Tom (N. T.) Wright says
The point, again, is that by the Spirit those who are already justified by faith have their lives transformed, and the final verdict will be in accordance with that transformation, imperfect though it remains.
See comments by N. T. Wright #19 and #23 at Denny Burk’s blog.
Especially don’t miss Andrew Cowan’s write up here.
See also this post and comments by Preston Sprinkle here.
Ardel Caneday’s comments are worthy here.
Check out Mike Wittmer’s posts here and here.
Finally, browse to some good summaries of Schriener, Thielman, and Wright.
This is one of the more interesting theological debates of our day. I think Wright is spot on when he argues that the Christian life should reflect the spiritual transformation; but he does tend to lean a little too close to some kind of justification through works for my taste.
Thanks for commenting. I would urge you, and everyone interested, to listen to Wright’s plenary at ETS from this past Nov. Moreover, the panel discussions were outstanding as well and much was clarified for many re: Wright’s position. He was unequivocal that our justification is “in accordance with” our works, not “on the basis of”.