New Perspective on Paul

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File:PaulT.jpg: Saint Paul Writing His Epistles ({{circa|1618–1620}}), Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas. Nowadays, biblical scholars believe that the Apostle Paul actually dictated his letters to a secretary{{cite book |last=Roetzel |first=Calvin J. |year=2015 |origyear=2009 |chapter=Chapter 3: The Anatomy of the Letters |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QH1lBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA84 |title=The Letters of Paul: Conversations in Context |location=Louisville, Kentucky |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |edition=6th |page=84 |isbn=9780664257828 |lccn=2015009075}} (e.g., {{bibleverse||Romans|16:22|NRSV}}).]]

The "New Perspective on Paul" is an academic movement within the field of biblical studies concerned with the understanding of the writings of the Apostle Paul. The "New Perspective" movement began with the publication of the 1977 essay Paul and Palestinian Judaism by E. P. Sanders, an American New Testament scholar and Christian theologian.{{Cite book|title = Paul and Palestinian Judaism|last = Sanders|first = E. P. |publisher = Fortress Press|year = 1977 |isbn = 978-0-8006-1899-5|location = Minneapolis, MN}}{{Cite book |last=Dunn |first=James D. G. |author-link=James Dunn (theologian) |title=Jesus, Paul, and the Law: Studies in Mark and Galatians |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |location=Louisville, KY |year=1990 |isbn=0-664-25095-5 |pages=1–7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d76vmNlbuBwC&pg=PA1}}

Historically, the old Protestant perspective claims that Paul advocates justification through faith in Jesus Christ over justification through works of the Mosaic Law. During the Protestant Reformation, this theological principle became known as sola fide ("faith alone"); this was traditionally understood as Paul arguing that good works performed by Christians would not factor into their salvation; only their faith in Jesus Christ would save them. In this perspective, Paul dismissed 1st-century Palestinian Judaism as a sterile and legalistic religion.{{Cite book|title = In Defense of Sola Fide: A Refutation of N.T. Wright's view of Justification|last = Yoon Jr.|first = Paul |publisher = Master's Seminary|year = 2006 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LiUWnQEACAAJ}}

According to Sanders, Paul's letters do not address good works but instead question Jewish religious observances such as circumcision, dietary laws, and Sabbath laws, which were the "boundary markers" that set the Jews apart from other ethno-religious groups in the Levant.{{Cite book|title = The New Perspective on Paul|last = Dunn|first = James D. G.|publisher = Eerdmans Publishing Co.|year = 2005|isbn = 978-0-8028-4562-7|location = Grand Rapids}} Sanders further argues that 1st-century Palestinian Judaism was not a "legalistic community", nor was it oriented to "salvation by works". As God's "chosen people", they were under his covenant. Contrary to Protestant belief, following the Mosaic Law was not a way of entering the covenant but of staying within it.

Development

In 1963 Krister Stendahl, a Swedish New Testament scholar and Christian theologian, who served as professor emeritus at Harvard Divinity School{{Cite news |last=Martin |first=Douglas |date=2008-04-16 |title=Krister Stendahl, 86, Ecumenical Bishop, Is Dead |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/us/16stendahl.html |access-date=2022-09-12 |issn=0362-4331}} and is considered by modern biblical scholarship to have been as influential as E. P. Sanders in the development of the "New Perspective on Paul",{{cite book |last=Seifrid |first=Mark A. |author-link=Mark A. Seifrid |year=1992 |title=Justification by Faith: The Origin and Development of a Central Pauline Theme |chapter=The Place of Justification by Faith in Paul's Thought: Basic Lines of Interpretation |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KdUkuOtOw68C&pg=PA63 |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill Publishers |series=Novum Testamentum |volume=68 |doi=10.1163/9789004267015_002 |isbn=90-04-09521-7 |issn=0167-9732 |pages=1–77}}{{rp|63}} published a paper arguing that the typical Lutheran view of Paul's theology did not align with statements in Paul's writings, and in fact was based on mistaken assumptions about Paul's beliefs rather than careful interpretation of his writings.{{cite journal |doi=10.1017/S0017816000024779 |jstor = 1508631 |title = The Apostle Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West |year=1963 |last =Stendahl |first = Krister |journal= Harvard Theological Review |volume= 56 |issue=3 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=199–215|s2cid = 170331485 }} Stendahl warned against imposing modern Western ideas on the Bible, and especially on the works of Paul. In 1977 E. P. Sanders, an American New Testament scholar and Christian theologian, published the essay Paul and Palestinian Judaism.{{Citation |first= EP |last= Sanders | author-link= E. P. Sanders |title= Paul and Palestinian Judaism: A Comparison of Patterns of Religion |publisher= Fortress Press |place= Philadelphia |year= 1977}}.

Sanders continued to publish books and articles in this field, and was soon joined by James D. G. Dunn, a British New Testament scholar and Wesleyan theologian who served as President of the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas in 2002. Dunn reports that N. T. Wright, a British New Testament scholar and Anglican theologian who served as bishop of Durham from 2003 to 2010, was the first to use the term "New Perspective on Paul" in his 1978 Tyndale lecture.N. T. Wright, {{Google books|id=6i2xvonpvMwC |page= 11–2 |title=Justification: God's Plan and Paul's Vision}}. SPCK, 2009. {{ISBN |978-0-281-06090-0}} The term became more widely known after being used by Dunn as the title of his 1982 Manson Memorial lecture, where he summarized and affirmed the movement.Richard N. Longenecker, {{Google books |id=5Qs54KfN5dIC |page=327|title=Introducing Romans: Critical Issues in Paul's Most Famous Letter}}. Eerdmans, 2011. {{ISBN|978-0-80286619-6}}{{cite journal |first = James D. G. |last = Dunn |author-link= James Dunn (theologian) |year = 1983 | title = The New Perspective on Paul |journal= Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester |volume=65 | issue =2 |pages=95–122|doi = 10.7227/BJRL.65.2.6 }} The work of these writers inspired a large number of scholars to study, discuss, and debate the relevant issues. Many books and articles dealing with the issues raised have since been published. N.T. Wright has written a large number of works aimed at popularising the "new perspective" outside of academia.For example, {{Citation |last=Wright |first=NT |title=What Saint Paul Really Said |year=1997 |publisher=Eerdmans |author-link=N.T. Wright}}, chapter 4 (pp 63-75).

The "New Perspective" movement is closely connected with a surge of recent scholarly interest in studying the Bible in its historical and geopolitical context and in comparison with other ancient texts through the use of social-scientific methods. Scholars affiliated with The Context Group{{refn |Esler, Philip F. Conflict and Identity in Romans: The Social Setting of Paul's Letter. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003.}}{{Refn | Malina, Bruce J. & Neyrey, Jerome H., Portraits of Paul: An Archaeology of Ancient Personality, Louisville: John Knox Press, 1996.}}{{Refn | Neyrey, Jerome H., Paul, in Other Words: A Cultural Reading of His Letters. Louisville: John Knox Press, 1990.}} have called for various reinterpretations of biblical texts based on studies of the ancient world.

Main ideas

It is often noted that the singular title "New Perspective" gives an unjustified impression of unity.{{Cite book |title=Paul within Judaism: restoring the first-century context to the apostle |date=2015 |publisher=Fortress Press |isbn=978-1-4514-9428-0 |editor-last=Nanos |editor-first=Mark D. |location=Minneapolis, Minnesota |pages=277-278 |editor-last2=Zetterholm |editor-first2=Magnus}} In 2003 N. T. Wright, distancing himself from both Sanders and Dunn, commented that "there are probably almost as many 'new' perspective positions as there are writers espousing it – and I disagree with most of them".N. T. Wright, [http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_New_Perspectives.htm New Perspectives].

= Works of the Law =

The writings of the Apostle Paul contain a substantial amount of criticism regarding the "works of the Law".{{cite journal |last=Dunn |first=James D. G. |author-link=James Dunn (theologian) |date=Autumn 1993 |title=Echoes of Intra-Jewish Polemic in Paul's Letter to the Galatians |editor-last=Reinhartz |editor-first=Adele |editor-link=Adele Reinhartz |journal=Journal of Biblical Literature |publisher=Society of Biblical Literature |volume=112 |issue=3 |pages=459–477 |doi=10.2307/3267745 |issn=0021-9231 |jstor=3267745}}{{cite journal |last=Thiessen |first=Matthew |editor1-last=Breytenbach |editor1-first=Cilliers |editor2-last=Thom |editor2-first=Johan |date=September 2014 |title=Paul's Argument against Gentile Circumcision in Romans 2:17-29 |journal=Novum Testamentum |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill Publishers |volume=56 |issue=4 |pages=373–391 |doi=10.1163/15685365-12341488 |eissn=1568-5365 |issn=0048-1009 |jstor=24735868|url=https://hcommons.org/deposits/download/hc:12796/CONTENT/novtrom2.pdf/ }}

By contrast, "New Perspective" scholars see Paul as talking about "badges of covenant membership" or criticizing Gentile believers who had begun to rely on the Torah to reckon Jewish kinship.For "badges of covenant membership", see N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: Romans part one (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2004), 35–41. 5. For reliance on the Torah to reckon Jewish kinship, see {{cite journal |last=Eisenbaum |first=Pamela |date=Winter 2004 |title=A Remedy for Having Been Born of Woman: Jesus, Gentiles, and Genealogy in Romans |journal=Journal of Biblical Literature |volume=123 |issue=4 |pages=671–702 |url=http://www.sbl-site.org/assets/pdfs/JBL1234.pdf |access-date=2008-10-26 |doi=10.2307/3268465 |publisher=The Society of Biblical Literature |jstor=3268465 }} It is argued that in Paul's time, Israelites were being faced with a choice of whether to continue to follow their ancestral customs, the Torah, or to follow the Roman Empire's trend to adopt Greek customs (Hellenization, see also Antinomianism, Hellenistic Judaism, and Circumcision controversy in early Christianity). The new-perspective view is that Paul's writings discuss the comparative merits of following ancient Israelite or ancient Greek customs. Paul is interpreted as being critical of a common Jewish view that following traditional Israelite customs makes a person better off before God, pointing out that Abraham was righteous before the Torah was given. Paul identifies customs he is concerned about such as circumcision, dietary laws, and observance of special days.Dunn, James D. 'The New Perspective on Paul', 104, 2005.

Craig A. Evans argues that a text of the Dead Sea Scrolls known as 4QMMT employs the expression "works of the Law" to refer solely to purity laws like avoiding eating with Gentiles, which he argues shows that Paul's criticism of salvation through "works of the Law" was meant that Gentiles need not adopt Jewish purity laws in order to be justified.{{cite book |title="To Recover What Has Been Lost": Essays on Eschatology, Intertextuality, and Reception History in Honor of Dale C. Allison Jr. |last=Evans |first=Craig A. |publisher=BRILL |year=2020 |isbn=978-90-04-44401-0 |pages=236–253 |editor-last=Ferda |editor-first=Tucker |chapter=James and Paul on the Works of the Law and the Pure Food of 4QMMT |editor-last2=Frayer-Griggs |editor-first2=Daniel |editor-last3=Johnson |editor-first3=Nathan C. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qpMMEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA236}}

Recent studies of the Greek word pistis have concluded that its primary and most common meaning was faithfulness, meaning firm commitment in an interpersonal relationship.Douglas A. Campbell, "The Quest For Paul's Gospel: A Suggested Strategy", 2005, pp. 178–207{{cite journal |jstor=3267114 |pages=461–476 |last1=Hay |first1=D. M. |title=Pistis as "Ground for Faith" in Hellenized Judaism and Paul |volume=108 |issue=3 |journal=Journal of Biblical Literature |year=1989 |doi=10.2307/3267114}}{{cite journal |pages=212–5 |doi= 10.1177/001452467408500710 |title= The 'Faith of Christ' |year=1974 |last1=Howard |first1=G. |journal=The Expository Times |volume=85 |issue=7|s2cid= 170874320 }}Pilch and Malina, "Handbook of Biblical Social Values", 1998, pg 72–75

= Grace, or favor =

Writers with a more historic Protestant perspective have generally translated the Greek word charis as "grace" and understood it to refer to the idea that there is a lack of human effort in salvation because God is the controlling factor. Proponents of the New Perspective argue that "favor" is a better translation, as the word refers normally to "doing a favor". In ancient societies, there was the expectation that such favors be repaid, and this semi-formal system of favors acted like loans.David A.deSilva, Honor, Patronage, Kinship and Purity: Unlocking New Testament Culture, 2000, pg 117 Gift giving corresponded with the expectation of reciprocity.B. J. Oropeza, "The Expectation of Grace," Bulletin for Biblical Research 24.2 (2014) 207-226 Therefore, it is argued that when Paul speaks of how God did us a "favor" by sending Jesus, he is saying that God took the initiative, but is not implying a lack of human effort in salvation, and is in fact implying that Christians have an obligation to repay the favor God has done for them. Some argue that this view then undermines the initial "favor"—of sending Jesus—by saying that, despite his life, death and resurrection, Christians still have, as before, to earn their way to heaven. However, others note this is the horns of a false dilemma (all grace versus all works). Many new-perspective proponents that see "charis" as "favor" do not teach that Christians earn their way to heaven outside of the death of Christ. Forgiveness of sins through the blood of Christ is still necessary to salvation. But, that forgiveness demands effort on the part of the individual (cf. Paul in Phil. 3:12–16).{{cite journal |language=en |pages=30–67 |last1= Wright |first1=N. T. |title=Romans and the Theology of Paul |volume=3 |issue=3 |journal=Pauline Theology |year=1995 |publisher=Fortress |place=Minneapolis |url=http://ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Romans_Theology_Paul.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322042310/http://ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Romans_Theology_Paul.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-22 }}

= Atonement =

To writers of the historic Protestant perspectives, the penal substitution atonement theory and the belief in the "finished work" of Christ have been central. "New Perspective" scholars have regularly questioned whether this view is really of such central importance in Paul's writings. Generally, "New Perspective" scholars have argued that other theories of the atonement are more central to Paul's thinking, but there has been minimal agreement among them as to what Paul's real view of the atonement might be.

The following is a broad sample of different views advocated by various scholars:

E. P. Sanders argued that Paul's central idea was that we mystically spiritually participate in the risen Christ and that all Paul's judicial language was subordinate to the participatory language.
N. T. Wright has argued that Paul sees Israel as representative of humanity and taking onto itself the sinfulness of humanity through history. Jesus, in turn, as Messiah is representative of Israel and so focuses the sins of Israel on himself on the cross. Wright's view is thus a "historicized" form of Penal Substitution.{{Cite book |last=Wright |first=N.T. |title=Jesus and the Victory of God |publisher=Fortress Press |year=1996 |pages=379–382}}
Chris VanLandingham has argued that Paul sees Christ as having defeated the Devil and as teaching humans how God wants them to live and setting them an example.Chris VanLandingham, "Judgment and Justification in Early Judaism and the Apostle Paul", Hendrickson 2006{{Page needed|date=December 2011}}
David Brondos has argued that Paul sees Jesus as just a part in a wider narrative in which the Church is working to transform lives of individuals and the world, and that Paul's participatory language should be understood in an ethical sense (humans living Christ-like lives) rather than mystically as Sanders thought.David Brondos, "Paul on the Cross: Reconstructing the Apostle's Story of Redemption", Fortress Press, 2006{{Page needed|date=December 2011}}
Pilch and Malina take the view that Paul holds to the Satisfaction theory of atonement.Bruce J. Malina and John J. Pilch, "Social-Science Commentary on the Letters of Paul" Augsburg Fortress 2006{{Page needed|date=December 2011}}
Stephen Finlan holds that Paul uses numerous different metaphors to describe the atonement; "justified by his blood" (Rom 5:9) means that a cultic substance has a judicial effect. Paul also taught the transformation of believers into the image of God through Christ (Theosis).Stephen Finlan, Problems with Atonement: The Origins of, and Controversy about, the Atonement Doctrine, Liturgical Press 2005, pp. 58–59, 120–23.

Criticism

The "New Perspective on Paul" has been a controversial subject and has drawn strong arguments and recriminations from both sides of the debate.{{cite web|url= http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/august/13.22.html |title= What Did Paul Really Mean? | first = Simon | last = Gathercole|work=Christianity Today|date= 10 August 2007 }}

In 2003 Steve Chalke, after being influenced by "New Perspective" scholars, published a book targeted at a popular audience which made comments that were interpreted as being highly critical of the penal substitution theory of the atonement.{{Citation | first1 = Steve | last1 = Chalke | first2 = Alan | last2 = Mann | title = The Lost Message of Jesus | publisher = Zondervan | year = 2003}}.{{Page needed|date=December 2011}} This caused an extensive and ongoing controversy among conservative Evangelicals in the United Kingdom, with a strong backlash from laypeople and advocates of the historic Protestant traditions.Ashworth, Pat. "Atonement row gets personal as Evangelical partnership splits", 'Church Times', 27 April 2007.

The continuing controversy led to the Evangelical Alliance organising a symposium in July 2005 to discuss the issue. A record of this symposium includes a chapter by Chalke and his views are also contained in "the atonement debate".{{cite book | last = Derek Tidball, David Hilborn | first = Justin Thacker | title = the atonement debate | page = 34 to 45 }}{{cite web |url = http://www.eauk.org/media/joint-evangelical-alliance-london-school.cfm |title = Joint Evangelical Alliance – London School Of Theology Atonement Symposium |access-date = 2007-08-26 |date = 2005-07-08 |publisher = Evangelical Alliance |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927021927/http://www.eauk.org/media/joint-evangelical-alliance-london-school.cfm |archive-date = 2007-09-27 |url-status = dead }}{{cite news |last = Stephen |first = Jonathan |url = http://www.evangelical-times.org/archive/item/950/Biblical-theological/Chalkegate/ |title = Chalkegate |access-date = 2011-11-25 |date = February 2005 |publisher = Evangelical Times }} A group of three conservative Evangelical theologians responded to Chalke with their book, Pierced for our Transgressions (Crossway Publishing, 2007), which strongly criticised Chalke's position as inconsistent with some evangelical confessions of faith.{{cite book | last = Jeffery | first = Steve |author2=Mike Ovey |author-link2=Mike Ovey |author3=Andrew Sach | isbn = 978-1-84474-178-6 | publisher = Inter-Varsity Press | title = Pierced for our Transgressions – Rediscovering the Glory of Penal Substitution | year = 2007 }}{{cite web | url = http://www.piercedforourtransgressions.com | title = Pierced for our Transgressions – Rediscovering the Glory of Penal Substitution | access-date = 2007-08-26 }} However, N. T. Wright endorsed Chalke and spoke out against the latter book, commenting, for instance, that 'despite the ringing endorsements of famous men, it [Pierced For Our Transgressions] is deeply, profoundly, and disturbingly unbiblical.'{{cite news |last = Wright |first = NT |author-link = N. T. Wright |date = April 2007 |url = http://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/articles/the-cross-and-the-caricatures/ |title = The Cross and the Caricatures – a response to Robert Jenson, Jeffrey John, and a new volume entitled Pierced for Our Transgressions | publisher = Fulcrum |access-date = 2014-08-19}}

The most outspoken critics of the "New Perspective on Paul" include Douglas Moo,{{cite book |last1=Moo |first1=Douglas |title=Justification and variegated nomism |date=2001–2004 |publisher=Baker Academic |location=Grand Rapids, MI |isbn=978-0801027413 |page=2:188}} Tom Schreiner,{{cite web |author=Thomas R. Schreiner| title=Another Look at the New Perspective | website=Southern Equip | date=28 June 2014 | url=https://equip.sbts.edu/publications/journals/journal-of-theology/sbjt-143-fall-2010/another-look-at-the-new-perspective/ | access-date=16 September 2023}} Wayne Grudem,Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/mrAmtwZivpQ Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20210815145422/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrAmtwZivpQ Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrAmtwZivpQ| title = Wayne Grudem on Justification and the New Perspective on Paul {{!}} Systematic Theology, 2nd Edition | website=YouTube| date = 28 January 2021 }}{{cbignore}} Robert J Cara,{{Cite web|url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/justification-new-perspective-paul/|title = Justification and the New Perspective on Paul}} John Piper,John Piper, [http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/interviews/interview-with-john-piper-about-the-future-of-justification-a-response-to-n-t-wright Interview with Piper on Wright], October 11, 2007. Sinclair Ferguson,Sinclair Ferguson, [http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/what-does-justification-have-do-gospel/ What Does Justification Have to do with the Gospel?] C. W. Powell,[https://web.archive.org/web/20140515051733/http://basketoffigs.org/NewPerspectives/Jewlegalism.htm Was There Legalism in First Century Judaism Or: Was Jesus and Paul Shooting at Phantoms?] basketoffigs.org Retrieved 17 April 2023 Tom Holland,[https://web.archive.org/web/20170210112924/http://www.tomholland.org.uk/contours-of-pauline-theology/ Contours of Pauline Theology] tomholland.org.uk Retrieved 17 April 2023 and Ligon Duncan.J. Ligon Duncan, [https://web.archive.org/web/20101116144933/http://alliancenet.org/partner/Article_Display_Page/0,,PTID307086_CHID560462_CIID1660662,00.html The Attractions of the New Perspective(s) on Paul]. In 2015, John M.G. Barclay published Paul and the Gift which re-frames Paul's theology of grace and, in doing so, provides a nuanced critique of the "New Perspective".{{Cite web|url= http://www.eerdmans.com/Products/6889/paul-and-the-gift.aspx |title=Paul and the Gift | first = John M. G. | last = Barclay |website= Eerdmans |access-date=2016-08-31|url-status=dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160829034205/http://www.eerdmans.com/Products/6889/paul-and-the-gift.aspx |archive-date= 2016-08-29}} The book has been praised for keeping grace at the center of Paul's theology while illuminating how grace, understood in light of ancient theories of gift, demands reciprocity and thus the formation of new communities based not on ethnicity but the unqualified Christ-gift (much like the "New Perspective").{{Cite web|url= http://thinktheology.co.uk/blog/article/paul_and_the_gift_i |title=Paul and the Gift: Prologue|website= What You Think Matters|access-date=2016-08-31}}{{Cite web|url= http://themelios.thegospelcoalition.org/article/john-barclays-paul-and-the-gift-and-the-new-perspective-on-paul |title= John Barclay's Paul and the Gift and the New Perspective on Paul|website=Themelios | publisher = The Gospel Coalition|access-date=2016-08-31}}

Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox reactions

The "New Perspective on Paul" has, by and large, been an internal debate among Protestant biblical scholars. Many Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox scholars have responded favorably to the "New Perspective", seeing a greater commonality with certain strands of their own traditions.Despotis, A. 2014, Die "New Perspective on Paul" und die griechisch-orthodoxe Paulusinterpretation, [VIOTh 11], St. Ottilien: EOS-Verlag, {{ISBN |978-3-8306-7705-5}}

Historical Protestantism has never denied that there is a place for good works, but has always excluded them from the doctrine of justification, which Protestant Christians argue is through faith alone, and to which good deeds do not contribute, whether with or without God's grace.{{cite book |section= Augsburg Confession|section-url= http://bookofconcord.org/augsburgconfession.php#article20 |title= Book of Concord|access-date=8 September 2012 |at=Article XX}}{{cite book |last= Calvin|first=John|chapter=Commentary on James: Chapter 2: James 2:18–19 |url= http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom45.vi.iii.vi.html |title=Commentary on the Catholic Epistles|access-date=8 September 2012 |author-link=John Calvin}} Since the Protestant Reformation, this has been a line of distinction between Reformed{{cite web|title= Canons of Dort|url= http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/creeds/dort.htm |access-date= 9 September 2012|at=First head: Paragraph 3 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120919133747/http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/creeds/dort.htm |archive-date=19 September 2012}} and Lutheran{{cite book |section=Augsburg Confession|section-url=http://bookofconcord.org/augsburgconfession.php#article12 |title=Book of Concord|access-date=8 September 2012 |at=Article XII}} churches.

References

External links

[http://www.thepaulpage.com/ The Paul Page]—Extensive list of online articles relating to the New Perspective
[http://www.galatians-paul-the-torah-law-legalism.info/ Galatians, Paul, the Torah-Law and Legalism]
[http://www.theopedia.com/New_Perspective_on_Paul Theopedia: New Perspective on Paul]—Traditional Reformed perspective
[http://www.opc.org/GA/justification.pdf Report on Justification Presented to the 73rd General Assembly] (Orthodox Presbyterian Church)
[http://webzoom.freewebs.com/msvp/msvpadhoc.pdf Mississippi Valley Presbytery Report] (Presbyterian Church in America)
[https://web.archive.org/web/20190610004952/http://pauliscatholic.com/ Catholic Perspective on Paul]—A Catholic analysis of topics pertaining to the New Perspective on Paul
[https://web.archive.org/web/20120405074630/http://arkiv.lbk.cc/faq/site.pl@1518cutopic_topicid40cuitem_itemid5335.htm WELS Topical Q&A: New Perspective on Paul]—A Confessional Lutheran evaluation of the New Perspective

Category:Paul the Apostle

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Category:Mosaic law in Christian theology