TheNew Perspective on Paul is anacademic movement within thefield ofbiblical studies concerned with the understanding of thewritings of theApostle Paul. The "New Perspective" movement began with the publication of the 1977 essayPaul and Palestinian Judaism byE. P. Sanders, an AmericanNew Testamentscholar andChristian theologian.^[2][3]

TheProtestant perspective has generally asserted that Paul advocatesjustification throughfaith inJesus Christ over justification throughworks of theMosaic Law. During theProtestant Reformation, this theological principle became known assola fide ("faith alone"); this was traditionally understood as Paul arguing thatgood works performed byChristians would not factor into theirsalvation; only theirfaith inJesus Christ would save them. In this perspective, Paul dismissed1st-century Judaism as a sterile andlegalistic religion.^[4]

According to Sanders, Paul's letters do not addressgood works but instead questionJewish religious observances such ascircumcision,dietary laws, andSabbath laws, which were the "boundary markers" that set theJews apart from other ethno-religious groups in theLevant.^[5] Sanders further argues that1st-century Judaism was not a "legalistic community", nor was it oriented to "salvation by works". AsGod's "chosen people", they were under hiscovenant. Contrary to Protestant belief, following the Mosaic Law was not a way of entering the covenant but of staying within it.^[5]

In 1963Krister Stendahl, aSwedishNew Testament scholar andChristian theologian, who served as professor emeritus atHarvard Divinity School^[6] and is considered bymodern biblical scholarship to have been as influential asE. P. Sanders in the development of the "New Perspective on Paul",^[7]: 63 published a paper arguing that the typicalLutheran view of Paul's theology did not align with statements in Paul's writings, and in fact was based on mistakenassumptions about Paul's beliefs rather than careful interpretation of his writings.^[8] Stendahl warned against imposing modern Western ideas on the Bible, and especially on the works of Paul.^[8] In 1977 E. P. Sanders, an American New Testamentscholar and Christian theologian, published the essayPaul and Palestinian Judaism.^[9]

Sanders continued to publish books and articles in this field, and was soon joined byJames D. G. Dunn, a British New Testament scholar andWesleyan theologian who served as President of theStudiorum Novi Testamenti Societas in 2002. Dunn reports thatN. T. Wright, a British New Testament scholar andAnglican theologian who served asbishop of Durham from 2003 to 2010, was the first to use the term "New Perspective on Paul" in his 1978 Tyndale lecture.^[10] 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.^[11][12] 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.^[13]

The "New Perspective" movement is closely connected with a surge of recentscholarly interest in studying the Biblein its historical and geopolitical context andin comparison with other ancient texts through the use of social-scientific methods. Scholars affiliated withThe Context Group^[14][15][16] have called for various reinterpretations of biblical texts based on studies of the ancient world.

It is often noted that the singular title "New Perspective" gives an unjustified impression of unity.^[17] In 2003N. 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".^[18]

Thewritings of theApostle Paul contain a substantial amount of criticism regarding the "works of the Law".^[19][20]

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.^[21] It is argued that in Paul's time, Israelites were being faced with a choice of whether to continue to follow their ancestral customs, theTorah, or to follow the Roman Empire's trend to adopt Greek customs (Hellenization, see alsoAntinomianism,Hellenistic Judaism, andCircumcision controversy in early Christianity). The new-perspective view is that Paul's writings discuss the comparative merits of followingancient Israelite orancient 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 ascircumcision,dietary laws, andobservance of special days.^[19][20][22]

Craig A. Evans argues that a text of theDead Sea Scrolls known as4QMMT employs the expression "works of the Law" to refer solely topurity 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.^[23]

Recent studies of the Greek wordpistis have concluded that its primary and most common meaning wasfaithfulness, meaning firm commitment in an interpersonal relationship.^{[24][25][26][27]}

Writers with a more historic Protestant perspective have generally translated the Greek wordcharis 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.^[28] Gift giving corresponded with the expectation of reciprocity.^[29] 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 afalse dilemma (all grace versus all works). Many new-perspective proponents that see "charis" as "favor" do not teach that Christiansearn 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).^[30]

To writers of the historic Protestant perspectives, thepenal 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.^[9]
• 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.^[31]
• 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.^[32]
• 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.^[33]
• Pilch and Malina take the view that Paul holds to theSatisfaction theory of atonement.^[34]
• 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).^[35]

The "New Perspective on Paul" has been a controversial subject and has drawn strong arguments and recriminations from both sides of the debate.^[36]

In 2003Steve 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 thepenal substitution theory of the atonement.^[37] This caused an extensive and ongoing controversy amongconservative Evangelicals in theUnited Kingdom, with a strong backlash from laypeople and advocates of the historic Protestant traditions.^[38]

The continuing controversy led to theEvangelical 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".^[39][40][41] A group of threeconservative 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.^[42][43] 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.'^[44]

The most outspoken critics of the "New Perspective on Paul" includeDouglas Moo,^[45]Tom Schreiner,^[46]Wayne Grudem,^[47] Robert J Cara,^[48]John Piper,^[49]Sinclair Ferguson,^[50] C. W. Powell,^[51] Tom Holland,^[52] andLigon Duncan.^[53] In 2015,John M.G. Barclay publishedPaul and the Gift which re-frames Paul's theology of grace and, in doing so, provides a nuanced critique of the "New Perspective".^[54] 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").^[55][56]

The "New Perspective on Paul" has, by and large, been an internal debate amongProtestantbiblical scholars. ManyRoman Catholic andEastern Orthodox scholars have responded favorably to the "New Perspective", seeing a greater commonality with certain strands of their own traditions.^[57]

Historical Protestantism has never denied that there is a place forgood works, but has always excluded them from thedoctrine of justification, which Protestant Christians argue is throughfaith alone, and to which good deeds do not contribute, whether with or withoutGod's grace.^[58][59] Since theProtestant Reformation, this has been a line of distinction betweenReformed^[60] andLutheran^[61] churches.

• Badenas, Robert,Christ the End of the Law, Romans 10.4 in Pauline Perspective, 1985.ISBN 0-905774-93-0
• Despotis, Athanasios (2014),Die "New Perspective on Paul" und die griechisch-orthodoxe Paulusinterpretation, VIOTh, St. Ottilien: EOS,ISBN 978-3-8306-7705-5
• ——— (2017),Participation, Justification and Conversion: Eastern Orthodox Interpretation of Paul and the Debate between Old and New Perspectives on Paul, WUNT II, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.
• Dunn, James D. G., "The New Perspective on Paul", in:Jesus, Paul and the Law, 1990.ISBN 0-664-25095-5
• Gathercole, Simon J.,Where Is Boasting? Early Jewish Soteriology and Paul's Response in Romans 1–5, 2002.ISBN 0-8028-3991-6
• Gosdeck, David,Nicholas Thomas Wright – New Perspective on St. Paul^{[permanent dead link]}, 2013, WLS Essays.
• Irons, Lee,Seyoon Kim's Critique of the New Perspective on Paul, 2007.
• Kim, Yung Suk.Christ's Body in Corinth: The Politics of a Metaphor 2008ISBN 0-8006-6285-7
• ——— (2011),A Theological Introduction to Paul's Letters: Exploring a Threefold Theology of Paul, Wipf and Stock Publishers,ISBN 978-1-60899-793-0
• Kok, Jacobus,The New Perspectives on Paul and its implication for ethics and mission, Acta Patristica, vol 21, 2010, pp. 3–17
• Nirenberg, David (2013).Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.ISBN 978-0-393-34791-3.
• Oropeza, B. J. and Scot McKnight, "Paul in Perspective: An Overview of the Landscape More Than Forty Years afterPaul and Palestinian Judaism." Pages 1–23 inPerspectives on Paul: Five Views. (Baker Academic Books), 2020ISBN 978-1-5409-6075-7
• Smith, Barry D.,What Must I Do to Be Saved? Paul Parts Company with His Jewish Heritage, 2007.
• Pitre, Brant; Barber, Michael P.; Kincaid, John A.,Paul, a New Covenant Jew: Rethinking Pauline Theology. (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing), 2019ISBN 978-1-4674-5703-3
• Thompson, Michael B.,The New Perspective on Paul (Grove Biblical Series), 2002.ISBN 1-85174-518-1.
• Wright, N.T.,What St Paul Really Said, 1997.
• ——— (2003),New Perspectives on Paul.
• ——— (2005),Paul: Fresh Perspectives.
• Yinger, Kent L.,The New Perspective on Paul: An Introduction, (Cascade Books), 2010ISBN 978-1608994632
• Young, Brad,Paul the Jewish Theologian, 1998

Look upπίστις in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• The Paul Page—Extensive list of online articles relating to the New Perspective
• Galatians, Paul, the Torah-Law and LegalismArchived 2006-06-13 at theWayback Machine
• Theopedia: New Perspective on Paul—Traditional Reformed perspective
• Report on Justification Presented to the 73rd General Assembly (Orthodox Presbyterian Church)
• Mississippi Valley Presbytery Report (Presbyterian Church in America)
• Catholic Perspective on Paul—A Catholic analysis of topics pertaining to the New Perspective on Paul
• WELS Topical Q&A: New Perspective on Paul—A Confessional Lutheran evaluation of the New Perspective

• Paul the Apostle
• Biblical studies
• New Testament theology
• Bible-related controversies
• Christian terminology
• Mosaic law in Christian theology

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