Jesus and the Law of Moses
The Gospels and the Restoration of Israel within First-Century Judaism
About
Jesus regularly engaged the Law and its interpretation in his interactions with both crowds and other teachers. While many scholars have interpreted his teaching as criticizing legalism, nationalism, or external piety, in this groundbreaking study of Jesus and the Law in the Synoptic Gospels, Paul Sloan suggests an alternative.
Putting the Gospels in conversation with other early Jewish sources, Sloan argues that the proper framework for understanding Jesus's legal instruction is his announcement of Israel's covenantal restoration. In this context, the Gospels depict Jesus as the divinely commissioned herald of the restoration and the authoritative interpreter of the Law, criticizing misinterpretation and transgression--not legalism, nationalism, and external rituals. From this perspective, Jesus's disputes with contemporaries constitute intramural debates about the Law's interpretation and proper observance. Sloan also shows how Jesus's action in the temple and his crucifixion are better understood within this restorationist context, and he concludes by examining the congruity between Jesus's teaching of the Law and the use of the Law in Acts and in Paul's Letters.
This thorough study contributes to the ongoing discussion of Jesus and the Law in the first-century Jewish context. It will challenge students of the Gospels and readers of the broader New Testament to reconsider some common understandings of the Law and its reception in early Christianity.
Introduction
1. Israel and the Law of Moses
2. "How Shall We Return?": Restoration Eschatology in Early Judaism
3. The Law on the Mount
4. Conflict and Controversy
5. "I Came to Call Sinners": The Restoration and Eschatological Nomism
6. The Temple and the Cross
Conclusion: The Law in the New Testament
Indexes
Endorsements
"Jewish law provided not the contrast to Jesus's message but its context and much of its content. By reading closely in biblical and postbiblical Jewish texts, Paul Sloan restores this dimension to the Synoptic Gospels' representations of Jesus. Jesus and the Law of Moses is an exemplary work of scholarship."
Paula Fredriksen, Aurelio Professor Emerita, Boston University
"Christian readers of the Gospels often find themselves in the awkward position of explaining away sayings of Jesus about the law, trying gymnastically to square them with theological axioms derived from elsewhere. Against such tortured efforts, Paul Sloan shows in this lucid, readable book how it is possible--and indeed necessary--that Jesus means exactly what he says. Sloan's Jesus consequently stands much closer both to the prophets before him and to the rabbis after him."
Matthew V. Novenson, Helen H. P. Manson Professor of New Testament, Princeton Theological Seminary
"Paul Sloan masterfully argues that the Synoptic Gospels present Jesus as a Jew intent on recalling Israel to renewed covenant faithfulness by repenting and then obeying, not abandoning, the Law that God had given. This illuminating and important book reminds us afresh that we cannot understand the Synoptic accounts of Jesus's disputes about the Mosaic Law without putting them in dialogue with biblical texts, Jewish restorationist eschatology, and rabbinic legal reasoning."
David M. Moffitt, professor of New Testament and early Christianity, University of St. Andrews
"In this incredibly helpful book, Sloan addresses several misguided interpretations of Jesus's relationship with the Law, ranging from ritual purity to sabbath observance, and in their place he provides a compelling alternative: as a faithful interpreter of the Law, Jesus heralds the restoration of the people of God."
Madison N. Pierce, Western Theological Seminary
"Exhibiting remarkable mastery of ancient Jewish literature and legal discourse from the Hebrew Bible to the rabbis, Sloan presents a captivating analysis of Jesus's view of Law observance for the sake of Israel's restoration. While affirming Jesus's broader commitment to Torah observance, Sloan's innovative concept of 'eschatological nomism' uncovers the profound legal reasonings Jesus applied as he pursued his eschatological mission within the boundaries of ancient Judaism."
Yair Furstenberg, Louis Ginsberg Professor of Talmud, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
"Sloan makes a powerful argument that scholarly study of Jesus's teachings on the Law of Moses must attend much more closely to Jesus's alternative interpretations (not rejections!) of the Law as well as Jesus's eschatological conviction that he has inaugurated Israel's restoration. Truly a fresh, creative, and convincing argument!"
Joshua W. Jipp, professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
"'Who do you say that I am?' the Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels asks. In Jesus and the Law of Moses, Paul Sloan answers, 'Jesus is God's eschatological agent sent to Israel to unleash a renewed fidelity to both the covenant and the law of Moses.' If you want to understand the Synoptic portrayal of Jesus, you need to read this book!"
Matthew Thiessen, associate professor of religious studies, McMaster University; author of Jesus and the Forces of Death
"Jesus and the Law of Moses is one of the best and most important books on Jesus and the Gospels in decades. Sloan has accomplished the rare feat of producing a field-shifting book that is also accessible to readers outside the scholarly guild. This is a must-read for anyone wanting to understand Jesus and his message more fully--scholars and laypersons alike."
Jason A. Staples, assistant teaching professor, North Carolina State University
The Author
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Paul T. Sloan
Paul T. Sloan (PhD, University of St. Andrews) is associate professor of early Christianity at Houston Christian University in Houston, Texas. He is the author of Mark 13 and the Return of the Shepherd and the coeditor of Son of God: Divine...
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