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

178 IMPACT OF QUMRAN TEXTS ON PAULINE THEOLOGY
century C.E. While in 1QM only the wicked, especially the wicked nations,
are referred to as sinful flesh, the passage in 1QS includes also the pious
(“I”), and that means all humankind. In this way, Paul is using the term for
Christ (but regarding Christ, Paul feels it necessary to weaken his statement
by adding “in the likeness”). 77 Paul uses “flesh” in a negative way for all
human beings, including the pious (as in Rom 8:5), and even for Christ.
Some Qumran writings use “flesh” in the same way, especially in the
Niedrigkeitsdoxologien and the Elendsbetrachtungen of the community in 1Q / 4Q
Hodayot (see “flesh” in 1QH a 7.34 [15.21 Sukenik]; 12.30 [4.29 Sukenik]). 78
The only direct parallel to the composed term in Rom 8:3 is 1QS 11.9.
“Flesh” in Paul and “flesh” in Qumran writings of the community are sometimes
used in the same negative way, describing all people, even the pious,
as sinful (not only as weak or mortal creatures); 79 in the Testament of the Twelve
Patriarchs, which show some nearness to some Qumran writings, we clearly
find the same negative usage of “flesh” (esp. T. Jud. 19:4).
6. No Man Is Righteous
Paul
Romans 3:10 alludes to Eccl 7:20 in combination with Ps 14:3 (13:3
LXX) or Ps 53:3 (52:4 LXX): “There is no one righteous, not even one.”
For Paul, the insight that all people are sinful is central (see also, e.g.,
Rom 3:23; Gal 3:22; and C 5, above).
Qumran
1QH a 17.14–15 (9.14–15 Sukenik): “No one can be righteous [15] in your
ju[dg]ment.” This motive is typical for the Niedrigkeitsdoxologien and the
77. Cf. 2 Cor 5:21.
78. Cf. H.-W. Kuhn, Enderwartung, 27–29.
79. Cf. the discussion of “flesh” in the Qumran writings and Paul in several articles
of Jörg Frey, especially in “Die paulinische Antithese von ‘Fleisch’ und ‘Geist’ und die
palästinisch-jüdische Weisheitstradition,” ZNW 90 (1999): 45–77; and “The Notion of
‘Flesh’ in 4QInstruction and the Background of Pauline Usage,” in Sapiential, Liturgical
and Poetical Texts from Qumran. Proceedings of the Third Meeting of the International Organization
for Qumran Studies Oslo 1998 (ed. D. K. Falk, F. García Martínez, and E. M. Schuller;
STDJ 35; Leiden: Brill, 2000), 197–226. It should be emphasized that the probably pre-
Essene writing 1Q/4QInstruction (olim Sapiential Work), though using “flesh” in a negative
way for the sinful wicked, does not use r#b in the sense that all pious are sinful (see
esp. 4QInstruction d [= 4Q418; olim Sapiential Work A a ] frags. 81 + 81a lines 1–2).