Paul"s Works of the Law in the Perspective of Second-Century Reception

Jesus Creed Book of the Year 2018

What did Paul mean by works of the law? Paul writes that we are justified by faith apart from works of the law, a disputed term that represents a fault line between old and new perspectives on Paul. Was the apostle reacting against the Jews’ good works done to earn salvation, or the Mosaic law’s practices that identified the Jewish people? Matthew J. Thomas examines how Paul’s second-century readers understood these points in conflict, how their readings relate to old and new perspectives, and what their collective witness suggests about the apostle’s own meaning. Surprisingly, these early witnesses align closely with the new perspective, though their reasoning often differs from both modern viewpoints. They suggest that Paul opposes these works neither due to moralism, nor primarily for experiential or social reasons, but because the promised new law and covenant, which are transformative and universal in scope, have come in Christ.