Holy Spirit's Role In Moral Ethics Via Luke & Paul

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Transformative Role of the Spirit in Moral Ethics as Presented by Luke and Paul Deborah Lein INTRODUCTION Definition of Ethics Christian ethics as a branch of philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions, has been examined extensively with an overabundance of literature being produced regarding it. Furnish, however, provides a worthwhile caution regarding Pauline ethics, but is just as apropos for all the New Testament writers, that though Paul does instruct and advise his readers, it is almost always done on an as needed basis for each specific situation. Furnish says that ‘no single practical ethical pattern or “Christian code of conduct” is ever promulgated.’1 The warning is to prevent attempts to collect the specific exhortations of the New Testament and gather them together into a comprehensive rule book for the Christian life. For the purposes of this paper we will not attempt to compile and provide commentary on all of Luke and Paul’s admonitions, but rather to explore ethics in connection with what Luke and Paul think about the Spirit’s function in the believer and how His work affects the Christian’s morality and way of life. Spirit’s Prior Work As we compare and contrast Luke and Paul’s writings and what it says implicitly about the Sprit’s work in relation to moral ethics, some presumed groundwork needs to be understood as recounted for us by Luke in his second book. Luke provides us the narrati ve of the Spirit’s work amongst the people who were converted and initiated into the new covenant life. Luke does not clearly articulate2 an understanding that Paul seems to have regarding the Spirit’s life-giving role.3 But all of Paul’s letters are addressed to those who have

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