Most of the great jurists of the imperial era—men such as Gaius, Papinian, Ulpian, and Paulus—had lived and written during pre-Christian times. So their pronouncements were not only frequently contradictory but also flirted with irreligion. As they were pagans, their opinions were naturally devoid of Christian sentiment. And impieties did not please Justinian. So Tribonian was tasked with creating a single statement of Roman jurisprudence, in which the great works of the ancients were rationalized and improved by references to Almighty God.
