Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 32:1 (Nov 1969)
Article: Aspects of Paul’s Use of the Psalms
Author: Allan M. Harmon

WTJ 32:1 (Nov 69) p. 1

Aspects of Paul’s Use of the Psalms

Allan M. Harmon

Continuing study is being given to the importance of Old Testament quotations in the New Testament, and several significant works have appeared in recent years.1 On the Pauline use of the Old Testament the fullest study in recent times is that of E. E. Ellis, who concludes that the significance of the Old Testament for Paul’s theology “can hardly be overestimated.”2 While studies such as Ellis’, which consider the Pauline usage in its totality, must be prosecuted, yet detailed work requires to be carried out by following a more selective approach. This can be done by concentrating attention on a particular section of the Pauline writings or by an examination of the way in which Paul employed quotations from a particular Old Testament book. For this present study3 the second method has been adopted, and attention will be directed to some limited aspects of the use of Psalter quotations by Paul. Approximately one-third of all the New Testament quotations of the Old Testament are made by Paul, and of these about one-fifth are from the Psalter. Only the prophecy of Isaiah is used more frequently by him.

The impact of C. H. Dodd’s study4 on the use of the Old Testament in the New is easily discernible on subsequent

WTJ 32:1 (Nov 69) p. 2

studies. When the Pauline Psalter quotations are reviewed, there is the opportunity to test Dodd’s thesis that the New Testament writers selected whole portions of the Old Testament and that it is not the detached words, which serve as a pointer, but the total context that forms the basis of their argumentation. If Dodd’s contention is correct, it is of considerable importance for a correct understanding of many of the quotations from the Psalms, which are often held to be taken arbitrarily out of their context by Paul.

Qumranic studies have also added significance to a study such as the present one, and in this connection the impetus created by the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls is along several lines. First, the claim is made that the exegetical method practiced at Qumran, which has come to be called midrash pesher, is very similar in many cases to New Testament methods. Stendahl5 has applied this comparison to the formula quotations in Matthew, while both Ellis and Kistemaker do so for the Pauline quotations.6 Secondly, discovery of the fragmentary manuscripts 4Q T...