Barrier to Moral Living According to Paul: Living in Terms of the Body and the Arrogance Caused by It

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 * PhD Student in Comparative Religions studies, University of Religions and Denominations, Qom, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Abrahamic Religions, University of Religions and Denominations, Qom, Iran

3 Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic Wisdom and Theology, Shahīd Bihishtī University, Tehran, Iran

4 Associate Professor, Department of History and Civilization of Islamic Nations, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Paul's ethics is virtue-oriented ethics. Paul's virtues, namely faith, hope and love, are virtues that God has given to man. According to him, one who believes in Christ will be transformed from within and his life will be moral. Given the sinful nature, man lives in terms of the body before faith, and it is not possible for him to change and transcend. Human nature, without the grace of God, is caught up in carnal desires. According to Paul, the condition of moral living is having faith and living up to the spirit, and the barrier of moral living is unbelief and living up to the flesh.
The important thing to consider is that someone may have had faith but not been released from the body, and therefore their physical and spiritual lives are in conflict. Among the vices caused by living in terms of the flesh, arrogance is the most important obstacle to moral living, because it makes man think that what God has given him is his own and that he has earned it by his own merit. The one who becomes arrogant considers himself needless of God's grace and is under delusion of being knowledgeable and will not be able to live morally. In this article, using the descriptive-analytical method, Paul's view of life in terms of the body and the arrogance caused by it as a barrier to moral living is explained.

Keywords

References

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Religious Research
Volume 8, Issue 15 - Serial Number 15
September 2020
Pages 81-104

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