Hola Rick:
The People of God (who I believe are those who have faith in Jesus, Jew and Gentile alike) are and will remain justified by faith in Jesus whether individuals Christians sin and fall away or not.
The people of God are those who have faith in Christ. (by definition a jew does not) But the Church is made up of individuals , each who are justified. There is no such thing as cooperate salvation. All are saved by faith not by membership in a covenant , even though the faith includes one in a covenant.
If and when Christians do sin, they need to be reconciled to God through confession of sin/repentance.
Yes , but a Christian cannot be at the same time an unreconciled sinner and righteous.By that sin he becomes unrighteous by definition.
Sin is a matter of disobedience to the Law of God. Righteousness is judged on a basis of obedience. In the Old Covenant it was:
Romans 10
5Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: "The man who does these things will live by them.
And if he sinned , regained righteousness through atonement.
Atonement meaning: Reconciliation or an instance of reconciliation between God and humans.
and righteous meaning: Morally upright; without guilt or sin
In the New Covenant a Christian does not atone , they apply Christ's atonement by means of repentance , in order to be forgiven and be declared righteous. Being declared righteous is the definition of justification.
If one has faith one will repent. If one does not repent they , have no faith. And it is this loss of faith that takes one out of the covenant by loss of salvation.
as for Wright:
1. The question of justification is a matter of covenant membership
No , justification and covenant membership are a matter of faith.
2. The basis of this verdict is the representative death and resurrection of Jesus himself. In view of universal sin, God can only be in covenant with human beings if that sin is dealt with, and this has been achieved by God himself in the death of his Son (Rom. 3:24-26; 5:8-9). Jesus takes on himself the curse which would have prevented God’s promised blessing finding fulfillment (Gal. 3:10-14). The resurrection is God’s declaration that Jesus, and hence his people, are in the right before God (Rom. 4:24-25).
Justification covers only original sin? It is cooperate and is given to a people? see above.
3. The verdict issued in the present on the basis of faith (Rom. 3:21-26) correctly anticipates the verdict to be issued in the final judgment on the basis of the total life
The justification I have now can only correctly anticipate the final verdict if I am incapable of free will. Since I can at any time become reinslaved to sin and repudiate my faith , by my own choice , this statement cannot be true. (been there , done that)
All of the NT is aimed at the final judgment , in that sense it is all about eschatology. But while the judgment will be given in the future , it is all based on what you do now in the present If one concentrates only on the judgment , one ends up with the very God that Luther had problems with:
For I hated that word "righteousness of God," which, according to the use and custom of all the teachers, I had been taught to understand philosophically regarding the formal or active righteousness, as they call it, with which God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner.
And you end up doing good to avoid punishment and not because you are saved. Besides isn't that a dispensational thing , to get yourself saved in order to avoid God's wrath?
Thomas
May God bless you both , Rick and Bob
or as they say here
Dios te bendiga y guarda
