Simon Gathercole and Second Temple Judaism

I previously mentioned my upcoming exegesis paper on Galatians, as part of my intensive course in a few weeks. Well, no sooner had I chosen Galatians 3:10-14 as my passage as a classmate informed me that those verses are the most hotly contested in the entire book. Oh well.
They seem to be crucial for the issue of how salvation by faith relates to works and the law. I found a very helpful article by Simon J. Gathercole, lecturer in New Testament at the University of Aberdeen. It is called, “Torah, Life, and Salvation: Leviticus 18:5 in Early Judaism and the New Testament.” (Leviticus 18:5 is explicitly used by Paul in both Gal. 3:12 and Rom. 10:5, and possibly alluded to elsewhere in the New Testament.) And that reminded me that Dr. Gathercole wrote a respected book called Where Is Boasting: Early Jewish Soteriology and Paul’s Response in Romans 1-5. Having immersed himself in Second Temple Jewish literature, Gathercole powerfully argues that the Judaism of Paul’s day did consider obedience to the law to be both possible and an important criterion at the final judgement. In my paper, I will argue that human nature makes obedience to the law impossible, since Gal. 3:10 (along with James 2:10) says that perfect obedience would be necessary. Therefore, salvation must entirely be by faith in the perfect obedience of Christ.