Corpus-Paul

["Liz Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu>]

I am familiar with 4QMMT. Could you please elaborate how the expression used
there relates to Paul's use of it?  The expression there is ma`aseh miqseh
ha torah, I believe. What does this mean exactly? The works of the end (?)
of the law????  This isn't the exactly the same as that used by Paul, is it?

Thanks,

Liz

Btw, the issue of table fellowship with uncircumcised Christians is not the
issue of fellowship, with which there is no problem, but the issue of eating
non-kosher food.

Lisbeth S. Fried
Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies
New York University
51 Washington Sq. S.
New York, NY 10012
lqf9256 AT is3.nyu.edu
lizfried AT umich.edu


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Roy E. Ciampa [mailto:Roy_Ciampa AT compuserve.com]
> Sent: Friday, May 21, 1999 2:10 PM
> To: Corpus-paul
> Subject: RE: Galatians 2:16; 19-20
>
>
> 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
>
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