Should Christians be Moral?

Morality is concerned with or adhering to the code of interpersonal behavior that is considered right or acceptable in a particular society. Basically morality is the attempt of humanity to justify itself before God and others.

But a Christian ethic is an ethic of the cross. It is an ethic about death – the end of striving to be moral and the beginning of righteousness.

Morality does not require death. We can be good, upright, moral people without the cross. But the problem is not that we are not good, it is that we are fallen and cast out of the presence of God.

In fact, Genesis 3 lists “striving for good” as a sign of our fallen state. Martin Luther said that the issue in ethics is not “the move from vice to virtue, it’s the move from both vice and virtue to righteousness.” Our problem is not that we are immoral, but that we are moral.

Being “good” does not repair our relationship with God and others. Christian ethics is an ethics of righteousness, and righteousness is fundamentally a relational category, not a moral category. Righteousness depends not on effort but on who we are related to.

Christian ethics begin with relationship, not keeping moral codes. Loving God and neighbor is Christian ethics. This is what God designed and created us to do. In the fall we lost our ability to be human – to do what we were created to do. Sin at its essence is separation – from God and others.

In being separate from God, we now know good and evil; in knowing good and evil we are compelled to make moral decisions in order to justify ourselves.

That is why the cross tells us that humanity must die. This is primarily and first the act of Jesus Christ, but it is important to view Christian ethics as a response to that act. To follow Christ, take up our cross, deny ourselves and to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to Him. Death with Christ is the way to life with Christ and apart from death there is no righteousness. 

The goal of Christianity is not to produce moral people. Following Christ is about relationship not about rules and regulations. It is not about adhering to lists or following certain formulas or simply trying to convince people to stop drinking, smoking or gambling.

Christianity is about helping people connect with the life-giving presence of God and to enter into that covenant relationship and beginning to live in ways that help to maintain that relationship. 

Comments

[George P. Wood]

But Paul, if religion is about relationship not rules, why does Jesus give so many rules in the New Testament? Why Paul? Why James and the other writers? Paul wrote: "Love does no harm to its neighbors; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law." This seems to suggest that there might be a connection between relationships and rules. Indeed, the commandments to love God wholeheartedly and to love neighbor as self are, well, rules. Your points about legalism are well-made and well-taken, but come on, no rules whatsoever? How about the right rules?

[Paul Stewart]

George - always the contrarian. I knew this post would draw out a comment from you!

I agree, loving God and neighbor is what God designed and created us to do. In the fall we didn't just lose our morals, we lost our ability to be human; to do what we were created to do. We lost relationship with God and others and this cannot be repaired by a simple formula or by following a moral code.

Even in the Old Testament the law is given after the election and deliverance from Egypt (Ex 2:23), so the law was never about earning a relationship with God. It is about living out relationship with God. The law refers to the divine standard for the conduct of the people of God. It provides the framework for righteousness to occur – but as the Pharisees discovered, just to adhere to the law does not make one righteous.

So for the Christian justification is the foundation of ethics – what Christ did on the cross gives us the ability to be ethical people. Sanctification is growing in righteous response to that work.

Christian ethics then is the conduct that maintains the established relational ties.

The cross is the end of human striving and morality. We can’t live according to our own knowledge of good and evil. That “Adam” had to and has to be put to death. That work was done by Jesus on the cross and also a work we participate in through following Him.

The Law is a part of God’s grace. It is telling people how to live in relationship and in freedom (Ps. 119).

So there is a VITAL connection between relationship and rules, but one that unfortunately many people are unaware of or forget about.

[George P. Wood]

I can't disagree with that!

[Tory]

Not only did you rock the house on this but you got GPW to nearly agree. I am going to re post this because I think it is a great thought.

Enjoy the new Sigur Ros

[George P. Wood]

Tory:

Nearly agree? Geez, I've got some bad rep on the whole contrarian thing. Speaking of which, I'm starting a new weekly column at AGThinkTank.com called "The Contrarian Pastor." It'll run on Fridays, beginning Friday, July 4th. The inaugural column will be, "Yes, Virginia; This Really Is a Christian Nation." It ought to be, uh, contrarian. Other ideas for the column include, "Who Would Jesus Torture?"; "Religious, Not Spiritual"; "Two Cheers for Organized Religion"; and "Do We Really Need Another Revival?"

George

[Phillip Santillan]

"Christian ethics then is the conduct that maintains the established relational ties."

In that I think it sums it up. Great post!