The Pauline understanding of salvation by grace alone appropriated by faith without works of the law has dominated Christian soteriology, particularly since Augustine. However, it is not the only or perhaps even the earliest understanding of the saving work of Jesus. This paper argues that an eschatological belief in the imminent coming of Jesus as the Messiah to inaugurate the new age, in the perspective of the Jewish Christian Didache and the Shepherd of Hermas, makes perfect fulfillment of Torah by Jews and at least observance of the ethical law derived from it by Gentiles even more urgent. Covenantal nomism provides the basis for initiation into the Christian community, as well as for their ongoing common life as believers, and their destiny in the final judgment when the Lord comes.