New Perspective on Paul

A scholarly approach that interprets Paul’s language about justification and Jewish law within the social and theological setting of first-century Judaism. It challenges readings that treat Judaism as a religion of self-earned salvation.

Justification: A theological term for being declared righteous or placed in right standing before God. The New Perspective disputes how Paul’s language of justification should be understood.
E. P. Sanders: A historian of early Judaism whose work challenged portrayals of Judaism as a religion of merit. His account of covenantal nomism reshaped the historical assumptions behind Pauline interpretation.
Covenantal nomism: A model in which people enter the covenant by grace and obey the law as members of it. Sanders used this model to contest the claim that Jews sought salvation by earning it through works.
Old Perspective on Paul: A broad label for readings that emphasize Paul’s opposition to works-righteousness and individual justification. It contrasts with the New Perspective’s emphasis on Judaism, covenant membership, and communal boundaries.
Works of the Law: A Pauline phrase for deeds or practices associated with the Mosaic law. Its meaning—especially whether it concerns boundary markers—anchors the debate.
Paul and Palestinian Judaism: E. P. Sanders’s 1977 study comparing Paul’s religion with patterns in Palestinian Judaism. The book supplied a major historical challenge to the traditional account of Jewish legalism.
Circumcision: A physical rite that marked male membership in the Jewish covenant community. Paul’s rejection of circumcision for gentiles illustrates the dispute over law and communal boundaries.
Apocalyptic Paul: An interpretation that emphasizes God’s disruptive act in Christ and Paul’s apocalyptic worldview. Its account of Paul’s central concerns differs from approaches centered on covenant and ethnic inclusion.
Second Temple Judaism: The diverse Jewish religious and cultural world from the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple to its destruction in 70 CE. The approach reads Paul within the Judaism of his own historical period.
James D. G. Dunn: A British New Testament scholar who helped define and popularize the New Perspective on Paul. Dunn gave the approach its influential name and developed its reading of law and justification.

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