Paul and the Power of Grace

by John M.G. Barclay

What does this mean for the interpretation of Paul? The traditional reading of Paul, associating Paul with grace and Judaism with works, was no longer tenable in the wake of Sanders’s work. Sanders traced a difference in Paul’s “pattern of religion,” but not at this point. Paul’s soteriology, he argued, was based on participation in Christ, rather than covenantal nomism, but there was no difference with regard to grace and works: “On the point on which many have found the decisive contrast between Paul and Judaism—grace and works—Paul is in agreement with Palestinian Judaism … salvation is by grace but judgment is according to works: works are the condition of remaining ‘in,’ but they do not earn salvation.”5

very important shift in understanding Paul and Judaism