Doctrine of Salvation Part 15: New Perspective on Paul - Continued

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 and "shelter-in-place" recommendations, Dr. Craig gives this lecture from the safety of his home office.

"Defenders" is Dr. William Lane Craig's weekly Sunday school class on Christian doctrine and apologetics. This video is part 15 of his locus on the Doctrine of Salvation.

We welcome your comments in the Reasonable Faith forums:

[timothylcthang]

Thank you so much for your profound clarification on the new perspective!!!

[timffoster]

I've always wondered why TNP lasted so long, honestly.

[weobeyjesus]

The term 'righteousness of God' means different things at different times, sometimes it means the justification is from God (of grace rather than of yourself) and other times it refers to the goodness or justness of God. It is not saying that God transfers his righteousness to people. That's a devil doctrine.

[michaelpond]

Saved by. Grace. That's the entire meaning of Christ's death on the cross. It's guaranteed. We canned be saved by adherence to the. L. A. W. Christ fulfilled the law on the cross. Humans are fallible sinful creatures. We find it extremely hard to keep the entire. Law of moses because our society and governments are wicked. Gods mercy is supreme over all manner of sin and this we are saved by grace only. Otherwise we would be damned from day one.

[brahilly]

Please excuse my going of topic, but on another video where Dr. Craig is speaking with Bishop Barron, he makes a statement which I found to be highly questionable. The Doctor says, "The American University is the most important institution shaping western culture." I would have commented on the video if the commenting option was available, but it isn't.

That remark is offensive. It's offensive to me, a bi-national Canadian French, as I'm sure it would be for most Canadians, citizens of the Americas and for most Europeans. The remark is reflective of the notion of American exceptionalism, which is again something that non-Americans find objectionable.

Another short anecdote that Dr. Craig speaks of that further illustrates exceptionalism, is the story he tells about the Swiss couple he invites to his place. Soon after they arrive, the Craigs start speaking about their Christian faith. The couple reacts surprisingly saying that they were told that this would happen when they got to the States. I doubt that the Swiss couples' surprised reaction was a good one, as Craig suggests. Having spent 12 years living in France close to the Swiss border, I think that their reaction was probably more like, "Oh brother! We can't believe we're hearing this".

If Dr. Craig believes in this exceptionalism, how will he ever understand how others truly think and feel about anything he speaks on, let alone questions of faith?