SHERMAN Vetting in and Staying in' 111
matic that the Reformation principle 'faith, through grace alone' was the
key to every aspect of Paul's thought. Undoubtedly, Paul's development
of thought and language around his convictions concerning righteousness,justification and law is both prominent and problematic in his letters, but
this does not necessarily compel us to recognize the sharp division between
faith and works in Lutheran terms as the heart of his theology or even the
main key. However, despite significant shifts in perspective during the
latter part of the twentieth century which enabled the recognition of
Roman Catholic biblical scholarship in a more eirenic and positive spirit,
and emerging trends in sociological and rhetorical readings of biblical
texts, it is often still difficult to distinguish between the heart of Paul's
theology and Reformation psychology.
Into a situation ripe for change came E.P. Sanders, whose work repre-
sents a watershed in Pauline studies and interpretation of the Jewish world
of Paul and Jesus. Sanders alerts us to the possibility that the dichotomy
between faith and works between Paul and Judaism is a false one which
arises from ignorance or misunderstanding of the Jewish literary evidence.
Paul in fact maintains continuity with his Jewish faith, and so far as faith-
works goes, is a good Palestinian Jew.
Working through evidence from the early rabbinic literature, the Dead
Sea Scrolls, Apocryphal and Pseudepigraphal evidence, Sanders finds no
consistent evidence of Judaism as a works - righteousness religion.
Rather, he claims, the material points to an understanding of salvatiop by
grace and judgment by works, which is shared by Paul. The importance of
intention in those who keep the law should not be underestimated: in
Tannaitic literature the will to obey is important, not simply as a keeping
of rules, but the basic orientation of the self towards God. Palestinian
Judaism is caricatured if we perceive it as an attempt to gain salvation by
legalistic works.
There is an important shift between this Judaism and Paul, however,
which Sanders characterizes as the movement from 'covenantal nomism'^2
to 'eschatological participation'.^3 The crucial 'transformation from one
lordship to another' is what distinguishes Paul's Christian faith from his- E.P. Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism (London: SCM Press 1977), pp.
75, 422-23. - Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism, pp. 458-63 and 549,552 on 'participa-
tionist eschatology'.