To Veil or Not to Veil

[robrecht]

What was fading away? The next few lines seem to indicate it was what Paul calls the old covenant.

From the Greek, it seems to me Paul is saying that it is the veil that is set aside, not the old covenant. Paul is indeed difficult to understand, but in the past few decades, great progress has been made to try and better understand his view of the Law. I've read a fair amount of work by Jewish and atheist New Testament scholars, and it seems to me that Paul actually has a generally quite positive view of the Law. Though it is debated, some argue that Paul did not think that the Law had been set aside at all, 'though he vigorously argued that gentile converts to what would become 'Christianity' were not obligated to follow some parts of the law. He may indeed have thought that the entirety of the law was still binding on his fellow Jews, except perhaps when they were engaging in missionary efforts among gentiles.