The subject matter dealt with by an ethics of the New Testament is the question of how life was lived in the earliest Christian communities: what were the foundations, the support for, and the criteria and principles for this way of acting and living. In an age of uncertainty and drift, reconsideration of New Testament ethics seems especially urgent. Despite all the committees, synods, and reports dealing with ethical questions, there seems to be a substantial need for breathing space; once again, for example, we hear voices criticizing too much social action and insisting that what matters is not action but faith, as thought they were mutually exclusive.