Chagall - Abraham and the three angels The view that Rabbinic religion was a religion of legalistic works-righteousness in which a man was saved by fulfilling more commandments than he committed transgressions I have argued is completely wrong: it proceeds from theological presuppositions and is supported by systematically misunderstanding and misconstruing passages in Rabbinic literature.
These Jews should be treated with sharp mercy, their synagogues set on fire with sulfure and pitch thrown in , their hosues destroyed, They are to be herded together in stables... Their prayer books, their Talmud, and their Bibles are to be taken from them. Their rabbis are to be forbidden on pain of death to give instructions, to praise God in public, and to pray to him.... Their money and jewelry, gold and silver, are to be taken from them since everything they possess has been stolen through usury.Shocking stuff. Written in 1534 and repudiated by the Lutheran Assembly of America in 1993.Martin Luther.
This is from B H Young's "Paul the Jewish Theologian"pp 81-82:In large measure, Paul's use of the word righteousness is the source of the differing interpretations [regarding faith and works]. Luther understood it in the sense of the German word Gerechtigkeit, meaning "justification," or a position of right standing before God. I believe that this interpretation does not adequately deal with Paul's employment of the term in numerous contexts.In fact, Paul would feel that he has been grossly misunderstood if the righteousness of God is interpreted to mean only a state of justification. Paul's problem was a believers problem. How is it possible to experience God's redemption in everyday life? Paul clearly states that the believer is to become a "slave of righteousness" for obedience (Rom 6.17). When the force of Paul's message is grasped, Luther's views become unsatisfactory. His concept is too static. Righteousness is so much more than a state of justification.The life of righteousness is a dynamic experience! It is the power of God to live righteous lives of obedience. This is true redemption and salvation because it embraces the new life of following Jesus. As a path of salvation, the way of righteousness is experienced as a present reality that culminates in the Parousia. A supernatural strength enables the believer to participate in the redemptive movement -- the kingdom of God (Gal 5.21). For Paul, God's power is released through faith in Jesus.
Chagall - The Praying Jew 
The spiritual alienation from Israel is most forcefully expressed in the teaching of Marcion, who affirmed the contrariety and abrupt discontinuity between the God of the Hebrew bible and the God whom Jesus had come to reveal.
Marcion wanted a Christianity free from any vestige of Judaism. He saw his task as that of showing the complete opposition between the Hebrew Bible and the Gospels.
Although in the year 144 of the Christian Era the church expelled the apostle of discontinuity and anathematized his doctrines, Marcion remains a formidable menace, a satanic challenge. In the modern Christian community the power of Marcionism is much more alive and widespread than is generally realised...
According to Rudolf Bultmann (as summarized by Bernhard W Anderson), "for the Christian the Old Testament is not revelation, but is essentially related to God's revelation in Christ as hunger is to food and despair is to hope... The God who spoke to Israel no longer speaks to us in the time of the new Covenant." Here is the spiritual resurrection of Marcion. Was not the God of Israel the God of Jesus? How dare a Christian substitute his own conception of God for Jesus' understanding of God and still call himself a Christian!"
