Channels, Fall 2016

Page 26 Reis • Justification by Faith: A “Both-and” people.” 15 However, he quickly transitions to an argument very similar to Wright’s when arguing that the corollary purpose of the law was to distinguish the Jews from the Gentiles. In his words, the law “came to reinforce the sense of Israel’s privilege, the law as marking out this people in its set-apartness to God.” 16 In order to prove their argument, both Wright and Dunn draw heavily upon the written document Miqsat Ma’ase Ha-Torah – 4QMMT 17 found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Although the senders and recipients are not identified in the letter, the 4QMMT appears to be written by the leaders of the Qumran community to the priestly authorities in Jerusalem in hope that the latter would correct their ways. 18 The body of the message contains a set of over twenty legal issues concerning “matters of sacrifice, priestly gifts, purity, forbidden marriages, and persons prohibited from entering the sanctuary,” in which the writer disagrees with the re- cipient. 19 The most relevant part of the letter is the ending, lines 26 through 32, where the author claims that “some of the works of the Law” were mentioned in the letter so that the recipients would abide to them and that such obedience “will be reckoned as righteousness to them”. 20 James Dunn argues that the 4QMMT should be highly considered since it contains the near- est parallel of Paul’s phrase. He affirms that the Qumran understanding of “deeds of the law” was “simply a sectarian and more particularist expression of the widespread Jewish conviction that ‘works of the law’ were what marked off Jews from ‘Gentile sinners’ (Gal. 2:15)” 21 In conclusion, the New Perspective theologian states that Paul’s use of the term is the same of the 4QMMT, in which the apostle indicates that justification is not given to those who practice distinct Jewish works but all who place their faith in Christ, including Gentiles. Similarly, Wright points out that the context of the Qumran letter is “explicitly covenantal and eschatological.” 22 The language of “works” is not referring to the entry of the community or the sect, but its practice serves as evidence that one is truly a member of the community and will be absolved in the future eschatological judgment. 23 Wright, then, 15 J. D. Dunn, The Theology of Paul the Apostle (Grand Rapids, MI: W. B. Eerdmans Pub, 1998), 355. 16 J. D. Dunn, The Theology of Paul the Apostle, 355-57; Here, Dunn provides the argument informing that a crucial role of the law that is often ignored is its power set apart God’s people from other people groups. Dunn cites three main examples of such laws, circumcision, the Sabbath, and dietary laws. 17 E. Qimron and J. Strugnell, Misqsat Ma’ase Ha-Torah (DJD 10.5; Oxford: Clarendon, 1994). 18 James Vanderkam & Peter Flint, The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Their Significance for Understanding the Bible, Judaism, Jesus, and Christianity. 1 st ed. (San Francisco, Calif: Harper San Francisco, 2002), 211- 212. 19 James Vanderkam & Peter Flint, The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Their Significance for Understanding the Bible, Judaism, Jesus, and Christianity, 212 20 James Vanderkam & Peter Flint, The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls, 213. 21 James. G. Dunn, The New Perspective on Paul, 204. 22 N.T. Wright, “4QMMT and Paul: Justification, Works, and Eschatology,” In History and Exegesis: New Testa- ment Essays in Honor of Dr. E. Earle Ellis for his 80 th Birthday, eds. Aang-Won (Aaron) Son (New York and Lon- don: T&T Clark, 2006), 111. 23 Ibid., 115.