A Christian Ethical System Defined
A Christian ethical system defined
The hardened atheist will make much a song and dance out of the fact that they do not view the Christian ethic as superior to their own. It has been said on occasion by various out spoken ones that there is nothing worse than the ethical system which the Holy Triune God has set before us in His Holy Word:
"You do not need religion to be a good and morally acceptable person. we are our moral compass."
And so the Atheist will tout something similar to this thought. While not intending to refute this statement; but simply to show the thinking of most Atheists on this point is pretty similar in nature. I would say that they can be very upstanding most of the time. But this is not the point. The truth is that we not dealing morality for moralities sake; but the true morality or the Christian ethic over against a pragmatic ever changing ideal that can not be justified in any sense. Who is to say one Atheists view point is any more or less important than another? How can he say that his view is any better or any worse than Hitler's when they both use the same frame of thinking? the betterment of society.
Now we shall consider what scriptures teach as the only ethic that matters because it comes from God; and therefore, it is an objective standard.
Biblical Teaching
Morals as defined by the bible starts right from the beginning when God told Adam and Eve to not eat from the one tree; that being the tree of knowledge of good and evil. However, we choose to understand that statement is not the issue at this time; but simply the fact that it is God who defines what is good and evil and not us. He gives a command to his creation and it becomes morally binding upon all who are to live in His world. And this reality is further refined by the fact that outlaws certain acts as being sinful in character and deed. Let us note the ten word of command; they are not simple suggestion but are commands which hold consequences. one can think of them as being statement which do two things (1) they reveals our very inherent sinfulness. (2) they prohibit us from doing those thing which are outside the boundary of His will.
But this moral standard is laid down in these all important statements as found in Exodus 20; we read:
(i) you shall have no other God before me. (ii) you shall make yourself an idol. (iii) you shall not take the name of the Lord in vain. (iv) remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy. (v) Honour your Father and Mother. (vi) you shall not murder. (vii) you shall not commit adultery. (viii) you shall not steal. (xi) you shall not bear false witness against your neighbour. (x) you shall not covet.
Now the thing that we must understand is that these statement though short and concise; each of them packs a lot of things in them. Let me give an example of what I mean by this: "you shall not commit adultery." On the the face of it, we appear to be concerned with one act only and while it does speak of that particular act, there is no limit prescribed to it. The Greek term which the New testament uses when referring to it speaks in more of a range. it can also refer to any sexual acts outside of marriage: both before and during. It applies to other sexually related acts such as homosexuality and paedophilia and even porn. But the New Testament gives something more to consider when speaking of this matter: it is not only a physical issue; it is an issue of the heart.
Take note of the following sections as representatives of the whole:
You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny. (Matt. 5:21-26)
And also this one:
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. “Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery. (Matt. 5: 27-32)
In these two examples, we find that the Law is given a more robust understanding than simply the surface level reading which we have already pointed out. So Adultery and murder simply do not refer to a physical act; but an internal desire which leads to those acts. A man has to be given away to a wrong kind of frame of thinking in order that these illicit thoughts turn into harmful and dangerous act. James 1 says this: "But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death." (vs 14-15). The point is clear: that all men are to see that only the Lord Himself defines what is right or wrong; not man. I know man will like to think he can sit in judgement on God and believe he has the right to do so; but in the end, all that proves is that man is in reality condemning himself and not God. Think about it, by what standard is to judge God? He has none.
Biblical Application
Having considered the biblical teaching on this issue of morality; we now turn to the application. Does the bible provide us with a frame work which can be put into effect? Yes, it does. And it is the only one that matters in the long run. Let us note what we are told in the following section: "Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good." (Rm. 12: 9) And as I have already said it is God who define what is good and evil just as it is God who created one baby a male or a female; and we as his creation simply confirm that reality. And God has told us clear what constitutes an action being wicked and evil or pure and good. And He does so in His Hold Word. We know what takes place when man seeks to define something on his own basis from recent history and it always falls under the words of Isaiah 5:20 "they call good evil and evil good."
Let us consider two passage which speak to the matter of morality:
Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honour to whom honour. (Rm. 13:1-7)
These words are very precise on their point: even as Christian we must obey the authority for the simple reason that they are "minister of God (vs. 4a)" who are carrying out His will to His glory. And there is no secular state as it is often assume; because everything belongs to God and working in accords to His sovereign rule and will. And this is a point which is picked up elsewhere in the Holy Word:
Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honour all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king. (1 Peter 2: 13-17)
Like Paul, Peter likewise makes this point clear that we must obey the authority of the Land we are pilgrims of. And we must do it willingly and with sincerity. And we are given a good reason for this obedience: "as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good." (vs.14b). A simple and straightforward command. But is it always going to be? what happens when the government tries to enforce something which goes against your conscience which is bind by scripture? In such a case as the sexual revolution and L. G. B. T agenda. must we go along with such perversions. The Answer is No.
When it comes to these kinds of society degradations we must stand on the biblical principle that the Apostle demonstrated in the face of hostile witness: "we must obey God rather than man." (Acts 5: 29) And we can go through the whole book of Acts and see this principle being worked out in every situation; it would have been much easier to say 'you know your right a little compromise here and there may well be a good thing.' No, they were resilient in what they believed and held to as were the reformers; who like these great men held to scriptural truth alone. And we must as well. Think of those words from Francis Shaeffer when he said in escape from reason that,
“People today are trying to hang on to the dignity of man, but they do not know how to, because they have lost the truth that man is made in the image of God. . . . We are watching our culture put into effect the fact that when you tell men long enough that they are machines, it soon begins to show in their actions. You see it in our whole culture -- in the theater of cruelty, in the violence in the streets, in the death of man in art and life.”
Or when he said in whatever happened to the human race, the following:
If man is not made in the image of God, nothing then stands in the way of inhumanity. There is no good reason why mankind should be perceived as special. Human life is cheapened. We can see this in many of the major issues being debated in our society today: abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, the increase of child abuse and violence of all kinds, pornography... , the routine torture of political prisoners in many parts of the world, the crime explosion, and the random violence which surrounds us.”
In other words, the biblical ethic in action is the recognition that God is our created; and he alone defines what is right and wrong. And we are his creature who bear witness to his goodness because we are created in His very image.
Biblical Example
If you want an example of what the biblical ethic looks like in practice; then we can look no further than our Lord Jesus Christ. Of whom the Old Testament has a lot of important information which help build up a clear picture. Let us note two example: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken hearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;" (Isa. 61:1) And then we have this: "There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." (Isaiah 11:1-2) There we have fullness of His ethical out look: positively he would be a redeemer and negatively he would be a judge. And both are necessary realities to understand.
Let us notice something that John MacArthur states on the ethic of the king:
So Matthew has been presenting to us all of the credentials of King Jesus. Beginning now in chapter 5 of Matthew, the King speaks. He brings His message. He presents the incomparable sermon that is known as the Sermon on the Mount. And it gives us His standard, the ethics of the King, the standards for all of those who would be a part of His kingdom. To put it another way, how to get into His kingdom, how to become a subject of this King. It contains the law, the standards, the requirements for all who would be under His sovereign rule. And His standards, so clearly given in this portion of Scripture, do not agree with the current religious standards of His time or of any other time. In fact, He takes the highest and noblest of man’s religion, Judaism, the Judaism of His own time, and literally dismantles it. He shows how inadequate it is. Even man’s religion at best, even man’s religion that is somehow wed to the Old Testament falls woefully short.
And so we see from the starting point of Christ's first public teaching that He set the bar of His standard to an impossible point for man in and of himself to ever achieve. He say you must be perfect as the Father is; and that your living must be above even that of the Pharisee. And why does he tell us these things? Because God accepts nothing less than perfection; and it is the perfection that only His blessed Son exhibited that was pleasing before Him. Now this ultimately leads to some discussion on how this would ever be achieved by the sinner man in this life. The simple answer to that is left to Himself he falls short; and because of that, we are now inundated with false religions and philosophies which essentially teach the same thing that man can attain the impossible if you follow these rule or if do these ritual and so and so forth. The problem there is they know it in their heart of heart that it never works.
But in Christ we have the most important example for the biblical ethic, we are told the following:
Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches. And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honour your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)—then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.” (Mark 7: 1-13)
Now in this paragraph we see how the Lord Himself holds up a higher stand as his ethical system that He abides by. And that must be our example too. Let us be sure to understand that before Christ went to the cross that the punishments that were apart of the command were in full effect; and that is really why he quotes it as such. Now after the cross there is no need for the punishment as it was done away with through Christ's atonement. But nonetheless the commandment is still uphold in the New Testament for the 2nd table of the Law is often quoted by the Apostles in such places as Ephesians 6:1-4 and Colossians 3: 18-21. And being disobedient to your parents is warned against in Romans 1: 28-32 and 2 Timothy 3: 1-5; but here is the most damning warning given in 1 Timothy 1 where the it is said that the Law was not given for the righteous but those who do abominable thing; and would you know that one of the things is "those who kill their fathers and mother." (vs.9)
Do you see the point? Christ's ethic stands apart from all other because it is transcendent in its origin coming fam God.