archibald wrote:
The DSS are popping up regularly, so it seems clear that Eisenmann is suggesting....you know what controversial thesis. But it's also true that it's not essential for much of the rest of his thesis about James. I'm sort of noting it and putting it into a separate mental compartment, since I don't know enough and don't want to conclude anything (about the relationship of the DSS to early christianity).
Well, in some respects I don't think his thesis is controversial. 4QMMT, for example, which is a letter or collection of letters with ideas that are found in Paul and Jewish Christianity, is paleographically dated up to 50 CE so it could have been known to or created by Jewish Christians.
As Von Weissenberg notes in
4QMMT:
... Hogenhaven, while recognizing the complexity of the genre of 4QMMT, has stated the epistolary form governs the overall structure of 4QMMT, and that the rhetorical features used by the author(s) should be associated with the letter genre. Hogenhaven has followed the classification of the editors and concluded that 4QMMT "exhibits the form of a public letter." Recently, Annette Steudel has repeated the definition of 4QMMT as a literary epistle ... Although several scholars have become cautiously critical of the definition of 4QMMT as a letter, most remain ambivalent and consider 4QMMT as either a real letter or a document perceived as such by the Qumran community. Schiffmann has maintained that 4QMMT "purports to be a letter," even though accepting the possibility that the text might in fact not be a real letter from the early period of the community ... but could also be a later, apocryphal text, created to "express the break, or schism, with the Jerusalem establishment."
https://books.google.com/books?id=_oCFY ... er&f=false
Then follows a discussion of the critics of the letter idea, such as Grabbe, who concludes:
"We don't know who wrote MMT or to whom it was addressed" ... In the end, however, like most scholars, he has remained hesitant in deciding whether 4QMMT is a real letter or a pseudo-epistle.
It looks like a letter to me, but in any event, in addition to using the expression "works of the law" (which is elsewhere found only in Paul) and opposing the eating of Gentile sacrifices (which is discussed by Paul in 1 Cor. 8 and opposed in Didache 6 and by Jewish Christians in Acts 15), MMT also discusses "fornication" (as does Paul in 1 Cor. 6 and 7 prior to his discussion on eating Gentile sacrifices):
As for the fornication taking place among the people, they are (supposed to be) a Holy People, as it is written, ‘Israel is Holy’ (therefore, it is forbidden). Concerning a man’s cloth[es, it is written, ‘They are not] to be of mixed fabric;’ and no one should plant his field or [his vineyard with mixed crop]s. (Mixing is forbidden) because (the people) are Holy, and the sons of Aaron are H[oly of Holy] [nevertheless, as y]ou know, some of the priests and the [people are mixing (intermarrying).] [They] are intermarrying and (thereby) polluting the [holly seed, [as well as] their own [seed, with fornication ...] ...
And this is the second thing on the list of the things that Jewish Christians forbid for Gentiles in Acts 15:19-20:
It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality ...
And the information is presented as being delivered in letter form in 15:22-29:
Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were leaders among the believers. With them they sent the following letter:
The apostles and elders, your brothers,
To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:
Greetings.
We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.
Farewell.
And the end of MMT quotes the same verse from Genesis that James and Paul use in their letters to defend
their positions on "works of the law," and it is possibly addressed to Gentiles since if refers to "your people" and "your good" in contrast to "that of Israel":
Remember the kings of Israel, and understand their works. Whoever of them feared [the L]aw was saved from sufferings; when they so[ug]ht the Law, [then] their sins [were forgiven] them. Remember David. He was a man of pious works, and he, also, was [sa]ved from many sufferings and forgiven. And finally, we (earlier) wrote you about some of the works of the Law, which we reckoned for your own good and for that of your people, for we see that you possess discernment and Knowledge of the Torah. Consider all these things, and beseech Him to grant you proper counsel, and to keep you far from evil thoughts and the counsel of Belial.
Then you will rejoice at the End Time, when you find some of our words were true. Thus, it will be reckoned to you as righteousness, your having done what is upright and good before Him, for your own good and for that of Israel.
This discussion of "works of the law" is similar to the discussion of "works of the law" in Paul and the Letter of James, with James' position being similar to that in MMT:
James 2:20-24:
You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without works is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
Galatians 3:1-14:
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain? So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.” The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
MMT and the letter in Acts are also written by "we":
And finally, we wrote you about some of the works of the Law, which we reckoned for your own good and for that of your people.
We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.
As noted by Brooke in
The Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament:
Beyond the overall similarity between MMT and Luke-Acts it is interesting to note that what is planned after the meeting in Jerusalem described in Acts 15 is the writing of a letter informing the recipients of the decisions made; perhaps MMT is best understood not as a letter authorized by an individual (the 'Teacher of Righteousness') but rather as the reporting of decisions perhaps taken in a council setting, not unlike that in Acts 15. This would make better sense of the first-person plural pronoun used in MMT.
https://books.google.com/books?id=t7TSr ... ts&f=false
And
Text, Thought, and Practice in Qumran and Early Christianity says that:
MMT has been discussed in comparison with the Gospels and Acts; some have found similarities in their theologies and modes of discourse. But perhaps the closest parallels, in terms of literary form, can be found in the New Testament epistles.
https://books.google.com/books?id=EUawC ... ts&f=false