dramatic events of Reformation”.
Additionally, it is important to understand Luther’s distinction between the Law and the Gospel in order to further explore Luther’s understanding of human freedom. The Law is God’s commands; it allows humans to coexist, limits chaos and condemns sinfulness, though it is not God’s road...
Humans are sinful by nature, but at what point does the Lord tolerate inconceivable sin? When does He look down and say, “Enough is enough?” Investigating the act of lynching, makes one truly wonder about the evils of mankind. This monstrosity occurred in America, and in the South alone, ferociously ended the lives of nearly 4,000 individuals (Robertson). Although baffling, this disturbing incident is a major part of our history. Our educated ancestors took part in these crimes that plagued our land for many years for the specific reasons of lack of law enforcement, influence of previous generations, and unimaginable fear.
Determining whether the God you praise and worship is choleric because of your presence by the sins you’ve created is at never ending battle in the 17th-18th centuries. Upon the Burning of Our House is a poem, with nine stanzas, written by Anne Bradstreet explaining her understanding and ability to live and learn from sin to God. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God is a work, written as a sermon by Jonathan Edwards, who preaches to all the non-Puritan sinners. His belief is that if they don’t convert and take blame for their sins, God’s anger toward them will be unbearable and force them to the pits of hell. Analyzing Bradstreet’s and Edwards’ works, a reader can distinguish the personality of the two writers and the different views of God
Unger, Merrill F. The New Unger's Bible Dictionary. Ed. R. K. Harrison, Howard F. Vos, and Cyril J. Barber. Chicago: Moody, 1988. Print.
Martin Luther is viewed as of Western history’s most significant figures in his fight for equality and civil rights.Initially, Luther, born in Germany spent his early years in relative anonymity where he was a monk and also a scholar. However, it is his contribution and scholarly work in 1517 that Luther is mostly renowned for. He wrote a document that was attacking the then Catholic Church’s corrupt practice. This practice was in the form of selling different indulgences to absolve sins that the church believed was a common attribute in the society (Ziegler and Bentley 55). His scholarly document was named the “95 Theses”. The document provided and discussed two central beliefs. One of the central
Class notes. Man’s Desperate Need of Righteousness and God’s Glorious Provision of Righteousness. Faith Christian University. Orlando, Florida. August 2011.
Of all the debates that concern the Christian faith, the most important lies in the understanding of the very one whom the faith professes to follow: Jesus Christ. Who was Jesus Christ, and what did He do here on this earth? In noting the importance of these issues the apostle Paul goes so far as to make the startling claim that the Christian faith is useless if predicated on a false assumption of Christ’s saving work (1 Cor. 15:14). Indeed, there are no truths more central to our faith than the personhood and work of Jesus Christ, and yet serious disagreements exist regarding the nature of these tenets. Jesus lived here on earth as fully divine and yet fully human in one and the same person, and His death on the cross served as a perfect sacrifice and substitute for the necessary punishment of death that all sinners deserve.
We all know God is love and it is shown everywhere in the Bible. To be merciful means to have broad grace. To be just means to be respectably good and fair. These two attributes seem to contradict each other because how can a merciful God judge a person for their wrongdoing or how can someone who hates sin have mercy on the people who do evil? Many atheists question how could a merciful God be just? The answer to this question is Gods mercy is expressed to us through His love. God is a perfect God meaning his justice and mercifulness is also faultless. This paper will focus on comparing and contrasting the attributes God is just and merciful by pointing out the similarities, differences, and by showing ways in which God demonstrates them to mankind.
When considering morality, worthy to note first is that similar to Christian ethics, morality also embodies a specifically Christian distinction. Studying a master theologian such as St. Thomas Aquinas and gathering modern perspectives from James Keenan, S. J. and David Cloutier serve to build a foundation of the high goal of Christian morality. Morality is a primary goal of the faith community, because it is the vehicle for reaching human fulfillment and happiness. Therefore, great value can be placed on foundations of Christian morality such as the breakdown of law from Aquinas, the cultivation of virtues, the role of conscience in achieving morality, and the subject of sin described by Keenan.