Absolutely.I am having a debate with my best friend and I told him that in romans paul is speaking of the works of the law and it is the OT law given to the jews by god. I am refering to the Torah law, including circumcision. James is talking about good works that demonstrate our faith and will be a basis for judgement one day. Does everyone agree ?
I think “works of the law” was an alien term to the Gentile Christians, at least until the Judaizers came down, because they never observed The Torah. So yes, Paul would have had a narrow scope of preaching to the Jews… or anybody that happened to be persuaded to follow the Jewish Law in addition to being Christian - as in the Gentiles being told that they have to be circumcised.peeteyg - It might help to post some of the passages you and your friend are discussing.
NotWorthy - I will say that looking through the Navarre Study Bible it did not give such a narrow view of “the works of the law” in Romans 3:20. Then again, perhaps I’m reading too much into your statement. It appears that you’re saying the law of which Paul speaks was only for the Jews. I could be misunderstanding your statement.
[20] No human being will be justified in his sight: these words are freely cited from Psalm 143:2. In place of the psalmist’s “no living person,” Paul substitutes “no human being” (literally “no flesh,” a Hebraism), and he adds “by observing the law.”
[21-31] These verses provide a clear statement of Paul’s “gospel,” i.e., the principle of justification by faith in Christ. God has found a means of rescuing humanity from its desperate plight: Paul’s general term for this divine initiative is the righteousness of God (Romans 3:21). Divine mercy declares the guilty innocent and makes them so. God does this not as a result of the law but apart from it (Romans 3:21), and not because of any merit in human beings but through forgiveness of their sins (Romans 3:24), in virtue of the redemption wrought in Christ Jesus for all who believe (Romans 3:22, 24-25). God has manifested his righteousness in the coming of Jesus Christ, whose saving activity inaugurates a new era in human history.
I think Catholics and Protestants are aligned on this… but it seems at the lay level - on both sides - there is sometimes a misunderstanding. Again, I could be wrong on this.
This is accurate. Observing the 10 commandments is still viable, but performing the proper cleansing before being allowed to enter the Temple is not… circumcision is not.There are two phrases of interest that St. Paul uses in Romans – “the law” and “works of the law”.
My understanding is that when he uses “the law” he is referring to “the Mosaic Law” i.e. all aspects of it both moral and ceremonial.
When he uses the phrase “works of the law” he is referring to a specific subset of “the law” i.e. its ceremonial aspects. Indeed the phrase itself implies it, “works of the law”.
I remember reading somewhere that one of the Qumran scrolls supports this.
Yes, it might also help you to point out that Romans is a direct response to the heresy of the Judisers which can be seen in Acts 15:I am having a debate with my best friend and I told him that in romans paul is speaking of the works of the law and it is the OT law given to the jews by god. I am refering to the Torah law, including circumcision. James is talking about good works that demonstrate our faith and will be a basis for judgement one day. Does everyone agree ?