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With this article, we’re offering you an opportunity—and a challenge.
The opportunity: Hearing from one of our church’s renowned scholars about discoveries and studies that shed new light on Paul’s letters, particularly his letter to the Romans that became, for Martin Luther and his followers, the center of the faith. Justification by faith through grace is, for many of us, a touchstone phrase and the cornerstone of our belief.
The challenge: Investing the time and effort this article requires. As it’s not a simple subject, it’s also not a simple read. But you will be well-rewarded, we believe, with deeper understanding as you continue to hear Paul’s letters read during worship and, also, to study them.
• The Life of Apostle Paul with host Rick Steves (Summer 2004 Mosaic DVD)
Editor's note: Read a response to this article by David J. Lull.
It’s a fascinating time to study the letters of
Paul. Many of you have no doubt heard about the Dead Sea Scrolls. Some
may even have viewed the scrolls at one of the traveling exhibits in
various parts of the U.S. Not widely known is the fact that these
documents provide remarkable insights to New Testament scholars who
seek a deeper and fuller understanding of Pauline theology.
Since 1947 when a Bedouin shepherd threw a stone into a cave at Khirbet
Qumran alongside the Dead Sea (about a 40-minute ride east of
Jerusalem), our understanding of “Judaism” and “Christianity” in the
first century has changed dramatically. We can no longer speak about
either as unified religions in sharp conflict. Rather, we’ve come to
recognize the enormous diversityof Judaism—one so extensive that it
unquestionably included Jesus’ earliest followers.
The
last half of the 20th century saw the publication of the majority of
the 900 texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls, some of which—including one of
the most significant for understanding Paul’s letters—weren’t published
until the 1990s. Now, in the first decade of the 21st century, scholars
are rethinking the complex phenomenon known as Second Temple Judaism,
which is the religious world in which Jesus and Paul carried out their
ministries.
But before continuing our story we need to ask: Who
wrote these scrolls that are so dramatically altering our perception of
the period in which the early church took shape?
In selected
scrolls the authors describe themselves as the “Community of the New
Covenant,” which may well have been part of a broader Essene movement,
one of the Jewish groups. This language about a “new covenant” already
allows for a startling observation: Among the Jews of this period, only
the Essenes, Jesus and the early Jesus movement, including Paul, speak
of a “new covenant.” An interesting coincidence.
The rest of this article is only available to subscribers.
© 2013 Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
