Justification Revisited: Maximus the Confessor and the New Perspective on Paul

In this episode, Dr. Andreas Bergman joins us to discuss his recent open-access article, The Maximian Perspective on Paul: A Reconstruction of the Works of the Law and Maximus the Confessor. We begin by outlining the main features of the Old and New Perspectives on Paul, particularly the contested meaning of the phrase “works of the law” in Pauline theology. From there, we explore how Maximus the Confessor’s ascetical theology complicates and enriches this debate. Dr. Bergman explains Maximus’s tripartite division of the law (natural, written, and spiritual), his understanding of motivation in relation to justification, and how Maximus can, in different respects, be seen as aligning both with and against key elements of the major interpretive traditions.