Mike+,

First of all, I believe what Wright is saying in his discussion of Sanders
is that prior to Sanders most Pauline scholars believed the Law was about
getting into the covenant (sort of an OT Pelagianism).  Sanders argues that
obedience to the Law was a grateful response to the gift of covenant and
thus something performed to remain in that convenant.

Wright modifies this argument a little to say that obedience to the Law was
the public sign that one was within the convenant.  In other words, how
could one tell whether or not one was within the covenanted community and
among those who would inherit the earth: because that person in the present
kept the Torah.

I'll leave to later how he ties this into Paul's theology.  But I hope this
at least makes some sense.

Mark+