The phrase “works of the Law” appears several times in the undisputed letters of Paul; especially Romans.

The phrase also appears (albeit not in Greek) in the DSS….apologies, but I’m too lazy right now to dig it up.

Does DSS help us interpret Paul? I think so.

I should quickly attack a longstanding tradition that takes “works of the law” in Paul as equivalent to “moral exertion”, or “trying to be good according to one’s conscience.” When a young christian tries to abstain from pornography, is most certainly not “working the law”. He is doing exactly what Paul would want him to do. Paul clearly wants his converts to try and be good (according to his standard of good, of course.)

So if “works of the law” does not mean “moral exertion”, what does it mean?

When we look at what “works of the Law” refers to in the DSS, the prhase clearly does not refer to moral exertion. The phrase refers to exegetical interpretation. That is what the entire letter is about, how to interpret the Law. The exegete of DSS is saying, “Hey, we’ve studied the Law in depth and have come to some conclusions on what it means.”

When Paul opposes works of the Law, he is opposing the notion that exegesis of the Law by the methods he received as a student can lead to righteousness. In light of his experience of the risen Christ, he no longer thinks his education as a Pharisee was leading him anywhere positive.

Thus when Paul opposes “works of the Law”, we should not think of some moralist trying his best to be good; rather, we should think of the biblical scholar who thinks studying the bible is somehow meritorious.