Dr. Gary
Gromacki
Associate Professor of Bible and
Homiletics
Baptist Bible Seminary
Clarks
Summit,
Pennsylvania
<ggromacki>at <bbc>dot <edu>
DSS View
The Words of the Heavenly Lights manuscript are collective prayers for the days of the week which are full of biblical references. Here we see a reference to the creation of man in Genesis 1-2.
[Rememb]er, O Lo[r]d, that...You have fashioned A[dam], our [f]ather, in the likeness of [Your} glory; You did breathe [a breath of life] into his nostrils and, with understanding, knowledge [You did give to him]...You did make [him] to rule [over the Gar]den of Eden which You did plant...and to walk in the land of glory...he guarded. And You did enjoin him not to st[ray]...he is flesh and to dust [he will return?] (4Q504-6 fr.8. II. 1-9)
New Testament View
The New Testament teaches that Adam was the first man created by God. In reference to Genesis 2:7 which describes how Adam was created from dust by God, Paul wrote "And so it is written, 'The first man became a living being.'" (1 Cor.15:45). Paul gives two reasons for why women are not to teach or have authority over men in the church: (1) the order of creation: "For Adam was formed first, then Eve" (1 Tim.2:13), and (2) the person who was deceived in the fall: "And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression" (1 Tim.2:14).
DSS View
The Essenes believed in the fall of man. They recognized that they were sinners and that they were related to sinful Adam.
And I [belong] to wicked Adam, to the assembly of deceitful flesh. My iniquities, my transgressions, my sins, as well as the perverseness of my heart [belong] to the assembly of maggots and of those who walk in darkness. For my way [belongs] to Adam. The human cannot establish his righteousness; for to God [alone] belongs the judgment and from him is the perfection of the Way. (1QS 11:9-11a)
New Testament View
Sin entered into the world through the disobedience of one man, Adam. Romans 5:12-14 says, "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned. For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come."
DSS View
The Rule of the Community lists the sinful characteristics of the "ways of the spirit of falsehood":
But the ways of the spirit of falsehood are these: greed, and slackness in the search for righteousness, wickedness and lies, haughtiness and pride, falseness and deceit, cruelty and abundant evil, ill-temper and much folly and brazen insolence, abominable deeds committed in a spirit of lust, and ways of lewdness in the service of uncleanness, a blaspheming tongue, blindness of eye and dullness of ear, stiffness of neck and heaviness of heart, so that man walks in all the ways of darkness and guile. (1QS 4:9-11)
New Testament View
In Galatians 5:19-21 Paul lists the works of the flesh (the sinful nature): "Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."
DSS View
The Qumran community believed that man struggled with sin. The spirits of truth and injustice struggle for control of the man. Men walk in both wisdom and folly.
Until now the spirits of truth and injustice struggle in the hearts of men and they walk in both wisdom and folly. According to his portion of truth so does a man hate injustice, and according to his inheritance in the realm of injustice so is he wicked and so hates truth. For God has established the two spirits in equal measure until the determined end, and until the Renewal, and He knows the reward of their deeds from all eternity. He has allotted them to the children of men that they may know good [and evil, and] that the destiny of all the living may be according to the spirit within [them at the time] of the visitation. (1QS 4:23b-26)
New Testament View
Paul saw a struggle specifically within the hearts of believers. Romans 7 describes the struggle with sin that Paul and other believers have in this life. "For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will, I do not do; but the evil I will not, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not, is is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me." (Romans 7:15-20). Some scholars believe that Romans 7 describes Paul prior to his conversion, while others (myself included) believe that Romans 7 describes the struggle within Paul after his conversion.
DSS View
Death is the "return to dust." (2 Sam.14:14). Death is the consequence of disobeying God. Along with suffering, it is a punishment imposed on humanity, since God is the origin of life and death (Deut.39:39).
"What then is man that is earth, that is shaped from clay and returns to dust, that You should give him to understand such marvels and make known to him the counsel of [Your truth]." (Thanksgiving Hymn 19:4-5)
"And I, a creature [of clay and kneaded with water, a heap of dust] and a heart of stone, ...a creature of dust" (Thanksgiving Hymn 24:26, 30)
New Testament View
The punishment for sin is death. Romans 5:12 says, "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin..." Romans 5:15 says "For if by the one man's offense many died..." Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death..." Death is separation from God. Hebrews 9:27 says, "It is appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment."
______________________________________________________________________________________
LINKS TO OTHER DSS WEB PAGES BY DR. GARY GROMACKI
Doctrine of God Doctrine of the Bible Doctrine of Salvation
Doctrine of the Community Doctrine of the Messiah Doctrine of Eschatology
Archaeology of Qumran Bibliography on the DSS Web Sites on the DSS