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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 August 2011
In a previous article I have dealt with the striking parallels between the Dead Sea Manual of Discipline (iQS) and the Book of Acts and the special material of Matthew. The organization of early Christianity in Jerusalem, particularly its conservative or Judaizing wing, strongly suggests the Dead Sea sect at several points. The more liberal Christianity of Stephen and the Epistle to the Hebrews may, however, also have contacts with the Qumran sect's idea of spiritual sacrifices and its protest against the Jerusalem Temple. In addition there are parallels between the Dead Sea literature and the Pauline epistles but they are very different from the ones just named.
1 Johnson, S. E., “The Dead Sea Manual of Discipline and the Jerusalem Church of Acts,” Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, LXVI (1954), 106–20Google Scholar.
2 Note that, as in Matt. 18:15–35, so for Paul excommunication is not to be permanent. There are, of course, no elaborate rules for excommunication such as one finds in iQS.
3 This indeed may throw light on the often discussed question of the longer reading in Luke 22:19b–20, supported by most authorities with the exception of D, the Old Latin, and the Curetonian Syriac. The connections of Luke-Acts with the Qumran thought world on the one side, and with Paul on the other, add to the probability that the longer reading is genuinely Lucan. The covenant idea is not particularly prominent in Luke-Acts but the word is used in Luke 1:72; Acts 3:25; 7:8, and the idea, in the broad sense, underlies Stephen's speech.
4 Sedaḳah is used of the saving act of God and his fidelity to the Covenant in Jer. 50:7; Isa. 41:2, 10; 42:6; 45:8; 51:5.
5 δικαίωμα in the LXX represents ḥoḳ 48 times and mišpaṭ 38 times.
6 Dupont-Sommer, A., The Jewish Sect of Qumran and the Essenes (London, 1954), pp. 118–30Google Scholar.
7 It is used in the sense “to ascribe righteousness” (to God or Wisdom) in Luke 7:29; 7:35 (= Matt. 11:19); “to prove oneself in the right,” in Luke 10:29; 16:15.
8 E.g., I Cor. 6:11.
9 Goodspeed, E. J., Problems of New Testament Translation (Chicago, 1945), pp. 143–46Google Scholar. Goodspeed cites Rom. 5:19; 6:4; II Cor. 5:21 in support of his argument.
10 Bultmann, R., Theologie des neuen Testaments, Lfg. 1 (Tübingen, 1948), pp. 272–5Google Scholar.
11 Dodd, C. H., The Epistle of Paul to the Romans (London, 1932), pp. 12 f., 51–53Google Scholar; The Meaning of Paul for To-day (London, 1920), p. iii; Taylor, V., Forgiveness and Reconciliation (London, 1941), pp. 62–72Google Scholar.
12 Ropes, J. H., “‘Righteousness’ and ‘The Righteousness of God’ in the Old Testament and St. Paul,” Journal of Biblical Literature, XXII (1903), 211–27CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Professor W. H. P. Hatch called my attention to this article some years ago.
13 A. Dupont-Sommer, op. cit., pp. 55 f. The latest piece of evidence on the messianism of the sect is the psalm 1QH6 published by Chamberlain, J. V., “Another Qumran Thanksgiving Psalm,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, XIV (1955), 32–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Cf. also the fragment of the Micah midrash, which speaks of “tous ceux qui s'offrent pour être agrégés aux élus de [Dieu, pratiquant la Loi] dans le Concile de la communauté, qui seront sauvés du jour [du jugement]”; tr. by Milik, J. T., “Fragments d'un Midrash de Michée dans les manuscrits de Qumran,” Revue Biblique, LIX (1952), 412–18Google Scholar.
