We come at last to consider briefly what the two writers have to say about the inner sources of ethical motivation and behaviour, and the relationship between these inner dynamics and the writers' overall theologico-ethical perspectives.

Matthew

We note first the absence in Matthew of any developed doctrine of the Spirit as a moral force in the life of the disciple. Though he has twice as many references to the Spirit as Mark (Mt.: 12 Mk.: 6), the majority relate to Christology (1.18, 20; 4.1*; 12.18, 28, 31*, 32) and reflect the Old Testament view of the Spirit as a special endowment of power upon a chosen individual for a divinely appointed mission – in this case, usually upon Jesus as the anointed Messiah. Only three texts suggest a link between the Spirit and the disciple's life; two of them occur in the context of statements about ‘baptism’ (3.11*; 28.19 – both of which are problematic) and the third (10.19f*) reflects exceptional circumstances that exclude it from being considered as normative for daily life. In any case, none of them makes any specific reference to ethics generally. This absence of any explicit link between ethics and the Spirit and the fact that Matthew deals with ethical matters almost wholly apart from reference to the Spirit may imply that the two remain largely unintegrated in his thinking.