Corpus-Paul

["Roy E. Ciampa" <Roy_Ciampa AT compuserve.com>]

Robert Leonzio wrote:
"I am a graduate student with a question concerning Paul's' use of "works
of 
the law" in Galatians.  Could someone give me an insight as to what he is 
referring to here.  I am reading this as Jewish pious practices in the 
absence of faith."

Roy Ciampa's reply:

The publication of the Qumran document 4QMMT has clarified the meaning of
the expression "works of the Law".  Outside of Paul's letters, that is the
only document from antiquity that clearly uses the expression.  In fact,
the authors describe the document as a list of (some of) the "works of the
Law."  There it describes what later came to be called "halakha" or the
precise interpretations of the Law that were considered to be binding upon
the Jewish community (usually with a focus on maintaining the holiness of
the Jewish temple and people).

It is even more fascinating because at the end of the document it is
suggested that if the readers were to accept "works of the law" described
therein it would be reckoned to them as righteousness at the end of time.

The importance of this document for understanding Galatians 2:16 and
related passages cannot be underestimated.  I have a discussion of the
importance of 4QMMT for our understanding of Galatians 2:66ff. in my book
_The Presence and Function of Scripture in Galatians 1 and 2_ (WUNT 2:102;
Tuebingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1998) pp. 186-191.  Well, OK, it has also been
discussed in a few other places, like in Dunn's commentary on Galatians or
in Martin Abegg, "Paul, 'Works of the Law' and MMT" in BARev 20.6
(November/December 1994) pp. 52-55.

In Galatians Paul is concerned about Jewish Christians who believe that to
be included in God's redeemed people one must both believe in Christ AND
live according to the standards of Jewish law as interpreted by a
particular halakhic viewpoint.  The two key touch points for the letter to
the Galatians would be circumcision and the issue of table fellowship with
uncircumsized Gentiles (the issue raised in Galatians 2:11ff.).  But it is
important to note that we now know that Paul did not invent the expression
"works of the law".  It was already used for over a century in Qumran and
would presumably be known to Jews (and Jewish Christians) elsewhere as well
(the oldest ms of MMT is dated to 75 BC and the latest to AD 50).

Roy E. Ciampa
College of Evangelical Theological Education
Tojal, Portugal
Roy_Ciampa AT compuserve.com