Well I must say. It is not often one sees a protestor who agrees.
Rom. 3:20,28; Gal. 2:16,21; 3:2,5,10; Eph. 2:8-9 - Paul means by “works of the law” in his teaching on justification. Paul’s teaching that we are not justified by “works of the law” refer to the law of Moses or to any legal system that makes God our debtor. They do not refer to good works done in grace with faith in Christ. This makes sense when we remember that Paul’s mission was to teach that salvation was also for the Gentiles who were not subject to the “works of the law.” Here is the proof:
James 2:24 – compare the verse “a man is justified by works and not by faith alone” to Gal. 2:16 – “a man is not justified by works of the law,” and Rom. 3:20,28 – “no human being will be justified in His sight by works of the law.” James 2:24 appears to be inconsistent with Gal. 2:16 and Rom. 3:20,28 until one realizes that the Word of God cannot contradict itself. This means that the “works” in James 2:24 are different from the “works of the law in Gal. 2:16 and Rom. 3:20,28. James is referring to “good works” (e.g.,clothing the naked; giving food to the poor) and Paul is referring to the “Mosaic law” (which included both the legal, moral and ceremonial law) or any works which oblige God to give us payment. Here is more proof:
Rom. 3:20,28; Gal. 2:16 – Paul’s phrase for “works of the law” in the Greek is “ergon nomou” which means the Mosaic law or Torah and refers to the teachings (legal, moral) and works (ceremonial) that gave the Jews the knowledge of sin, but not an escape from sin. We have further proof of this from the Dead Sea Scrolls which provide the Hebrew equivalent (“hrvt ysm”) meaning “deeds of the law,” or Mosaic law. James in James 2 does not use “ergon nomou.” He uses “ergois agathois.” Therefore, Paul’s “works of the law” and James’ “works” are entirely different types of works. Again, they could never contradict each other because the Scriptures are the inspired word of God.
Ergon nomou are “works of the law”, cultic markers distinguishing Jews from Gentiles:
Nonconformist Chronicles
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3) Third, The "New Perspective" on Paul's Theology of Righteousness and Justification:
New Perspective Challenges to the Protestant Theology of Righteousness
Justification
We're now ready to move on as I continue to pursue the background of Luther's views and critique his views in light of the New Perspective, while continuing to review where we've been.
Martin Luther, like most biblical interpreters, turned to Scripture for guidance in every day life. He discovered what he believed to be something of a parallel between the situation Paul addressed in books like Romans and Galatians and what Luther himself confronted in the Catholic Church. The parallel that Luther saw was that of legalism in both the Judaism of Paul’s day and the Catholicism of Luther’s own time.
Both the Judaizers of Paul’s day and the Catholic hierarchy of Luther’s were allegedly teaching salvation by works. Paul’s proclamation of “justification by faith” was understood by Luther as a corrective against Jewish legalism, especially as it had infiltrated the church.
Perhaps Luther’s first mistake was equating “justification” with “salvation” as if they were synonymous terms. His second mistake was to assert that Paul was opposing legalism, or “salvation by works.” As N.T. Wright has explained, Luther and later Protestantism had wrongly assumed that Jews of Paul’s day thought they made themselves right with God by pulling themselves up by their moral bootstraps. [1]
E.P. Sanders was the first to publish a comprehensive study to demonstrate that Second Temple Judaism had long been misinterpreted as a legalistic religion. His book, Paul and Palestinian Judaism, defends Judaism against the charge of legalism by quoting extensively from primary Jewish sources. What Sanders did not develop, however, was a theology of “justification” that went beyond the Lutheran understanding. [2]
Here is where N. T. Wright has picked up the ball and ran with it. He argues that Paul’s phrase “justification by faith” was not a corrective against Jewish legalism. The Hebrew Scriptures had already taught that salvation is by faith and not by works.
'Justification' does not refer to a point in time at which one is saved, but it is the declaration that one indeed demonstrates being in a right standing with the court. As opposed to being a polemic against legalism, “justification by faith” is how one demonstrates that they are in the right. This demonstration is not by works, meaning not by works of the law which set people apart based on “ethnic identity markers” prescribed by Moses. On the contrary, Paul argues that the justification of one’s belonging to God and his people is by faith in Christ and not by works of the law of Moses.
