In Part I we saw that the theological context of the christian imperative is the understanding which Paul and his addressees have of themselves as the eschatological holy People of God, the People of the New Covenant, in which the prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezechiel have been brought to fulfilment with the sending of the Holy Spirit—God’s Spirit and the Spirit of Christ—into the hearts of its members.^p.104

“In Part II, Chapter 1 we saw that it is precisely the activity of the Spirit in the core of the believers…” that constitutes their new existence and at the same time places them “…under obligation to yield to the activity of the Spirit.”^p.104

In Part II, Chapter 2 we saw that this entails a radical self-relinquishment and a reorientation of one’s whole existence to the other: which is what Paul means by agapê. The holiness of the New Covenant community—that which constitutes is as such—is agapê…^p.104

Updated 2009-10-18 (build:61) by Andrew Fountain