The Foundation of Pauline Ethics

Three of ideas are especially important for understanding St. Pauls moral instruction.

The first is discerned from the grammar structure of his epistles. As elsewhere in his writings,
Paul integrates indicative verbs (those indicating facts) with imperative verbs (those that demand
something of the reader). Many scholars have recognized the importance of this grammatical
relationship for Paul and have explored its significance. The interplay between indicative and
imperative moods of the same verb within a passage expresses the logical connection between
what one believes and the way one lives. For Paul, the transformed life is the moral result of our
participation in Christ's work and helps to validate our public confession that he is indeed God's
Christ and creation's Lord.

Paul's ethical teaching embodies a monotheistic faith. There is a morality that pervades all of
creation, because there is one Creator. The work of grace is inside out, so that private matters of
the heart are always fleshed out in the public actions of the body. Behind this moral integration
of ones private and public lifestyles stands the more encompassing spiritual integration of the
visible and invisible worlds. The existence of moral rules is so because they are all in accordance
with the moral goodness of God.

The second emphasis of Pauline ethics is discerned from the literary structure of his epistles.
This establishes the importance of the Christological foundation of all his ethical teachings. This
foundational conviction of the moral life recalls the central importance of Christ's lordship for
the community's obedient response to God's will. Thus, holiness in life constitutes the central
moral reality of the new life; and he envisages it practically in various codes of Christian
conduct, as a life in Christ.

The third emphasis of Pauline ethics is the logical structure, which is vital in understanding the
relationship between Christ and God. Paul envisions this critical phrase in your life is now hidden
with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). If doing God's will has a Christological foundation, it has a
theological aim: to bring glory and pleasure to God. Thus, the new life is provided with content
by the knowledge of "the image of its Creator" (Col. 3:10) and its incentive by the community's
call as "God's chosen people" (Col. 3:12).

Through St. Paul, one may realize that to know codes of right conduct without having the moral
capacity to act on them gets them nowhere. The moral issue, then, is not whether one complies
with some prescribed code but whether one is the sort of person who is able to be moral. For St.
Paul, if one has a moral character, then one will act morally. Paul's ethical teaching flows
from a moral vision rather than moral rules.

For Paul, morality is being in Christ, which nurtures the capacity to see the things above.
Without being in Christ, the faith community has neither the right goals nor the transformed
character sufficient to pursue God's goals. His claim is that in Christ, men not only are forgiven
and redeemed by God but are also transformed into new persons, capable of knowing and doing
the will of God.

Finally, the deeper logic of St. Pauls ethics the principle that: in Christ, men expect victory
over sin, since through Christ, men now have the capacity to obey God. Christ's faithfulness
has already resulted in God's triumph over humanity's sin and death. Christ's future return, then,
marks the in-breaking of God's heavenly triumph upon earth; the future manifestation of glory
will be the full realization of what God has promised the covenanted community on earth, within
history and within its transformed life.