The Relationship of Jewish and Gentile Believers to the Law Between A.D. 30 and 70 in the Scripture

154 "works of law" was not shorthand for the sinful effort of man to merit favor with God , what was it and why did Paul oppose it? Sanders himself moved the discussion away from the personal struggle of the individual to the corporate relationships of history by focusing upon the dispensational change brought about by Christ. What is wrong with the law is neither that it requires petty obedience and "minimization of important matters" nor is merit-based but "that it is not worth anything in comparison with being in Christ. " 29 Arguing from solution to plight he reasons that if salvation is in Christ, it simply cannot be in the law, so that Pauline Christianity and Judaism are "by definition " 30 opposed to each other. He concludes , "this is what Paul finds wrong in Judaism: it is not Christianity. " 31 Although like many others Dunn has accepted and affirmed the work of Sanders ' analysis of Palestinian Judaism, he has criticized him for failing to more closely apply the results of his work to the theology of Paul. 32 He builds on Sanders identification of "works of .; of one 's righteous status . This is the essence of Sanders ' "covenantal nomism," Ibid ., 419-26, esp . 422 . Sanders ' true feelings on the matter of the "Lutheran view" may be summar ized : "The question of legalism should be banished from the realm of pauline studies and returned to the reformation period where it actually surfaced ," E . P . Sanders, "Paul 's Attitude Toward the Jewish People ," Union Seminary Quarterly Review 33 (1978): 184. 28 The phrase belongs to, and is well characterized by, James Dunn, 'The New Perspective on Paul ," 95-122. 29 anders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism, 550 . "Paul wa not trying to repre ent Judai m on it own term , nor need we uppo e that he wa ignorant on ntial point . H imply aw the old di pensation a worthle in compari on with th new. " Ibid ., 551. 30 Ibid . , 484 . 31 Ibid ., 552 . 32 ' he Luth ran Paul h b n r pl irr ti nal mann r turn hi t c gain t th th lo y nd b ndon Jud 1 m tmpl b Pr p c t1 nPaul ," 1 0 n r ti Paul h m f Jud i m ' nd