Righteousness is not Optional.
1Co 7:19 For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.
However, The Spirit is central to Pauls Ethics.
First because there is no such thing as SALVATION in CHRIST, that does not include righteousness on the part of God's People. The Gift of the Spirit promised by Jesus has both rendered Torah observance obsolete and made possible the fulfillment of the righteous requirement of the Law.
Luk 24:48 You are witnesses of these things.
Luk 24:49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."
Luk 24:49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."
Act 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
The goal of Torah, Gods own righteousness reflected in His People, is precisely what the Holy Spirit can do , which the Torah observance could not do.
Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
Rom 8:3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
Rom 8:4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Rom 8:3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
Rom 8:4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
This is the Crux of things as regards the Ethics of the Spirit.
Only God and His Character are the matters that are absolute, all others are non-essential.
Note Rom 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
How do the Observants of certain Religious Practices, live together as one People of God with those who do not keep those practices? Do they speak with One Voice to glorify God? Food and drink are not what counts but righteousness, peace and oy in the Holy Spirit.
People are not saved by doing right things or acts - that is unthinkable since righteousness is the Product of the Spirits empowering, not a requirement of obedience in order to get in. Both being saved and staying in are the Work of the Spirit of God. So the Spirit is essential to Paul's Ethics and is all by the Spirit's Empowering.
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