PAUL AND THE LAW: KEEPING THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD, by Brian S. Rosner

About the Author

Brian S. Rosner is Principal of Ridley Melbourne in Melbourne, Australia. He formerly taught at Moore Theological College, Macquarie University and the University of Aberdeen.
Introduction

In Paul and the Law, Brian Rosner tackles one of the most difficult and disputed issues in Pauline studies, namely, Paul’s understanding of the Law of Moses, especially as it relates to climactic redemptive realities brought about through Christ. Rosner gives attention not only to Paul’s explicit statements about the law but also to the ways in which Paul utilizes the law. Through careful examination of the Pauline corpus, Rosner argues that Paul repudiated the law as a law covenant, replaced the law with New Covenant realities, and reappropriated the law as both prophetic witness to the gospel and wisdom for Christian obedience. The book appears as volume 31 in the New Studies in Biblical Theology series, edited by D. A. Carson.
Table of Contents

Author’s preface
1.  ‘Circumcision is nothing’: The puzzle of Paul and the Law
2.  ‘Not under the law’: Explicit repudiation of the Law as law-covenant
3.  Not ‘walking according to the law’: Implicit repudiation of the Law as law-covenant
4.  ‘Under the law of Christ’: Replacement of the Law
5.  ‘Witness to the gospel’: Re-appropriation of the Law as prophecy
6.  ‘Written for our instruction’: Re-appropriation of the Law as wisdom
7.  ‘Keeping the commandments of God’: A hermeneutical solution
Bibliography
Index of authors
Index of scripture references

Summary
Chapter 1
‘Circumcision is Nothing’: The Puzzle of Paul and the Law

Pauline scholars universally recognize the difficulty and complexity of understanding Paul’s relation to Mosaic law. Three main positions on the question have emerged. Lutheranism maintains that Paul abolishes the law because of its fundamental antithesis with the gospel. The law functions primarily as a means of revealing sin and driving the sinner to Christ and does not play a large role in the Christian life. Reformed theology argues that while the Law can never be the means of justification, its moral demands remain binding on Christians after conversion. The New Perspective on Paul holds that Paul’s opposition to the law had nothing to do with salvation by works, but was instead motivated by the Jews’ use of the law “to exclude Gentiles from the people of God” (21). Rosner suggests that each perspective has some merit but that none of them does justice to all of the data. Rosner’s own contribution to the discussion lies in his focus on how Paul …

 

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