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

HEINZ-WOLFGANG KUHN 179
Elendsbetrachtungen of the community in 1Q/4Q Hodayot, e.g., 1QH a 9.23–29
(1.21–27 Sukenik). 80
Explanations
The basic insight into human nature that no one is righteous can be
found in Paul and in the Qumran texts. It was present in the Hebrew
Bible, where this judgment is given most clearly in Ps 143:2 (142:2
LXX): “No one living can be righteous before you.” Galatians 2:16 and
Rom 3:20 seem to echo this verse from the Septuagint. In early Judaism,
we find this view especially in 2 Esdras at the end of the first century C.E.
(e.g., 7:68). 81
7. “By Grace Alone”
Paul
Romans 3:24: Believers are “justified by his [God’s] grace as a gift”; there
are similar Pauline passages.
Qumran
1QH a 5.33–34 (13.16–17 Sukenik) says: “Alone by your goodness can one
be righteous” (#y) qdcy / Kbw+b qr), which is affirmed in other
Qumran passages and reinforced by the use of “grace” (dsx) in Qumran
texts.
Explanations
The word “alone,” found in the above-cited “community song,” is missing
in Paul in connection with grace (or faith), and yet it is meant by him
(“allein durch den Glauben” is Luther’s translation of Rom 3:28). Only
1QH a 5.33 (13.16 Sukenik) has this “alone” and, in opposition to Paul or
Pauline tradition, it is denied in Jas 2:24 (but here also regarding faith:
80. Cf. H.-W. Kuhn, Enderwartung, 27–29.
81. For the Qumran Community see, e.g., Hermann Lichtenberger, Studien zum
Menschenbild in den Texten der Qumrangemeinde (SUNT 15; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck &
Ruprecht, 1980), esp. 209—12. Cf. critically Sanders, Paul, 545–46.