N. Perrin

Abstract: "Paul, Qumran and the 'Righteous One'"

Nicholas Perrin

Paul's citation of Hab 2:4 ("The righteous will live by faith") in Gal 3:11 raises, among other issues, the question as to whom Paul had in mind when he writes of "the righteous" (ho dikaios). Is this a reference to believers in general (Betz and Dunn), or is this a reference to a singular "Righteous One," that is, the Christ (Hanson and Hayes)? Drawing attention to the exegesis of Hab 2:4 in 1QpHab, I argue that Paul is appealing to an interpretive tradition (evident in the pesher) that linked and even co-identified the "righteous one" of Hab 2:4 with the "righteous one" of Isaiah 53. Thus, while the Qumran sect interpreted ho dikaios in a communal sense, Paul re-interprets the same epithet messianically.

(c) 2001
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