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The New Perspective On Paul

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People have thought wrongly about the Jewish religion back in Jesus’ time. We all thought Judaism was a legalistic religion. However, this is not the case. This is what started a new way of thinking about justification and Paul. This leads us to the New Perspective on Paul. In this paper, we will discuss where the New Perspective on Paul came from, what it is exactly as well as my personal thoughts on this subject. It all started in 1977 when E.P. Sanders wrote a book about this topic. Others come along and add their ideas to this new idea. Soon it became known to the world as NPP. What is Justification? Well, since we are all sinners we need to have that sin taken care of. We have been justified by God’s righteousness. But how? It cannot come from good works or from the law. Paul says that justification is not possible for someone living under the Mosaic Law and covenant. It is through faith in Jesus that one is justified. However, Gentile Christians cannot completely ignore the law, they must still observe Jewish boundary markers. We can understand it in this way, “he is not saying that Gentile believers in Christ do not need to observe Jewish boundary markers in order to sit at the table with Jewish believers… but that law cannot serve as the path to righteousness.” Through Sanders book, he unpacks how the Jewish people thought about their religion and “getting in and staying in God’s favor and salvation. (8)” For them, they were the chosen people of God. They did not

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