Paul is notoriously hard to pin down, but let me try to sum up the gist of his thinking. At times Paul argues that the Law is God’s gift to Israel and even cites Torah as something to be obeyed. Other times—and more often—Paul affirms the Law as fine and good, though only as far as it goes. It really can’t keep anyone on the straight and narrow. The Israelites had centuries to make it so, but their story is shot through with disobedience and ended in exile. The Law was “powerless” because humanity (including Israel) was under the thumb of Sin and Death,* a story that has its roots back in the
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