The End of the Law: Mosaic Covenant in Pauline Theology
Commonly understood as the first theologian of the Christian faith, Paul set forth the categories by which we describe our relationship with Christ. Did he understand the new covenant Jesus announced at the Last Supper primarily as a replacement of the old Mosaic covenant God made with Israel, or as a renewal and completion of the old? Jason Meyer surveys the various differences that have been argued between the two covenants in The End of the Law, carefully and inductively perfoming a semantic, grammatical, and contextual analysis of all the Pauline texts dealing with covenant concepts.
Book seven of the New American Commentary Studies in Bible & Theology series, an extension of the long-respected New American Commentary.
Contributor
I contributed the chapter on Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon in:
The Cradle, The Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament by Andreas J. Kostenberger, L. Scott Kellum, and Charles Quarles.
Although Scripture cannot be reduced to a mere piece of human writing, there is much to gain by paying careful attention to the historical, literary, and theological dimensions of the biblical text. For this reason, The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown is offered to the serious New Testament student who seeks to better understand and share God’s “word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). Across nearly one thousand pages, it thoroughly introduces all twenty-seven New Testament books and closely examines Christ’s incarnation and virgin birth, the heart of His ministry shown so vividly in the Gospels’ Passion Narratives, and the triumphant return of Jesus and our eternal reign with Him as depicted in Revelation.
Jason, I read most of your portion in The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown today while my wife was touring the campus at NOBTS. Though it was a “fly-over”, I thought it was very good. I especially appreciated style of raising historic objections/views and then responding to them with fairness while not getting bogged down. Also, I gleaned as much from the footnotes as I did from the main text which gave me the sense that if I didn’t think an issue was dealt with thoroughly enough, then I had a plethora of suggestions for further study. Good stuff!
John,
Thank you for the very kind words. I thoroughly enjoyed writing that section. I was certainly aiming to be fair and judicious so I appreciate your affirmation of that attempt!
hi Dr Meyer,
i am a 1st year student in a reformed seminary in France, i’ve just finished yoyr book “the end of the law”, and i am totally “blast”.So good for me to know more about the new covenant.
But could you give me ideas of others good and clear exegitical ressources about “circumcision of the heart”, because since i’ve red your book i want to know more, because i believe it’s a key point to have a good soterilogy, and because the more i study the more i am staying amazed about How God is so Wonderful and so coherent in his Redemptive plan for humanity, and your exposition about circumcision show me how much God has always had only one plan : i knew it but to see that in leviticus and deuteronomy, to see this command pre-exilic and promise post-exilic helped me to understand more the relation beetwen God and Israël in the OT.
So if you have any ideas of good book (with a good and carefull exegesis like yours)about circumcision of the heart, could you give it to me …thanks
Many blessings in your ministry,
Dan Saglietto