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Paul and the Dead Sea Scrolls Essay examples

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The Essenes were a Jewish religious group that prospered from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE. They considered themselves to be a separate from others because of their inner life and their knowledge of the hidden mysteries of nature, which were unknown to others. The Essenes thought that they were the heirs of God and to their own civilization. They felt that they were sent out on a mission and that they were true saints and masters of wisdom. They were open to all religions and considered each to be a stepping-stone of a single revelation. They believed that they were able to communicate with angelic beings and thought that they had discovered the origin of Evil on Earth. The Essenes spent most of their time decoding ancient …show more content…

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Pauline Corpus both show a cognizance of the sinfulness of people and their inaptitude to be righteous in God’s eyes independent from his grace. The Essenes describe humanity apart from God’s grace in the Qumran in 1QH, IX 21-23: These things I know through Your understanding, for You have opened my ears to wonderful mysteries even though I am a vessel of clay and kneaded with water, a foundation of shame and a spring of filth, a melting pot of iniquity and a structure of sin, a spirit of error, perverted without understanding and terrified by righteous judgments. (Irons)
Paul describes that it is in fact God’s grace that makes us righteous in Titus 2:11-14: For the grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of the great God and of our savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people as his own, eager to do what is good (The New American Bible).
Both the Dead Sea Scrolls and Paul are stating that humans do in fact sin, but it is the grace of God that gives us the chance to become righteous. Another similarity between the Dead Sea Scrolls and Paul is predestination; both the Dead Sea Scrolls and Paul give a sense of

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