10 - Conclusion

Summary

The present work has attempted to explain Paul's view of Judaism, the law and the Gentiles in a number of comparatively unfamiliar ways. The argument has inevitably been somewhat complicated, and it may therefore be worthwhile in conclusion to summarize its main emphases.

(i) The first aim has been to uncover the social reality underlying Paul's statements about Judaism, the law and the Gentiles. On the basis of various Pauline texts, it was possible to reconstruct the process by which Paul arrived at his conviction that Gentiles could be saved apart from the law. He began his Christian career as a missionary to the Jews, but met with so little success that he became convinced that they were subject to divine hardening, and that he was called to preach to Gentiles instead. Full submission to the Jewish law was not required of Gentiles, in order to make conversion more attractive for them. The establishing of mainly Gentile congregations which did not observe the law meant separation from the Jewish community.

Thus what had started as a reform-movement within Judaism became a sect outside it because of the opposition it encountered from the rest of the Jewish community. This sociological process is also exemplified by the Qumran and Johannine communities. However, the problem for Paul was that the church in Jerusalem did not accept his solution to the problem of Jewish unbelief, maintaining that the church should continue to be a reform-movement within the Jewish community, loyal to its traditions.