the-bible-and-the-dead-sea-scrolls

242 PREDESTINATION IN THE BIBLE AND THE SCROLLS
PREDESTINATION IN THE PAULINE EPISTLES
In this chapter we would like to suggest that the predestinarian elements
in Paul’s teachings were formed under Essene influence. Having been
later handed over to certain schools in western Christianity, the doctrine
of predestination ought to be regarded as one of the most important
Essene contributions to world civilization, and certainly a significant one.
The principal pertinent texts are to be found in Romans 9–11, but let us
first start with three verses from the former chapter, 8:28–30:
We realize that all things work together for the good for those who love
God, for those who are called according to His purpose. Those whom He
foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His son
that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Those whom He predestined,
He also called; Those whom He called, He also justified; And
those whom He has justified He, He also glorified. 27
The last verse (v. 30) specifies all the stages: predestining—calling—
justifying—glorifying. If this is not an explicit formulation of the predestinarian
doctrine, the present author does not know what is. However,
certain students of the epistle try to minimize the significance of this and
other similar expressions and consequently Paul’s indebtedness to the
Essenes. They claim that Paul’s pronouncements about election and predestination
concern people, not individuals, 28 or that “What Paul asserts
here in this regard is stated from ‘corporate’ point of view. He does not
have in mind the predestination of individuals.” 29
Close reading of this passage does not necessarily lead to this interpretation,
and Ziesler himself admits that this is a possibility not a must. 30
This and compatible passages in chapters 9–12 deal with the status of
Israel versus that of the Gentiles, therefore the destiny of individuals is
not discussed specifically. There is no indication, though, that Paul made
the assumed distinction between the corporate and the individual. The
same could be said also of this passage:
.…But even when Rebecca had children by one and the same man, our
father Isaac—even before they were born or done anything good or evil, in
order that God’s purpose in election might persist, not because of deeds
but because of his call—it was said to her: “The older shall serve the
27. After Joseph A. Fitzmyer, Romans (AB 33; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1993), 521.
28. John A. Ziesler, Paul’s Letter to the Romans (Philadelphia: SCM Press, 1989), 70.
29. Fitzmyer, ibid., 523.
30. Ziesler, ibid.