Corpus-Paul

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

Liz wrote: 

>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?

My response:

The expression in 4QMMT is miqsat ma`ase ha-torah (I'm afraid I do not know
the proper transliteration code for this list) or "some (of the) works of
the law".  It has been translated by some as "some precepts of the law"
which makes sense in context, but the expression is precisely that which
was looked for but never found in Rabbinic literature as a parallel to Paul
(see Strack and Billerbeck, 3:160).  It is also the expression that was
used in earlier translations of the New Testament into Hebrew (such as the
New Testament in Hebrew and English published by the Society for
Distributing the Holy Scriptures to the Jews in London).

In 4QMMT it seems to refer to the halakhot to which the community was
committed and which (in part at least) distinguished them from other Jewish
groups.

When we see that Paul was dealing with halakhic issues such as table
fellowship between (Christian) Jews and Gentiles and the prerequisite of
circumcision, it makes very good sense to understand "works of the law" in
Paul as a reference to seeking to identifying oneself as a member of God's
people by being circumsized and living according to the halakha.  And both
Paul and 4QMMT attest that some Jewish(/Christian) groups understood that
following the proper halakha would result in "being justified".

Liz said:

"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."

Me again:

This has been debated between Philip Esler (_Community and Gospel in
Luke-Acts_), James Dunn ("The Incident at Antioch"), and E.P. Sanders
("Jewish Association with Gentiles").  I think the evidence suggests that
for many Jews of the Second Temple Period there was a problem not just with
non-kosher food but also with table fellowship with Gentiles (e.g.,
Jubilees 22:16).  

Rabbi Shimeon ben Eleazar taught that "Israelites outside the land worship
idols in purity.  How?  If a non-Jew prepared a wedding feast for his son
and sent out to invite all Jews in his town - even if they have food and
drink of their own and have their own servant waiting at them, they worship
idols.  Thus it is said: [...Lest you make a covenant... when they
sacrifice to their gods and] when one invites you, you eat of his sacrifice
(Exod 34:15)" (t. Abod. Zar. 4:6; b. Abod. Zar. 8a).  

There is is clear that for Jews to eat their own (kosher) foods, and even
being served by their own servants (thus avoiding any chance that their
food would be contaminated), would not be sufficient to avoid breaking the
halakha.  Of course, the text itself also assumes that some Jews of the
time thought they could be faithful to their version of the halakha by
taking those very measures.  It is an interesting text because it argues
for one halakhic position on table fellowship with Gentiles while
indirectly informing us of another!

The position of Seder Elijah Rabba is similar: "One should observe in his
heart not to eat with a gentile at table... Thus they taught: anyone who
eats with a gentile at table, worships idols and eats sacrifices to the
dead" (S. Elijah Rab. 9 [8] 46-48).  See also Peter Tomson, _Paul and the
Jewish Law_, 233-234.  I discuss these issues and their relationship to
Paul's argument in Galatians in my book, mentioned in the previous message,
pages 159-163.  

I'm afraid I'll be tied up all weekend so I will only be able to rejoin the
conversation on Monday.

Take care,

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