Sunday Sermons
Christian Ethics
Even though people through the centuries have not served God or even acknowledged Him, mankind has still sought to hold on to some standard of right and wrong, good and evil. Some have argued that the good is the happiness of the individual, and others have contended that the good is the happiness of the greatest number. Of course, both answers are wrong. The Bible reveals that God and the good are inseparable considerations. Serving God and devotion to the good of our fellowman are not separate possibilities; rather they are the first and second great commandments (Matthew 22:37-39). Or, as the Holy Spirit said through James, “This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:27). Jesus inherently linked Himself with what is good, when He noted that helping a brother in need is in fact nothing less than helping Him, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me” (Matthew 25:40). “Genuine ethics is theonomous, the good is God-formed. Pure religion is ethical; biblical Theism requires the love and service of one’s fellow man as an essential expression of the service of God. The ethics of Divine revelation stands against speculative ethics by exhibiting the good as the will of God alone and by insisting upon a holy neighbor love as an essential expression of love for God” (Christian Personal Ethics, Carl F.H. Henry, p. 165). All man-made ethical systems invariably run into a conflict between how the individual feels at the moment with the interests of those around him. But with Christianity right and wrong are determined not by the constantly changing feelings of the individual nor the changing feelings is of the masses, rather such things are rooted in the very nature of God. Peter put it this way, “But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘You shall be holy for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15-16). Henry accurately noted, “It is God who demands the moral life, not merely the moral life that demands God” (p. 191).
The Unity of God’s Ethics
In Galatians 5:22 Paul speaks of the “fruit” of the Spirit, and not the fruits of the Spirit.
”These gifts constitute one inseparable, coherent harvest of Christian graces. No one of them can flourish without the others. Displace love with hatred, and see how incongruous the entire list becomes. In the place of the word joy the term pessimism, and see how absurd the whole aspect of the passage appears. Or substitute conflict for peace, impatience for longsuffering, cruelty for kindness, and see how the beauty of the entire picture is hopelessly marred. The Christian virtues all cohere in a harmonious whole. One is not lifted up at the expense of another; they do not work against each other” (Henry pp. 475-476,474). Ethical systems that men invent tend to be situational, that is right and wrong are governed by the feelings of the moment or the situation. The mistake of trying to apply this sort of theory to Christianity is that God’s ethics are not to vary from individual to individual, rather any Christian in any culture or age who follows the teachings of the Spirit, ends up with the same fruit (Galatians 5:16,18). When the Holy Spirit is obeyed, the result is not that one Christian bears one type of fruit while his brother bears something different. Now our feelings, the feelings of society, or what is convenient, may often have to take a back seat to God’s ethics, for the overriding mandate in any given situation is, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).
The Consistency of God’s Ethics
Christianity is the best guarantee against becoming ethically one-sided. Whether it is how we treat others, virtue in the home, respect for the purity of others, the teachings of the same Spirit govern all these realms, “be holy yourselves also in all your behavior” (1 Peter 1:15). Human ethical systems often make the mistake of trying to construct a hierarchy of values. “This struggle is one every system of ethics faces when it tries to determine ethical values apart from God. Such a system must find some philosophic glue to prevent the lack of inner unity of values from working itself out in disastrous tension. For Christianity, the virtues reflect interdependence as well as inner purity. It is not a series of graces, from which one may make a selection, and develop those that accord with his personal preference, while neglecting the others” (Henry p. 475). What this means is that the whole premise of any situational ethic is wrong, that is, that one ethic can be played against another. In contrast to human ethical theories, Christianity moves as a complete system where no moral is abandoned (Romans 13:8-10; James 2:11 “For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery’, also said.”). Thus, the ethics that God has given are useful in every situation, including one’s thought processes (Philippians 4:8), marriage (1 Peter 3:7), business dealings and work ethic (Ephesians 6:5ff).
The Uniqueness of God’s Ethics
Various writers have attempted to downplay the differences between Christianity and other religions and have sought to argue that the moral standard revealed in the Bible is just about the same as the moral standard in other religions. Henry rightly observes that while other religions mention justice, they have no concept of justification or God’s final justice. They might speak of right reason but it is reasoning apart from God’s revelation. “Benevolence, yet short of agape love; politeness, a respect for the feelings and social position of others (but lacking respect for God), truthfulness, yet stranger to the Truth; honor, emphasizing the dignity of man and discounting his rebellion; patience, meekness, loyalty, self-control, are all the result of stringent discipline but no new birth” (Henry p. 474).
· Love:
“No treatment of the virtues our Lord taught is adequate which does not assign first place to love” (Henry p. 482). Paul noted,“But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). Jesus noted that all of God’s commands are fulfilled by love of God and neighbor (Matthew 22:37f), that is, true love will always fulfill God’s law(Romans 13:10). Yet many people in our culture probably do not view love as a moral ethic, rather to them it is a feeling. “The world of antiquity (much like our modern world) knew only eros or philos love, which reached out to its object for the ultimate benefit of the lover. Jesus Christ introduced a unique love, the absolute giving of one’s self unto death for the sake of others. He needed nothing from them to fill some essential lack in Himself; He was not antecedently obligated to them; indeed, they had done despite to Him and were alienated from Him” (Henry p. 486). I know that the world talks about love and so do many religions and human ethical systems, but one simple verse will reveal that their definition of love is extremely shallow, for no matter how much people talk about love, it cannot compare with, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16). In fact, the Holy Spirit will actually give us a true definition of love (verses all the false or inadequate definitions that exist), “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us” (1 John 3:16). The problem with the “love” found in human religions: “Is that it reaches out to an object for the sake of what that object can bring to the subject. It springs, therefore, from a deficiency in the subject that requires remedy. But agape love is dramatically dissimilar. Agape is bestowed on the object for the sake of the object, and not for a benefit that the object can bring to the lover. It reaches even to an object that can bring no benefit, indeed when the object is a stranger, worse yet an enemy” (Henry p. 486). The love revealed in the Bible is not sentimental, impractical, or dependent upon our mood, rather it is the moral ought behind our actions, “He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16); “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11).
In no other ethical system is motive so essential as in Christianity. In fact, I often do not even hear motive mentioned at all when people are praised in our modern culture for doing some great thing. Yet in the Bible, even the greatest miraculous abilities were pointless without love (1 Corinthians 13:1). “Not only the highest gift of prophecy which grasps the mysteries of heaven by revelation, but also omnipotent faith which bridges mountains, is without value if it lacks love; it then has no ethical significance. Even acts of self-sacrifice which do not proceed from love have no eternal significance” (Henry p. 485). Jesus noted the same truth (Matthew 6:1). Along with motive is the unique ethic that motive must be 100% pure. A heart that tells the truth but does not completely love the truth will not pass God’s test. It is not enough to abstain from evil, one must also abstain from fantasizing about evil (Matthew 5:28), or complaining about God’s restrictions. In commenting upon Philippians 4:8, Henry notes, “The true values were to hold the center. Everything real, venerable, upright, unstained, dear, high-toned—this was to be the object of contemplation, action and praise” (p. 491). Thus, a unique ethic in Christianity is that the heart or mind cannot be divided, that faith is a moral ethic. Anything else than complete trust in God is not acceptable as being good (Matthew 6:22-25,33). Notice that in this section, the eye that is bad is the heart that is divided.
· Humility:
“To non-Christian ethics, humility appears to be self-degradation and servility. This is because of an antecedent arrogance of spirit, a refusal to acknowledge the proper boundaries of human dignity, a reluctance to confess one’s proper status in relation to the living God” (Henry p. 483). When God is removed from any ethical system, and especially when man is told that he is actually a god in the making, any teaching concerning pride or humility is meaningless.
· Hope:
When people think of ethics they typically do not imagine that hope fits into that category. But hope is an ethic just like faith and love (1 Corinthians 13:13). Hope for the Biblical writers was a moral idea, for the entire goal, the final end, is conformity to Christ(Galatians 5:5).
· Joy:
Yes, joy is also an ethic, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy..” (Galatians 5:22). “The joy that is based merely on human happiness is a fleeting reality. While natural joy is almost universal among human beings in some degree---gladness, contentment, satisfaction, mirth, cheerfulness, exultation—as a temporary escape from the pressures of life, yet only the believer can know deep moral joy (Philippians 4:4; 1 Peter 1:8 “you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory”). This is joy found in every circumstance, even in the midst of suffering (James 1:2). It is the joy of personal spiritual growth, the joy of overcoming, and the joy that comes from realizing that one has glorified God in the moment (Acts 5:41).
· Peace:
Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not a the world gives” (John 14:27). I know that many unbelievers claim to be at peace, “the peace that the world has apart from God in Christ is a delusive pseudo-peace which explodes sooner or later into emptiness and vanity, for it does not competently challenge the forces of evil. All peace predicated outside of Christ is foredoomed to disillusionment and judgment” (Henry p. 497).
