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

JÖRG FREY 451
b. Paul and His Anthropological Terminology: Flesh and Spirit
My second example comes from the religio-historical debate on Paul. 162
It is well-known that the older, religio-historical school tried to interpret
Paul’s terminology and thought chiefly from Hellenistic Judaism, 163 or
even paganism. 164 This is understandable because before the Qumran
finds, there was a considerable lack of Hebrew or Aramaic texts from
postbiblical Palestinian Judaism before 70 C.E. Especially, scholars could
not affirm Paul’s claim to be a former Pharisee (Phil 3:5; cf. Acts 22:3)
from contemporary sources without making use of the later rabbinic
writings.
It is, therefore, a most-important fact that the Qumran finds have
brought out a large number of phrases and ideas that are clearly parallel
to passages in Paul’s letters. They can show the Palestinian-Jewish roots
of Pauline thought or, at least, of some of its elements. In the present context,
I can mention only a few examples. 165
The expression “works of the law” (e1rga no/mou), quite significant for
the Pauline argument in Galatians and Romans, 166 was unparalleled
before the Qumran finds. Scholars could not find an equivalent for the
Greek phrase in either the Hebrew Bible or in the rabbinic writings. 167 But
now there are significant parallels in the Qumran library. The closest
parallel occurs in the early Essene “halakhic” work 4QMMT168 where
162. See the more extensive argument in Jörg Frey, “Die paulinische Antithese,”
45–77; idem, “The Notion of ‘Flesh’ in 4QInstruction and the Background of Pauline
Usage,” in Poetical, Liturgical, and Sapiential Texts: 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; idem, “Flesh
and Spirit in the Palestinian Jewish Sapiential Tradition and in the Qumran Texts: An
Inquiry into the Background of Pauline Usage,” in The Wisdom Texts from Qumran and
the Development of Sapiential Thought: Studies in Wisdom at Qumran and Its Relationship to
Sapiential Thought in the Ancient Near East, the Hebrew Bible, Ancient Judaism, and the New
Testament (ed. C. Hempel, A. Lange, and H. Lichtenberger; BETL 159; Leuven:
Peeters, 2002), 367–404.
163. Cf. Egon Brandenburger, Fleisch und Geist: Paulus und die dualistische Weisheit
(WMANT 29; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener, 1968); Henning Paulsen, Überlieferung
und Auslegung in Römer 8 (WMANT 43; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener, 1974), 45–47.
164. Cf., e.g., the most influential work by Wilhelm Bousset, Kyrios Christos:
Geschichte des Christusglaubens von den Anfängen des Christentums bis Irenaeus (2d ed.;
FRLANT 21 [NS 4]; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1921), 134.
165. Cf. Fitzmyer, “Paul and the DSS,” 599–621; H.-W. Kuhn, “Qumran und
Paulus,” 227–46; cf. also the essay by H.-W. Kuhn in this volume (ch. 6).
166. Cf. Gal 2:16; 3:2, 5, 10; Rom 3:20, 28. See the contributions in this volume by
Dunn and Charlesworth (ch. 7).
167. Cf. Fitzmyer, ibid., 614–15.
168. 4QMMTe (4Q398) frag. 2 2.2–3 (= C26–27).