(Edition 1.0 20010525-20010525)

This paper is available from the World Wide Web page:
http://www.logon.org and http://www.ccg.org

This paper concerns the concept of the works of the law to which Paul refers.

Most modern Christians have assumed that what he is talking about is the law of Moses. They are assuming that he is saying the law is done away.

We had to wait until the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) were recovered and translated. From those finds we could then properly understand Paul. We can now see that Paul’s term the works of the law do not refer to the laws of God for spiritual salvation at all. They refer to a body of writings mainly concerned with sacrifice and cleansing, i.e. ritual purifications. Paul was addressing a view of the law, which the Qumran sect held, and which became current in non-rabbinical Judaism in the first century and did not become part of Talmudic tradition and translation. It did not become part of what we understand as general Judaic thought. It then passed away.

Now the term works of the law has generally been taken to have meaning from the two words as, the workings of the law, but in fact it is, as we see, a title, Works of the Law, which translate the Hebrew title Miqsat ma’ase ha-torah (MMT). From now on, we can identify this as a title of a Judaic work of the first century, which tries to convey some justification by works. Galatians 3:1-14 gives

further explanation.

Paul refers to Abraham in the text in Galatians, because Abraham was reckoned righteous, from the texts in Genesis. Scholars have put forward (see The Works of the Law Text – or MMT (No. 104) full paper for further detail) that the whole composition of the righteousness of Abraham was from Genesis 22:16 where Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac at God’s command. Also that Paul would not have spoken about the works of the law, and used the example of Abraham, unless that example was specific to action and reckoning to righteousness. The fact was that he was reckoned righteous by what he had done. Further, that the basis of the works of the law conferring righteousness was perhaps also taken from Psalm 106:30-31.

What contemporary Judaism, and then the Church, had done is taken this concept where Phinehas stood up, and through his action, by what he did, was counted righteous for all generations. So the Qumran sect and the MMT, and the groups who thought that the law could confer righteousness by works, took this text and applied it as being the justification for righteousness being conferred through the actions of individuals.

This physical view of righteousness was held despite the fact that there are many biblical texts in Isaiah, particularly Isaiah 9:1-6, talking about Messiah, and Isaiah 53, talking about his suffering and the taking away of sin. All of those texts pointed towards the expiatory sacrifice of the Messiah to remove sin. Yet these people thought that through works they could achieve righteousness. As Paul said "Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Did you receive the spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?" And then he dealt with Abraham. Paul saw that their position derived from the two texts,

although he didn’t mention Phinehas. However it seems certain that the text of Abraham being justified by his obedience and his works in the sacrifice of Isaac, was the basis of their thinking.

Qimron and Strugnell have done a reconstruction of the Works of the Law in the DSS texts. It consists of three parts. It is, firstly, a calendar consisting of lines of numbers from 1 to 21. Secondly, it is sections of the law, consisting of the second set of the Hebrew texts, numbered 1 to 82. Thirdly, it has an epilogue, consisting of a third set of texts, from 1 to 32.

One has to remember that these are excavated 2,000 years old papyrus, and some fragments are missing. There are ellipses in the fragments. An example of a translation is:

3 and the purity of [the... And the concerning the sowed gifts of the] new wheat grains of the [gentiles which they...]

4 and let their [...] touch it and de[file it, and no one should eat]

5 any of the new wheat grains of t[he gen]tiles, [nor] should it be brought into the sanctuary.

Here we are getting the concept - don’t touch - don’t eat - don’t taste. These comments of Paul all make sense now. He is talking about the Works of the Law, which is what this text is. He is saying that you can’t get taken in by this false teaching. It is saying - don’t touch this, and don’t taste that, and don’t do this. This doesn’t confer justification. Your justification is in Christ Jesus. This is a radical new find, and it is an important text and translation. The texts destroy the arguments of modern day Protestantism that the law was done away.

What they were doing, in effect, is telling the Pharisees and the rabbinical authorities what the structure should be. Now this seems to have become a very persuasive document throughout the Middle East in the first century. So much so that Paul had to devote part of Romans and Galatians to the combating the teachings of this text. That is how widespread it was.

Paul had to deal with it, because it obviously infected the Galatian Church. It is no accident that it permeated Galatia, but is mentioned in passing in Romans because the Jewish community in Rome was a lot further away from Jerusalem than Galatia. The further the distance, the less the problem, but obviously in the Middle East they had a serious problem.

It was popular at the time when the Temple was marked for destruction. That is why the Temple and all these environs had to be destroyed. It was to get rid of this, non-biblical, Judaic system; so that the whole structure could go forward in a cleaner system and we could look at the spiritual intent, instead of being tied into all this ritual.

However, one of the casualties of the elimination was the knowledge of the fact of the existence of this material. We didn’t know that the Works of the Law was actually a text. It was a book. It wasn’t purely an action.

We can now look at the texts in the light of the fact that what Paul was probably saying was, in fact, a reference to the MMT. It is not conclusive yet, but the scholars now are fairly sure that is what it is all about. The implications are revolutionary. The Church is vindicated by this find. Modern Christianity will then be able to see, absolutely, that the Church of God actually had it right from the beginning. The law of God as it is in the Bible has not been done away.