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

3 Contribution of the Study While this study cannot address all of the problems mentioned so far we hope that it will contribute to a better understanding of the theology of law. A major weakness in much of the current discussion of Paul and the law is the failure to recognize that the New Testament is neither a systematic nor homogeneous theology of law. Simple matters of the historical and occasional nature of individual books are often overlooked which contributes to serious errors of theology. I would like to approach the problem not as though it is an exercise in systematic theology of the New Testament , but rather as an exposition of individu– al, self-interpreting books. That is, instead of allowing a theology of law derived from the Epistles to inform the book of Acts, a better approach would be to compare the message of Galatians as a whole with the message of Acts as a whole. In this way it is hoped that the important hermeneutical considerations of audience, occasion and history will receive their due emphases. It is hoped that better methodology will result in better understanding of individual books and this in turn will serve as a basis for better theology. Thus, the goal is theological, while the method involves exposition of individual books . Thesis of the Study The proposal of this study is that the New Testament teaching on the law can only be understood (1) in light of the progress of revelation and (2) with an appreciati n f: r the differing respon ibilities which Jew and Gentile had to the Law. B tw en th A .D . 30 and 70 great tran ition and development took place . The b ok f H br ar f written toward the latter end of thi tim frame cl arl addr th nd a r ulat ry d cum nt f r th n tion f I ra 1. In fa t , it th t th th d ath knell f r th r el ti n i n t i n until r I ti I l t in th p t Ii nd th th rk f hri t n th t thi f H br