The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The ... - josephprestonkirk

158 IMPACT OF QUMRAN TEXTS ON PAULINE THEOLOGY
Explanations
A statement like the one cited above from a “community song” 12 of 1Q/4Q
Hodayot provides the background for the understanding of the two Pauline
passages. These passages are of special importance in the letter to the
Romans, because the first one belongs to 1:16–17, which contains the theological
theme of the whole epistle, and the second one introduces the
main passage in Romans on justification by faith (3:21–31). Like Paul, the
Qumran text uses a biblical phrase speaking of salvation (see Isa 56:1). The
same phrase with its eschatological meaning is also found in other Qumran
texts, as in the probably non-Qumranian 13 sapiential Book of Mysteries (1Q27
frag. 1 1.6–7; partly also in the same composition in 4QMyst b [4Q300]
frag. 3 line 6) 14 or in the Damascus Document (CD 20.20); in the latter text,
as in Isa 56:1, “righteousness” is found in parallel with “salvation.” By looking
at the context, the meaning of the above-cited Qumran passage is clear:
In the future the final salvation (God’s righteousness) will appear before
the eyes of the whole world. What does it mean when Paul says that the
righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel? From the background of
the Hebrew Bible and early Judaism, Paul states that the final salvation
expected for the future has already appeared (cf. the “now” in Rom 3:21).
But this eschatological salvation through Christ does not yet happen
openly before the whole world; it is a salvation now found only in the
gospel and for those who believe. This example clearly shows that the
Qumran parallels are helpful for a better understanding of Paul. 15
2. New Creation Now
Paul
2 Corinthians 5:17: “So if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature” (or:
“new creation happens”) (ei! tiv e)n Xristw|~, kainh_ kti/siv); “old” and
“new” stand in opposition here: ta_ a0rxai=a in contrast to kaina&.
12. See Heinz-Wolfgang Kuhn, Enderwartung und gegenwärtiges Heil: Untersuchungen zu
den Gemeindeliedern von Qumran mit einem Anhang über Eschatologie und Gegenwart in der
Verkündigung Jesu (SUNT 4; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1966), 21–26.
13. See Lange, Weisheit, 95–96.
14. The transcription of the Hebrew text by Lawrence H. Schiffman, “Mysteries,”
in Qumran Cave 4.XV: Sapiential Texts, Part 1 (ed. T. Elgvin et al.; DJD 20; Oxford:
Clarendon, 1997), 105, line 6, is not correct: 4Q300 and also 1Q27 read qdchw
(“and the righteousness”), not qydchw (“and the righteous”; the English translation
of Schiffman is correct).
15. For the Qumran passages see H.-W. Kuhn, Enderwartung, 35–38.