Additional Resources

Topic Recap

• The texts that make up the New Testament were written across times and cultures, for audiences who were mostly Jewish, mostly Gentile or somewhere between these polarities.

• Paul's letters have contrasting degrees of interest in the law, but in Galatians it is the central focus.

• The Gospel writers portray Jesus as the fulfillment of prophecy, and representing a new relationship with the law.

• Paul generally supported the continued practice of law by Christian Jews but argued that God’s renewed Jewish and gentile kingdom was no longer under Israel’s law. 

• A key thread running throught the tapestry of New Testament text on the law is the idea that Christ and Christian communities are seen as somehow fulfilling the law.

Key Biblical Texts

• Matthew 1:1-17

• Matthew 4:13-16

• Matthew 5-6

• Mark 2:23-3:6

• Mark 7:1-19

• Mark 12:29-31

• Luke 4:16-30

• Acts 15:19-29

• Romans 7:7-8:4

• Romans 10:4

• Romans 13:9

• 1 Corinthians 7:19

• Galatians 2:11-16

• Galatians 3:19-30

• Galatians 5:6

• 1 Thessalonians 5:5-8

• Hebrews 7:12

• Hebrews 8:7-13

• James 2:8-22

Glossary of Key Terms

• Circumcision - To cut off the foreskin of a young boy or man, especially a baby, as a physical representation of the covenant.

• Covenant - A solemn, binding agreement between two parties, such as between God and Israel.

• Gentile - A person who is not Jewish.

• Hellenistic - Relating to Greek history, language, and culture from the death of Alexander the Great to the defeat of Cleopatra and Mark Antony by Octavian in 31 BCE.

Suggestions for Group Discussion

• What does the variety of teaching on law tell us about the imporance of reading New Testament texts in context?

• What does the complex relationship with the law in the Early Church tell us about the first Christian communities?

• What does it mean to suggest Jesus fulfills the law, and what challenges might this present?

Suggestions for Further Reading

• The New Moses: A Matthean Typology by Dale C. Allison Jr.

• When Christians Were Jews - The First Generation By Paula Fredriksen

• Galatians by Peter Oakes

• Rethinking Galatians: Paul's Vision of Oneness in the Living Christ by Peter Oakes and Andrew K. Boakye

• Paul and the Faithfulness of God by N. T. Wright