Since the Reformation, Protestant theology has taught that Paul was arguing against the idea that observing the law merited favor with God. This view has been on the defensive in New Testament scholarship since the publication of E.P. Sanders’ book, Paul and Palestinian Judaism. In his extensive treatise utilizing Tannaitic literature, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, Sanders argued that 1st century Judaism as not a religion that taught good works merited the favor of