50 Ethical Questions (eBook)

Thinking Ethically as a Christian

One afternoon, a minor incident presented me with a strong temptation to act unethically. I had driven to a small town near Kansas City for a guitar lesson and, afterward, walked from the guitar shop back across the street to get in my car. As I was putting my guitar in the backseat, my car’s partially opened door was caught by a gust of wind and blew all the way open, denting a brand-new minivan parked next to me, but doing no damage to my own vehicle.

What did I do? First, I looked around to see who was watching. Then I began to justify the incident by appealing to how common such an event is: “Everyone gets door dings. It’s just part of owning a car.” Then I began to blame the person driving the minivan: “They parked too close to me!” Then I began to grumble about life being full of problems: “Why did this happen to me? I’m a good guy!” This all sounds laughable now, and is even more so considering I’m an ethics professor!

I sat down in my car, ready to leave, and then remembered that even if no other human saw it, God saw me dent the van. I also realized my wife and children would be embarrassed of me if I drove away. Most painfully, the Holy Spirit was convicting me of the sin of avoiding responsibility for damaging someone else’s property. So, I waited. Soon, a beautiful family walked up and began to climb in the van. I got out, introduced myself to the dad, showed him the dent I’d put in his new minivan, and offered to have it repaired. He could not have been more gracious; he thanked me for pointing out the dent and then encouraged me not to worry about it.

In this book, I will address issues of much greater complexity than denting a stranger’s automobile. As we think through these issues, many of us are tempted to do what we think we can get away with—the equivalent of driving away. But Christians must not forget that ethical questions are fundamentally spiritual questions: the process of ethical reflection both affects and is affected by our relationship with Jesus Christ. More than merely giving the “right” answers on different issues, I hope this book will provide a framework that will help you to not just to think ethically but to draw closer to Christ.

Ethics can be defined as “the philosophical study of morality, which is concerned with our beliefs and judgments regarding right and wrong motives, attitudes, character, and conduct.”1 Christian ethics is the study of right and wrong in which the God of the Bible is taken as the ultimate source of moral authority, and it investigates moral questions and makes moral recommendations from the perspective of a Christian worldview. Before we address specific ethical questions, it is helpful to establish a few parameters for Christian ethical thinking.

The Bible Is God’s Word

Central to the Christian worldview is our understanding of the inspiration of Scripture. In 2 Timothy 3:16–17 Paul says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” The Bible is not just a book by men giving their opinions about God; the Bible is God-breathed, or inspired. The Holy Spirit inspired the writers to say just what he wanted them to say. God, “who is himself Truth,” speaks only truth, and the Bible has “infallible divine authority in all matters upon which it touches,” including ethics.2 When thinking about ethics, the most important question for the Christian is, “What, if anything, does the Bible say about the issue at hand?” The Bible is not just a resource for Christian ethics; it is our primary source through which all other sources are evaluated.

What do we do if the Bible doesn’t specifically address the issue we are considering? In these cases, we identify the moral issues at stake and find what biblical injunctions, prohibitions, or principles are applicable. For example, the Bible never specifically says, “You should not have an abortion.” But the Bible does clearly say humans are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26) and that innocent human life should be protected (Exodus 20:13), and it even speaks to the personhood of prenatal human life (Psalm 139:13–16). Taking these together, we can develop a robust Christian stance regarding abortion even though the practice is not specifically addressed in the Bible.

Concerning the relationship of the Old Testament to the New Testament, there have been various approaches throughout church history. Christians can all agree that the Old Testament is God’s word and that we are to learn from it. As Romans 15:4 says, “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” Furthermore, Christians affirm that the Old Testament points us toward Christ and that because of Christ’s atonement, we are no longer required to keep the Old Testament sacrifices (Hebrews 10:11–14). Christians disagree about particulars regarding the use of the Old Testament by new covenant believers.

Christians also agree we are under the new covenant, not the old covenant. In Galatians 4:22–25, Paul goes so far as to associate the old covenant with slavery while the new covenant is described as freedom. Whatever stance we take regarding the use of the Old Testament in Christian ethics, we do not want to advocate a way of interpreting the Bible that results in a sort of slavery for those who have been freed by Jesus Christ, who himself said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17). Indeed, Jesus completely fulfilled the law, and we must always be careful not to turn Christianity into a form of legalism. On the other hand, we must remember that Jesus affirmed the inspiration, authority, and veracity of the Old Testament, and thus it is equally dangerous to disregard it.

I follow an approach that sees the Old Testament law as being composed of civil, ceremonial, and moral laws. While the civil and ceremonial aspects of the law have been fulfilled in Christ and are no longer binding on Christians, the moral component of the law serves as a guide for Christian maturity and sanctification. Other dedicated Christians with a high view of Scripture have pushback on this way of dividing the Old Testament law. While I respect the differences of opinion, I find this paradigm compelling. Are there places where civil, ceremonial, and moral law overlap? Certainly so, as debates about the Fourth Commandment and the Sabbath day illustrate. Is it difficult at times to discern the differences between the three types of law? Yes, sometimes quite difficult. But is it impossible? No, it is not impossible. Nor are the majority of decisions about moral, civil, and ceremonial laws arbitrary. Furthermore, the New Testament seems keenly aware that ceremonial laws have been fulfilled in Christ while consistently making appeal to the moral demands of the Old Testament. So the New Testament is clearly making some distinction in the aspects of Old Testament law still applicable to Christians.

Saved by Grace and Living by Grace

To speak about Christian ethics means we are talking about moral and ethical decision-making by people who have been born again (John 3:3). We are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8–9). When we are saved, God changes our hearts and gives us the power to live a moral life. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” The only way anyone can do the good works described here is through a life infused with God’s grace. Just as surely as we are saved by grace, it is only by grace that we can display a life of Christian moral excellence.

When we are saved, the Holy Spirit takes up residence within us (1 Corinthians 3:16). He helps us grow in grace and conformity to the image of Christ, a process called sanctification. In John 16:13, Jesus said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” Not only does the Holy Spirit teach us doctrinal truth (what to believe), he also teaches us ethical truth (how to live). Sanctification involves learning to live a life of holiness and virtue, and the Holy Spirit is within us, teaching us and guiding us. God the Holy Spirit supplies the power to cultivate Christian character and guide us to moral maturity.

As we live by grace, we need to be alert not only to the ditch of legalism on one side of the road, but also to the ditch of antinomianism on the other side. In legalism, we focus on human effort and burdensome application of rules rather than on God as the source of moral authority or on love for God as the impetus for moral accountability. In antinomianism, we focus on self and freedom from rules, so that our obligation to please God is all but ignored. Joseph Hart was an English pastor and the author of one of my favorite hymns, “Come Ye Sinners.” He described the dangers of the extremes of legalism and antinomianism this way: “Pharisaical zeal, and antinomian security, are the two engines of Satan, with which he grinds the Church in all ages, as betwixt the upper and the nether millstone. The space between them is much narrower and harder to find than most men imagine.”3 Indeed, one of the greatest challenges in the Christian life is striking the right balance between law and...