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  • From: "Karl P. Donfried" <kdonfrie AT email.smith.edu>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Sanders and the "New" Perspective
  • Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2001 10:06:59 -0400


Dear Mark,

You write:
“But why would he do so in a letter to faraway Galatia, or Rome, to
where the
texts with such language were sent, and moreover, to non-Jews who could
hardly be expected to know about these rare sectarian documents? Would
Jewish people in those locations either have those kinds of views, or would
they have any idea what Paul was writing about?”

Your first question is one of great importance. I assume that the “some
who trouble” (Gal 1:7) are possibly conservative Jewish Christians from
Jerusalem who have moved into the Galatian territory to challenge Paul.
That makes sense of all the “slipped in” language in Jerusalem and that
of James in Antioch in Paul’s argument. I should further think that
these folk come from the Mount Zion area where we know there was a
former Essene quarter. We frequently say that the earliest “Christians”
were Jews, but of what sort? Who are the priests in Acts 6:7? Hardly
Sadduceans; probably Essene. Where did Peter and James live? Probably
in this section of Jerusalem.

With regard to the remainder of your comments I read Paul in this way:
I understand Paul’s “all” (pantes) in Rom 3:23, “since all have
sinned…they are rightwised as a gift” to include Jews and Gentiles. It
is the death and resurrection of Jesus that allows one to be rightwised
(i.e. justified) by God. The access for all is through faith in Jesus
Christ. But the one who is rightwised must take the law seriously (Rom
3:31, etc), although always viewed through Paul’s Damascus experience,
i.e. , with new glasses. The key to this whole aspect is in Rom 8:1ff.

So much of the Qumran stuff – the use of the Gen 15 Abraham material,
the Habakkuk citation, the curse of the law, righteousness, deeds of the
law, etc. suggest that Paul is both reacting against this kind of deeds
righteousness both as found in the yahad but also as transmitted by the
very earliest “Christians” in Jerusalem who moved in and from that orbit.

Cheers,
Karl




"Mark D. Nanos" wrote:
>
> Dear Karl,
> Thanks for the clarification. I will respond below.
>
> > Now what is particularly striking is not so much
> > that the phrase is used some seven times but that it is used in a
> > context that speaks of the law in its relation to righteousness. In
> > 4QMMT C 30-31 we read “in your deed you may be reckoned as righteous.”
>
> I do not have at hand the C section to which you refer, but the part you
> list does not suggest to me works-righteousness. I would think it relates to
> doing the deeds to be expected of "a righteous one," not making one who is
> not a righteous one into a righteous one. But for the sake of discussion,
> let's say it meant works-righteousness.
>
> > This would suggest to m:
> >
> > 1. Paul seems to know whereof he was speaking when he took issue with
> > some form of contemporary Judaism (probably Qumran) over
> > works-righteousness.
>
> But why would he do so in a letter to faraway Galatia, or Rome, to where the
> texts with such language were sent, and moreover, to non-Jews who could
> hardly be expected to know about these rare sectarian documents? Would
> Jewish people in those locations either have those kinds of views, or would
> they have any idea what Paul was writing about?
>
> The historical critic who is now aware of these texts may, ironically, have
> the disadvantage of not recognizing that not every detail was as widely
> available to the text-writers (and readers) own contemporaries! I have been
> finding this kind of interesting result at several places in recent
> exegetical works on Galatians.
> >
> > 2. That Dunn is wrong when he understands this Qumran language as simply
> > “defining a boundary which marks out those of faith/faithfulness from
> > others” [NTS 43 (1997) 151].
> >
> > 3. That Paul rejects one way of being reckoned as righteous for another.
>
> I don't see the parallel in the contexts, so I don't see how this follows.
> >
> > 4. While there are a remarkable set of parallels between Paul and the
> > DSS, suggesting that in some way he was influenced by this world of
> > thought, often positively, Paul excludes from HIS idea of justification
> > (i.e., being rightwised), all need to observe the Mosaic law: “No human
> > being will be justified before him through deeds prescribed by the law”
> > (Rom 3:20).
>
> Really. I don't see how the latter citation leads to "excludes... all need
> to observe the Mosaic Law." The only ones who need to observe the Mosaic Law
> are ones who are counted among the righteous ones--i.e., Israelites by God's
> gracious covenant--and thus, since God is righteous, these ones should do
> the deeds of righteousness.
>
> But the context Paul is addressing includes a new anomaly; non-Israelites
> are being pronounced righteous ones without becoming Israelites, and thus
> without becoming obliged to observed the covenant people's deeds of
> righteousness, i.e., Mosaic Law. In this environment the question arises
> about the legitimacy (justification) of this claim for non-Israelites, and
> to this Paul responds with the kinds of language you bring to bear. Paul
> poses the challenge that, since even Israelites are righteous ones by the
> act of God, it should not seem unacceptable to some Israelites that God has
> now acted toward non-Israelites in the same gracious way, so that apart from
> becoming Israelite righteous ones they can nevertheless becoming righteous
> ones of the Nations. But he does not write this to these Israelites, but to
> the non-Israelites who are being constrained by them, in order to clarify
> who they are according to the truth of the gospel in which they have come to
> believe.
>
> In other words, the issue that Paul confronts did not arise in Qumran, but
> as a result of the proclamation of the legitimacy of gentile inclusion on
> terms to be expected in the end of the ages, rather than according to the
> prevailing conventions. And that claim, as well as the reaction of other
> Jews to it, created the need to reason out the kinds of things of which we
> read in these letters. It is Paul's perception of this exigence to which his
> letters to Rome and Galatia respond.
>
> > Paul’s bold addition to Ps 142:2, “deeds prescribed by the
> > law,” is a rejection of the works righteousness found in Qumran.
>
> I just don't see the connection. Based on what I have written above, does
> that make any sense? Can you explain it another way that I might be able to
> see the connection you are making?
>
> Take care,
> Mark
> --
> Mark D. Nanos, Ph.D.
> 313 NE Landings Dr.
> Lee's Summit, MO 64064
> USA
> nanosmd AT home.com
>
> ---
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--


Karl P. Donfried
Elizabeth A. Woodson Professor
of Religion and Biblical Literature
Neilson Library A10
Smith College
Northampton, MA 01063

kdonfrie AT smith.edu
413 585-3669 (phone)
413 256-6202 (fax)




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