Paul and the Mystery of Israel’s Salvation

Abstract

This chapter explores the teachings of the apostle Paul. Paul's letters in the New Testament laid the groundwork for the emergence of Christianity as a distinct religion and the parting of the ways between Jewish and Jesus-believing religious communities. In chapters 9–11 of Romans, Paul addresses the role of Israel in the divine plan for the world's salvation most directly. The chapter acknowledges that the aforementioned section bristles with ambiguity. It looks into the proponents of the New Perspective, which argued not to appreciate the first-century Judaism features in Paul's letters, and Sonderweg, which reads supersessionism that Christ's new covenant of grace invalidates the covenant of Torah out of Paul's letters.