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The Relation of Justification and Ethics in the Pauline Epistles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2009

J. F. Bottorff
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Extract

The aim of this essay is to come to an understanding of how Paul relates ethics to justification; but to begin with Paul's epistles themselves often lead one into categories of thought, especially in relation to ethics, that are used rather unconsciously and which presuppose at least certain types of answers. Any theologian who deludes himself into believing that he may begin studying a topic purely on the basis of the Greek text is almost surely doomed to repetition of past theological mistakes. Rather than ignore the influences and prejudices which operate in his thought patterns, the serious theologian must take cognisance of them as cornerstones for constructive thinking or reject them as too confining for fruitful thought. It is for this very reason that we must begin by looking at two representative thinkers of Catholic and Protestant theology in the field of ethics so that we may be aware of the traditional categories of thought that pervade the language and much of modern thought in ethics.

Type
Research Article
Information
Scottish Journal of Theology , Volume 26 , Issue 4 , November 1973 , pp. 421 - 430
Copyright
Copyright © Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 1973

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References

page 422 note 1 Lectures on Justification (J. G. & F. Rivington, London, 1838), pp. 34–35Google ScholarPubMed. Note that this was written before Newman became a Roman Catholic (1845), but it nevertheless expresses the classic Catholic viewpoint on justification and ethics.

page 422 note 2 Ibid., p. 58.

page 422 note 3 Cf. Ibid.

page 422 note 4 Ibid., pp. 318 and 348; cf. also Richardson, Alan, An Introduction to the Theology of the New Testament (S.C.M. Press, London, 1958), pp. 347–50.Google Scholar

page 422 note 5 Bligh, J., Galatians (St. Paul Publications, London, 1969), p. 205.Google Scholar

page 423 note 1 Brunner, Emil, The Divine Imperative (The Lutterworth Press, London, 1937), p. 80Google Scholar; cf. Brunner's, God and Man (S.C.M. Press, London, 1936), pp. 86–88Google Scholar; and Brunner's, The Mediator (The Lutterworth Press, London, 1934), pp. 618–19.Google Scholar

page 423 note 2 Ibid., God and Man, p. 86.

page 424 note 1 It is beyond the scope of this paper to present a formal critique of either position, but some criticism will occur implicitly in the body of this paper.

page 424 note 2 Cf. Käsemann, Ernst, New Testament Questions of Today (S.C.M. Press, London, 1969), p. 168Google Scholar; not all would agree at this point, notably e.g. Schweitzer, Albert, The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle (A. & C. Black, London, 1931), passimGoogle Scholar; but this is not the place to consider this issue.

page 425 note 1 It is necessary to emphasise righteousness as power for the purposes of this essay. There is no implication intended that righteousness as relationship to God is of any less significance; rather the very power of righteousness must be seen in terms of its ability to create the proper relationship between God and man. Righteousness is δύναμις because it is in a prior sense relational.

page 426 note 1 Op. cit., p. 175.

page 426 note 2 Cf. Barrett, C. K., The Pastoral Epistles (Clarendon Press, London, 1963), p. 24.Google Scholar

page 427 note 1 Cf. Bultmann, Rudolf, Theology of the New Testament, vol. I (S.C.M. Press, London, 1952), pp. 324 and 337.Google Scholar

page 427 note 2 Cf. Ezek. 18.21–28.

page 427 note 3 Cf. Rom. 1.16; 3.22, 25; 4.24; 10.4; especially 11.20: σὺ δὲ τῃ̑ πίστει ἕστηκας; Gal. 2.16, 20; 3.11, 14; Eph2.8. Phil.; 3.9.

page 428 note 1 Cf. Furnish, Victor Paul, Theology and Ethics in Paul (Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1968), pp. 168f.Google Scholar

page 428 note 2 Ibid.

page 429 note 1 Ibid., p. 185.