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

HEINZ-WOLFGANG KUHN 171
According to Magen Broshi, “the doctrine of predestination” is “the most
important contribution of the Dead Sea Sect, that is, the Essenes,” “or
rather the immediate predecessors, the sapiential proto-Essene school,”
“to Western civilization.” 51
C. TORAH, “TO BE COUNTED AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,” MAN’S
UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, GRACE, AND LIBERATION FROM SIN
1. “Law” and “Faith”
Paul
Galatians 3:11 and Rom 1:17 cite Hab 2:4: “The one who is righteous
shall gain life by faith,” or translated as “The one who is justified through
faith shall gain life” (o9 [de\] di/kaiov e0k pi/stewv zh/setai). “Law” (no/mov)
is found in opposition to “faith” (pi/stiv); see the context and, for example,
Rom 3:21–22.
Qumran
1QpHab 8.1–3 interprets Hab 2:4: “The interpretation refers to all those
who observe the Law (hrwth y#w( lwk) in the house of Judah [=
among the Jews] [2] whom God will deliver from the house of judgment
[= God’s final judgment], because of their exertion and their faithfulness
[3] to the Righteous Teacher (qdch hrwmb / Mtnm)w Mlm( rwb(b).”
Explanations
For Qumran and Jewish thinking, “faithfulness” in Hab 2:4 (LXX: pi/stiv)
is part of observing the Law (“it refers to all those who observe the Law,”
says the quoted Qumran Habakkuk Pesher); but Paul, understanding
Arbeiten zum neutestamentlichen Zeitalter 14; Tübingen: Francke, 1994), 72—85;
idem, “Prädestination: I. Biblisch,” RGG 4 6:1524—26; Armin Lange, “Wisdom and
Predestination in the Dead Sea Scrolls,” DSD 2 (1995): 340–54; idem, Weisheit; Magen
Broshi, “Predestination in the Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls,” in Bread, Wine, Walls
and Scrolls (JSPSup 36; London: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001), 238–52; Roland
Bergmeier, “Prädestination II: Judentum,” TRE 27:102–5.
51. M. Broshi, “Predestination,” 247. Before Paul, Röhser (“Prädestination,”
6:1525) sees double predestination in a narrow sense and fully developed (“voll ausgeprägt”)
only in texts from Qumran.