Michael Parsons Being Precedes Act : Indicative and Imperative in Paul ' s Writing

The relationship between the indicative and the imperative in Paul's writing is sometimes and understandably seen as the basic structure of his ethics.1 By 'indicative' we have in mind the fact that the new life in Christ is a work of God; it finds its origin in the death and resurrection of the Lord and comes into being through the work of the Holy Spirit. The believer is thus a new creation; a member of Christ; a temple of the Holy Spirit; he is regenerated, and so on. By 'imperative' we mean that the apostle also indicates that the new life thus given is to be continually manifested and worked out by the Christian Believer. T. J. Keegan2 suggests too much in expressing the relationship as 'a tension-producing opposition'; yet it is true that there is inherent in the relationship of the 'is' and 'ought' statements3 a problem posed for readers of Pauline correspondence. To put this in the words of Stanley Hauerwas may usefully begin our discussion. He says; ' ... it is not clear ... how the "indicatives" of the faith--God has done X and Y for you-provide the rationale or justi1)r the imperatives: Do this X and Y. To put it concretely, there seems to be a problem