Chapter six is entitled, “Justification and the Gospel: Does Justification Determine Our Standing with God?” John Piper continues to probe Wright’s definition and scope of justification, and desires to understand why Wright states things like, ” I must stress again that the doctrine of justification by faith is not what Paul means by ‘the gospel’.” For Wright, justification is such that it is not part of becoming a Christian; it is the declaration that someone has already become a Christian. This person is already a member of the covenant. Wright states and is quoted by Piper on several occasions that justification was not so much about getting in or staying in as it was about how you could tell someone was in. Wright calls justification a second-order doctrine, because it has nothing to contribute to our being converted. It is designed to give assurance, not salvation.
However, Piper argues that justification is the act whereby God actually puts us right with himself. Justification is not the changes in the heart in conversion, but it is the change in the relationship between a sinner and God at the moment of faith. Piper quotes Romans 5:1, which states that since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God. Piper states, “This most naturally means that what God did in the act of justifying us at the moment of faith was effective in giving us peace with God. God’s act of justification does not merely inform us that we have peace with God; it establishes peace with God.” Therefore justification is not a second-order doctrine.
Another issue that Piper discusses regarding Wright’s view of justification is that at present it is a declarative statement about a future verdict; in the future, the verdict is effective, and is an act of salvation that determines who is in. The crucial question for Piper and others is, “What will be the final ground of our acceptance in the presence of God?” Piper discusses this in chapter 7.
