Paul the Law and the Covenant Author:A. Andrew Das The now familiar Ânew perspective asserts that the Âcovenantal nomism characteristic of second-temple Judaism softened the Mosaic lawÂs requirement of perfect obedience. Because of GodÂs gracious covenant with Israel, manifested in election and the provision of atoning sacrifice... more »s, one could be righteous under the law despite occasional failures to obey the law perfectly. This view concludes that Paul, as a first-century Jew, could not have been troubled by the lawÂs stringent demands, because it was generally understood that the gracious framework of the covenant provided a way of dealing with occasional lapses. Consequently, it is claimed, PaulÂs problem with the law must have to do with its misuse as a means of enforcing ethnic boundaries and excluding Gentile believers.However, as Das demonstrates in this book, whenever the gracious framework of covenantal nomism is called into question, the lawÂs demands take on central importance. Das traces this development in a number of second-temple Jewish works and especially in the writings of Paul. ÂCovenantal nomism is probably an apt characterization of PaulÂs opponents, and indeed of PaulÂs past life; thus he can assert that formerly he was Âblameless under the law. But now Paul sees GodÂs grace as active only in Christ. He emphatically denies that God will show special grace in his judgment of Jews; to do so would be favoritism. Similarly, Paul sees no atoning benefit to the sacrificial system. In effect, Paul is no longer a Âcovenantal nomist. Since the gracious framework of the covenant has collapsed, all that remains for Paul is the law, with its oppressive requirement of perfect obedience and ethnic exclusivism. Contra the "new perspective," the "works of the law" should not be construed so narrowly as only the law's ethnic exclusivity. Christ is "the end" of the law in general, both in the sense that he is the goal to which the law always pointed, and in that he is the sole agent of God's grace apart from which the law's demands would be impossible.« less