Walking in the Spirit: A Study of Paul's Teaching on the Spi...

This book is a reproduction of the author's PhD thesis on the topic "Walking in the Spirit: A Study of Paul's Teaching on the Spirit and Ethics in Galatians 5:13-6:10." The book begins by noting that Paul's ethics presented in Galatians is often viewed as an exclusively Spirit-focused way of life. T... Read more

This book is a reproduction of the author's PhD thesis on the topic "Walking in the Spirit: A Study of Paul's Teaching on the Spirit and Ethics in Galatians 5:13-6:10." The book begins by noting that Paul's ethics presented in Galatians is often viewed as an exclusively Spirit-focused way of life. The expression commonly used to portray that notion is the all-sufficiency of the Spirit whereby the inner motivation of the Spirit is perceived as the central basis for moral guidance without reference to the law. It is claimed that with the coming of the Spirit the law has been rendered superfluous and therefore the Christian's personal attentiveness to its instructions is not necessary. While there is a sense in which the Spirit can be understood as an all-sufficient principle adequate to accomplish God's purposes, to view the ethics of Galatians as an exclusively Spirit-focused way of life is not only to marginalise the place of the law as presented in the text but also to underestimate the role of the human agency in terms of the believer's co-operation required for appropriate Christian living. Without seeking to undermine the priority Paul places on the role of the Spirit in the believer, this book argues that the ethics of Galatians involves a well-structured Spirit/believer co-operation lived within the framework of the law. In developing the thesis the author draws on Paul's distinctive use of the sowing metaphor language in the text (5:22-23; 6:7-8). Just as the Spirit bears its fruit in believers (5:22-23) as the result of its 'sowing' into their lives at the beginning of their Christian journey, so believers are required to 'sow' to the Spirit (6:8) continually thereafter. This reciprocity is a distinct concept in Galatians and is the basis of the Spirit/human co-operation Paul's ethics in the letter calls for. Paul uses the terminology of 'sowing to the Spirit' as the summary expression of the various imperatives he orders his readers to pay attention to in relation to their walk in the Spirit. This book concludes by drawing attention to the dangers of any Christian spirituality that is grounded in a too exclusively Spirit-focused interpretation of Paul's ethics as though life in the Spirit can be conceived of as spiritual floating in the air and being moved by the Spirit without the believer's personal attentiveness. The book also suggests that the ethics of Galatians does not exclude the law as a moral resource for Christian living. To the contrary the Spirit works in harmony with the law. The law is there to serve as a resource by which the Spirit-led pattern of behaviour can be accurately tested and such a lifestyle can be said to be truly in conformity with God's standard. Show less