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TRADITION VS SCHOLARSHIP

In New Perspective readings, Paul's phrase "works of the law" refers especially to what?

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The answer

On the New Perspective reading — Dunn's especially — "works of the law" points at the practices that marked Jews off from Gentiles: circumcision, food laws, Sabbath. The older reading, human effort to earn God's favor, is still defended in print. Same Greek phrase, two live readings.

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Why it’s interesting

Which reading you take changes what Galatians is about: a fight over earning salvation, or a fight over who can share a table. Galatians 2 itself unfolds around a withdrawn meal at Antioch.

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