Second, the question of the doctrine of justification.
Do Paul and Qumran hold to the same or similar doctrine of justification? What are the similarities and differences?
In earlier posts, I criticized the rending of mishpati in 1QS XI as “my justification,” so one might think it would be incorrect or misleading to speak of Qumran as having a doctrine of justification at all. Yet there is a sense in which the Qumran sect did have a doctrine of justification. This can be seen from the fact that the sect employed the verb tsadaq (Qal: “to be righteous”), often when quoting or alluding to Psalm 143:2 which uses this verb, “Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you” (ESV). Qumran’s reflection on and expansion of this text leads to a doctrine of justification of sorts. Perhaps it would be best to speak of Qumran’s doctrine of righteousness, that is, their view of how a person can be righteous in God’s sight.
Note: In the quotes from the DSS that follow, I am using the Wise-Abegg-Cook (WAC) translation. However, I do not reproduce their use of brackets to indicate scholarly reconstructions of the text, since this would be tedious and distracting. In a few instances I modified WAC, changing "justified" to "be righteous" (a more accurate translation of the Qal of tsadaq).
SIMILARITIES
To begin with, let us consider the similarities:
(1) Human sinfulness and necessity of divine grace
Both Qumran and Paul have a deep recognition of the sinfulness of humans and the inability of humans to be righteous in God’s sight apart from his grace. For example, here is one sample of a common motif in the DSS – the use of various self-deprecating phrases to describe fallen humanity apart from God’s grace:
1QH IX, 21-23: “These things I know through Your understanding, for You have opened my ears to wonderful mysteries even though I am a vessel of clay and kneaded with water, a foundation of shame and a spring of filth, a melting pot of iniquity and a structure of sin, a spirit of error, perverted without understanding and terrified by righteous judgments.”
From this, it is a short step to the quotation of Psalm 143:2:
1QH VIII, 20: “I know that no one can be righteous apart from You.”
1QH XV, 28: “Who can be righteous before You, when he enters into judgment?”
However, it is not that the Qumran sect is denying the possibility that humans can be righteous before God. They are rather reflecting on the sinfulness of humans apart from God’s grace and outside of the community. God in his grace has provided a way of humans to be righteous, namely, by repenting of their sin, joining the community, and practicing the law within that community. Righteousness is thus possible by God’s grace.
There is a sense in which we may say that both Qumran and Paul have what may be called a doctrine of righteousness sola gratia. The Qumran sect explicitly uses the term “only” (raq) to express this:
1QH V, 20-23: “What is one born of woman among all Your awesome works? He is but an edifice of dust, kneaded with water, … his foundation is obscene shame … and a perverted spirit ruled him … Only (raq) by Your goodness shall a man be righteous, and by the abundance of Your compassion.”
Now, it must be pointed out, that “to be righteous” in Qumran is not the same as in Paul. We will examine this in greater detail in future posts. But for now it is sufficient to say that “to be righteous” in the DSS means to be actually, inherently, and personally righteous in a moral sense, including the possession of both a righteous inclination and righteous behavior.
Cp. 1QH XI, 23-25; XII, 29-30; XV, 16-18; XVII, 14-15; XIX, 3; XX, 24-26, 32-25; XXII frag 4; XXIII, 11-13.
(2) Predestination
Both Qumran and Paul are predestinarians in both the comprehensive sense (God foreordains whatsoever comes to pass) and in the salvific sense (God foreordains who will be saved and who will not).
In the comprehensive sense, both Qumran and Paul believe in God’s sovereign decree in respect to all that comes to pass:
1QH IX, 7-9, 19-20: “By Your wisdom You have established the successive generations and before You created them You knew all their works for ever and ever. For apart from You nothing is done, and without Your will nothing is known. You have formed every spirit and You determined their deeds and judgment for all their works … and in the wisdom of Your knowledge You determined their destiny before they came into existence and according to Your will everything comes to pass, and nothing happens apart from You.”
In the salvific sense, both believe God is sovereign in salvation. Some are “foreordained to God” and others are “foreordained to Belial” (1QS II, 1-10).
1QH VII, 15-17: “You alone have created the righteous one, and from the womb You established him to give heed to Your covenant at the appointed time of grace and to walk in all things … But the wicked You created for the time of Your wrath, and from the womb You set them apart for the day of slaughter” (cp. 1QH XII, 38).
In addition, there are several references to election: 1QH X, 13 (“the chosen of righteousness”); 1QH XVIII, 26: (“You chose them from the sons of men”); 1QS VIII, 6 (“chosen by God’s will”); 1QS XI, 7, 16 (“to them He has chosen … those chosen of humankind”).
The Qumranian doctrine of predestination is spelled out in great detail in “The Treatise of the Two Spirits” (1QS III, 13--IV, 26), which is too long to quote here.
(3) Atonement for sin
Both Qumran and Paul speak of the need for and possibility of forgiveness, cleansing, and atonement:
1QH XII, 36-37: “I rested in Your mercies and the abundance of Your compassion. For You atone for iniquity and purify man from guilt by Your righteousness.”
Of course, it goes without saying that while both Qumran and Paul affirmed that God provides atonement for sin, they differ on the means of atonement. For Qumran, atonement is provided within the community and is obtained by means of repentance (turning from one’s sin) and pursuing obedience to the Torah by strictly following the community’s interpretation thereof. For Paul, of course, atonement for sin is only possible through the sacrificial death of Christ.
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