The Relationship between Paul's Ethics and Aristotelian Virtues Ethics

To Aristotle and Paul, the subject of ethics deals with the answer to the question as to how one should be, not what one should do. In the eyes of each of them, ethics is concerned with virtues, not with actions. Consequently, both of them consider the idea that ethics is a set of standards of behavior that has been replaced by expounding the idea of one’s self. However, the difference between Paul’s principles and Aristotle's principles lessens the possibility of identifying the ideas of of these two thinkers and producing one ethical theory. First, Paul’s ethical theory is based on three principles: faith, hope and love. Aristotle stresses on four virtues: justice, wisdom, courage and moral purity, each of which has several epistemological outcomes in the field of ethics. Second, the emphasis of Paul’s ethics on the role of grace in man’s happiness on one hand, and the different definition of virtue and the emphasis of Aristotle’s ethics on the epistemological role of practical philosophy, on the other hand, highlight the mentioned difference. Despite the fact that Greek culture has exerted influence on Paul’s theology, prescription of his ethical standards is by no means dependent on Aristotelian virtues. The discussion in the present paper is centered on such subjects like Aristotle’s definition of virtues, investigating the general coordinates of Paul's ethics, reviewing the three mentioned principles in his epistles and underlying its difference with Aristotle's ethics.