The Qumran community was charismatic in the broad sense of the word “charismatic”; that is, they gave a prominent role to the holy Spirit in the life of the disciple, particularly in his or her moral life. There is no evidence that they had any teaching about miraculous gifts of the Spirit. Our analysis of their thinking will ask whether they thought the holy Spirit brought a person to faith; it will show how they saw the holy Spirit involved in the process of initiating the convert to the community; finally, we will describe how they saw the ongoing role of the holy Spirit in maintaining the life of the disciple within the community.
Scholars assign relative dates to the manuscripts of the DSS, and on this basis it is possible to argue that Qumran thinking about the Spirit developed over time. However, the manuscripts do not present contradictory points of view about the Spirit; rather they offer differing emphases. It is difficult therefore to sustain any developmental thesis. We have a deposit of manuscripts and all we can really do is describe the thinking represented in these manuscripts as a whole or in part.
Conversion–Initiation
It is perhaps surprising that the DSS do not link the Spirit of God to the process of converting an individual. Instead, what they do is link the Spirit to the initiation of the disciple into the community. They make this link because they see the initiation of a convert as a cleansing and an entry at the same time.
Certain Qumran community texts suggest that they perceived they were in the last days. In this context, they applied Ezekiel’s restoration prophecy to themselves. Thus, 1QS III, 7-9 echoes Ezek 36:25-26 in its description of the prospective member,
And it is by the holy spirit of the community, in its truth, that he is cleansed of all his iniquities. And by the spirit of uprightness and of humility his sin is atoned. And by the compliance of his soul with all the laws of God his flesh is cleansed by being sprinkled with cleansing water and being made holy with waters of repentance.[1]
Here the novice submits to the counsel of the community and to the sprinkling and cleansing of his flesh, and in this submission he is united to the truth of God and is thereby “cleansed” by the spirit of holiness.[2]
The expression “holy Spirit of the community” could mean nothing more than the spirit of life that the community manifests, and it is following this life that necessarily cleanses the novitiate. However 1 QS IV, 20b-21 uses the expression “spirit of holiness” in relation to God:
Then God will refine, with his truth, all man’s deeds, and will purify for himself the structure of man, ripping out all spirit of injustice from the innermost part of his flesh, and cleansing him with the spirit of holiness[3] from every wicked deed. He will sprinkle over him the spirit of truth like lustral water (in order to cleanse him) from all abhorrences of deceit and from the defilement of the unclean spirit.
God is the agent here cleansing an individual with the holy Spirit. The reference to water cleansing no doubt picks up on the ritual washing practised by the Qumran community. The metaphor of “cleansing” along with a mention of the “spirit of holiness” secures an allusion to Ezekiel’s restoration prophecy,
Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. Ezek 36:25-27 (KJV)
We conclude therefore that 1QS is not just about the disposition of the individual being invigorated by the effects of a pious life demonstrated by the community.[4] The holy Spirit lies behind the truths presented by the community, and the change effected in the novitiate can be equally attributed to the rules of the community or the holy Spirit. Accordingly, we read of community members in 1QS IX, 3, that “these exist in Israel in accordance with these rules in order to establish the spirit of holiness in truth”; the presence of the holy Spirit is established through obedience.[5]
Maintenance
Although we have cited texts above that focus on initiation into the community, their language is equally applicable to the ongoing life of the believer. Sometimes it is difficult to know in a text whether the focus is the process of initiation or the ongoing life of the disciple.
The language of the DSS is informed by scriptural metaphors for the bestowal of Spirit upon believers:[6]
I give thanks, Lord, because you have sustained me with your strength, you have spread your holy Spirit over me so that I will not stumble… 1QH XV, 6.
[I give thanks, because] you have spread [your] holy spirit upon your servant… 1QH IV, 26
This bestowal is directly related to the life that a person leads:
Since I know all this I want to find a reply of the tongue to prostrate myself and to ask [forgiveness…fo]r my offence, to look for the spirit […] to be strengthened by [your] ho[ly] spirit. To adhere to the truth of the covenant… 1QH VIII, 14-15
I have appeased your face by the spirit which you have placed [in me,] to lavish your [kind]nesses on [your] serv[ant] for [ever,] to purify me with your holy Spirit… 1QH VIII, 19-20
May he be gracious to you with a spirit of holiness and (may) fav[our…] and the eternal covenant. 1Q28b II, 24-25
The goal of the bestowal of the Spirit is to create a “community of holiness” (1QS IX, 2), a community in which the holy Spirit was present (1QS IX, 3).
Conclusion
The teaching about the Spirit in the DSS is unremarkable. There are no texts which relate the Spirit to the process of converting a person. A bestowal of the Spirit is expected during the initiation of the novitiate and the Spirit remains as a force in the believer’s life. The purpose of the Spirit to effect obedience, and in this way the community is a place where the Spirit is present.[7]
[1] All DSS texts are cited from The Dead Sea Scrolls: Study Edition, (ed., Florentino García Martínez and Eibert J. C. Tigchelaar; 2 vols; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1997).
[2] For a recent discussion, see Barry Smith, “‘Spirit of Holiness’ as Eschatological Principle of Obedience” in Christian Beginnings and the Dead Sea Scrolls (eds., J. J. Collins and C. A. Evans; Grand Rapids, Baker Academic, 2006), 75-99.
[3] The Hebrew is the same whether the translator choose “holy Spirit” or “spirit of holiness” in 1QS.
[4] So A. E. Sekki, The Meaning of Ruah at Qumran (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989), 92-93, who notes that in the sectarian scrolls the work of inner moral purification is the work of God. He also observes that the manuscript variation 4Q255 Frag. 2, lines 1-2 has, “And by his holy spirit which links him with his truth he is clea[nsed of all] his sins”, and makes the point that wXdwq xwr is used in the scrolls to refer to God’s spirit, Ruach, 72. This reading is noted by M. A. Knibb in The Qumran Community (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), 93, who nevertheless adopts a dispositional view. It is outside the scope of this article to discuss the doctrine of “the Two Spirits” in 1QS; there is a case to be made for both a cosmological reading and a dispositional reading.
[5] A relationship between the holy Spirit and the community may be indicated in the fragment, 4Q287 Frag. 10, “…against the anointed ones of [His] hol[y] spirit”.
[6] 4Q504 Frags. 1-2, V, 15 states in relation to Israel’s history, “[Fo]r you have poured your holy Spirit upon us, [to be]stow your blessings to us, so that we would look for you in our anguish”. Similarly, CD 2.12 states, “And he taught them by the hand of <the anointed ones> with his holy Spirit…”
[7] It is worth noting an irony: whereas scholars will typically argue that the teaching about the Spirit in the NT is implicitly trinitarian, this has never been argued in the case of the Qumran community. However, their teaching uses OT texts and describes the presence of the Spirit in comparable terms to the NT writings.
The Kingdom of God has been a cornerstone of the gospel from the earliest church