A Justification Debate Long Overdue – The Gospel Coalition Blog.
One brief part of the blog entry:
Wright says Israel’s fundamental problem was failing to bless the world. But Paul focuses on Israel’s inherent sinfulness.
How are these points mutually exclusive?
And doesn’t Paul specify how Israel’s sinfulness relates to the Gentiles?
But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
Additionally Paul does not argues simply that Israel is sinful but that Israel is apostate and that God has used Israel’s apostasy to bring blessing to the Gentiles. It is in this context that Paul mentions how Israel’s sin means that it has not brought blessing to the Gentiles in the expected way. Schreiner’s reductionism leaves a great deal of Paul’s letter out of consideration.
In any case, for those want to read what might be a perspective closer to Wright’s see the following:
Israel’s failure to keep the law
The difference death and resurrection make: boasting in God as a teacher of the nations