6 - How, for Paul, Should Life ‘in Christ’ Be Lived?

Summary

The question of how we should live is a perennial concern. Immanuel Kant asked ‘What ought I to do?’ as the second of three questions crucial to humanity. This what-to-do question belongs, he says, to ethics. The first question, ‘What can I know?’, Kant gives to metaphysics, and the third, ‘What may I hope?’, to religion. However, when it comes to helping people resolve their questions about how to live, religions are only too happy to spend more time on ethics than on hope. Indeed, among the functions religions carry out assiduously is telling their adherents how they should behave. Moreover, religious edicts range wider than ethics: they encompass religious practices, social relations, and civic duties. The answers to ‘what must I do religiously?’ set out the qualities of a virtuous life, but they are also intended to create and express distinctive identity, to reinforce what our group does as opposed to other groups.