God-centered resources from the ministry of John Piper

Listen to John Piper talk about where he is trying to keep the doctrine of justification from going (2.5 min).

[The following is an edited transcript of the audio.]

Bob Allen: Where is it that you’re trying to preserve the doctrine of justification from moving?

John Piper: I want to prevent the reality of justification from moving off of the point where I become a Christian. I want to keep it right there, because that’s where I believe the Bible locates it. I become a Christian by what happens in the event of justification. That’s the first thing.

I want to keep justification from moving off of the basis of Christ’s death and obedience. And I want to keep the doctrine of justification from moving off of the imputation of that obedience to me by faith alone in union with Jesus Christ, so that my confidence in God being totally for me is resting not in what I do, but in what Christ did.

And I want to keep the doctrine of justification from moving as the foundation on which I stand when I risk my life to bless people. Because I think that’s what we all want—we want live in a way that exalts Christ and blesses people. If we don’t keep the doctrine of the imputation of the obedience of Christ right there in the center of the basis of God being totally for us, we will begin to offer our obedience as the basis of why we are right with God, and that will turn things totally upside-down.

It’s that he’s for me totally that enables me to obey, not that I obey that makes him totally for me. We have to preserve that for the sake of the world, for the sake of the church, and for the sake of the gospel.

This is the last question in a 7-part interview that John Piper did in preparation for his forthcoming book The Future of Justification.

• Part 1, Who is this book for?
• Part 2, Who is N. T. Wright?
• Part 3, What do you believe about justification?
• Part 4, How is Wright's view of justification different than yours?
• Part 5, What's the problem with Wright's view of imputation?
• Part 6, What damage could Wright's view cause to the church?