4QMMT의 מעשי התודה와 갈라디아서의 ἔργα νόμου

מעשי התודה in 4QMMT and ἔργα νόμου in Galatians

4QMMT is a halakhic and polemical document, which is known to have belonged to the Qumran community. It has been of much significance for the law(torah) issue among the NT scholars mostly because of it's likely relationship with Galatians. Some scholars have argued that Paul's usage of ἔργα νόμου in Galatians is theologically related to the term מעשי התודה in 4QMMT. How can we define the law issue and Paul's theological purpose in Galatians if Galatians is to be seen from the vintage point of view of the legal debate in 4QMMT? This paper tries to find out the meaning of the two terms in their theological and literary context, so as to define the relationship between Paul's understanding of the "work of the law" and that of 4QMMT, which leads to the understanding of Paul's theological purpose through the argument of ἔργα νόμου. The work of the law in 4QMMT is defined in the context of the idea of covenantal nomism, which has been regarded as an overarching religious concept of mainstream Second-Temple Judaism. The pattern of argument in 4QMMT is remarkably similar to that of Paul in Galatians. Paul might have take advantage of the already-known Jewish polemical argument in order to achieve his own theological purpose. Paul's attack against the false teachers in Galatian church is also aimed at the Jewish tradition of the law, thereby he tries to separate christianity from Second-Temple Judaism after all.