Hungarian Church Press, 1968 (20. évfolyam, 2. szám)

1968-06-01 / 2. szám

KÖP Vol XX Speoial Number - 65

1968 No 2

self even for the sinner who does not know anything about him (Remans 5:6),

This fact of God's grace is not deducible from the Law., and so the free..grace and love of God revealed in Jesus Christ make us free from the Law, We can ml. assess tho profound practical significance cf this teaching in the ethics cf cur everyday life if we consider to what extent and in what minute details the ésy.yday life of Israel was determined and bound ty the precepts of the Law, If I'u i. says that we, by Christ, are delivered from the Law, this also means that the difference established by the Mosaio Covenant and law between Israel and the . Gentiles no longer exists. The more specific we are in contemplating the c< nee-, quences of this teaching in Paul's congregations and in his days, the clearer shall we perceive the prophetic character of Paul's doctrine of justification and of his whole theology,

^ ,

f) Action in the Freedom of Love

i "■ ,

Paul's doctrine of justification issues in a new ethics of specifically prophetic character. Precisely because of its revolutionary novelty, thir. ethic ha’s often béen misunderstood and distorted, Paul, like Jesus, concentrates his ethic on a single point. The man believing in Jesus Christ has the sole obligation to love; to give practical expression to the love received from Christ, to the love which constrains him and impels him to love men in the way Christ loved them (Remans 5:5; 2 Cor 5:14), Like the ethic of Jesus,

yet in an entirely new manner, the commandment of love which is free from the ■ Law issues, according to Paul, in a concrete ethic. The follower cf Christ freely, yet%r love subjects himself to the various orders of human society.

It is in tins context that Paul ays that love is the fulfillment of the Law (Romans 13:8) and also that love does everything that, according to common sense, is good, right and honest (Philippians 4:8),

According to Paul, the obedience to the commandment of love might issue, according to the various life^situations, in the most varied acts and patterns of behaviour. The first major decisions in terms cf this freedom cf love, according to Paul's intentions, took place ai the apostolic synod in Jerusalem* According to Paul, the apostles agree that both Jews and Gentiles are justified by faith in Jesus Christ, and hénce they all are free from ti e Law by Christ, The Gentile Christians, therefore, must not be bound by Mosaic Law, while the Jewish Christians, out of love to and solidarity with their nn people, might continue to keep the precepts of the Law, Under this ruling tr.ro essentially divergent life patterns of Christianity developed and this subsequently caused very serious problems,t This is well illustrated by Peter's conduct who in Antioch, among Gentile Christians, was free from the customs of the Law, while in Jerusalem, even Paul kept the Law in deference to his people (Galatians 2:11 sqq).

This flexibility Of love's freedom in Paul's ethic has often been regarded as lack of principles or ethical indifferent ism or conservatism for it impels one to accept the given circumstances rather than to change them, ,