Texts in Conversation
The Community Rule in the Dead Sea Scrolls says that justification comes from God, who removes sin and declares people righteous. In Romans, Paul uses similar courtroom language, describing justification as a gift from God rather than something earned.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1QS 11:2
Community Rule
Dead Sea Scrolls, Sectarian and Community Texts
2 the rod, who point the finger and speak wickedness and are zealous for wealth. As for me, my judgment belongs to God, and in his hand is the perfection of my way with the uprightness of my heart, 3 and by his righteous acts he will wipe out my transgression. For from the source of his knowledge he has opened his light, and my eye has looked on his wonders, and the light of my heart is in the mystery of 4 what will be and what is forever. The support of my right hand is on a strong rock; the way of my steps will not be shaken by anything. For the truth of God is 5 the rock of my steps, and his might is the staff of my right hand. And from the source of his righteousness comes my judgment, a light in my heart from his wonderful mysteries. On what is forever 6 my eye has looked: sound wisdom that is hidden from humankind, knowledge and prudent discretion hidden from the sons of Adam, a source of righteousness and a reservoir of
Date: 160–100 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Romans 5:16
New Testament
12 So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned— 13 for before the law was given, sin was in the world, but there is no accounting for sin when there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam until Moses even over those who did not sin in the same way that Adam (who is a type of the coming one) transgressed. 15 But the gracious gift is not like the transgression. For if the many died through the transgression of the one man, how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many! 16 And the gift is not like the one who sinned. For judgment, resulting from the one transgression, led to condemnation, but the gracious gift from the many failures led to justification. 17 For if, by the transgression of the one man, death reigned through the one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ!
Date: 55–58 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... (1QS 11.2–3; 12; 13–15) The word for ‘justification’ here is regularly משפת not some cognate of צדק as one might have imagined if the language was to prefigure Paul’s use of the δικαιοσύνη root in Romans and elsewhere. This, however, is not a problem. משפת is often translated as ‘judgment’, but in the Hebrew lawcourt ‘judgment’ is given not only against the person who loses the case (as the English word sometimes implies) but in favour of the person who wins. It is thus a positive decision by the court, leaving the winner ‘vindicated’ (not necessarily ‘acquitted’, since the same word describes a successful plaintiff as well as an acquitted defendant). These texts, then, remain important for understanding Paul’s background; and this reflection reminds us of an important theme, namely the way in which such language functions within an ancient Hebrew lawcourt context, actual or metaphorical ..."
N. T. Wright, “4QMMT and Paul: Justification, ‘Works,’ and Eschatology,” in History and Exegesis: New Testament Essays in Honor of Dr. E. Earle Ellis for His 80th Birthday, ed. Aang-Won (Aaron) Son (New York: T & T Clark, 2006), 104–132.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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