the ethical vision of the bible by peter w. gosnell
TRANSCRIPT
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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P E T E R W G O S N E L L
L E A R N I N G G O O D F R O M K N O W I N G G O D
THE
ETHICAL VISION
OF THE BIBLE
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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THE
ETHICAL VISION
OF THE BIBLE
L E A R N I N G G O O D F R O M K N O W I N G G O D
P E T E R W G O S N E L L
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All rights reserved No part o this book may be reproduced in any orm without written permission rom
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Scripture quotations unless otherwise noted are rom the New Revised Standard Version o the Bible copyright
983089983097983096983097 by the Division o Christian Education o the National Council o the Churches o Christ in the USA Used by
permission All rights reserved
While all stories in this book are true some names and identiying inormation in this book have been changed to
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ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983092983088983090983096-983089 (print)
ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983094983092983095983097-983097 (digital)
Printed in the United States o America infin
InterVarsity Press is committed to protecting the environment and to the responsible use o naturalresources As a member o Green Press Initiative we use recycled paper whenever possible o learnmore about the Green Press Initiative visit ltwwwgreenpressinitiativeorggt
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record or this book is available rom the Library o Congress
P 983090983094 983090983093 983090983092 983090983091 983090983090 983090983089 983090983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 983089983094 983089983093 983089983092 983089983091 983089983090 983089983089 983089983088 983097 983096 983095 983094 983093 983092 983091 983090 983089
Y 983091983094 983091983093 983091983092 983091983091 983091983090 983091983089 983091983088 983090983097 983090983096 983090983095 983090983094 983090983093 983090983092 983090983091 983090983090 983090983089 983090983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 983089983094 983089983093 983089983092
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C983151983150983156983141983150983156983155
Preace 983097
983089 What Is Biblical Ethics 983089983091
983090 From Disorder to Order 983091983095
Ethics in orah 1
983091 Mercy Covenant and Instructing Law 983094983090
Ethics in orah 2
983092 Holiness and Love in the Covenant 983096983094
Ethics in orah 3
983093 Wisdom and Consequences 983089983090983091
he Book o Proverbs
983094 Prophets 983089983093983089Ethics or Morality
983095 Reversal and Exemplar 983089983094983096
Jesus and the Kingdom in Luke
983096 Perection Mercy and Imitation 983090983088983093
Jesus and the Kingdom in Matthew
983097 ransormation in Practice 983090983091983096
Paul and 1 Corinthians
983089983088 ransormation Explained 983090983095983092
Paul and Romans
Concluding houghts 983091983089983090
What Can We Do with All o his
Notes 983091983090983089
Bibliography 983091983096983089
Name and Subject Index 983091983097983095
Scripture Index 983092983088983093
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appeals to their own authority become dissatisying and ineffective
So consider the ollowing upgrade
ldquoMom why do I have to brush my teethrdquo
ldquoTo keep your teeth healthy If you donrsquot theyrsquoll rot
and fall outrdquo
Now a new element has been addedmdashconsequences I people perorm well
they benefit i they perorm badly they can be harmed Te interaction now
appears to be airly reasonable But compare the explanation rom the pre-
ceding parent with those ollowing
ldquoBecause if you do Irsquoll take you to the zoo
tomorrowrdquo
Or
ldquoBecause if you donrsquot I will spank yourdquo
Tese also are consequences but something is a bit off Te consequences
do not seem to be tied to the behavior Tere is no genuine connection be-
tween tooth brushing and the zoo or tooth brushing and spanking Rather
the interaction appears disturbingly manipulative perhaps symptomatic o
a flawed relationship Te parents here appear to be on subtly weak ground
In one case the parent is bribing the child In the other the parent is threat-
ening the childEthics provides the rationale or perorming certain behaviors I the
reasons or perorming a behavior make sense the system makes sense I
they do not the system begins to alter
Ethics involves another important element Te two scenarios may be
instructive in the area o parenting but are they really dealing with ethics
Brushing teeth may be polite It may be healthy But is it right in the same
way that one would consider helping a person in need would be or is ailing
to do it wrong in the same way that murdering someone would be Brushing
teeth reflects social upbringing to be sure It has health consequences cer-
tainly Reusing to do so when asked to may indicate troublesome attitudes
that themselves do come into the sphere o ethicsmdashrebelliousness stub-
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852021
bornness selfishness But people would hardly call someone who ails to
brush teeth an unethical person merely because he or she happened not to
perorm an act o personal hygieneSo what else does ethics involve We are talking ultimately about how
someone is guided to become a good person who perorms good deeds Tat
would involve matters such as how people treat others or how they treat them-
selves It would more ully involve how one treats the world around onesel
Te ollowing scenario swerves more ully into the world o ethics
ldquoAlicia please share your toy with Junierdquo
ldquoWhyrdquo
ldquoBecause you want to be a good friend to her She
ought to enjoy coming to visit yourdquo
Here we are dealing with behavior that affects peoplersquos expression o their
humanness We are observing Aliciarsquos parent instructing her about right and
wrong behavior that affects another person
Tat kind o interaction even between parent and child shows a regard
or behavior that goes beyond the bounds o mere politeness It reflects a
concern or others It ultimately reflects a concern or what kind o person
the child should aim to become and the kinds o things she should be doing
as that sort o person In this scenario Alicia is being urged to advance good
or well-being on her world She is also being urged not to advance harm in
her world Tat basic pattern will serve as the working definition o what
ethics involves or this book In other words ethics involves championingbehavior that advances good or hinders harm in onersquos world
People who aim to be ethical people are good people We like good people
Good people do what is right Tey rerain rom what is evil We like asso-
ciating with people who are kind to us who give to us who care or us
Conversely we donrsquot like people who are nasty to us who take rom us who
harm us So what does it mean to be good Why should we do good An-
swers to those questions will reveal the kind o ethics we are applying
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155
In this book we are considering what the collection o writings known as the
Bible contributes to the world o ethics What is considered right and wrong
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behavior according to biblical writings What thought patterns do writings
in the Bible encourage in helping their readers distinguish right rom wrong
What reasons and motivations do biblical writings offer or why their readersshould perorm what is good and rerain rom what is bad
In addressing such questions letrsquos first note an important difference be-
tween what some would call ldquoChristian ethicsrdquo or ldquoreligious ethicsrdquo and what
we are exploring here in this book Christian or religious ethics might ad-
dress the question What do the tenets o the religious aith contribute to
distinguishing right rom wrong on liersquos issues Or more personally Since
I call mysel a Christian how should I behave as a Christian over this issue
Tese are great questions Tey launch the inquirer on a prescriptive task
that looks to the religion including the Bible as Christian Scripture to
advise about or make behavioral demands or the present moment
Biblical ethics should also inorm those kinds o questions But beore
we can determine how we must first try to discern what the biblical texts
appear to be communicating852017 Note biblical texts not simply biblical state-
ments Wersquore aiming to learn to observe the sustained lines o reasoning
offered by individual biblical writings or clusters o related writings In-stead o imposing our interests on themmdashWhat does the Bible say about
Xmdashwe want to discern the issues that the words o individual writings
appear to be designed to address Te biblical ethics we are pursuing here
is largely a descriptive task We will aim to understand what the Biblersquos
writings themselves promote ethically exploring them with a regard or
their literary cultural and historical contexts What we discover through
this kind o biblical ethics should then be the basis o conversation be-
tween Bible readers who can help each other understand more deeply
what to do with the kinds o ideas disclosed by this sort o investigation
Our primary pursuit in this book is to observe the ways o distinguishing
right rom wrong that are encouraged within biblical writings and what
rationale and motivations those writings offer or perorming right ac-
tivities and avoiding wrong ones Based on those people can begin to
discuss the prescriptive role these texts can have in their lives now no
matter the culture852018
Since much o Christian ethics is interested in using the Bible how is
what we are doing here different Our task will not be to use the Bible as a
source o moral statements but to describe the Biblersquos ethical vision how its
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852023
writings themselves shape the readersrsquo views o moral right and wrong For
example some Christian thinkers are interested in exploring the implica-
tions o humans being made in Godrsquos image a point made twice in the earlychapters o Genesis as wersquoll soon see ldquoI humans are said to be in Godrsquos
imagerdquo the reasoning goes ldquothen I should always treat other humans as
ellow image bearersrdquo Tatrsquos not a bad line o reasoning But it is not strictly
biblical in the way we are considering here How so Because that line o
reasoning is never explicitly ound or encouraged by any words in biblical
writings In act the last use o the expression ldquoimage o Godrdquo in the large
first part o the Bible the Old estament is in Genesis 852025 Biblical writings
appeal to the concept differently Tose writings instead ollow other iden-
tifiable sustained lines o reasoning that offer consistent and persistent ways
o thinking about right and wrong Learning to trace those lines is the point
o this book
In some religious contexts people are told prescriptively to do one
certain kind o activity or rerain rom others ldquobecause the Bible says sordquo
Such people could then go so ar as to say that such a reason makes their
ethics biblical Tough that religious approach may appeal to the Bible italso tends not to reflect consistently what the writings themselves commu-
nicate and should also not be conused with the biblical ethics we are pur-
suing here It rather tends to assume that the Bible is a collection o moral
injunctions and stories that declare and demonstrate what is right and
wrong or the aithul According to that view those who want to be con-
sidered aithul should do what the Bible says without hesitation Tough
as wersquoll see biblical writings expect their words to be taken seriously the
words o those writings present a much richer set o ideas than the rationale
o rote obedience allows or
Further the Biblersquos words shouldnrsquot be pressed into service to commu-
nicate ideas oreign to them I we impose assumptions rom our culture
onto what the Biblersquos words communicate in their original settings we in-
troduce distortions For example we may want a biblical ruling on when
human lie begins definitively but i we assume that biblical writers know
exactly what we may know about human conception we would be intro-ducing ideas oreign to the biblical texts Te emale ovum was not dis-
covered until the early nineteenth century Appeals to the Bible or such uses
tend to reflect what religious authorities claim about biblical texts more than
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852025
so in ways that dey uninormed popular-level assumptions When exam-
ining the Biblersquos words in their actual contexts readers will make surprising
observations that may dey their assumptions about the sense o religionadvocated by the Biblersquos varied writings For example eternal rewards and
punishments concerns with lie afer death even hell avoidance and
heaven attainment are generally side issues in the Bible (When we explore
the Gospel o Matthew though we will see aspects o those issues empha-
sized) And in those ew places in the Bible where hell is reerred to it is
portrayed not as a scare or bribery tactic but as a serious outcome or the
end o the age What happens to a person upon dying is scarcely a topic in
the Bible even i it becomes so or some expressions o Christianity so
closely connected to those writings Let Bible readers beware when ob-
served careully the words o the Bible will reveal criticize and correct their
sloppy religious assumptions
Now i biblical writings advocate various approaches to ethics that flow
out o peoplersquos relationship with God and i that God is neither a brute
authoritarian parent demanding rote obedience nor a weak manipulative
parent threatening with punishment and bribing with rewards what do weactually see Letrsquos look briefly at the first writing Genesis
Our original introduction to God in that writing displays the Creator
whose acts resemble more those o a beneficent monarch or king than o a
parent1048627 Tat king commands and it is so Even more revealing that king
evaluates to see that all is good Tat kingly activity results in an ordered
creation that humans are asked collectively to manage When we see God
instructing the first human a man known eventually as Adam he issues a
specific charge ldquoYou may reely eat o every tree o the garden but o the
tree o the knowledge o good and evil you shall not eat or in the day that
you eat o it you shall dierdquo (Gen 10486261048625852022-1048625852023)
Notice first o all that this is not an ethical scenario Rather this shows
a boundary-setting restriction Tat is important to observe Why Not
everything in the Bible is about ethics Tink about it What is inherently
wrong in eating ruit O course this is a particular kind o ruitmdasha unique
kind in act that is said to give ldquoknowledge o good and evilrdquo importantcategories or ethics But eating it is said to have severe consequencesmdash
death Certainly the rationale eventually offered or disobeying Godrsquos
command has implications or ethics ldquoWhen the woman saw that the tree
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What Is Biblical Ethics 10486261048625
speciic situations but are not inherently morally right or wrong hose
behaviors may all into the areas o cultural customs and manners or
even situation-speciic instructions but not ethics When consideringmorally neutral behaviors we will have to consider the ethics o pur-
suing those behaviors knowing that someone might be bothered or the
ethics o orcing people to conorm to neutral standards however im-
portant those standards may be culturally or religiously to those en-
orcing them
It will also require people recognizing that some o their own culturally
or religiously conditioned behaviors may actually be neutral not genu-
inely moral People should not expect biblical writings to affirm their own
culturersquos manners and expectations For example being prompt or timely
an important cultural value or some people in the West today is not really
an issue that alls into the category o ethics even though it may be wise
to be prompt in many circumstances amiliar to us Itrsquos really only a
culture-bound value near and dear to many people Certainly biblical
writings donrsquot count promptness among the issues that God cares about
Being impatient with others or being late however would be So also is areusal to honor anotherrsquos known sense o timeliness by insisting on having
onersquos own way
What we will see throughout the Bible is the notion that how a person
chooses to respond to God affects the kind o person he or she becomes
Tus those who aim to do what God wants are ethical people because much
o what God is said to want is also what most people would consider to be
good ethical behavior and because throughout the span o biblical writings
God is portrayed as being in the business o restoring rightness to his cre-
ation In the world o the Bible those who choose to dey God do not know
how to act consistently as ethical people because they have chosen to cut
themselves off rom the ways and plans o God and thus are incomplete in
their sense o what right and wrong behavior actually include
Obeying God trusting God having aith in God and responding to God
are all central issues to the Bible issues that affect the ethics that its varied
writings promote How one responds to God is reflected in a personrsquos ethicsIn act expect to see repeatedly how those who respond to God are ofen
shown as good responders by doing ethical acts Tose who disregard God
are ofen shown as bad responders with the unethical acts they perorm
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Ultimately what we see throughout the Bible are sets o ethics rooted
in peoplersquos relationship with Godmdashan ethic o relationship1048629 Doing good
flows out o a person coming to know God and growing in that rela-tionship with God Doing wrong shows how out o touch a person is with
God Biblical writings are ull o the language o devotion and com-
mitment It is not a mindless devotion but one that is highly attractive
showing people interacting with a God who gives cares and accepts even
i that God also has high standards or those who are connected to him
Tose standards are ofen shown to lead to personal well-being or those
who interact with God
Significantly because peoplersquos relating to God is the one constant advo-
cated by the varieties o biblical writings how God relates to people also
merits consideration Biblical writings offer hope and restoration or those
who mess up An important element o that is a concept known as repen-
tance people turning away rom their evil and embracing Godrsquos good
Along with that are grace receiving good rom God when one deserves the
opposite and mercy receiving good rom God when one is in a decidedly
weak position A sense o hope also emerges as a central eature o biblicalethics People are allowed to be works in progress Expect to discover im-
perect people in biblical writings people who as they draw close to God
also become better people in the process even i many o them have rough
edges In the world o the Bible God never rejects people who call on him
M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161 V983141983154983155983157983155 E983156983144983145983139983155
People ofen use the concepts o morality and ethics interchangeably
Morals generally reer to a personrsquos awareness o right and wrong A
moral person does the right kind o behavior in the sense we have been
probing here advancing good on the world while reraining rom what
inflicts harm For that reason some people would say that a moral person
is also ethical
A moral person may be doing what is right but may not know clearly
what makes the activity right or why she or he should do that right By con-
trast ethics as we discuss it here deals with how to distinguish right romwrong and why someone should do the right and hinder the wrong In
exploring the Bible we will see many statements weighing in on the moral
rightness or wrongness o various behaviors But we wonrsquot stop there We
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8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852019
will look or the ethics that will indicate what makes the activity right or
wrong and that offer rationale and motivation or engaging in the right ac-
tivity or reraining rom the wrong Moral people do what is right So dopeople who have ethics but they also know why1048630
Te distinction between morality and ethics is an important one wo
people can share the same moral convictions but they could easily have very
different ethics How Because the ethics will explain the answer to the
question Why is that wrong For example in the world that produced the
New estament section o the Bible Greek and Roman philosophers com-
monly discussed the moral wrongness o being guided by our passions
Toughtless passions lead people to do the wrong things One writer Paul
whose ethics we will explore in chapters nine and ten would basically agree
that people acting out their passions leads to misbehavior But i you asked
both sets o people why being guided by passion is wrong you would get
two entirely different sets o answers Paulrsquos answer connects directly to his
awareness o the crucifixion and resurrection o Jesus Te philosophers
know nothing o Jesus Teir answers are linked to their view o the psy-
chology o the soul Tough we might think we see moral agreement be-tween Paul and philosophers we see totally different ethics We will see the
same thing in the Bible itsel Te various places we will explore will re-
quently show common moral standards but different ethics Ethics and mo-
rality are not the same
Te Biblersquos writings do communicate a strong set o morals But they do
much more than that Tey portray genuine ethics Tey show ways o lie
stemming rom people living in attractive relationship with the true and
living God Reasons or living morally appear regularly either stated or
implied because relationship with God is portrayed as wonderully good
and genuinely healthy Relationship with God ultimately involves partici-
pating in Godrsquos process o remaking the world a world filled with bro-
kenness exhibited in and stemming rom human misbehavior As we probe
biblical texts we will discover ethical systems that are intriguing inviting
enlightening and uplifing People who read the Bible well will not only
have a stronger sense o what is right and wrong they will realize why ac-cording to those writings they also should do right and why living that
right is so ulfilling
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SUMMING IT UP
What is ethics
o Ethics reers to how a person distinguishes right rom
wrong behavior
o Ethics is also concerned with the reasons or why a
person should choose what is good and abstain rom
what is not
o Te kind o behavior that ethics is concerned with gen-erally is behavior that advances good or hinders harm
in onersquos world
What do we mean by biblical ethics
o With biblical ethics one is concerned with discerning
the kinds o behavior biblical writings indicate are right
and wrong
o One is also concerned with both how according to bib-
lical writings to distinguish right rom wrong and why
its readers should do right and rerain rom wrong
o Biblical ethics begins with describing what biblical
writings communicate ethically Only then can people see
how those ethics might apply to their lives prescriptively
o
Ethics is not the central concern o biblical writings o Other behaviors besides ethical behaviors are dealt
with in the Bible
o How people connect meaningully with God is a central
concern o biblical writings
o Ethics in the Bible flows primarily out o peoplersquos
healthy relationship with God
o Ethics in the Bible offers hope or those who recognize
their error and turn to God
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8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852021
A983148983156983141983154983150983137983156983145983158983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155
Ethical questions and dilemmas appear consistently and prominently within
human history Some o the ethical systems Western civilizations developed
to address those concerns are worth noting briefly as a way o comparing
how biblical writings offer both similarities to and dissimilarities rom
them1048631 Some o these systems actually influenced aspects o ethics as oundin parts o the Bible Others o these have themselves been influenced by the
sense o right and wrong ound in biblical writings
Virtue ethics Also closely related to what is called ldquocharacter ethicsrdquo
virtue ethics ocus on what kind o person one should become in order to
attain a higher goal such as happiness or well-being emphasizing various
virtues (eg courage wisdom justice sel-control kindness orbearance
riendliness modesty)852024 Conversely there are vices that one should avoid
(eg cowardice olly wrongness sel-indulgence meanness short-
temperedness diffidence extravagance) Many o those good character
qualities are learned rom observing people who are considered to be good
or by repeated practice o virtuous activities Discussions o virtues and
vices were especially important to the ancient Greeks and Romans Some
writings in the New estament reflect awareness o the ruit o such discus-
sions but also offer their own unique perspectives on virtues and vices
Ethical egoism Also coming rom ancient Greece ethical egoism advocatespursuing behaviors with outcomes that maximize personal pleasure while
minimizing personal pain Rather than resorting to out-and-out hedonism (ie
selfish pleasure seeking) the point here is to evaluate long-term outcomes or
How is morality different from ethics
o Morality is simply knowing what is right and what is
wrong
o Ethics involves both the reasoning or distinguishing
right rom wrong and the motivations or doing what
is right and hindering what is wrong
o Biblical writings regularly portray genuine ethics not
mere morality
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1048626852022 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
consequences Some immediate pleasures may result in such horrible pain in
the end that they should be avoided altogether But some pain may be necessary
to endure in order to attain the benefit o a long-term pleasureUtilitarianism Utilitarianism is similar to ethical egoism with its concern
or maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain but does so with societies in
view not merely the individual Whatever advances pleasure or the greatest
number o people is to be preerred Further it recognizes that there are
higher-order pleasures in lie beyond mere physical gratification Peoplersquos
ailure to exercise their minds or their pursuit o personal selfishness are two
major obstacles to good being advanced In current popular everyday
practice both ethical egoistic and utilitarian ways o thinking can lead
people to line up physical psychological and sociological conclusions in
order to prove that a genuine pleasure is being advanced or pain is being
avoided But sometimes those conclusions prove more tentative than their
communicators may indicate at the time especially when they are really
interested in justiying their own misbehavior
Duty With duty one should do what is right and rerain rom what is wrong
because that is the most reasonable orm o activity to pursue as a thinkinghuman being One has a duty to live consistently with onersquos being Right and
wrong are independent o human existence Right corresponds with what is
true to pursue what is alse is sel-contradictory and internally inconsistent
Practically speaking living by duty means unctioning in a world o beings As
a human being one has a duty to recognize people as people Whenever one
treats another or even onesel solely as an object one is violating onersquos duty to
a ellow creature Tis way o thinking partly resembles a well-known maxim
attributed to Jesus ofen called the Golden RulemdashldquoDo to others as you would
have them do to yourdquo But it has little regard or people thinking empathetically
about others with a desired ideal good or them the way Jesusrsquo words do
Divine command theory Divine command theory assumes that rightness
comes directly rom divinity and whatever any divinity commands the re-
ligious person must obey When applied to the Bible this approach assumes
that the Bible is ull o commands meant to be obeyed So as a reader one
should look diligently or those commands Whatever is commanded mustbe ollowed because it comes rom God o obey God is to do what is right
o disobey God is to do what is wrong While to many this would seem to
be biblical ethics in a nutshell it alls short by not seeing how biblical ethics
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8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852023
involves much more than obeying commands Ofen associated with this
approach at the popular level is an attitude that treats the Bible as a sort o
guiding constitution to scan or moral rulings discovering ldquowhat the Biblesaysrdquo about a topic then becomes the primary pursuit
eleology Many o these approaches to ethics also try to organize lie
around a ocused goal a teleological approach For example or some virtue
ethicists and ethical egoists achieving a orm o happiness or well-being is
the goal or which virtues are exercised or pain is minimized By contrast
the approach emphasizing duty regards the duty to be right all by itsel in-
dependent o any ultimate human goal or ideal
E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155 983137983150983140 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Te Bible and teleology In the Bible we will see varieties o teleological
thought stronger in some places than in others Concerns or example with
conormity to the created order or to Godrsquos merciul acts in a moment known
as the exodus are common in the first writings we will probe1048633 Even stronger
will be the awareness that lie is advancing toward a uture ultimate moment
o reordering a major component to the later writings being studied hereTe Bible and virtue ethics Tere are many places where biblical writings
champion conormity to a good character model852017852016 But good character is
advanced neither as a means to some sort o end nor merely as an end in
itsel the way it is in traditional virtue ethics Obtaining good lie outcomes
or avoiding bad ones is not the main goal o being good Rather good char-
acter in biblical writings is ofen seen as a reflection o the God who is being
served It is both an outcome o associating with God and a measuring stick
o how in touch one is with God Further in addition to character issues
biblical texts also champion specific behaviors such as taking care o the
poor standing up or the weak or loving the unlovely Tose behaviors may
reflect good character but they are to be done regardless o onersquos overall
character Many in Christianity have traditionally thought o love as a virtue
But biblical writings ofen ocus on love as an activity even a responsibility
Attention to character ormation is a major topic o discussion or scholars
examining the use o the Bible in ethics852017852017 Tat would be close to virtue ethicsbut not identical It ocuses on how encouragement in the practice o certain
biblical instructions shapes the lives o those who do them influencing what
kind o people they become Like virtue ethics this recognizes that a person
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must be trained in the right way o living to be able to become good It does
receive major support rom the Biblersquos writings themselves which encourage
a liestyle that is always growing in its awareness o God and Godrsquos desiresor humans Still the ethics o the parts o the Bible we will explore here will
also provide more than material or character ormation Tey will also
provide guidelines that help people make reasoned decisions about the
rightness and wrongness o certain activities as they ponder them
Te Bible ethical egoism and utilitarianism Some biblical writings promote
appraising harmul or beneficial outcomes o behaviors in ways that may seem
to resemble the ethical egoist or the utilitarian Tey tend to do so to show the
wisdom or olly o certain activities or to speak approvingly o advancing the
goodness or well-being o onersquos neighbor Tey do not make the avoidance o
personal pain or the acquisition o personal pleasure the ultimate goal Rather
they measure consequences observed rom the activities o others and offer
advice based on what is observed to have worked and what genuinely does not
ounded on how one studies the world as God created it Other writings talk
about growing in character rom enduring hardships such as persecution Again
the point is not to ocus on the personal gain rom such growth but on the ul-timate goal the remade hardship-ree creation one is destined to
Te Bible and duty Various biblical writings urge their readers to treat
others as people rather than objects but they do so in a manner that takes
into consideration the railties o the environment people live in and the
realities o human existence and weakness encouraging readers to be aware
o their own Tough obedience itsel in some contexts may be perceived
as a duty urther probing o those contexts ofen discloses that obedience
flows more out o a sincere relationship with God and a high regard or
others than rom a sense o resolute duty-bound obligation
Te Bible and divine command theory Te Bible is also ull o com-
mands But many o those commands come in specifically defined contexts
that are not meant to apply directly to people in most contemporaneous
settings And outside o those contexts much o what is ofen regarded as
command is really instructional advice which is quite a different orm o
expressionmdashordering someone to ldquoSlow downrdquo is not the same as advisingsomeone to ldquoake your timerdquo yet both communicate what grammarians call
imperatives Further much o the Biblersquos advice appears in contexts that
point to clear supporting reasons behind it Focusing on the advice without
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852025
dealing with its supporting rationale misses the actual ethics being advanced
Finally there are many ethical topics about which the Bible does not issue
any direct command or instruction leaving readers with no guidance orworse as we have already seen leading people to twist the Biblersquos words into
making points not really there Discovering Godrsquos will emerges as a major
concern in some o the writings we will explore or their ethics But we will
see how doing that leads a person beyond a search or direct statements or
interpretive moral rulings
When people probe the Bible to learn what it might say about a certain
moral topic they are really acting under a basic assumption o divine
command theory an act is right or wrong because God says so852017852018 And yet
without ever having read the Bible people all over the world have views
similar to biblical writingsrsquo views about the morality o certain acts A sense
o right and wrong can exist independent o the Bible In this book we will
proceed under the assumption that an act is not right or wrong just because
the Bible says so Te Bible says so ofen because the act is right or wrong Why
is an act right or wrong Answering that rom the Biblersquos writings will put
readers in touch with the ethics those writings advanceTe observations rom the previous paragraphs should not lessen any
respect that a reader gives to biblical texts Tey should in act increase it
Te writings o the Bible encourage more than they ofen receive credit or
Troughout the variety o ethical approaches we will examine in this book
we will see attitudes expressed by biblical texts that expect their words to be
taken seriously precisely because they are connected to God who is trust-
worthy who has made the world with purpose and who is in the process o
moving its events to an ultimate restorative climax Doing something be-
cause one is prompted by a saying in a biblical text is an attitude encouraged
directly by the words o the Biblersquos writings But studying biblical ethics
means much more than searching or and then obeying divinely established
commands or discovering what the Bible says about a topic Tat may some-
times be a good starting point but the Biblersquos words ofen lead its readers to
think about how to do even more than they say directly People who care
about the Bible should let their ethical vision be shaped by that
A V983137983154983145983141983156983161 983151983142 E983156983144983145983139983155 983137983150983140 983137 C983151983150983155983145983155983156983141983150983156 M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161
Te Bible is not a book written by a single author with a collection o chapters
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reflecting a beginning a middle and an end It is a collection o writings
emerging over a large time span and produced by a wide variety o authors
nearly one third o whom are not identified It alls into two unequal por-tions (1048625) the much larger Hebrew Bible (or to Christians the Old estament)
the product o hundreds o years o activity ocusing on the people o Israel
and their covenant with God and (1048626) the New estament produced within
the second hal o the first century 983139983141 or 983137983140 the writings o which all
reflect issues and events related to the person named Jesus the Christ Many
o the writings o both estaments disclose threads o an unolding story to
which they persistently connect divulging an emerging divine plan Some
writings connect to that plan with more detail than others And not all o
the writings try to advance that unolding story
In this book we are probing only our broad sections o biblical ethics (1048625)
Te orah (minus Numbers) and (1048626) proverbial wisdom rom the Old es-
tament (852019) two o the Gospels (Luke and Matthew) and (1048628) two o Paulrsquos
letters (1048625 Corinthians and Romans) rom the New estament8520171048627 Prophetic
thought rom Isaiah in the Old estament will be addressed briefly as well
not or separate ethical inquiry as much as to bridge the ethical worlds oorah and the Gospels Immediately some may ault this listing as incom-
plete and too limiting852017852020 Yes it is But these our basic sections each have
broad unique identifiable eatures that disclose significant depth o ethical
thought What orah communicates ethically is quite distinct rom what
Proverbs conveys And though the Gospels o Luke and Matthew each display
their own special ethical approaches their similarities offer a significantly
different slant rom what Paul advances We will be looking at our distinct
emphases covenant consequences kingdom and transormation Te Bible
does not portray a single unitary ethical vision We see multiple visions each
connecting people with God who has made the world and will remake it
Evidence within the biblical writings suggests that all our o the ap-
proaches we are exploring can interact not only with each other but with
those biblical approaches that we are not exploring in this book8520171048629 We are
looking at a useul basic starting point Tose wanting to pursue a uller
range o approaches and thought orms can then build rom hereRecognizing that there are different complementary ways o thinking ad-
vocated by biblical texts should give Bible readers a greater appreciation or
the richness o thought the writings encourage It should also caution them
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What Is Biblical Ethics 8520191048625
about the shallowness o approaches that disregard that variety in avor o
coming up with a ldquobiblicalrdquo position about a moral topic Tough one might
be able to discern common moral perspectives on some issues one would bemissing out on the ethical reasoning individual sets o writings advance
S983151983149983141 L983145983149983145983156983137983156983145983151983150983155 983151983142 T983144983145983155 A983152983152983154983151983137983139983144
Many biblical writings invite their readers to distinguish right rom wrong
Tough the Bible does not speak univocally (ie with one voice) its writings
display a remarkably consistent concern or distinguishing right rom wrong
even within the diversity o their expressions Consider the ollowing state-
ments rom a wide range o biblical books all but one o which we will
eventually survey
Moses the leader o Godrsquos people in the orah instructs them concerning
Godrsquos commands
In Proverbs a ather instructs his son
You must observe them diligently for this will show your wisdom and discernment
to the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say ldquoSurely this great
nation is a wise and discerning peoplerdquo For what other great nation has a god sonear to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him And what other great
nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before
you today Deut 46-8
Do not enter the path of the wicked
and do not walk in the way of evildoers
Avoid it do not go on it
turn away from it and pass on
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble
For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn
which shines brighter and brighter until full day
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness
they do not know what they stumble over Prov 414-19
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When accusing Israelite people o a series o wrongdoings the prophet
Isaiah writes
In one Gospel Jesus invites hearers to accept a set o his teachings many
o which address moral behavior
When disturbed that believers in Corinth are not distinguishing rightrom wrong that churchrsquos ounder Paul says
In a totally independent writing when disturbed at the immaturity dis-
played by his readersrsquo willingness to wander away rom the aith the writer
o the epistle to the Hebrews identifies spiritually mature as
Biblical writings clearly advocate that people distinguish moral right
rom moral wrongTat said letrsquos note once more how ocusing on ethics to the exclusion o
other issues is potentially misleading We will see that immediately in ex-
ploring the first part o the Bible the orah In Deuteronomy or example we
Ah you who call evil good
and good evil
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter Is 520
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads
to destruction and there are many who take it For the gate is narrow and the road
is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it Mt 713-14
Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one be-
liever and another but a believer goes to court against a believermdashand before
unbelievers at that 1 Cor 65-6
those whose faculties have been trained by
practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 514
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852019
will find activities identified as evil that our working definition o ethics would
call immoral alse witness adultery kidnapping (Deut 10486258520251048625852025 1048626104862610486261048626 10486261048628852023) But
that same writing identifies alse prophets and idolaters with the same labelmdashevil (Deut 1048625852019852021 1048625852023852023) Are idolaters and alse prophets immoral or something
else Elsewhere in the Bible we will see ethical activity such as loving enemies
(Mt 85202110486281048628-1048628852022) placed on the same reward level as acilitating the work o those
who spread the message o the kingdom (Mt 1048625104862410486281048624-10486281048626) Is supporting the
spread o the kingdomrsquos message moral or something else Biblical writings
ofen portray a more integrated view about lie than our strict definitions allow
We might like to put certain decisions into an ethics box Living in relationship
with the Biblersquos God is all encompassing not easily separable into box-like
categoriesmdasha worship box a sacrifice box a religion box an ethics box
So why are we doing this Because the list o statements we have just
looked at is one piece o evidence among many we will see that encourages
us to think ethically as a natural way o living in relationship with God
Failure to live in ways that emerge out o our definition o ethics is regularly
condemned in biblical writings (eg Is 104862510486251048624-1048625852023 Mt 10486268520191048626852019-10486261048628) But living in
relationship with God involves much more than ethics Our study o ethicsshould not keep us rom realizing that
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155 T983141983150983140983155 983156983151 983138983141 M983145983139983154983151983141983156983144983145983139983137983148
Ethicists generally do not use the expression microethical or its noun micro-
ethics Tose terms are unique to our discussions here Tey appeal to con-
cepts rom the world o economics Economists speak o microeconomics
and macroeconomics Te ormer reers to how people interact in day-to-
day business transactions Whenever people buy or sell items rom a store
they are engaging in microeconomics Te latter reers to larger national
and global issues that determine economic policies set by governments
Whenever people announce state or national employment figures or
whenever people are concerned about the prime rate being set by the Federal
Reserve Bank they are dealing with macroeconomics
Similar concepts are being applied here Microethics reers to what people
do when they interact directly with someone else ldquoShould I be kind or rudeto that woman who wonrsquot give me the time o dayrdquo ldquoShould I get angry at that
man who just cut me off in traffic or should I simply smile pleasantlyrdquo
ldquoShould I join in the conversation about our riend who is not present or
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should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
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Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 229
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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THE
ETHICAL VISION
OF THE BIBLE
L E A R N I N G G O O D F R O M K N O W I N G G O D
P E T E R W G O S N E L L
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InterVarsity Press
PO Box 983089983092983088983088 Downers Grove IL 983094983088983093983089983093-983089983092983090983094
World Wide Web wwwivpresscom
E-mail emailivpresscom
copy983090983088983089983092 by Peter W Gosnell
All rights reserved No part o this book may be reproduced in any orm without written permission rom
InterVarsity Press
InterVarsity Pressreg is the book-publishing division o InterVarsity Christian FellowshipUSAreg a movement o
students and aculty active on campus at hundreds o universities colleges and schools o nursing in the United
States o America and a member movement o the International Fellowship o Evangelical Students Forinormation about local and regional activities write Public Relations Dept InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
USA 983094983092983088983088 Schroeder Rd PO Box 983095983096983097983093 Madison WI 983093983091983095983088983095-983095983096983097983093 or visit the IVCF website at ltwww
intervarsityorggt
Scripture quotations unless otherwise noted are rom the New Revised Standard Version o the Bible copyright
983089983097983096983097 by the Division o Christian Education o the National Council o the Churches o Christ in the USA Used by
permission All rights reserved
While all stories in this book are true some names and identiying inormation in this book have been changed to
protect the privacy o the individuals involved
Cover design Cindy Kiple
Interior design Beth Hagenberg Images book pages copy MaicaiStockphoto
book icons copy Alex BelomlinskyiStockphoto
ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983092983088983090983096-983089 (print)
ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983094983092983095983097-983097 (digital)
Printed in the United States o America infin
InterVarsity Press is committed to protecting the environment and to the responsible use o naturalresources As a member o Green Press Initiative we use recycled paper whenever possible o learnmore about the Green Press Initiative visit ltwwwgreenpressinitiativeorggt
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record or this book is available rom the Library o Congress
P 983090983094 983090983093 983090983092 983090983091 983090983090 983090983089 983090983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 983089983094 983089983093 983089983092 983089983091 983089983090 983089983089 983089983088 983097 983096 983095 983094 983093 983092 983091 983090 983089
Y 983091983094 983091983093 983091983092 983091983091 983091983090 983091983089 983091983088 983090983097 983090983096 983090983095 983090983094 983090983093 983090983092 983090983091 983090983090 983090983089 983090983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 983089983094 983089983093 983089983092
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C983151983150983156983141983150983156983155
Preace 983097
983089 What Is Biblical Ethics 983089983091
983090 From Disorder to Order 983091983095
Ethics in orah 1
983091 Mercy Covenant and Instructing Law 983094983090
Ethics in orah 2
983092 Holiness and Love in the Covenant 983096983094
Ethics in orah 3
983093 Wisdom and Consequences 983089983090983091
he Book o Proverbs
983094 Prophets 983089983093983089Ethics or Morality
983095 Reversal and Exemplar 983089983094983096
Jesus and the Kingdom in Luke
983096 Perection Mercy and Imitation 983090983088983093
Jesus and the Kingdom in Matthew
983097 ransormation in Practice 983090983091983096
Paul and 1 Corinthians
983089983088 ransormation Explained 983090983095983092
Paul and Romans
Concluding houghts 983091983089983090
What Can We Do with All o his
Notes 983091983090983089
Bibliography 983091983096983089
Name and Subject Index 983091983097983095
Scripture Index 983092983088983093
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appeals to their own authority become dissatisying and ineffective
So consider the ollowing upgrade
ldquoMom why do I have to brush my teethrdquo
ldquoTo keep your teeth healthy If you donrsquot theyrsquoll rot
and fall outrdquo
Now a new element has been addedmdashconsequences I people perorm well
they benefit i they perorm badly they can be harmed Te interaction now
appears to be airly reasonable But compare the explanation rom the pre-
ceding parent with those ollowing
ldquoBecause if you do Irsquoll take you to the zoo
tomorrowrdquo
Or
ldquoBecause if you donrsquot I will spank yourdquo
Tese also are consequences but something is a bit off Te consequences
do not seem to be tied to the behavior Tere is no genuine connection be-
tween tooth brushing and the zoo or tooth brushing and spanking Rather
the interaction appears disturbingly manipulative perhaps symptomatic o
a flawed relationship Te parents here appear to be on subtly weak ground
In one case the parent is bribing the child In the other the parent is threat-
ening the childEthics provides the rationale or perorming certain behaviors I the
reasons or perorming a behavior make sense the system makes sense I
they do not the system begins to alter
Ethics involves another important element Te two scenarios may be
instructive in the area o parenting but are they really dealing with ethics
Brushing teeth may be polite It may be healthy But is it right in the same
way that one would consider helping a person in need would be or is ailing
to do it wrong in the same way that murdering someone would be Brushing
teeth reflects social upbringing to be sure It has health consequences cer-
tainly Reusing to do so when asked to may indicate troublesome attitudes
that themselves do come into the sphere o ethicsmdashrebelliousness stub-
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852021
bornness selfishness But people would hardly call someone who ails to
brush teeth an unethical person merely because he or she happened not to
perorm an act o personal hygieneSo what else does ethics involve We are talking ultimately about how
someone is guided to become a good person who perorms good deeds Tat
would involve matters such as how people treat others or how they treat them-
selves It would more ully involve how one treats the world around onesel
Te ollowing scenario swerves more ully into the world o ethics
ldquoAlicia please share your toy with Junierdquo
ldquoWhyrdquo
ldquoBecause you want to be a good friend to her She
ought to enjoy coming to visit yourdquo
Here we are dealing with behavior that affects peoplersquos expression o their
humanness We are observing Aliciarsquos parent instructing her about right and
wrong behavior that affects another person
Tat kind o interaction even between parent and child shows a regard
or behavior that goes beyond the bounds o mere politeness It reflects a
concern or others It ultimately reflects a concern or what kind o person
the child should aim to become and the kinds o things she should be doing
as that sort o person In this scenario Alicia is being urged to advance good
or well-being on her world She is also being urged not to advance harm in
her world Tat basic pattern will serve as the working definition o what
ethics involves or this book In other words ethics involves championingbehavior that advances good or hinders harm in onersquos world
People who aim to be ethical people are good people We like good people
Good people do what is right Tey rerain rom what is evil We like asso-
ciating with people who are kind to us who give to us who care or us
Conversely we donrsquot like people who are nasty to us who take rom us who
harm us So what does it mean to be good Why should we do good An-
swers to those questions will reveal the kind o ethics we are applying
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155
In this book we are considering what the collection o writings known as the
Bible contributes to the world o ethics What is considered right and wrong
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behavior according to biblical writings What thought patterns do writings
in the Bible encourage in helping their readers distinguish right rom wrong
What reasons and motivations do biblical writings offer or why their readersshould perorm what is good and rerain rom what is bad
In addressing such questions letrsquos first note an important difference be-
tween what some would call ldquoChristian ethicsrdquo or ldquoreligious ethicsrdquo and what
we are exploring here in this book Christian or religious ethics might ad-
dress the question What do the tenets o the religious aith contribute to
distinguishing right rom wrong on liersquos issues Or more personally Since
I call mysel a Christian how should I behave as a Christian over this issue
Tese are great questions Tey launch the inquirer on a prescriptive task
that looks to the religion including the Bible as Christian Scripture to
advise about or make behavioral demands or the present moment
Biblical ethics should also inorm those kinds o questions But beore
we can determine how we must first try to discern what the biblical texts
appear to be communicating852017 Note biblical texts not simply biblical state-
ments Wersquore aiming to learn to observe the sustained lines o reasoning
offered by individual biblical writings or clusters o related writings In-stead o imposing our interests on themmdashWhat does the Bible say about
Xmdashwe want to discern the issues that the words o individual writings
appear to be designed to address Te biblical ethics we are pursuing here
is largely a descriptive task We will aim to understand what the Biblersquos
writings themselves promote ethically exploring them with a regard or
their literary cultural and historical contexts What we discover through
this kind o biblical ethics should then be the basis o conversation be-
tween Bible readers who can help each other understand more deeply
what to do with the kinds o ideas disclosed by this sort o investigation
Our primary pursuit in this book is to observe the ways o distinguishing
right rom wrong that are encouraged within biblical writings and what
rationale and motivations those writings offer or perorming right ac-
tivities and avoiding wrong ones Based on those people can begin to
discuss the prescriptive role these texts can have in their lives now no
matter the culture852018
Since much o Christian ethics is interested in using the Bible how is
what we are doing here different Our task will not be to use the Bible as a
source o moral statements but to describe the Biblersquos ethical vision how its
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852023
writings themselves shape the readersrsquo views o moral right and wrong For
example some Christian thinkers are interested in exploring the implica-
tions o humans being made in Godrsquos image a point made twice in the earlychapters o Genesis as wersquoll soon see ldquoI humans are said to be in Godrsquos
imagerdquo the reasoning goes ldquothen I should always treat other humans as
ellow image bearersrdquo Tatrsquos not a bad line o reasoning But it is not strictly
biblical in the way we are considering here How so Because that line o
reasoning is never explicitly ound or encouraged by any words in biblical
writings In act the last use o the expression ldquoimage o Godrdquo in the large
first part o the Bible the Old estament is in Genesis 852025 Biblical writings
appeal to the concept differently Tose writings instead ollow other iden-
tifiable sustained lines o reasoning that offer consistent and persistent ways
o thinking about right and wrong Learning to trace those lines is the point
o this book
In some religious contexts people are told prescriptively to do one
certain kind o activity or rerain rom others ldquobecause the Bible says sordquo
Such people could then go so ar as to say that such a reason makes their
ethics biblical Tough that religious approach may appeal to the Bible italso tends not to reflect consistently what the writings themselves commu-
nicate and should also not be conused with the biblical ethics we are pur-
suing here It rather tends to assume that the Bible is a collection o moral
injunctions and stories that declare and demonstrate what is right and
wrong or the aithul According to that view those who want to be con-
sidered aithul should do what the Bible says without hesitation Tough
as wersquoll see biblical writings expect their words to be taken seriously the
words o those writings present a much richer set o ideas than the rationale
o rote obedience allows or
Further the Biblersquos words shouldnrsquot be pressed into service to commu-
nicate ideas oreign to them I we impose assumptions rom our culture
onto what the Biblersquos words communicate in their original settings we in-
troduce distortions For example we may want a biblical ruling on when
human lie begins definitively but i we assume that biblical writers know
exactly what we may know about human conception we would be intro-ducing ideas oreign to the biblical texts Te emale ovum was not dis-
covered until the early nineteenth century Appeals to the Bible or such uses
tend to reflect what religious authorities claim about biblical texts more than
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852025
so in ways that dey uninormed popular-level assumptions When exam-
ining the Biblersquos words in their actual contexts readers will make surprising
observations that may dey their assumptions about the sense o religionadvocated by the Biblersquos varied writings For example eternal rewards and
punishments concerns with lie afer death even hell avoidance and
heaven attainment are generally side issues in the Bible (When we explore
the Gospel o Matthew though we will see aspects o those issues empha-
sized) And in those ew places in the Bible where hell is reerred to it is
portrayed not as a scare or bribery tactic but as a serious outcome or the
end o the age What happens to a person upon dying is scarcely a topic in
the Bible even i it becomes so or some expressions o Christianity so
closely connected to those writings Let Bible readers beware when ob-
served careully the words o the Bible will reveal criticize and correct their
sloppy religious assumptions
Now i biblical writings advocate various approaches to ethics that flow
out o peoplersquos relationship with God and i that God is neither a brute
authoritarian parent demanding rote obedience nor a weak manipulative
parent threatening with punishment and bribing with rewards what do weactually see Letrsquos look briefly at the first writing Genesis
Our original introduction to God in that writing displays the Creator
whose acts resemble more those o a beneficent monarch or king than o a
parent1048627 Tat king commands and it is so Even more revealing that king
evaluates to see that all is good Tat kingly activity results in an ordered
creation that humans are asked collectively to manage When we see God
instructing the first human a man known eventually as Adam he issues a
specific charge ldquoYou may reely eat o every tree o the garden but o the
tree o the knowledge o good and evil you shall not eat or in the day that
you eat o it you shall dierdquo (Gen 10486261048625852022-1048625852023)
Notice first o all that this is not an ethical scenario Rather this shows
a boundary-setting restriction Tat is important to observe Why Not
everything in the Bible is about ethics Tink about it What is inherently
wrong in eating ruit O course this is a particular kind o ruitmdasha unique
kind in act that is said to give ldquoknowledge o good and evilrdquo importantcategories or ethics But eating it is said to have severe consequencesmdash
death Certainly the rationale eventually offered or disobeying Godrsquos
command has implications or ethics ldquoWhen the woman saw that the tree
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What Is Biblical Ethics 10486261048625
speciic situations but are not inherently morally right or wrong hose
behaviors may all into the areas o cultural customs and manners or
even situation-speciic instructions but not ethics When consideringmorally neutral behaviors we will have to consider the ethics o pur-
suing those behaviors knowing that someone might be bothered or the
ethics o orcing people to conorm to neutral standards however im-
portant those standards may be culturally or religiously to those en-
orcing them
It will also require people recognizing that some o their own culturally
or religiously conditioned behaviors may actually be neutral not genu-
inely moral People should not expect biblical writings to affirm their own
culturersquos manners and expectations For example being prompt or timely
an important cultural value or some people in the West today is not really
an issue that alls into the category o ethics even though it may be wise
to be prompt in many circumstances amiliar to us Itrsquos really only a
culture-bound value near and dear to many people Certainly biblical
writings donrsquot count promptness among the issues that God cares about
Being impatient with others or being late however would be So also is areusal to honor anotherrsquos known sense o timeliness by insisting on having
onersquos own way
What we will see throughout the Bible is the notion that how a person
chooses to respond to God affects the kind o person he or she becomes
Tus those who aim to do what God wants are ethical people because much
o what God is said to want is also what most people would consider to be
good ethical behavior and because throughout the span o biblical writings
God is portrayed as being in the business o restoring rightness to his cre-
ation In the world o the Bible those who choose to dey God do not know
how to act consistently as ethical people because they have chosen to cut
themselves off rom the ways and plans o God and thus are incomplete in
their sense o what right and wrong behavior actually include
Obeying God trusting God having aith in God and responding to God
are all central issues to the Bible issues that affect the ethics that its varied
writings promote How one responds to God is reflected in a personrsquos ethicsIn act expect to see repeatedly how those who respond to God are ofen
shown as good responders by doing ethical acts Tose who disregard God
are ofen shown as bad responders with the unethical acts they perorm
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Ultimately what we see throughout the Bible are sets o ethics rooted
in peoplersquos relationship with Godmdashan ethic o relationship1048629 Doing good
flows out o a person coming to know God and growing in that rela-tionship with God Doing wrong shows how out o touch a person is with
God Biblical writings are ull o the language o devotion and com-
mitment It is not a mindless devotion but one that is highly attractive
showing people interacting with a God who gives cares and accepts even
i that God also has high standards or those who are connected to him
Tose standards are ofen shown to lead to personal well-being or those
who interact with God
Significantly because peoplersquos relating to God is the one constant advo-
cated by the varieties o biblical writings how God relates to people also
merits consideration Biblical writings offer hope and restoration or those
who mess up An important element o that is a concept known as repen-
tance people turning away rom their evil and embracing Godrsquos good
Along with that are grace receiving good rom God when one deserves the
opposite and mercy receiving good rom God when one is in a decidedly
weak position A sense o hope also emerges as a central eature o biblicalethics People are allowed to be works in progress Expect to discover im-
perect people in biblical writings people who as they draw close to God
also become better people in the process even i many o them have rough
edges In the world o the Bible God never rejects people who call on him
M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161 V983141983154983155983157983155 E983156983144983145983139983155
People ofen use the concepts o morality and ethics interchangeably
Morals generally reer to a personrsquos awareness o right and wrong A
moral person does the right kind o behavior in the sense we have been
probing here advancing good on the world while reraining rom what
inflicts harm For that reason some people would say that a moral person
is also ethical
A moral person may be doing what is right but may not know clearly
what makes the activity right or why she or he should do that right By con-
trast ethics as we discuss it here deals with how to distinguish right romwrong and why someone should do the right and hinder the wrong In
exploring the Bible we will see many statements weighing in on the moral
rightness or wrongness o various behaviors But we wonrsquot stop there We
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852019
will look or the ethics that will indicate what makes the activity right or
wrong and that offer rationale and motivation or engaging in the right ac-
tivity or reraining rom the wrong Moral people do what is right So dopeople who have ethics but they also know why1048630
Te distinction between morality and ethics is an important one wo
people can share the same moral convictions but they could easily have very
different ethics How Because the ethics will explain the answer to the
question Why is that wrong For example in the world that produced the
New estament section o the Bible Greek and Roman philosophers com-
monly discussed the moral wrongness o being guided by our passions
Toughtless passions lead people to do the wrong things One writer Paul
whose ethics we will explore in chapters nine and ten would basically agree
that people acting out their passions leads to misbehavior But i you asked
both sets o people why being guided by passion is wrong you would get
two entirely different sets o answers Paulrsquos answer connects directly to his
awareness o the crucifixion and resurrection o Jesus Te philosophers
know nothing o Jesus Teir answers are linked to their view o the psy-
chology o the soul Tough we might think we see moral agreement be-tween Paul and philosophers we see totally different ethics We will see the
same thing in the Bible itsel Te various places we will explore will re-
quently show common moral standards but different ethics Ethics and mo-
rality are not the same
Te Biblersquos writings do communicate a strong set o morals But they do
much more than that Tey portray genuine ethics Tey show ways o lie
stemming rom people living in attractive relationship with the true and
living God Reasons or living morally appear regularly either stated or
implied because relationship with God is portrayed as wonderully good
and genuinely healthy Relationship with God ultimately involves partici-
pating in Godrsquos process o remaking the world a world filled with bro-
kenness exhibited in and stemming rom human misbehavior As we probe
biblical texts we will discover ethical systems that are intriguing inviting
enlightening and uplifing People who read the Bible well will not only
have a stronger sense o what is right and wrong they will realize why ac-cording to those writings they also should do right and why living that
right is so ulfilling
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SUMMING IT UP
What is ethics
o Ethics reers to how a person distinguishes right rom
wrong behavior
o Ethics is also concerned with the reasons or why a
person should choose what is good and abstain rom
what is not
o Te kind o behavior that ethics is concerned with gen-erally is behavior that advances good or hinders harm
in onersquos world
What do we mean by biblical ethics
o With biblical ethics one is concerned with discerning
the kinds o behavior biblical writings indicate are right
and wrong
o One is also concerned with both how according to bib-
lical writings to distinguish right rom wrong and why
its readers should do right and rerain rom wrong
o Biblical ethics begins with describing what biblical
writings communicate ethically Only then can people see
how those ethics might apply to their lives prescriptively
o
Ethics is not the central concern o biblical writings o Other behaviors besides ethical behaviors are dealt
with in the Bible
o How people connect meaningully with God is a central
concern o biblical writings
o Ethics in the Bible flows primarily out o peoplersquos
healthy relationship with God
o Ethics in the Bible offers hope or those who recognize
their error and turn to God
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852021
A983148983156983141983154983150983137983156983145983158983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155
Ethical questions and dilemmas appear consistently and prominently within
human history Some o the ethical systems Western civilizations developed
to address those concerns are worth noting briefly as a way o comparing
how biblical writings offer both similarities to and dissimilarities rom
them1048631 Some o these systems actually influenced aspects o ethics as oundin parts o the Bible Others o these have themselves been influenced by the
sense o right and wrong ound in biblical writings
Virtue ethics Also closely related to what is called ldquocharacter ethicsrdquo
virtue ethics ocus on what kind o person one should become in order to
attain a higher goal such as happiness or well-being emphasizing various
virtues (eg courage wisdom justice sel-control kindness orbearance
riendliness modesty)852024 Conversely there are vices that one should avoid
(eg cowardice olly wrongness sel-indulgence meanness short-
temperedness diffidence extravagance) Many o those good character
qualities are learned rom observing people who are considered to be good
or by repeated practice o virtuous activities Discussions o virtues and
vices were especially important to the ancient Greeks and Romans Some
writings in the New estament reflect awareness o the ruit o such discus-
sions but also offer their own unique perspectives on virtues and vices
Ethical egoism Also coming rom ancient Greece ethical egoism advocatespursuing behaviors with outcomes that maximize personal pleasure while
minimizing personal pain Rather than resorting to out-and-out hedonism (ie
selfish pleasure seeking) the point here is to evaluate long-term outcomes or
How is morality different from ethics
o Morality is simply knowing what is right and what is
wrong
o Ethics involves both the reasoning or distinguishing
right rom wrong and the motivations or doing what
is right and hindering what is wrong
o Biblical writings regularly portray genuine ethics not
mere morality
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consequences Some immediate pleasures may result in such horrible pain in
the end that they should be avoided altogether But some pain may be necessary
to endure in order to attain the benefit o a long-term pleasureUtilitarianism Utilitarianism is similar to ethical egoism with its concern
or maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain but does so with societies in
view not merely the individual Whatever advances pleasure or the greatest
number o people is to be preerred Further it recognizes that there are
higher-order pleasures in lie beyond mere physical gratification Peoplersquos
ailure to exercise their minds or their pursuit o personal selfishness are two
major obstacles to good being advanced In current popular everyday
practice both ethical egoistic and utilitarian ways o thinking can lead
people to line up physical psychological and sociological conclusions in
order to prove that a genuine pleasure is being advanced or pain is being
avoided But sometimes those conclusions prove more tentative than their
communicators may indicate at the time especially when they are really
interested in justiying their own misbehavior
Duty With duty one should do what is right and rerain rom what is wrong
because that is the most reasonable orm o activity to pursue as a thinkinghuman being One has a duty to live consistently with onersquos being Right and
wrong are independent o human existence Right corresponds with what is
true to pursue what is alse is sel-contradictory and internally inconsistent
Practically speaking living by duty means unctioning in a world o beings As
a human being one has a duty to recognize people as people Whenever one
treats another or even onesel solely as an object one is violating onersquos duty to
a ellow creature Tis way o thinking partly resembles a well-known maxim
attributed to Jesus ofen called the Golden RulemdashldquoDo to others as you would
have them do to yourdquo But it has little regard or people thinking empathetically
about others with a desired ideal good or them the way Jesusrsquo words do
Divine command theory Divine command theory assumes that rightness
comes directly rom divinity and whatever any divinity commands the re-
ligious person must obey When applied to the Bible this approach assumes
that the Bible is ull o commands meant to be obeyed So as a reader one
should look diligently or those commands Whatever is commanded mustbe ollowed because it comes rom God o obey God is to do what is right
o disobey God is to do what is wrong While to many this would seem to
be biblical ethics in a nutshell it alls short by not seeing how biblical ethics
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852023
involves much more than obeying commands Ofen associated with this
approach at the popular level is an attitude that treats the Bible as a sort o
guiding constitution to scan or moral rulings discovering ldquowhat the Biblesaysrdquo about a topic then becomes the primary pursuit
eleology Many o these approaches to ethics also try to organize lie
around a ocused goal a teleological approach For example or some virtue
ethicists and ethical egoists achieving a orm o happiness or well-being is
the goal or which virtues are exercised or pain is minimized By contrast
the approach emphasizing duty regards the duty to be right all by itsel in-
dependent o any ultimate human goal or ideal
E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155 983137983150983140 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Te Bible and teleology In the Bible we will see varieties o teleological
thought stronger in some places than in others Concerns or example with
conormity to the created order or to Godrsquos merciul acts in a moment known
as the exodus are common in the first writings we will probe1048633 Even stronger
will be the awareness that lie is advancing toward a uture ultimate moment
o reordering a major component to the later writings being studied hereTe Bible and virtue ethics Tere are many places where biblical writings
champion conormity to a good character model852017852016 But good character is
advanced neither as a means to some sort o end nor merely as an end in
itsel the way it is in traditional virtue ethics Obtaining good lie outcomes
or avoiding bad ones is not the main goal o being good Rather good char-
acter in biblical writings is ofen seen as a reflection o the God who is being
served It is both an outcome o associating with God and a measuring stick
o how in touch one is with God Further in addition to character issues
biblical texts also champion specific behaviors such as taking care o the
poor standing up or the weak or loving the unlovely Tose behaviors may
reflect good character but they are to be done regardless o onersquos overall
character Many in Christianity have traditionally thought o love as a virtue
But biblical writings ofen ocus on love as an activity even a responsibility
Attention to character ormation is a major topic o discussion or scholars
examining the use o the Bible in ethics852017852017 Tat would be close to virtue ethicsbut not identical It ocuses on how encouragement in the practice o certain
biblical instructions shapes the lives o those who do them influencing what
kind o people they become Like virtue ethics this recognizes that a person
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8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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10486261048632 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
must be trained in the right way o living to be able to become good It does
receive major support rom the Biblersquos writings themselves which encourage
a liestyle that is always growing in its awareness o God and Godrsquos desiresor humans Still the ethics o the parts o the Bible we will explore here will
also provide more than material or character ormation Tey will also
provide guidelines that help people make reasoned decisions about the
rightness and wrongness o certain activities as they ponder them
Te Bible ethical egoism and utilitarianism Some biblical writings promote
appraising harmul or beneficial outcomes o behaviors in ways that may seem
to resemble the ethical egoist or the utilitarian Tey tend to do so to show the
wisdom or olly o certain activities or to speak approvingly o advancing the
goodness or well-being o onersquos neighbor Tey do not make the avoidance o
personal pain or the acquisition o personal pleasure the ultimate goal Rather
they measure consequences observed rom the activities o others and offer
advice based on what is observed to have worked and what genuinely does not
ounded on how one studies the world as God created it Other writings talk
about growing in character rom enduring hardships such as persecution Again
the point is not to ocus on the personal gain rom such growth but on the ul-timate goal the remade hardship-ree creation one is destined to
Te Bible and duty Various biblical writings urge their readers to treat
others as people rather than objects but they do so in a manner that takes
into consideration the railties o the environment people live in and the
realities o human existence and weakness encouraging readers to be aware
o their own Tough obedience itsel in some contexts may be perceived
as a duty urther probing o those contexts ofen discloses that obedience
flows more out o a sincere relationship with God and a high regard or
others than rom a sense o resolute duty-bound obligation
Te Bible and divine command theory Te Bible is also ull o com-
mands But many o those commands come in specifically defined contexts
that are not meant to apply directly to people in most contemporaneous
settings And outside o those contexts much o what is ofen regarded as
command is really instructional advice which is quite a different orm o
expressionmdashordering someone to ldquoSlow downrdquo is not the same as advisingsomeone to ldquoake your timerdquo yet both communicate what grammarians call
imperatives Further much o the Biblersquos advice appears in contexts that
point to clear supporting reasons behind it Focusing on the advice without
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852025
dealing with its supporting rationale misses the actual ethics being advanced
Finally there are many ethical topics about which the Bible does not issue
any direct command or instruction leaving readers with no guidance orworse as we have already seen leading people to twist the Biblersquos words into
making points not really there Discovering Godrsquos will emerges as a major
concern in some o the writings we will explore or their ethics But we will
see how doing that leads a person beyond a search or direct statements or
interpretive moral rulings
When people probe the Bible to learn what it might say about a certain
moral topic they are really acting under a basic assumption o divine
command theory an act is right or wrong because God says so852017852018 And yet
without ever having read the Bible people all over the world have views
similar to biblical writingsrsquo views about the morality o certain acts A sense
o right and wrong can exist independent o the Bible In this book we will
proceed under the assumption that an act is not right or wrong just because
the Bible says so Te Bible says so ofen because the act is right or wrong Why
is an act right or wrong Answering that rom the Biblersquos writings will put
readers in touch with the ethics those writings advanceTe observations rom the previous paragraphs should not lessen any
respect that a reader gives to biblical texts Tey should in act increase it
Te writings o the Bible encourage more than they ofen receive credit or
Troughout the variety o ethical approaches we will examine in this book
we will see attitudes expressed by biblical texts that expect their words to be
taken seriously precisely because they are connected to God who is trust-
worthy who has made the world with purpose and who is in the process o
moving its events to an ultimate restorative climax Doing something be-
cause one is prompted by a saying in a biblical text is an attitude encouraged
directly by the words o the Biblersquos writings But studying biblical ethics
means much more than searching or and then obeying divinely established
commands or discovering what the Bible says about a topic Tat may some-
times be a good starting point but the Biblersquos words ofen lead its readers to
think about how to do even more than they say directly People who care
about the Bible should let their ethical vision be shaped by that
A V983137983154983145983141983156983161 983151983142 E983156983144983145983139983155 983137983150983140 983137 C983151983150983155983145983155983156983141983150983156 M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161
Te Bible is not a book written by a single author with a collection o chapters
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reflecting a beginning a middle and an end It is a collection o writings
emerging over a large time span and produced by a wide variety o authors
nearly one third o whom are not identified It alls into two unequal por-tions (1048625) the much larger Hebrew Bible (or to Christians the Old estament)
the product o hundreds o years o activity ocusing on the people o Israel
and their covenant with God and (1048626) the New estament produced within
the second hal o the first century 983139983141 or 983137983140 the writings o which all
reflect issues and events related to the person named Jesus the Christ Many
o the writings o both estaments disclose threads o an unolding story to
which they persistently connect divulging an emerging divine plan Some
writings connect to that plan with more detail than others And not all o
the writings try to advance that unolding story
In this book we are probing only our broad sections o biblical ethics (1048625)
Te orah (minus Numbers) and (1048626) proverbial wisdom rom the Old es-
tament (852019) two o the Gospels (Luke and Matthew) and (1048628) two o Paulrsquos
letters (1048625 Corinthians and Romans) rom the New estament8520171048627 Prophetic
thought rom Isaiah in the Old estament will be addressed briefly as well
not or separate ethical inquiry as much as to bridge the ethical worlds oorah and the Gospels Immediately some may ault this listing as incom-
plete and too limiting852017852020 Yes it is But these our basic sections each have
broad unique identifiable eatures that disclose significant depth o ethical
thought What orah communicates ethically is quite distinct rom what
Proverbs conveys And though the Gospels o Luke and Matthew each display
their own special ethical approaches their similarities offer a significantly
different slant rom what Paul advances We will be looking at our distinct
emphases covenant consequences kingdom and transormation Te Bible
does not portray a single unitary ethical vision We see multiple visions each
connecting people with God who has made the world and will remake it
Evidence within the biblical writings suggests that all our o the ap-
proaches we are exploring can interact not only with each other but with
those biblical approaches that we are not exploring in this book8520171048629 We are
looking at a useul basic starting point Tose wanting to pursue a uller
range o approaches and thought orms can then build rom hereRecognizing that there are different complementary ways o thinking ad-
vocated by biblical texts should give Bible readers a greater appreciation or
the richness o thought the writings encourage It should also caution them
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What Is Biblical Ethics 8520191048625
about the shallowness o approaches that disregard that variety in avor o
coming up with a ldquobiblicalrdquo position about a moral topic Tough one might
be able to discern common moral perspectives on some issues one would bemissing out on the ethical reasoning individual sets o writings advance
S983151983149983141 L983145983149983145983156983137983156983145983151983150983155 983151983142 T983144983145983155 A983152983152983154983151983137983139983144
Many biblical writings invite their readers to distinguish right rom wrong
Tough the Bible does not speak univocally (ie with one voice) its writings
display a remarkably consistent concern or distinguishing right rom wrong
even within the diversity o their expressions Consider the ollowing state-
ments rom a wide range o biblical books all but one o which we will
eventually survey
Moses the leader o Godrsquos people in the orah instructs them concerning
Godrsquos commands
In Proverbs a ather instructs his son
You must observe them diligently for this will show your wisdom and discernment
to the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say ldquoSurely this great
nation is a wise and discerning peoplerdquo For what other great nation has a god sonear to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him And what other great
nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before
you today Deut 46-8
Do not enter the path of the wicked
and do not walk in the way of evildoers
Avoid it do not go on it
turn away from it and pass on
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble
For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn
which shines brighter and brighter until full day
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness
they do not know what they stumble over Prov 414-19
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When accusing Israelite people o a series o wrongdoings the prophet
Isaiah writes
In one Gospel Jesus invites hearers to accept a set o his teachings many
o which address moral behavior
When disturbed that believers in Corinth are not distinguishing rightrom wrong that churchrsquos ounder Paul says
In a totally independent writing when disturbed at the immaturity dis-
played by his readersrsquo willingness to wander away rom the aith the writer
o the epistle to the Hebrews identifies spiritually mature as
Biblical writings clearly advocate that people distinguish moral right
rom moral wrongTat said letrsquos note once more how ocusing on ethics to the exclusion o
other issues is potentially misleading We will see that immediately in ex-
ploring the first part o the Bible the orah In Deuteronomy or example we
Ah you who call evil good
and good evil
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter Is 520
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads
to destruction and there are many who take it For the gate is narrow and the road
is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it Mt 713-14
Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one be-
liever and another but a believer goes to court against a believermdashand before
unbelievers at that 1 Cor 65-6
those whose faculties have been trained by
practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 514
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852019
will find activities identified as evil that our working definition o ethics would
call immoral alse witness adultery kidnapping (Deut 10486258520251048625852025 1048626104862610486261048626 10486261048628852023) But
that same writing identifies alse prophets and idolaters with the same labelmdashevil (Deut 1048625852019852021 1048625852023852023) Are idolaters and alse prophets immoral or something
else Elsewhere in the Bible we will see ethical activity such as loving enemies
(Mt 85202110486281048628-1048628852022) placed on the same reward level as acilitating the work o those
who spread the message o the kingdom (Mt 1048625104862410486281048624-10486281048626) Is supporting the
spread o the kingdomrsquos message moral or something else Biblical writings
ofen portray a more integrated view about lie than our strict definitions allow
We might like to put certain decisions into an ethics box Living in relationship
with the Biblersquos God is all encompassing not easily separable into box-like
categoriesmdasha worship box a sacrifice box a religion box an ethics box
So why are we doing this Because the list o statements we have just
looked at is one piece o evidence among many we will see that encourages
us to think ethically as a natural way o living in relationship with God
Failure to live in ways that emerge out o our definition o ethics is regularly
condemned in biblical writings (eg Is 104862510486251048624-1048625852023 Mt 10486268520191048626852019-10486261048628) But living in
relationship with God involves much more than ethics Our study o ethicsshould not keep us rom realizing that
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155 T983141983150983140983155 983156983151 983138983141 M983145983139983154983151983141983156983144983145983139983137983148
Ethicists generally do not use the expression microethical or its noun micro-
ethics Tose terms are unique to our discussions here Tey appeal to con-
cepts rom the world o economics Economists speak o microeconomics
and macroeconomics Te ormer reers to how people interact in day-to-
day business transactions Whenever people buy or sell items rom a store
they are engaging in microeconomics Te latter reers to larger national
and global issues that determine economic policies set by governments
Whenever people announce state or national employment figures or
whenever people are concerned about the prime rate being set by the Federal
Reserve Bank they are dealing with macroeconomics
Similar concepts are being applied here Microethics reers to what people
do when they interact directly with someone else ldquoShould I be kind or rudeto that woman who wonrsquot give me the time o dayrdquo ldquoShould I get angry at that
man who just cut me off in traffic or should I simply smile pleasantlyrdquo
ldquoShould I join in the conversation about our riend who is not present or
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should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
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Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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THE
ETHICAL VISION
OF THE BIBLE
L E A R N I N G G O O D F R O M K N O W I N G G O D
P E T E R W G O S N E L L
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InterVarsity Press
PO Box 983089983092983088983088 Downers Grove IL 983094983088983093983089983093-983089983092983090983094
World Wide Web wwwivpresscom
E-mail emailivpresscom
copy983090983088983089983092 by Peter W Gosnell
All rights reserved No part o this book may be reproduced in any orm without written permission rom
InterVarsity Press
InterVarsity Pressreg is the book-publishing division o InterVarsity Christian FellowshipUSAreg a movement o
students and aculty active on campus at hundreds o universities colleges and schools o nursing in the United
States o America and a member movement o the International Fellowship o Evangelical Students Forinormation about local and regional activities write Public Relations Dept InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
USA 983094983092983088983088 Schroeder Rd PO Box 983095983096983097983093 Madison WI 983093983091983095983088983095-983095983096983097983093 or visit the IVCF website at ltwww
intervarsityorggt
Scripture quotations unless otherwise noted are rom the New Revised Standard Version o the Bible copyright
983089983097983096983097 by the Division o Christian Education o the National Council o the Churches o Christ in the USA Used by
permission All rights reserved
While all stories in this book are true some names and identiying inormation in this book have been changed to
protect the privacy o the individuals involved
Cover design Cindy Kiple
Interior design Beth Hagenberg Images book pages copy MaicaiStockphoto
book icons copy Alex BelomlinskyiStockphoto
ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983092983088983090983096-983089 (print)
ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983094983092983095983097-983097 (digital)
Printed in the United States o America infin
InterVarsity Press is committed to protecting the environment and to the responsible use o naturalresources As a member o Green Press Initiative we use recycled paper whenever possible o learnmore about the Green Press Initiative visit ltwwwgreenpressinitiativeorggt
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record or this book is available rom the Library o Congress
P 983090983094 983090983093 983090983092 983090983091 983090983090 983090983089 983090983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 983089983094 983089983093 983089983092 983089983091 983089983090 983089983089 983089983088 983097 983096 983095 983094 983093 983092 983091 983090 983089
Y 983091983094 983091983093 983091983092 983091983091 983091983090 983091983089 983091983088 983090983097 983090983096 983090983095 983090983094 983090983093 983090983092 983090983091 983090983090 983090983089 983090983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 983089983094 983089983093 983089983092
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
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C983151983150983156983141983150983156983155
Preace 983097
983089 What Is Biblical Ethics 983089983091
983090 From Disorder to Order 983091983095
Ethics in orah 1
983091 Mercy Covenant and Instructing Law 983094983090
Ethics in orah 2
983092 Holiness and Love in the Covenant 983096983094
Ethics in orah 3
983093 Wisdom and Consequences 983089983090983091
he Book o Proverbs
983094 Prophets 983089983093983089Ethics or Morality
983095 Reversal and Exemplar 983089983094983096
Jesus and the Kingdom in Luke
983096 Perection Mercy and Imitation 983090983088983093
Jesus and the Kingdom in Matthew
983097 ransormation in Practice 983090983091983096
Paul and 1 Corinthians
983089983088 ransormation Explained 983090983095983092
Paul and Romans
Concluding houghts 983091983089983090
What Can We Do with All o his
Notes 983091983090983089
Bibliography 983091983096983089
Name and Subject Index 983091983097983095
Scripture Index 983092983088983093
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8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 729
10486251048628 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
appeals to their own authority become dissatisying and ineffective
So consider the ollowing upgrade
ldquoMom why do I have to brush my teethrdquo
ldquoTo keep your teeth healthy If you donrsquot theyrsquoll rot
and fall outrdquo
Now a new element has been addedmdashconsequences I people perorm well
they benefit i they perorm badly they can be harmed Te interaction now
appears to be airly reasonable But compare the explanation rom the pre-
ceding parent with those ollowing
ldquoBecause if you do Irsquoll take you to the zoo
tomorrowrdquo
Or
ldquoBecause if you donrsquot I will spank yourdquo
Tese also are consequences but something is a bit off Te consequences
do not seem to be tied to the behavior Tere is no genuine connection be-
tween tooth brushing and the zoo or tooth brushing and spanking Rather
the interaction appears disturbingly manipulative perhaps symptomatic o
a flawed relationship Te parents here appear to be on subtly weak ground
In one case the parent is bribing the child In the other the parent is threat-
ening the childEthics provides the rationale or perorming certain behaviors I the
reasons or perorming a behavior make sense the system makes sense I
they do not the system begins to alter
Ethics involves another important element Te two scenarios may be
instructive in the area o parenting but are they really dealing with ethics
Brushing teeth may be polite It may be healthy But is it right in the same
way that one would consider helping a person in need would be or is ailing
to do it wrong in the same way that murdering someone would be Brushing
teeth reflects social upbringing to be sure It has health consequences cer-
tainly Reusing to do so when asked to may indicate troublesome attitudes
that themselves do come into the sphere o ethicsmdashrebelliousness stub-
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8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852021
bornness selfishness But people would hardly call someone who ails to
brush teeth an unethical person merely because he or she happened not to
perorm an act o personal hygieneSo what else does ethics involve We are talking ultimately about how
someone is guided to become a good person who perorms good deeds Tat
would involve matters such as how people treat others or how they treat them-
selves It would more ully involve how one treats the world around onesel
Te ollowing scenario swerves more ully into the world o ethics
ldquoAlicia please share your toy with Junierdquo
ldquoWhyrdquo
ldquoBecause you want to be a good friend to her She
ought to enjoy coming to visit yourdquo
Here we are dealing with behavior that affects peoplersquos expression o their
humanness We are observing Aliciarsquos parent instructing her about right and
wrong behavior that affects another person
Tat kind o interaction even between parent and child shows a regard
or behavior that goes beyond the bounds o mere politeness It reflects a
concern or others It ultimately reflects a concern or what kind o person
the child should aim to become and the kinds o things she should be doing
as that sort o person In this scenario Alicia is being urged to advance good
or well-being on her world She is also being urged not to advance harm in
her world Tat basic pattern will serve as the working definition o what
ethics involves or this book In other words ethics involves championingbehavior that advances good or hinders harm in onersquos world
People who aim to be ethical people are good people We like good people
Good people do what is right Tey rerain rom what is evil We like asso-
ciating with people who are kind to us who give to us who care or us
Conversely we donrsquot like people who are nasty to us who take rom us who
harm us So what does it mean to be good Why should we do good An-
swers to those questions will reveal the kind o ethics we are applying
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155
In this book we are considering what the collection o writings known as the
Bible contributes to the world o ethics What is considered right and wrong
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behavior according to biblical writings What thought patterns do writings
in the Bible encourage in helping their readers distinguish right rom wrong
What reasons and motivations do biblical writings offer or why their readersshould perorm what is good and rerain rom what is bad
In addressing such questions letrsquos first note an important difference be-
tween what some would call ldquoChristian ethicsrdquo or ldquoreligious ethicsrdquo and what
we are exploring here in this book Christian or religious ethics might ad-
dress the question What do the tenets o the religious aith contribute to
distinguishing right rom wrong on liersquos issues Or more personally Since
I call mysel a Christian how should I behave as a Christian over this issue
Tese are great questions Tey launch the inquirer on a prescriptive task
that looks to the religion including the Bible as Christian Scripture to
advise about or make behavioral demands or the present moment
Biblical ethics should also inorm those kinds o questions But beore
we can determine how we must first try to discern what the biblical texts
appear to be communicating852017 Note biblical texts not simply biblical state-
ments Wersquore aiming to learn to observe the sustained lines o reasoning
offered by individual biblical writings or clusters o related writings In-stead o imposing our interests on themmdashWhat does the Bible say about
Xmdashwe want to discern the issues that the words o individual writings
appear to be designed to address Te biblical ethics we are pursuing here
is largely a descriptive task We will aim to understand what the Biblersquos
writings themselves promote ethically exploring them with a regard or
their literary cultural and historical contexts What we discover through
this kind o biblical ethics should then be the basis o conversation be-
tween Bible readers who can help each other understand more deeply
what to do with the kinds o ideas disclosed by this sort o investigation
Our primary pursuit in this book is to observe the ways o distinguishing
right rom wrong that are encouraged within biblical writings and what
rationale and motivations those writings offer or perorming right ac-
tivities and avoiding wrong ones Based on those people can begin to
discuss the prescriptive role these texts can have in their lives now no
matter the culture852018
Since much o Christian ethics is interested in using the Bible how is
what we are doing here different Our task will not be to use the Bible as a
source o moral statements but to describe the Biblersquos ethical vision how its
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852023
writings themselves shape the readersrsquo views o moral right and wrong For
example some Christian thinkers are interested in exploring the implica-
tions o humans being made in Godrsquos image a point made twice in the earlychapters o Genesis as wersquoll soon see ldquoI humans are said to be in Godrsquos
imagerdquo the reasoning goes ldquothen I should always treat other humans as
ellow image bearersrdquo Tatrsquos not a bad line o reasoning But it is not strictly
biblical in the way we are considering here How so Because that line o
reasoning is never explicitly ound or encouraged by any words in biblical
writings In act the last use o the expression ldquoimage o Godrdquo in the large
first part o the Bible the Old estament is in Genesis 852025 Biblical writings
appeal to the concept differently Tose writings instead ollow other iden-
tifiable sustained lines o reasoning that offer consistent and persistent ways
o thinking about right and wrong Learning to trace those lines is the point
o this book
In some religious contexts people are told prescriptively to do one
certain kind o activity or rerain rom others ldquobecause the Bible says sordquo
Such people could then go so ar as to say that such a reason makes their
ethics biblical Tough that religious approach may appeal to the Bible italso tends not to reflect consistently what the writings themselves commu-
nicate and should also not be conused with the biblical ethics we are pur-
suing here It rather tends to assume that the Bible is a collection o moral
injunctions and stories that declare and demonstrate what is right and
wrong or the aithul According to that view those who want to be con-
sidered aithul should do what the Bible says without hesitation Tough
as wersquoll see biblical writings expect their words to be taken seriously the
words o those writings present a much richer set o ideas than the rationale
o rote obedience allows or
Further the Biblersquos words shouldnrsquot be pressed into service to commu-
nicate ideas oreign to them I we impose assumptions rom our culture
onto what the Biblersquos words communicate in their original settings we in-
troduce distortions For example we may want a biblical ruling on when
human lie begins definitively but i we assume that biblical writers know
exactly what we may know about human conception we would be intro-ducing ideas oreign to the biblical texts Te emale ovum was not dis-
covered until the early nineteenth century Appeals to the Bible or such uses
tend to reflect what religious authorities claim about biblical texts more than
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852025
so in ways that dey uninormed popular-level assumptions When exam-
ining the Biblersquos words in their actual contexts readers will make surprising
observations that may dey their assumptions about the sense o religionadvocated by the Biblersquos varied writings For example eternal rewards and
punishments concerns with lie afer death even hell avoidance and
heaven attainment are generally side issues in the Bible (When we explore
the Gospel o Matthew though we will see aspects o those issues empha-
sized) And in those ew places in the Bible where hell is reerred to it is
portrayed not as a scare or bribery tactic but as a serious outcome or the
end o the age What happens to a person upon dying is scarcely a topic in
the Bible even i it becomes so or some expressions o Christianity so
closely connected to those writings Let Bible readers beware when ob-
served careully the words o the Bible will reveal criticize and correct their
sloppy religious assumptions
Now i biblical writings advocate various approaches to ethics that flow
out o peoplersquos relationship with God and i that God is neither a brute
authoritarian parent demanding rote obedience nor a weak manipulative
parent threatening with punishment and bribing with rewards what do weactually see Letrsquos look briefly at the first writing Genesis
Our original introduction to God in that writing displays the Creator
whose acts resemble more those o a beneficent monarch or king than o a
parent1048627 Tat king commands and it is so Even more revealing that king
evaluates to see that all is good Tat kingly activity results in an ordered
creation that humans are asked collectively to manage When we see God
instructing the first human a man known eventually as Adam he issues a
specific charge ldquoYou may reely eat o every tree o the garden but o the
tree o the knowledge o good and evil you shall not eat or in the day that
you eat o it you shall dierdquo (Gen 10486261048625852022-1048625852023)
Notice first o all that this is not an ethical scenario Rather this shows
a boundary-setting restriction Tat is important to observe Why Not
everything in the Bible is about ethics Tink about it What is inherently
wrong in eating ruit O course this is a particular kind o ruitmdasha unique
kind in act that is said to give ldquoknowledge o good and evilrdquo importantcategories or ethics But eating it is said to have severe consequencesmdash
death Certainly the rationale eventually offered or disobeying Godrsquos
command has implications or ethics ldquoWhen the woman saw that the tree
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What Is Biblical Ethics 10486261048625
speciic situations but are not inherently morally right or wrong hose
behaviors may all into the areas o cultural customs and manners or
even situation-speciic instructions but not ethics When consideringmorally neutral behaviors we will have to consider the ethics o pur-
suing those behaviors knowing that someone might be bothered or the
ethics o orcing people to conorm to neutral standards however im-
portant those standards may be culturally or religiously to those en-
orcing them
It will also require people recognizing that some o their own culturally
or religiously conditioned behaviors may actually be neutral not genu-
inely moral People should not expect biblical writings to affirm their own
culturersquos manners and expectations For example being prompt or timely
an important cultural value or some people in the West today is not really
an issue that alls into the category o ethics even though it may be wise
to be prompt in many circumstances amiliar to us Itrsquos really only a
culture-bound value near and dear to many people Certainly biblical
writings donrsquot count promptness among the issues that God cares about
Being impatient with others or being late however would be So also is areusal to honor anotherrsquos known sense o timeliness by insisting on having
onersquos own way
What we will see throughout the Bible is the notion that how a person
chooses to respond to God affects the kind o person he or she becomes
Tus those who aim to do what God wants are ethical people because much
o what God is said to want is also what most people would consider to be
good ethical behavior and because throughout the span o biblical writings
God is portrayed as being in the business o restoring rightness to his cre-
ation In the world o the Bible those who choose to dey God do not know
how to act consistently as ethical people because they have chosen to cut
themselves off rom the ways and plans o God and thus are incomplete in
their sense o what right and wrong behavior actually include
Obeying God trusting God having aith in God and responding to God
are all central issues to the Bible issues that affect the ethics that its varied
writings promote How one responds to God is reflected in a personrsquos ethicsIn act expect to see repeatedly how those who respond to God are ofen
shown as good responders by doing ethical acts Tose who disregard God
are ofen shown as bad responders with the unethical acts they perorm
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Ultimately what we see throughout the Bible are sets o ethics rooted
in peoplersquos relationship with Godmdashan ethic o relationship1048629 Doing good
flows out o a person coming to know God and growing in that rela-tionship with God Doing wrong shows how out o touch a person is with
God Biblical writings are ull o the language o devotion and com-
mitment It is not a mindless devotion but one that is highly attractive
showing people interacting with a God who gives cares and accepts even
i that God also has high standards or those who are connected to him
Tose standards are ofen shown to lead to personal well-being or those
who interact with God
Significantly because peoplersquos relating to God is the one constant advo-
cated by the varieties o biblical writings how God relates to people also
merits consideration Biblical writings offer hope and restoration or those
who mess up An important element o that is a concept known as repen-
tance people turning away rom their evil and embracing Godrsquos good
Along with that are grace receiving good rom God when one deserves the
opposite and mercy receiving good rom God when one is in a decidedly
weak position A sense o hope also emerges as a central eature o biblicalethics People are allowed to be works in progress Expect to discover im-
perect people in biblical writings people who as they draw close to God
also become better people in the process even i many o them have rough
edges In the world o the Bible God never rejects people who call on him
M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161 V983141983154983155983157983155 E983156983144983145983139983155
People ofen use the concepts o morality and ethics interchangeably
Morals generally reer to a personrsquos awareness o right and wrong A
moral person does the right kind o behavior in the sense we have been
probing here advancing good on the world while reraining rom what
inflicts harm For that reason some people would say that a moral person
is also ethical
A moral person may be doing what is right but may not know clearly
what makes the activity right or why she or he should do that right By con-
trast ethics as we discuss it here deals with how to distinguish right romwrong and why someone should do the right and hinder the wrong In
exploring the Bible we will see many statements weighing in on the moral
rightness or wrongness o various behaviors But we wonrsquot stop there We
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852019
will look or the ethics that will indicate what makes the activity right or
wrong and that offer rationale and motivation or engaging in the right ac-
tivity or reraining rom the wrong Moral people do what is right So dopeople who have ethics but they also know why1048630
Te distinction between morality and ethics is an important one wo
people can share the same moral convictions but they could easily have very
different ethics How Because the ethics will explain the answer to the
question Why is that wrong For example in the world that produced the
New estament section o the Bible Greek and Roman philosophers com-
monly discussed the moral wrongness o being guided by our passions
Toughtless passions lead people to do the wrong things One writer Paul
whose ethics we will explore in chapters nine and ten would basically agree
that people acting out their passions leads to misbehavior But i you asked
both sets o people why being guided by passion is wrong you would get
two entirely different sets o answers Paulrsquos answer connects directly to his
awareness o the crucifixion and resurrection o Jesus Te philosophers
know nothing o Jesus Teir answers are linked to their view o the psy-
chology o the soul Tough we might think we see moral agreement be-tween Paul and philosophers we see totally different ethics We will see the
same thing in the Bible itsel Te various places we will explore will re-
quently show common moral standards but different ethics Ethics and mo-
rality are not the same
Te Biblersquos writings do communicate a strong set o morals But they do
much more than that Tey portray genuine ethics Tey show ways o lie
stemming rom people living in attractive relationship with the true and
living God Reasons or living morally appear regularly either stated or
implied because relationship with God is portrayed as wonderully good
and genuinely healthy Relationship with God ultimately involves partici-
pating in Godrsquos process o remaking the world a world filled with bro-
kenness exhibited in and stemming rom human misbehavior As we probe
biblical texts we will discover ethical systems that are intriguing inviting
enlightening and uplifing People who read the Bible well will not only
have a stronger sense o what is right and wrong they will realize why ac-cording to those writings they also should do right and why living that
right is so ulfilling
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SUMMING IT UP
What is ethics
o Ethics reers to how a person distinguishes right rom
wrong behavior
o Ethics is also concerned with the reasons or why a
person should choose what is good and abstain rom
what is not
o Te kind o behavior that ethics is concerned with gen-erally is behavior that advances good or hinders harm
in onersquos world
What do we mean by biblical ethics
o With biblical ethics one is concerned with discerning
the kinds o behavior biblical writings indicate are right
and wrong
o One is also concerned with both how according to bib-
lical writings to distinguish right rom wrong and why
its readers should do right and rerain rom wrong
o Biblical ethics begins with describing what biblical
writings communicate ethically Only then can people see
how those ethics might apply to their lives prescriptively
o
Ethics is not the central concern o biblical writings o Other behaviors besides ethical behaviors are dealt
with in the Bible
o How people connect meaningully with God is a central
concern o biblical writings
o Ethics in the Bible flows primarily out o peoplersquos
healthy relationship with God
o Ethics in the Bible offers hope or those who recognize
their error and turn to God
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852021
A983148983156983141983154983150983137983156983145983158983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155
Ethical questions and dilemmas appear consistently and prominently within
human history Some o the ethical systems Western civilizations developed
to address those concerns are worth noting briefly as a way o comparing
how biblical writings offer both similarities to and dissimilarities rom
them1048631 Some o these systems actually influenced aspects o ethics as oundin parts o the Bible Others o these have themselves been influenced by the
sense o right and wrong ound in biblical writings
Virtue ethics Also closely related to what is called ldquocharacter ethicsrdquo
virtue ethics ocus on what kind o person one should become in order to
attain a higher goal such as happiness or well-being emphasizing various
virtues (eg courage wisdom justice sel-control kindness orbearance
riendliness modesty)852024 Conversely there are vices that one should avoid
(eg cowardice olly wrongness sel-indulgence meanness short-
temperedness diffidence extravagance) Many o those good character
qualities are learned rom observing people who are considered to be good
or by repeated practice o virtuous activities Discussions o virtues and
vices were especially important to the ancient Greeks and Romans Some
writings in the New estament reflect awareness o the ruit o such discus-
sions but also offer their own unique perspectives on virtues and vices
Ethical egoism Also coming rom ancient Greece ethical egoism advocatespursuing behaviors with outcomes that maximize personal pleasure while
minimizing personal pain Rather than resorting to out-and-out hedonism (ie
selfish pleasure seeking) the point here is to evaluate long-term outcomes or
How is morality different from ethics
o Morality is simply knowing what is right and what is
wrong
o Ethics involves both the reasoning or distinguishing
right rom wrong and the motivations or doing what
is right and hindering what is wrong
o Biblical writings regularly portray genuine ethics not
mere morality
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consequences Some immediate pleasures may result in such horrible pain in
the end that they should be avoided altogether But some pain may be necessary
to endure in order to attain the benefit o a long-term pleasureUtilitarianism Utilitarianism is similar to ethical egoism with its concern
or maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain but does so with societies in
view not merely the individual Whatever advances pleasure or the greatest
number o people is to be preerred Further it recognizes that there are
higher-order pleasures in lie beyond mere physical gratification Peoplersquos
ailure to exercise their minds or their pursuit o personal selfishness are two
major obstacles to good being advanced In current popular everyday
practice both ethical egoistic and utilitarian ways o thinking can lead
people to line up physical psychological and sociological conclusions in
order to prove that a genuine pleasure is being advanced or pain is being
avoided But sometimes those conclusions prove more tentative than their
communicators may indicate at the time especially when they are really
interested in justiying their own misbehavior
Duty With duty one should do what is right and rerain rom what is wrong
because that is the most reasonable orm o activity to pursue as a thinkinghuman being One has a duty to live consistently with onersquos being Right and
wrong are independent o human existence Right corresponds with what is
true to pursue what is alse is sel-contradictory and internally inconsistent
Practically speaking living by duty means unctioning in a world o beings As
a human being one has a duty to recognize people as people Whenever one
treats another or even onesel solely as an object one is violating onersquos duty to
a ellow creature Tis way o thinking partly resembles a well-known maxim
attributed to Jesus ofen called the Golden RulemdashldquoDo to others as you would
have them do to yourdquo But it has little regard or people thinking empathetically
about others with a desired ideal good or them the way Jesusrsquo words do
Divine command theory Divine command theory assumes that rightness
comes directly rom divinity and whatever any divinity commands the re-
ligious person must obey When applied to the Bible this approach assumes
that the Bible is ull o commands meant to be obeyed So as a reader one
should look diligently or those commands Whatever is commanded mustbe ollowed because it comes rom God o obey God is to do what is right
o disobey God is to do what is wrong While to many this would seem to
be biblical ethics in a nutshell it alls short by not seeing how biblical ethics
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852023
involves much more than obeying commands Ofen associated with this
approach at the popular level is an attitude that treats the Bible as a sort o
guiding constitution to scan or moral rulings discovering ldquowhat the Biblesaysrdquo about a topic then becomes the primary pursuit
eleology Many o these approaches to ethics also try to organize lie
around a ocused goal a teleological approach For example or some virtue
ethicists and ethical egoists achieving a orm o happiness or well-being is
the goal or which virtues are exercised or pain is minimized By contrast
the approach emphasizing duty regards the duty to be right all by itsel in-
dependent o any ultimate human goal or ideal
E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155 983137983150983140 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Te Bible and teleology In the Bible we will see varieties o teleological
thought stronger in some places than in others Concerns or example with
conormity to the created order or to Godrsquos merciul acts in a moment known
as the exodus are common in the first writings we will probe1048633 Even stronger
will be the awareness that lie is advancing toward a uture ultimate moment
o reordering a major component to the later writings being studied hereTe Bible and virtue ethics Tere are many places where biblical writings
champion conormity to a good character model852017852016 But good character is
advanced neither as a means to some sort o end nor merely as an end in
itsel the way it is in traditional virtue ethics Obtaining good lie outcomes
or avoiding bad ones is not the main goal o being good Rather good char-
acter in biblical writings is ofen seen as a reflection o the God who is being
served It is both an outcome o associating with God and a measuring stick
o how in touch one is with God Further in addition to character issues
biblical texts also champion specific behaviors such as taking care o the
poor standing up or the weak or loving the unlovely Tose behaviors may
reflect good character but they are to be done regardless o onersquos overall
character Many in Christianity have traditionally thought o love as a virtue
But biblical writings ofen ocus on love as an activity even a responsibility
Attention to character ormation is a major topic o discussion or scholars
examining the use o the Bible in ethics852017852017 Tat would be close to virtue ethicsbut not identical It ocuses on how encouragement in the practice o certain
biblical instructions shapes the lives o those who do them influencing what
kind o people they become Like virtue ethics this recognizes that a person
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must be trained in the right way o living to be able to become good It does
receive major support rom the Biblersquos writings themselves which encourage
a liestyle that is always growing in its awareness o God and Godrsquos desiresor humans Still the ethics o the parts o the Bible we will explore here will
also provide more than material or character ormation Tey will also
provide guidelines that help people make reasoned decisions about the
rightness and wrongness o certain activities as they ponder them
Te Bible ethical egoism and utilitarianism Some biblical writings promote
appraising harmul or beneficial outcomes o behaviors in ways that may seem
to resemble the ethical egoist or the utilitarian Tey tend to do so to show the
wisdom or olly o certain activities or to speak approvingly o advancing the
goodness or well-being o onersquos neighbor Tey do not make the avoidance o
personal pain or the acquisition o personal pleasure the ultimate goal Rather
they measure consequences observed rom the activities o others and offer
advice based on what is observed to have worked and what genuinely does not
ounded on how one studies the world as God created it Other writings talk
about growing in character rom enduring hardships such as persecution Again
the point is not to ocus on the personal gain rom such growth but on the ul-timate goal the remade hardship-ree creation one is destined to
Te Bible and duty Various biblical writings urge their readers to treat
others as people rather than objects but they do so in a manner that takes
into consideration the railties o the environment people live in and the
realities o human existence and weakness encouraging readers to be aware
o their own Tough obedience itsel in some contexts may be perceived
as a duty urther probing o those contexts ofen discloses that obedience
flows more out o a sincere relationship with God and a high regard or
others than rom a sense o resolute duty-bound obligation
Te Bible and divine command theory Te Bible is also ull o com-
mands But many o those commands come in specifically defined contexts
that are not meant to apply directly to people in most contemporaneous
settings And outside o those contexts much o what is ofen regarded as
command is really instructional advice which is quite a different orm o
expressionmdashordering someone to ldquoSlow downrdquo is not the same as advisingsomeone to ldquoake your timerdquo yet both communicate what grammarians call
imperatives Further much o the Biblersquos advice appears in contexts that
point to clear supporting reasons behind it Focusing on the advice without
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852025
dealing with its supporting rationale misses the actual ethics being advanced
Finally there are many ethical topics about which the Bible does not issue
any direct command or instruction leaving readers with no guidance orworse as we have already seen leading people to twist the Biblersquos words into
making points not really there Discovering Godrsquos will emerges as a major
concern in some o the writings we will explore or their ethics But we will
see how doing that leads a person beyond a search or direct statements or
interpretive moral rulings
When people probe the Bible to learn what it might say about a certain
moral topic they are really acting under a basic assumption o divine
command theory an act is right or wrong because God says so852017852018 And yet
without ever having read the Bible people all over the world have views
similar to biblical writingsrsquo views about the morality o certain acts A sense
o right and wrong can exist independent o the Bible In this book we will
proceed under the assumption that an act is not right or wrong just because
the Bible says so Te Bible says so ofen because the act is right or wrong Why
is an act right or wrong Answering that rom the Biblersquos writings will put
readers in touch with the ethics those writings advanceTe observations rom the previous paragraphs should not lessen any
respect that a reader gives to biblical texts Tey should in act increase it
Te writings o the Bible encourage more than they ofen receive credit or
Troughout the variety o ethical approaches we will examine in this book
we will see attitudes expressed by biblical texts that expect their words to be
taken seriously precisely because they are connected to God who is trust-
worthy who has made the world with purpose and who is in the process o
moving its events to an ultimate restorative climax Doing something be-
cause one is prompted by a saying in a biblical text is an attitude encouraged
directly by the words o the Biblersquos writings But studying biblical ethics
means much more than searching or and then obeying divinely established
commands or discovering what the Bible says about a topic Tat may some-
times be a good starting point but the Biblersquos words ofen lead its readers to
think about how to do even more than they say directly People who care
about the Bible should let their ethical vision be shaped by that
A V983137983154983145983141983156983161 983151983142 E983156983144983145983139983155 983137983150983140 983137 C983151983150983155983145983155983156983141983150983156 M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161
Te Bible is not a book written by a single author with a collection o chapters
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reflecting a beginning a middle and an end It is a collection o writings
emerging over a large time span and produced by a wide variety o authors
nearly one third o whom are not identified It alls into two unequal por-tions (1048625) the much larger Hebrew Bible (or to Christians the Old estament)
the product o hundreds o years o activity ocusing on the people o Israel
and their covenant with God and (1048626) the New estament produced within
the second hal o the first century 983139983141 or 983137983140 the writings o which all
reflect issues and events related to the person named Jesus the Christ Many
o the writings o both estaments disclose threads o an unolding story to
which they persistently connect divulging an emerging divine plan Some
writings connect to that plan with more detail than others And not all o
the writings try to advance that unolding story
In this book we are probing only our broad sections o biblical ethics (1048625)
Te orah (minus Numbers) and (1048626) proverbial wisdom rom the Old es-
tament (852019) two o the Gospels (Luke and Matthew) and (1048628) two o Paulrsquos
letters (1048625 Corinthians and Romans) rom the New estament8520171048627 Prophetic
thought rom Isaiah in the Old estament will be addressed briefly as well
not or separate ethical inquiry as much as to bridge the ethical worlds oorah and the Gospels Immediately some may ault this listing as incom-
plete and too limiting852017852020 Yes it is But these our basic sections each have
broad unique identifiable eatures that disclose significant depth o ethical
thought What orah communicates ethically is quite distinct rom what
Proverbs conveys And though the Gospels o Luke and Matthew each display
their own special ethical approaches their similarities offer a significantly
different slant rom what Paul advances We will be looking at our distinct
emphases covenant consequences kingdom and transormation Te Bible
does not portray a single unitary ethical vision We see multiple visions each
connecting people with God who has made the world and will remake it
Evidence within the biblical writings suggests that all our o the ap-
proaches we are exploring can interact not only with each other but with
those biblical approaches that we are not exploring in this book8520171048629 We are
looking at a useul basic starting point Tose wanting to pursue a uller
range o approaches and thought orms can then build rom hereRecognizing that there are different complementary ways o thinking ad-
vocated by biblical texts should give Bible readers a greater appreciation or
the richness o thought the writings encourage It should also caution them
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What Is Biblical Ethics 8520191048625
about the shallowness o approaches that disregard that variety in avor o
coming up with a ldquobiblicalrdquo position about a moral topic Tough one might
be able to discern common moral perspectives on some issues one would bemissing out on the ethical reasoning individual sets o writings advance
S983151983149983141 L983145983149983145983156983137983156983145983151983150983155 983151983142 T983144983145983155 A983152983152983154983151983137983139983144
Many biblical writings invite their readers to distinguish right rom wrong
Tough the Bible does not speak univocally (ie with one voice) its writings
display a remarkably consistent concern or distinguishing right rom wrong
even within the diversity o their expressions Consider the ollowing state-
ments rom a wide range o biblical books all but one o which we will
eventually survey
Moses the leader o Godrsquos people in the orah instructs them concerning
Godrsquos commands
In Proverbs a ather instructs his son
You must observe them diligently for this will show your wisdom and discernment
to the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say ldquoSurely this great
nation is a wise and discerning peoplerdquo For what other great nation has a god sonear to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him And what other great
nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before
you today Deut 46-8
Do not enter the path of the wicked
and do not walk in the way of evildoers
Avoid it do not go on it
turn away from it and pass on
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble
For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn
which shines brighter and brighter until full day
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness
they do not know what they stumble over Prov 414-19
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When accusing Israelite people o a series o wrongdoings the prophet
Isaiah writes
In one Gospel Jesus invites hearers to accept a set o his teachings many
o which address moral behavior
When disturbed that believers in Corinth are not distinguishing rightrom wrong that churchrsquos ounder Paul says
In a totally independent writing when disturbed at the immaturity dis-
played by his readersrsquo willingness to wander away rom the aith the writer
o the epistle to the Hebrews identifies spiritually mature as
Biblical writings clearly advocate that people distinguish moral right
rom moral wrongTat said letrsquos note once more how ocusing on ethics to the exclusion o
other issues is potentially misleading We will see that immediately in ex-
ploring the first part o the Bible the orah In Deuteronomy or example we
Ah you who call evil good
and good evil
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter Is 520
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads
to destruction and there are many who take it For the gate is narrow and the road
is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it Mt 713-14
Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one be-
liever and another but a believer goes to court against a believermdashand before
unbelievers at that 1 Cor 65-6
those whose faculties have been trained by
practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 514
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852019
will find activities identified as evil that our working definition o ethics would
call immoral alse witness adultery kidnapping (Deut 10486258520251048625852025 1048626104862610486261048626 10486261048628852023) But
that same writing identifies alse prophets and idolaters with the same labelmdashevil (Deut 1048625852019852021 1048625852023852023) Are idolaters and alse prophets immoral or something
else Elsewhere in the Bible we will see ethical activity such as loving enemies
(Mt 85202110486281048628-1048628852022) placed on the same reward level as acilitating the work o those
who spread the message o the kingdom (Mt 1048625104862410486281048624-10486281048626) Is supporting the
spread o the kingdomrsquos message moral or something else Biblical writings
ofen portray a more integrated view about lie than our strict definitions allow
We might like to put certain decisions into an ethics box Living in relationship
with the Biblersquos God is all encompassing not easily separable into box-like
categoriesmdasha worship box a sacrifice box a religion box an ethics box
So why are we doing this Because the list o statements we have just
looked at is one piece o evidence among many we will see that encourages
us to think ethically as a natural way o living in relationship with God
Failure to live in ways that emerge out o our definition o ethics is regularly
condemned in biblical writings (eg Is 104862510486251048624-1048625852023 Mt 10486268520191048626852019-10486261048628) But living in
relationship with God involves much more than ethics Our study o ethicsshould not keep us rom realizing that
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155 T983141983150983140983155 983156983151 983138983141 M983145983139983154983151983141983156983144983145983139983137983148
Ethicists generally do not use the expression microethical or its noun micro-
ethics Tose terms are unique to our discussions here Tey appeal to con-
cepts rom the world o economics Economists speak o microeconomics
and macroeconomics Te ormer reers to how people interact in day-to-
day business transactions Whenever people buy or sell items rom a store
they are engaging in microeconomics Te latter reers to larger national
and global issues that determine economic policies set by governments
Whenever people announce state or national employment figures or
whenever people are concerned about the prime rate being set by the Federal
Reserve Bank they are dealing with macroeconomics
Similar concepts are being applied here Microethics reers to what people
do when they interact directly with someone else ldquoShould I be kind or rudeto that woman who wonrsquot give me the time o dayrdquo ldquoShould I get angry at that
man who just cut me off in traffic or should I simply smile pleasantlyrdquo
ldquoShould I join in the conversation about our riend who is not present or
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should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
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852019852022 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 429
InterVarsity Press
PO Box 983089983092983088983088 Downers Grove IL 983094983088983093983089983093-983089983092983090983094
World Wide Web wwwivpresscom
E-mail emailivpresscom
copy983090983088983089983092 by Peter W Gosnell
All rights reserved No part o this book may be reproduced in any orm without written permission rom
InterVarsity Press
InterVarsity Pressreg is the book-publishing division o InterVarsity Christian FellowshipUSAreg a movement o
students and aculty active on campus at hundreds o universities colleges and schools o nursing in the United
States o America and a member movement o the International Fellowship o Evangelical Students Forinormation about local and regional activities write Public Relations Dept InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
USA 983094983092983088983088 Schroeder Rd PO Box 983095983096983097983093 Madison WI 983093983091983095983088983095-983095983096983097983093 or visit the IVCF website at ltwww
intervarsityorggt
Scripture quotations unless otherwise noted are rom the New Revised Standard Version o the Bible copyright
983089983097983096983097 by the Division o Christian Education o the National Council o the Churches o Christ in the USA Used by
permission All rights reserved
While all stories in this book are true some names and identiying inormation in this book have been changed to
protect the privacy o the individuals involved
Cover design Cindy Kiple
Interior design Beth Hagenberg Images book pages copy MaicaiStockphoto
book icons copy Alex BelomlinskyiStockphoto
ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983092983088983090983096-983089 (print)
ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983094983092983095983097-983097 (digital)
Printed in the United States o America infin
InterVarsity Press is committed to protecting the environment and to the responsible use o naturalresources As a member o Green Press Initiative we use recycled paper whenever possible o learnmore about the Green Press Initiative visit ltwwwgreenpressinitiativeorggt
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record or this book is available rom the Library o Congress
P 983090983094 983090983093 983090983092 983090983091 983090983090 983090983089 983090983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 983089983094 983089983093 983089983092 983089983091 983089983090 983089983089 983089983088 983097 983096 983095 983094 983093 983092 983091 983090 983089
Y 983091983094 983091983093 983091983092 983091983091 983091983090 983091983089 983091983088 983090983097 983090983096 983090983095 983090983094 983090983093 983090983092 983090983091 983090983090 983090983089 983090983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 983089983094 983089983093 983089983092
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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C983151983150983156983141983150983156983155
Preace 983097
983089 What Is Biblical Ethics 983089983091
983090 From Disorder to Order 983091983095
Ethics in orah 1
983091 Mercy Covenant and Instructing Law 983094983090
Ethics in orah 2
983092 Holiness and Love in the Covenant 983096983094
Ethics in orah 3
983093 Wisdom and Consequences 983089983090983091
he Book o Proverbs
983094 Prophets 983089983093983089Ethics or Morality
983095 Reversal and Exemplar 983089983094983096
Jesus and the Kingdom in Luke
983096 Perection Mercy and Imitation 983090983088983093
Jesus and the Kingdom in Matthew
983097 ransormation in Practice 983090983091983096
Paul and 1 Corinthians
983089983088 ransormation Explained 983090983095983092
Paul and Romans
Concluding houghts 983091983089983090
What Can We Do with All o his
Notes 983091983090983089
Bibliography 983091983096983089
Name and Subject Index 983091983097983095
Scripture Index 983092983088983093
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8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 729
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appeals to their own authority become dissatisying and ineffective
So consider the ollowing upgrade
ldquoMom why do I have to brush my teethrdquo
ldquoTo keep your teeth healthy If you donrsquot theyrsquoll rot
and fall outrdquo
Now a new element has been addedmdashconsequences I people perorm well
they benefit i they perorm badly they can be harmed Te interaction now
appears to be airly reasonable But compare the explanation rom the pre-
ceding parent with those ollowing
ldquoBecause if you do Irsquoll take you to the zoo
tomorrowrdquo
Or
ldquoBecause if you donrsquot I will spank yourdquo
Tese also are consequences but something is a bit off Te consequences
do not seem to be tied to the behavior Tere is no genuine connection be-
tween tooth brushing and the zoo or tooth brushing and spanking Rather
the interaction appears disturbingly manipulative perhaps symptomatic o
a flawed relationship Te parents here appear to be on subtly weak ground
In one case the parent is bribing the child In the other the parent is threat-
ening the childEthics provides the rationale or perorming certain behaviors I the
reasons or perorming a behavior make sense the system makes sense I
they do not the system begins to alter
Ethics involves another important element Te two scenarios may be
instructive in the area o parenting but are they really dealing with ethics
Brushing teeth may be polite It may be healthy But is it right in the same
way that one would consider helping a person in need would be or is ailing
to do it wrong in the same way that murdering someone would be Brushing
teeth reflects social upbringing to be sure It has health consequences cer-
tainly Reusing to do so when asked to may indicate troublesome attitudes
that themselves do come into the sphere o ethicsmdashrebelliousness stub-
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852021
bornness selfishness But people would hardly call someone who ails to
brush teeth an unethical person merely because he or she happened not to
perorm an act o personal hygieneSo what else does ethics involve We are talking ultimately about how
someone is guided to become a good person who perorms good deeds Tat
would involve matters such as how people treat others or how they treat them-
selves It would more ully involve how one treats the world around onesel
Te ollowing scenario swerves more ully into the world o ethics
ldquoAlicia please share your toy with Junierdquo
ldquoWhyrdquo
ldquoBecause you want to be a good friend to her She
ought to enjoy coming to visit yourdquo
Here we are dealing with behavior that affects peoplersquos expression o their
humanness We are observing Aliciarsquos parent instructing her about right and
wrong behavior that affects another person
Tat kind o interaction even between parent and child shows a regard
or behavior that goes beyond the bounds o mere politeness It reflects a
concern or others It ultimately reflects a concern or what kind o person
the child should aim to become and the kinds o things she should be doing
as that sort o person In this scenario Alicia is being urged to advance good
or well-being on her world She is also being urged not to advance harm in
her world Tat basic pattern will serve as the working definition o what
ethics involves or this book In other words ethics involves championingbehavior that advances good or hinders harm in onersquos world
People who aim to be ethical people are good people We like good people
Good people do what is right Tey rerain rom what is evil We like asso-
ciating with people who are kind to us who give to us who care or us
Conversely we donrsquot like people who are nasty to us who take rom us who
harm us So what does it mean to be good Why should we do good An-
swers to those questions will reveal the kind o ethics we are applying
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155
In this book we are considering what the collection o writings known as the
Bible contributes to the world o ethics What is considered right and wrong
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1048625852022 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
behavior according to biblical writings What thought patterns do writings
in the Bible encourage in helping their readers distinguish right rom wrong
What reasons and motivations do biblical writings offer or why their readersshould perorm what is good and rerain rom what is bad
In addressing such questions letrsquos first note an important difference be-
tween what some would call ldquoChristian ethicsrdquo or ldquoreligious ethicsrdquo and what
we are exploring here in this book Christian or religious ethics might ad-
dress the question What do the tenets o the religious aith contribute to
distinguishing right rom wrong on liersquos issues Or more personally Since
I call mysel a Christian how should I behave as a Christian over this issue
Tese are great questions Tey launch the inquirer on a prescriptive task
that looks to the religion including the Bible as Christian Scripture to
advise about or make behavioral demands or the present moment
Biblical ethics should also inorm those kinds o questions But beore
we can determine how we must first try to discern what the biblical texts
appear to be communicating852017 Note biblical texts not simply biblical state-
ments Wersquore aiming to learn to observe the sustained lines o reasoning
offered by individual biblical writings or clusters o related writings In-stead o imposing our interests on themmdashWhat does the Bible say about
Xmdashwe want to discern the issues that the words o individual writings
appear to be designed to address Te biblical ethics we are pursuing here
is largely a descriptive task We will aim to understand what the Biblersquos
writings themselves promote ethically exploring them with a regard or
their literary cultural and historical contexts What we discover through
this kind o biblical ethics should then be the basis o conversation be-
tween Bible readers who can help each other understand more deeply
what to do with the kinds o ideas disclosed by this sort o investigation
Our primary pursuit in this book is to observe the ways o distinguishing
right rom wrong that are encouraged within biblical writings and what
rationale and motivations those writings offer or perorming right ac-
tivities and avoiding wrong ones Based on those people can begin to
discuss the prescriptive role these texts can have in their lives now no
matter the culture852018
Since much o Christian ethics is interested in using the Bible how is
what we are doing here different Our task will not be to use the Bible as a
source o moral statements but to describe the Biblersquos ethical vision how its
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852023
writings themselves shape the readersrsquo views o moral right and wrong For
example some Christian thinkers are interested in exploring the implica-
tions o humans being made in Godrsquos image a point made twice in the earlychapters o Genesis as wersquoll soon see ldquoI humans are said to be in Godrsquos
imagerdquo the reasoning goes ldquothen I should always treat other humans as
ellow image bearersrdquo Tatrsquos not a bad line o reasoning But it is not strictly
biblical in the way we are considering here How so Because that line o
reasoning is never explicitly ound or encouraged by any words in biblical
writings In act the last use o the expression ldquoimage o Godrdquo in the large
first part o the Bible the Old estament is in Genesis 852025 Biblical writings
appeal to the concept differently Tose writings instead ollow other iden-
tifiable sustained lines o reasoning that offer consistent and persistent ways
o thinking about right and wrong Learning to trace those lines is the point
o this book
In some religious contexts people are told prescriptively to do one
certain kind o activity or rerain rom others ldquobecause the Bible says sordquo
Such people could then go so ar as to say that such a reason makes their
ethics biblical Tough that religious approach may appeal to the Bible italso tends not to reflect consistently what the writings themselves commu-
nicate and should also not be conused with the biblical ethics we are pur-
suing here It rather tends to assume that the Bible is a collection o moral
injunctions and stories that declare and demonstrate what is right and
wrong or the aithul According to that view those who want to be con-
sidered aithul should do what the Bible says without hesitation Tough
as wersquoll see biblical writings expect their words to be taken seriously the
words o those writings present a much richer set o ideas than the rationale
o rote obedience allows or
Further the Biblersquos words shouldnrsquot be pressed into service to commu-
nicate ideas oreign to them I we impose assumptions rom our culture
onto what the Biblersquos words communicate in their original settings we in-
troduce distortions For example we may want a biblical ruling on when
human lie begins definitively but i we assume that biblical writers know
exactly what we may know about human conception we would be intro-ducing ideas oreign to the biblical texts Te emale ovum was not dis-
covered until the early nineteenth century Appeals to the Bible or such uses
tend to reflect what religious authorities claim about biblical texts more than
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852025
so in ways that dey uninormed popular-level assumptions When exam-
ining the Biblersquos words in their actual contexts readers will make surprising
observations that may dey their assumptions about the sense o religionadvocated by the Biblersquos varied writings For example eternal rewards and
punishments concerns with lie afer death even hell avoidance and
heaven attainment are generally side issues in the Bible (When we explore
the Gospel o Matthew though we will see aspects o those issues empha-
sized) And in those ew places in the Bible where hell is reerred to it is
portrayed not as a scare or bribery tactic but as a serious outcome or the
end o the age What happens to a person upon dying is scarcely a topic in
the Bible even i it becomes so or some expressions o Christianity so
closely connected to those writings Let Bible readers beware when ob-
served careully the words o the Bible will reveal criticize and correct their
sloppy religious assumptions
Now i biblical writings advocate various approaches to ethics that flow
out o peoplersquos relationship with God and i that God is neither a brute
authoritarian parent demanding rote obedience nor a weak manipulative
parent threatening with punishment and bribing with rewards what do weactually see Letrsquos look briefly at the first writing Genesis
Our original introduction to God in that writing displays the Creator
whose acts resemble more those o a beneficent monarch or king than o a
parent1048627 Tat king commands and it is so Even more revealing that king
evaluates to see that all is good Tat kingly activity results in an ordered
creation that humans are asked collectively to manage When we see God
instructing the first human a man known eventually as Adam he issues a
specific charge ldquoYou may reely eat o every tree o the garden but o the
tree o the knowledge o good and evil you shall not eat or in the day that
you eat o it you shall dierdquo (Gen 10486261048625852022-1048625852023)
Notice first o all that this is not an ethical scenario Rather this shows
a boundary-setting restriction Tat is important to observe Why Not
everything in the Bible is about ethics Tink about it What is inherently
wrong in eating ruit O course this is a particular kind o ruitmdasha unique
kind in act that is said to give ldquoknowledge o good and evilrdquo importantcategories or ethics But eating it is said to have severe consequencesmdash
death Certainly the rationale eventually offered or disobeying Godrsquos
command has implications or ethics ldquoWhen the woman saw that the tree
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What Is Biblical Ethics 10486261048625
speciic situations but are not inherently morally right or wrong hose
behaviors may all into the areas o cultural customs and manners or
even situation-speciic instructions but not ethics When consideringmorally neutral behaviors we will have to consider the ethics o pur-
suing those behaviors knowing that someone might be bothered or the
ethics o orcing people to conorm to neutral standards however im-
portant those standards may be culturally or religiously to those en-
orcing them
It will also require people recognizing that some o their own culturally
or religiously conditioned behaviors may actually be neutral not genu-
inely moral People should not expect biblical writings to affirm their own
culturersquos manners and expectations For example being prompt or timely
an important cultural value or some people in the West today is not really
an issue that alls into the category o ethics even though it may be wise
to be prompt in many circumstances amiliar to us Itrsquos really only a
culture-bound value near and dear to many people Certainly biblical
writings donrsquot count promptness among the issues that God cares about
Being impatient with others or being late however would be So also is areusal to honor anotherrsquos known sense o timeliness by insisting on having
onersquos own way
What we will see throughout the Bible is the notion that how a person
chooses to respond to God affects the kind o person he or she becomes
Tus those who aim to do what God wants are ethical people because much
o what God is said to want is also what most people would consider to be
good ethical behavior and because throughout the span o biblical writings
God is portrayed as being in the business o restoring rightness to his cre-
ation In the world o the Bible those who choose to dey God do not know
how to act consistently as ethical people because they have chosen to cut
themselves off rom the ways and plans o God and thus are incomplete in
their sense o what right and wrong behavior actually include
Obeying God trusting God having aith in God and responding to God
are all central issues to the Bible issues that affect the ethics that its varied
writings promote How one responds to God is reflected in a personrsquos ethicsIn act expect to see repeatedly how those who respond to God are ofen
shown as good responders by doing ethical acts Tose who disregard God
are ofen shown as bad responders with the unethical acts they perorm
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Ultimately what we see throughout the Bible are sets o ethics rooted
in peoplersquos relationship with Godmdashan ethic o relationship1048629 Doing good
flows out o a person coming to know God and growing in that rela-tionship with God Doing wrong shows how out o touch a person is with
God Biblical writings are ull o the language o devotion and com-
mitment It is not a mindless devotion but one that is highly attractive
showing people interacting with a God who gives cares and accepts even
i that God also has high standards or those who are connected to him
Tose standards are ofen shown to lead to personal well-being or those
who interact with God
Significantly because peoplersquos relating to God is the one constant advo-
cated by the varieties o biblical writings how God relates to people also
merits consideration Biblical writings offer hope and restoration or those
who mess up An important element o that is a concept known as repen-
tance people turning away rom their evil and embracing Godrsquos good
Along with that are grace receiving good rom God when one deserves the
opposite and mercy receiving good rom God when one is in a decidedly
weak position A sense o hope also emerges as a central eature o biblicalethics People are allowed to be works in progress Expect to discover im-
perect people in biblical writings people who as they draw close to God
also become better people in the process even i many o them have rough
edges In the world o the Bible God never rejects people who call on him
M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161 V983141983154983155983157983155 E983156983144983145983139983155
People ofen use the concepts o morality and ethics interchangeably
Morals generally reer to a personrsquos awareness o right and wrong A
moral person does the right kind o behavior in the sense we have been
probing here advancing good on the world while reraining rom what
inflicts harm For that reason some people would say that a moral person
is also ethical
A moral person may be doing what is right but may not know clearly
what makes the activity right or why she or he should do that right By con-
trast ethics as we discuss it here deals with how to distinguish right romwrong and why someone should do the right and hinder the wrong In
exploring the Bible we will see many statements weighing in on the moral
rightness or wrongness o various behaviors But we wonrsquot stop there We
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852019
will look or the ethics that will indicate what makes the activity right or
wrong and that offer rationale and motivation or engaging in the right ac-
tivity or reraining rom the wrong Moral people do what is right So dopeople who have ethics but they also know why1048630
Te distinction between morality and ethics is an important one wo
people can share the same moral convictions but they could easily have very
different ethics How Because the ethics will explain the answer to the
question Why is that wrong For example in the world that produced the
New estament section o the Bible Greek and Roman philosophers com-
monly discussed the moral wrongness o being guided by our passions
Toughtless passions lead people to do the wrong things One writer Paul
whose ethics we will explore in chapters nine and ten would basically agree
that people acting out their passions leads to misbehavior But i you asked
both sets o people why being guided by passion is wrong you would get
two entirely different sets o answers Paulrsquos answer connects directly to his
awareness o the crucifixion and resurrection o Jesus Te philosophers
know nothing o Jesus Teir answers are linked to their view o the psy-
chology o the soul Tough we might think we see moral agreement be-tween Paul and philosophers we see totally different ethics We will see the
same thing in the Bible itsel Te various places we will explore will re-
quently show common moral standards but different ethics Ethics and mo-
rality are not the same
Te Biblersquos writings do communicate a strong set o morals But they do
much more than that Tey portray genuine ethics Tey show ways o lie
stemming rom people living in attractive relationship with the true and
living God Reasons or living morally appear regularly either stated or
implied because relationship with God is portrayed as wonderully good
and genuinely healthy Relationship with God ultimately involves partici-
pating in Godrsquos process o remaking the world a world filled with bro-
kenness exhibited in and stemming rom human misbehavior As we probe
biblical texts we will discover ethical systems that are intriguing inviting
enlightening and uplifing People who read the Bible well will not only
have a stronger sense o what is right and wrong they will realize why ac-cording to those writings they also should do right and why living that
right is so ulfilling
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SUMMING IT UP
What is ethics
o Ethics reers to how a person distinguishes right rom
wrong behavior
o Ethics is also concerned with the reasons or why a
person should choose what is good and abstain rom
what is not
o Te kind o behavior that ethics is concerned with gen-erally is behavior that advances good or hinders harm
in onersquos world
What do we mean by biblical ethics
o With biblical ethics one is concerned with discerning
the kinds o behavior biblical writings indicate are right
and wrong
o One is also concerned with both how according to bib-
lical writings to distinguish right rom wrong and why
its readers should do right and rerain rom wrong
o Biblical ethics begins with describing what biblical
writings communicate ethically Only then can people see
how those ethics might apply to their lives prescriptively
o
Ethics is not the central concern o biblical writings o Other behaviors besides ethical behaviors are dealt
with in the Bible
o How people connect meaningully with God is a central
concern o biblical writings
o Ethics in the Bible flows primarily out o peoplersquos
healthy relationship with God
o Ethics in the Bible offers hope or those who recognize
their error and turn to God
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852021
A983148983156983141983154983150983137983156983145983158983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155
Ethical questions and dilemmas appear consistently and prominently within
human history Some o the ethical systems Western civilizations developed
to address those concerns are worth noting briefly as a way o comparing
how biblical writings offer both similarities to and dissimilarities rom
them1048631 Some o these systems actually influenced aspects o ethics as oundin parts o the Bible Others o these have themselves been influenced by the
sense o right and wrong ound in biblical writings
Virtue ethics Also closely related to what is called ldquocharacter ethicsrdquo
virtue ethics ocus on what kind o person one should become in order to
attain a higher goal such as happiness or well-being emphasizing various
virtues (eg courage wisdom justice sel-control kindness orbearance
riendliness modesty)852024 Conversely there are vices that one should avoid
(eg cowardice olly wrongness sel-indulgence meanness short-
temperedness diffidence extravagance) Many o those good character
qualities are learned rom observing people who are considered to be good
or by repeated practice o virtuous activities Discussions o virtues and
vices were especially important to the ancient Greeks and Romans Some
writings in the New estament reflect awareness o the ruit o such discus-
sions but also offer their own unique perspectives on virtues and vices
Ethical egoism Also coming rom ancient Greece ethical egoism advocatespursuing behaviors with outcomes that maximize personal pleasure while
minimizing personal pain Rather than resorting to out-and-out hedonism (ie
selfish pleasure seeking) the point here is to evaluate long-term outcomes or
How is morality different from ethics
o Morality is simply knowing what is right and what is
wrong
o Ethics involves both the reasoning or distinguishing
right rom wrong and the motivations or doing what
is right and hindering what is wrong
o Biblical writings regularly portray genuine ethics not
mere morality
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consequences Some immediate pleasures may result in such horrible pain in
the end that they should be avoided altogether But some pain may be necessary
to endure in order to attain the benefit o a long-term pleasureUtilitarianism Utilitarianism is similar to ethical egoism with its concern
or maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain but does so with societies in
view not merely the individual Whatever advances pleasure or the greatest
number o people is to be preerred Further it recognizes that there are
higher-order pleasures in lie beyond mere physical gratification Peoplersquos
ailure to exercise their minds or their pursuit o personal selfishness are two
major obstacles to good being advanced In current popular everyday
practice both ethical egoistic and utilitarian ways o thinking can lead
people to line up physical psychological and sociological conclusions in
order to prove that a genuine pleasure is being advanced or pain is being
avoided But sometimes those conclusions prove more tentative than their
communicators may indicate at the time especially when they are really
interested in justiying their own misbehavior
Duty With duty one should do what is right and rerain rom what is wrong
because that is the most reasonable orm o activity to pursue as a thinkinghuman being One has a duty to live consistently with onersquos being Right and
wrong are independent o human existence Right corresponds with what is
true to pursue what is alse is sel-contradictory and internally inconsistent
Practically speaking living by duty means unctioning in a world o beings As
a human being one has a duty to recognize people as people Whenever one
treats another or even onesel solely as an object one is violating onersquos duty to
a ellow creature Tis way o thinking partly resembles a well-known maxim
attributed to Jesus ofen called the Golden RulemdashldquoDo to others as you would
have them do to yourdquo But it has little regard or people thinking empathetically
about others with a desired ideal good or them the way Jesusrsquo words do
Divine command theory Divine command theory assumes that rightness
comes directly rom divinity and whatever any divinity commands the re-
ligious person must obey When applied to the Bible this approach assumes
that the Bible is ull o commands meant to be obeyed So as a reader one
should look diligently or those commands Whatever is commanded mustbe ollowed because it comes rom God o obey God is to do what is right
o disobey God is to do what is wrong While to many this would seem to
be biblical ethics in a nutshell it alls short by not seeing how biblical ethics
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852023
involves much more than obeying commands Ofen associated with this
approach at the popular level is an attitude that treats the Bible as a sort o
guiding constitution to scan or moral rulings discovering ldquowhat the Biblesaysrdquo about a topic then becomes the primary pursuit
eleology Many o these approaches to ethics also try to organize lie
around a ocused goal a teleological approach For example or some virtue
ethicists and ethical egoists achieving a orm o happiness or well-being is
the goal or which virtues are exercised or pain is minimized By contrast
the approach emphasizing duty regards the duty to be right all by itsel in-
dependent o any ultimate human goal or ideal
E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155 983137983150983140 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Te Bible and teleology In the Bible we will see varieties o teleological
thought stronger in some places than in others Concerns or example with
conormity to the created order or to Godrsquos merciul acts in a moment known
as the exodus are common in the first writings we will probe1048633 Even stronger
will be the awareness that lie is advancing toward a uture ultimate moment
o reordering a major component to the later writings being studied hereTe Bible and virtue ethics Tere are many places where biblical writings
champion conormity to a good character model852017852016 But good character is
advanced neither as a means to some sort o end nor merely as an end in
itsel the way it is in traditional virtue ethics Obtaining good lie outcomes
or avoiding bad ones is not the main goal o being good Rather good char-
acter in biblical writings is ofen seen as a reflection o the God who is being
served It is both an outcome o associating with God and a measuring stick
o how in touch one is with God Further in addition to character issues
biblical texts also champion specific behaviors such as taking care o the
poor standing up or the weak or loving the unlovely Tose behaviors may
reflect good character but they are to be done regardless o onersquos overall
character Many in Christianity have traditionally thought o love as a virtue
But biblical writings ofen ocus on love as an activity even a responsibility
Attention to character ormation is a major topic o discussion or scholars
examining the use o the Bible in ethics852017852017 Tat would be close to virtue ethicsbut not identical It ocuses on how encouragement in the practice o certain
biblical instructions shapes the lives o those who do them influencing what
kind o people they become Like virtue ethics this recognizes that a person
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must be trained in the right way o living to be able to become good It does
receive major support rom the Biblersquos writings themselves which encourage
a liestyle that is always growing in its awareness o God and Godrsquos desiresor humans Still the ethics o the parts o the Bible we will explore here will
also provide more than material or character ormation Tey will also
provide guidelines that help people make reasoned decisions about the
rightness and wrongness o certain activities as they ponder them
Te Bible ethical egoism and utilitarianism Some biblical writings promote
appraising harmul or beneficial outcomes o behaviors in ways that may seem
to resemble the ethical egoist or the utilitarian Tey tend to do so to show the
wisdom or olly o certain activities or to speak approvingly o advancing the
goodness or well-being o onersquos neighbor Tey do not make the avoidance o
personal pain or the acquisition o personal pleasure the ultimate goal Rather
they measure consequences observed rom the activities o others and offer
advice based on what is observed to have worked and what genuinely does not
ounded on how one studies the world as God created it Other writings talk
about growing in character rom enduring hardships such as persecution Again
the point is not to ocus on the personal gain rom such growth but on the ul-timate goal the remade hardship-ree creation one is destined to
Te Bible and duty Various biblical writings urge their readers to treat
others as people rather than objects but they do so in a manner that takes
into consideration the railties o the environment people live in and the
realities o human existence and weakness encouraging readers to be aware
o their own Tough obedience itsel in some contexts may be perceived
as a duty urther probing o those contexts ofen discloses that obedience
flows more out o a sincere relationship with God and a high regard or
others than rom a sense o resolute duty-bound obligation
Te Bible and divine command theory Te Bible is also ull o com-
mands But many o those commands come in specifically defined contexts
that are not meant to apply directly to people in most contemporaneous
settings And outside o those contexts much o what is ofen regarded as
command is really instructional advice which is quite a different orm o
expressionmdashordering someone to ldquoSlow downrdquo is not the same as advisingsomeone to ldquoake your timerdquo yet both communicate what grammarians call
imperatives Further much o the Biblersquos advice appears in contexts that
point to clear supporting reasons behind it Focusing on the advice without
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852025
dealing with its supporting rationale misses the actual ethics being advanced
Finally there are many ethical topics about which the Bible does not issue
any direct command or instruction leaving readers with no guidance orworse as we have already seen leading people to twist the Biblersquos words into
making points not really there Discovering Godrsquos will emerges as a major
concern in some o the writings we will explore or their ethics But we will
see how doing that leads a person beyond a search or direct statements or
interpretive moral rulings
When people probe the Bible to learn what it might say about a certain
moral topic they are really acting under a basic assumption o divine
command theory an act is right or wrong because God says so852017852018 And yet
without ever having read the Bible people all over the world have views
similar to biblical writingsrsquo views about the morality o certain acts A sense
o right and wrong can exist independent o the Bible In this book we will
proceed under the assumption that an act is not right or wrong just because
the Bible says so Te Bible says so ofen because the act is right or wrong Why
is an act right or wrong Answering that rom the Biblersquos writings will put
readers in touch with the ethics those writings advanceTe observations rom the previous paragraphs should not lessen any
respect that a reader gives to biblical texts Tey should in act increase it
Te writings o the Bible encourage more than they ofen receive credit or
Troughout the variety o ethical approaches we will examine in this book
we will see attitudes expressed by biblical texts that expect their words to be
taken seriously precisely because they are connected to God who is trust-
worthy who has made the world with purpose and who is in the process o
moving its events to an ultimate restorative climax Doing something be-
cause one is prompted by a saying in a biblical text is an attitude encouraged
directly by the words o the Biblersquos writings But studying biblical ethics
means much more than searching or and then obeying divinely established
commands or discovering what the Bible says about a topic Tat may some-
times be a good starting point but the Biblersquos words ofen lead its readers to
think about how to do even more than they say directly People who care
about the Bible should let their ethical vision be shaped by that
A V983137983154983145983141983156983161 983151983142 E983156983144983145983139983155 983137983150983140 983137 C983151983150983155983145983155983156983141983150983156 M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161
Te Bible is not a book written by a single author with a collection o chapters
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reflecting a beginning a middle and an end It is a collection o writings
emerging over a large time span and produced by a wide variety o authors
nearly one third o whom are not identified It alls into two unequal por-tions (1048625) the much larger Hebrew Bible (or to Christians the Old estament)
the product o hundreds o years o activity ocusing on the people o Israel
and their covenant with God and (1048626) the New estament produced within
the second hal o the first century 983139983141 or 983137983140 the writings o which all
reflect issues and events related to the person named Jesus the Christ Many
o the writings o both estaments disclose threads o an unolding story to
which they persistently connect divulging an emerging divine plan Some
writings connect to that plan with more detail than others And not all o
the writings try to advance that unolding story
In this book we are probing only our broad sections o biblical ethics (1048625)
Te orah (minus Numbers) and (1048626) proverbial wisdom rom the Old es-
tament (852019) two o the Gospels (Luke and Matthew) and (1048628) two o Paulrsquos
letters (1048625 Corinthians and Romans) rom the New estament8520171048627 Prophetic
thought rom Isaiah in the Old estament will be addressed briefly as well
not or separate ethical inquiry as much as to bridge the ethical worlds oorah and the Gospels Immediately some may ault this listing as incom-
plete and too limiting852017852020 Yes it is But these our basic sections each have
broad unique identifiable eatures that disclose significant depth o ethical
thought What orah communicates ethically is quite distinct rom what
Proverbs conveys And though the Gospels o Luke and Matthew each display
their own special ethical approaches their similarities offer a significantly
different slant rom what Paul advances We will be looking at our distinct
emphases covenant consequences kingdom and transormation Te Bible
does not portray a single unitary ethical vision We see multiple visions each
connecting people with God who has made the world and will remake it
Evidence within the biblical writings suggests that all our o the ap-
proaches we are exploring can interact not only with each other but with
those biblical approaches that we are not exploring in this book8520171048629 We are
looking at a useul basic starting point Tose wanting to pursue a uller
range o approaches and thought orms can then build rom hereRecognizing that there are different complementary ways o thinking ad-
vocated by biblical texts should give Bible readers a greater appreciation or
the richness o thought the writings encourage It should also caution them
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What Is Biblical Ethics 8520191048625
about the shallowness o approaches that disregard that variety in avor o
coming up with a ldquobiblicalrdquo position about a moral topic Tough one might
be able to discern common moral perspectives on some issues one would bemissing out on the ethical reasoning individual sets o writings advance
S983151983149983141 L983145983149983145983156983137983156983145983151983150983155 983151983142 T983144983145983155 A983152983152983154983151983137983139983144
Many biblical writings invite their readers to distinguish right rom wrong
Tough the Bible does not speak univocally (ie with one voice) its writings
display a remarkably consistent concern or distinguishing right rom wrong
even within the diversity o their expressions Consider the ollowing state-
ments rom a wide range o biblical books all but one o which we will
eventually survey
Moses the leader o Godrsquos people in the orah instructs them concerning
Godrsquos commands
In Proverbs a ather instructs his son
You must observe them diligently for this will show your wisdom and discernment
to the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say ldquoSurely this great
nation is a wise and discerning peoplerdquo For what other great nation has a god sonear to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him And what other great
nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before
you today Deut 46-8
Do not enter the path of the wicked
and do not walk in the way of evildoers
Avoid it do not go on it
turn away from it and pass on
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble
For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn
which shines brighter and brighter until full day
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness
they do not know what they stumble over Prov 414-19
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8520191048626 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
When accusing Israelite people o a series o wrongdoings the prophet
Isaiah writes
In one Gospel Jesus invites hearers to accept a set o his teachings many
o which address moral behavior
When disturbed that believers in Corinth are not distinguishing rightrom wrong that churchrsquos ounder Paul says
In a totally independent writing when disturbed at the immaturity dis-
played by his readersrsquo willingness to wander away rom the aith the writer
o the epistle to the Hebrews identifies spiritually mature as
Biblical writings clearly advocate that people distinguish moral right
rom moral wrongTat said letrsquos note once more how ocusing on ethics to the exclusion o
other issues is potentially misleading We will see that immediately in ex-
ploring the first part o the Bible the orah In Deuteronomy or example we
Ah you who call evil good
and good evil
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter Is 520
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads
to destruction and there are many who take it For the gate is narrow and the road
is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it Mt 713-14
Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one be-
liever and another but a believer goes to court against a believermdashand before
unbelievers at that 1 Cor 65-6
those whose faculties have been trained by
practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 514
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852019
will find activities identified as evil that our working definition o ethics would
call immoral alse witness adultery kidnapping (Deut 10486258520251048625852025 1048626104862610486261048626 10486261048628852023) But
that same writing identifies alse prophets and idolaters with the same labelmdashevil (Deut 1048625852019852021 1048625852023852023) Are idolaters and alse prophets immoral or something
else Elsewhere in the Bible we will see ethical activity such as loving enemies
(Mt 85202110486281048628-1048628852022) placed on the same reward level as acilitating the work o those
who spread the message o the kingdom (Mt 1048625104862410486281048624-10486281048626) Is supporting the
spread o the kingdomrsquos message moral or something else Biblical writings
ofen portray a more integrated view about lie than our strict definitions allow
We might like to put certain decisions into an ethics box Living in relationship
with the Biblersquos God is all encompassing not easily separable into box-like
categoriesmdasha worship box a sacrifice box a religion box an ethics box
So why are we doing this Because the list o statements we have just
looked at is one piece o evidence among many we will see that encourages
us to think ethically as a natural way o living in relationship with God
Failure to live in ways that emerge out o our definition o ethics is regularly
condemned in biblical writings (eg Is 104862510486251048624-1048625852023 Mt 10486268520191048626852019-10486261048628) But living in
relationship with God involves much more than ethics Our study o ethicsshould not keep us rom realizing that
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155 T983141983150983140983155 983156983151 983138983141 M983145983139983154983151983141983156983144983145983139983137983148
Ethicists generally do not use the expression microethical or its noun micro-
ethics Tose terms are unique to our discussions here Tey appeal to con-
cepts rom the world o economics Economists speak o microeconomics
and macroeconomics Te ormer reers to how people interact in day-to-
day business transactions Whenever people buy or sell items rom a store
they are engaging in microeconomics Te latter reers to larger national
and global issues that determine economic policies set by governments
Whenever people announce state or national employment figures or
whenever people are concerned about the prime rate being set by the Federal
Reserve Bank they are dealing with macroeconomics
Similar concepts are being applied here Microethics reers to what people
do when they interact directly with someone else ldquoShould I be kind or rudeto that woman who wonrsquot give me the time o dayrdquo ldquoShould I get angry at that
man who just cut me off in traffic or should I simply smile pleasantlyrdquo
ldquoShould I join in the conversation about our riend who is not present or
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should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
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852019852022 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 529
C983151983150983156983141983150983156983155
Preace 983097
983089 What Is Biblical Ethics 983089983091
983090 From Disorder to Order 983091983095
Ethics in orah 1
983091 Mercy Covenant and Instructing Law 983094983090
Ethics in orah 2
983092 Holiness and Love in the Covenant 983096983094
Ethics in orah 3
983093 Wisdom and Consequences 983089983090983091
he Book o Proverbs
983094 Prophets 983089983093983089Ethics or Morality
983095 Reversal and Exemplar 983089983094983096
Jesus and the Kingdom in Luke
983096 Perection Mercy and Imitation 983090983088983093
Jesus and the Kingdom in Matthew
983097 ransormation in Practice 983090983091983096
Paul and 1 Corinthians
983089983088 ransormation Explained 983090983095983092
Paul and Romans
Concluding houghts 983091983089983090
What Can We Do with All o his
Notes 983091983090983089
Bibliography 983091983096983089
Name and Subject Index 983091983097983095
Scripture Index 983092983088983093
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8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 729
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appeals to their own authority become dissatisying and ineffective
So consider the ollowing upgrade
ldquoMom why do I have to brush my teethrdquo
ldquoTo keep your teeth healthy If you donrsquot theyrsquoll rot
and fall outrdquo
Now a new element has been addedmdashconsequences I people perorm well
they benefit i they perorm badly they can be harmed Te interaction now
appears to be airly reasonable But compare the explanation rom the pre-
ceding parent with those ollowing
ldquoBecause if you do Irsquoll take you to the zoo
tomorrowrdquo
Or
ldquoBecause if you donrsquot I will spank yourdquo
Tese also are consequences but something is a bit off Te consequences
do not seem to be tied to the behavior Tere is no genuine connection be-
tween tooth brushing and the zoo or tooth brushing and spanking Rather
the interaction appears disturbingly manipulative perhaps symptomatic o
a flawed relationship Te parents here appear to be on subtly weak ground
In one case the parent is bribing the child In the other the parent is threat-
ening the childEthics provides the rationale or perorming certain behaviors I the
reasons or perorming a behavior make sense the system makes sense I
they do not the system begins to alter
Ethics involves another important element Te two scenarios may be
instructive in the area o parenting but are they really dealing with ethics
Brushing teeth may be polite It may be healthy But is it right in the same
way that one would consider helping a person in need would be or is ailing
to do it wrong in the same way that murdering someone would be Brushing
teeth reflects social upbringing to be sure It has health consequences cer-
tainly Reusing to do so when asked to may indicate troublesome attitudes
that themselves do come into the sphere o ethicsmdashrebelliousness stub-
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852021
bornness selfishness But people would hardly call someone who ails to
brush teeth an unethical person merely because he or she happened not to
perorm an act o personal hygieneSo what else does ethics involve We are talking ultimately about how
someone is guided to become a good person who perorms good deeds Tat
would involve matters such as how people treat others or how they treat them-
selves It would more ully involve how one treats the world around onesel
Te ollowing scenario swerves more ully into the world o ethics
ldquoAlicia please share your toy with Junierdquo
ldquoWhyrdquo
ldquoBecause you want to be a good friend to her She
ought to enjoy coming to visit yourdquo
Here we are dealing with behavior that affects peoplersquos expression o their
humanness We are observing Aliciarsquos parent instructing her about right and
wrong behavior that affects another person
Tat kind o interaction even between parent and child shows a regard
or behavior that goes beyond the bounds o mere politeness It reflects a
concern or others It ultimately reflects a concern or what kind o person
the child should aim to become and the kinds o things she should be doing
as that sort o person In this scenario Alicia is being urged to advance good
or well-being on her world She is also being urged not to advance harm in
her world Tat basic pattern will serve as the working definition o what
ethics involves or this book In other words ethics involves championingbehavior that advances good or hinders harm in onersquos world
People who aim to be ethical people are good people We like good people
Good people do what is right Tey rerain rom what is evil We like asso-
ciating with people who are kind to us who give to us who care or us
Conversely we donrsquot like people who are nasty to us who take rom us who
harm us So what does it mean to be good Why should we do good An-
swers to those questions will reveal the kind o ethics we are applying
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155
In this book we are considering what the collection o writings known as the
Bible contributes to the world o ethics What is considered right and wrong
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behavior according to biblical writings What thought patterns do writings
in the Bible encourage in helping their readers distinguish right rom wrong
What reasons and motivations do biblical writings offer or why their readersshould perorm what is good and rerain rom what is bad
In addressing such questions letrsquos first note an important difference be-
tween what some would call ldquoChristian ethicsrdquo or ldquoreligious ethicsrdquo and what
we are exploring here in this book Christian or religious ethics might ad-
dress the question What do the tenets o the religious aith contribute to
distinguishing right rom wrong on liersquos issues Or more personally Since
I call mysel a Christian how should I behave as a Christian over this issue
Tese are great questions Tey launch the inquirer on a prescriptive task
that looks to the religion including the Bible as Christian Scripture to
advise about or make behavioral demands or the present moment
Biblical ethics should also inorm those kinds o questions But beore
we can determine how we must first try to discern what the biblical texts
appear to be communicating852017 Note biblical texts not simply biblical state-
ments Wersquore aiming to learn to observe the sustained lines o reasoning
offered by individual biblical writings or clusters o related writings In-stead o imposing our interests on themmdashWhat does the Bible say about
Xmdashwe want to discern the issues that the words o individual writings
appear to be designed to address Te biblical ethics we are pursuing here
is largely a descriptive task We will aim to understand what the Biblersquos
writings themselves promote ethically exploring them with a regard or
their literary cultural and historical contexts What we discover through
this kind o biblical ethics should then be the basis o conversation be-
tween Bible readers who can help each other understand more deeply
what to do with the kinds o ideas disclosed by this sort o investigation
Our primary pursuit in this book is to observe the ways o distinguishing
right rom wrong that are encouraged within biblical writings and what
rationale and motivations those writings offer or perorming right ac-
tivities and avoiding wrong ones Based on those people can begin to
discuss the prescriptive role these texts can have in their lives now no
matter the culture852018
Since much o Christian ethics is interested in using the Bible how is
what we are doing here different Our task will not be to use the Bible as a
source o moral statements but to describe the Biblersquos ethical vision how its
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852023
writings themselves shape the readersrsquo views o moral right and wrong For
example some Christian thinkers are interested in exploring the implica-
tions o humans being made in Godrsquos image a point made twice in the earlychapters o Genesis as wersquoll soon see ldquoI humans are said to be in Godrsquos
imagerdquo the reasoning goes ldquothen I should always treat other humans as
ellow image bearersrdquo Tatrsquos not a bad line o reasoning But it is not strictly
biblical in the way we are considering here How so Because that line o
reasoning is never explicitly ound or encouraged by any words in biblical
writings In act the last use o the expression ldquoimage o Godrdquo in the large
first part o the Bible the Old estament is in Genesis 852025 Biblical writings
appeal to the concept differently Tose writings instead ollow other iden-
tifiable sustained lines o reasoning that offer consistent and persistent ways
o thinking about right and wrong Learning to trace those lines is the point
o this book
In some religious contexts people are told prescriptively to do one
certain kind o activity or rerain rom others ldquobecause the Bible says sordquo
Such people could then go so ar as to say that such a reason makes their
ethics biblical Tough that religious approach may appeal to the Bible italso tends not to reflect consistently what the writings themselves commu-
nicate and should also not be conused with the biblical ethics we are pur-
suing here It rather tends to assume that the Bible is a collection o moral
injunctions and stories that declare and demonstrate what is right and
wrong or the aithul According to that view those who want to be con-
sidered aithul should do what the Bible says without hesitation Tough
as wersquoll see biblical writings expect their words to be taken seriously the
words o those writings present a much richer set o ideas than the rationale
o rote obedience allows or
Further the Biblersquos words shouldnrsquot be pressed into service to commu-
nicate ideas oreign to them I we impose assumptions rom our culture
onto what the Biblersquos words communicate in their original settings we in-
troduce distortions For example we may want a biblical ruling on when
human lie begins definitively but i we assume that biblical writers know
exactly what we may know about human conception we would be intro-ducing ideas oreign to the biblical texts Te emale ovum was not dis-
covered until the early nineteenth century Appeals to the Bible or such uses
tend to reflect what religious authorities claim about biblical texts more than
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852025
so in ways that dey uninormed popular-level assumptions When exam-
ining the Biblersquos words in their actual contexts readers will make surprising
observations that may dey their assumptions about the sense o religionadvocated by the Biblersquos varied writings For example eternal rewards and
punishments concerns with lie afer death even hell avoidance and
heaven attainment are generally side issues in the Bible (When we explore
the Gospel o Matthew though we will see aspects o those issues empha-
sized) And in those ew places in the Bible where hell is reerred to it is
portrayed not as a scare or bribery tactic but as a serious outcome or the
end o the age What happens to a person upon dying is scarcely a topic in
the Bible even i it becomes so or some expressions o Christianity so
closely connected to those writings Let Bible readers beware when ob-
served careully the words o the Bible will reveal criticize and correct their
sloppy religious assumptions
Now i biblical writings advocate various approaches to ethics that flow
out o peoplersquos relationship with God and i that God is neither a brute
authoritarian parent demanding rote obedience nor a weak manipulative
parent threatening with punishment and bribing with rewards what do weactually see Letrsquos look briefly at the first writing Genesis
Our original introduction to God in that writing displays the Creator
whose acts resemble more those o a beneficent monarch or king than o a
parent1048627 Tat king commands and it is so Even more revealing that king
evaluates to see that all is good Tat kingly activity results in an ordered
creation that humans are asked collectively to manage When we see God
instructing the first human a man known eventually as Adam he issues a
specific charge ldquoYou may reely eat o every tree o the garden but o the
tree o the knowledge o good and evil you shall not eat or in the day that
you eat o it you shall dierdquo (Gen 10486261048625852022-1048625852023)
Notice first o all that this is not an ethical scenario Rather this shows
a boundary-setting restriction Tat is important to observe Why Not
everything in the Bible is about ethics Tink about it What is inherently
wrong in eating ruit O course this is a particular kind o ruitmdasha unique
kind in act that is said to give ldquoknowledge o good and evilrdquo importantcategories or ethics But eating it is said to have severe consequencesmdash
death Certainly the rationale eventually offered or disobeying Godrsquos
command has implications or ethics ldquoWhen the woman saw that the tree
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What Is Biblical Ethics 10486261048625
speciic situations but are not inherently morally right or wrong hose
behaviors may all into the areas o cultural customs and manners or
even situation-speciic instructions but not ethics When consideringmorally neutral behaviors we will have to consider the ethics o pur-
suing those behaviors knowing that someone might be bothered or the
ethics o orcing people to conorm to neutral standards however im-
portant those standards may be culturally or religiously to those en-
orcing them
It will also require people recognizing that some o their own culturally
or religiously conditioned behaviors may actually be neutral not genu-
inely moral People should not expect biblical writings to affirm their own
culturersquos manners and expectations For example being prompt or timely
an important cultural value or some people in the West today is not really
an issue that alls into the category o ethics even though it may be wise
to be prompt in many circumstances amiliar to us Itrsquos really only a
culture-bound value near and dear to many people Certainly biblical
writings donrsquot count promptness among the issues that God cares about
Being impatient with others or being late however would be So also is areusal to honor anotherrsquos known sense o timeliness by insisting on having
onersquos own way
What we will see throughout the Bible is the notion that how a person
chooses to respond to God affects the kind o person he or she becomes
Tus those who aim to do what God wants are ethical people because much
o what God is said to want is also what most people would consider to be
good ethical behavior and because throughout the span o biblical writings
God is portrayed as being in the business o restoring rightness to his cre-
ation In the world o the Bible those who choose to dey God do not know
how to act consistently as ethical people because they have chosen to cut
themselves off rom the ways and plans o God and thus are incomplete in
their sense o what right and wrong behavior actually include
Obeying God trusting God having aith in God and responding to God
are all central issues to the Bible issues that affect the ethics that its varied
writings promote How one responds to God is reflected in a personrsquos ethicsIn act expect to see repeatedly how those who respond to God are ofen
shown as good responders by doing ethical acts Tose who disregard God
are ofen shown as bad responders with the unethical acts they perorm
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8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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Ultimately what we see throughout the Bible are sets o ethics rooted
in peoplersquos relationship with Godmdashan ethic o relationship1048629 Doing good
flows out o a person coming to know God and growing in that rela-tionship with God Doing wrong shows how out o touch a person is with
God Biblical writings are ull o the language o devotion and com-
mitment It is not a mindless devotion but one that is highly attractive
showing people interacting with a God who gives cares and accepts even
i that God also has high standards or those who are connected to him
Tose standards are ofen shown to lead to personal well-being or those
who interact with God
Significantly because peoplersquos relating to God is the one constant advo-
cated by the varieties o biblical writings how God relates to people also
merits consideration Biblical writings offer hope and restoration or those
who mess up An important element o that is a concept known as repen-
tance people turning away rom their evil and embracing Godrsquos good
Along with that are grace receiving good rom God when one deserves the
opposite and mercy receiving good rom God when one is in a decidedly
weak position A sense o hope also emerges as a central eature o biblicalethics People are allowed to be works in progress Expect to discover im-
perect people in biblical writings people who as they draw close to God
also become better people in the process even i many o them have rough
edges In the world o the Bible God never rejects people who call on him
M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161 V983141983154983155983157983155 E983156983144983145983139983155
People ofen use the concepts o morality and ethics interchangeably
Morals generally reer to a personrsquos awareness o right and wrong A
moral person does the right kind o behavior in the sense we have been
probing here advancing good on the world while reraining rom what
inflicts harm For that reason some people would say that a moral person
is also ethical
A moral person may be doing what is right but may not know clearly
what makes the activity right or why she or he should do that right By con-
trast ethics as we discuss it here deals with how to distinguish right romwrong and why someone should do the right and hinder the wrong In
exploring the Bible we will see many statements weighing in on the moral
rightness or wrongness o various behaviors But we wonrsquot stop there We
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852019
will look or the ethics that will indicate what makes the activity right or
wrong and that offer rationale and motivation or engaging in the right ac-
tivity or reraining rom the wrong Moral people do what is right So dopeople who have ethics but they also know why1048630
Te distinction between morality and ethics is an important one wo
people can share the same moral convictions but they could easily have very
different ethics How Because the ethics will explain the answer to the
question Why is that wrong For example in the world that produced the
New estament section o the Bible Greek and Roman philosophers com-
monly discussed the moral wrongness o being guided by our passions
Toughtless passions lead people to do the wrong things One writer Paul
whose ethics we will explore in chapters nine and ten would basically agree
that people acting out their passions leads to misbehavior But i you asked
both sets o people why being guided by passion is wrong you would get
two entirely different sets o answers Paulrsquos answer connects directly to his
awareness o the crucifixion and resurrection o Jesus Te philosophers
know nothing o Jesus Teir answers are linked to their view o the psy-
chology o the soul Tough we might think we see moral agreement be-tween Paul and philosophers we see totally different ethics We will see the
same thing in the Bible itsel Te various places we will explore will re-
quently show common moral standards but different ethics Ethics and mo-
rality are not the same
Te Biblersquos writings do communicate a strong set o morals But they do
much more than that Tey portray genuine ethics Tey show ways o lie
stemming rom people living in attractive relationship with the true and
living God Reasons or living morally appear regularly either stated or
implied because relationship with God is portrayed as wonderully good
and genuinely healthy Relationship with God ultimately involves partici-
pating in Godrsquos process o remaking the world a world filled with bro-
kenness exhibited in and stemming rom human misbehavior As we probe
biblical texts we will discover ethical systems that are intriguing inviting
enlightening and uplifing People who read the Bible well will not only
have a stronger sense o what is right and wrong they will realize why ac-cording to those writings they also should do right and why living that
right is so ulfilling
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SUMMING IT UP
What is ethics
o Ethics reers to how a person distinguishes right rom
wrong behavior
o Ethics is also concerned with the reasons or why a
person should choose what is good and abstain rom
what is not
o Te kind o behavior that ethics is concerned with gen-erally is behavior that advances good or hinders harm
in onersquos world
What do we mean by biblical ethics
o With biblical ethics one is concerned with discerning
the kinds o behavior biblical writings indicate are right
and wrong
o One is also concerned with both how according to bib-
lical writings to distinguish right rom wrong and why
its readers should do right and rerain rom wrong
o Biblical ethics begins with describing what biblical
writings communicate ethically Only then can people see
how those ethics might apply to their lives prescriptively
o
Ethics is not the central concern o biblical writings o Other behaviors besides ethical behaviors are dealt
with in the Bible
o How people connect meaningully with God is a central
concern o biblical writings
o Ethics in the Bible flows primarily out o peoplersquos
healthy relationship with God
o Ethics in the Bible offers hope or those who recognize
their error and turn to God
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852021
A983148983156983141983154983150983137983156983145983158983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155
Ethical questions and dilemmas appear consistently and prominently within
human history Some o the ethical systems Western civilizations developed
to address those concerns are worth noting briefly as a way o comparing
how biblical writings offer both similarities to and dissimilarities rom
them1048631 Some o these systems actually influenced aspects o ethics as oundin parts o the Bible Others o these have themselves been influenced by the
sense o right and wrong ound in biblical writings
Virtue ethics Also closely related to what is called ldquocharacter ethicsrdquo
virtue ethics ocus on what kind o person one should become in order to
attain a higher goal such as happiness or well-being emphasizing various
virtues (eg courage wisdom justice sel-control kindness orbearance
riendliness modesty)852024 Conversely there are vices that one should avoid
(eg cowardice olly wrongness sel-indulgence meanness short-
temperedness diffidence extravagance) Many o those good character
qualities are learned rom observing people who are considered to be good
or by repeated practice o virtuous activities Discussions o virtues and
vices were especially important to the ancient Greeks and Romans Some
writings in the New estament reflect awareness o the ruit o such discus-
sions but also offer their own unique perspectives on virtues and vices
Ethical egoism Also coming rom ancient Greece ethical egoism advocatespursuing behaviors with outcomes that maximize personal pleasure while
minimizing personal pain Rather than resorting to out-and-out hedonism (ie
selfish pleasure seeking) the point here is to evaluate long-term outcomes or
How is morality different from ethics
o Morality is simply knowing what is right and what is
wrong
o Ethics involves both the reasoning or distinguishing
right rom wrong and the motivations or doing what
is right and hindering what is wrong
o Biblical writings regularly portray genuine ethics not
mere morality
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consequences Some immediate pleasures may result in such horrible pain in
the end that they should be avoided altogether But some pain may be necessary
to endure in order to attain the benefit o a long-term pleasureUtilitarianism Utilitarianism is similar to ethical egoism with its concern
or maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain but does so with societies in
view not merely the individual Whatever advances pleasure or the greatest
number o people is to be preerred Further it recognizes that there are
higher-order pleasures in lie beyond mere physical gratification Peoplersquos
ailure to exercise their minds or their pursuit o personal selfishness are two
major obstacles to good being advanced In current popular everyday
practice both ethical egoistic and utilitarian ways o thinking can lead
people to line up physical psychological and sociological conclusions in
order to prove that a genuine pleasure is being advanced or pain is being
avoided But sometimes those conclusions prove more tentative than their
communicators may indicate at the time especially when they are really
interested in justiying their own misbehavior
Duty With duty one should do what is right and rerain rom what is wrong
because that is the most reasonable orm o activity to pursue as a thinkinghuman being One has a duty to live consistently with onersquos being Right and
wrong are independent o human existence Right corresponds with what is
true to pursue what is alse is sel-contradictory and internally inconsistent
Practically speaking living by duty means unctioning in a world o beings As
a human being one has a duty to recognize people as people Whenever one
treats another or even onesel solely as an object one is violating onersquos duty to
a ellow creature Tis way o thinking partly resembles a well-known maxim
attributed to Jesus ofen called the Golden RulemdashldquoDo to others as you would
have them do to yourdquo But it has little regard or people thinking empathetically
about others with a desired ideal good or them the way Jesusrsquo words do
Divine command theory Divine command theory assumes that rightness
comes directly rom divinity and whatever any divinity commands the re-
ligious person must obey When applied to the Bible this approach assumes
that the Bible is ull o commands meant to be obeyed So as a reader one
should look diligently or those commands Whatever is commanded mustbe ollowed because it comes rom God o obey God is to do what is right
o disobey God is to do what is wrong While to many this would seem to
be biblical ethics in a nutshell it alls short by not seeing how biblical ethics
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852023
involves much more than obeying commands Ofen associated with this
approach at the popular level is an attitude that treats the Bible as a sort o
guiding constitution to scan or moral rulings discovering ldquowhat the Biblesaysrdquo about a topic then becomes the primary pursuit
eleology Many o these approaches to ethics also try to organize lie
around a ocused goal a teleological approach For example or some virtue
ethicists and ethical egoists achieving a orm o happiness or well-being is
the goal or which virtues are exercised or pain is minimized By contrast
the approach emphasizing duty regards the duty to be right all by itsel in-
dependent o any ultimate human goal or ideal
E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155 983137983150983140 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Te Bible and teleology In the Bible we will see varieties o teleological
thought stronger in some places than in others Concerns or example with
conormity to the created order or to Godrsquos merciul acts in a moment known
as the exodus are common in the first writings we will probe1048633 Even stronger
will be the awareness that lie is advancing toward a uture ultimate moment
o reordering a major component to the later writings being studied hereTe Bible and virtue ethics Tere are many places where biblical writings
champion conormity to a good character model852017852016 But good character is
advanced neither as a means to some sort o end nor merely as an end in
itsel the way it is in traditional virtue ethics Obtaining good lie outcomes
or avoiding bad ones is not the main goal o being good Rather good char-
acter in biblical writings is ofen seen as a reflection o the God who is being
served It is both an outcome o associating with God and a measuring stick
o how in touch one is with God Further in addition to character issues
biblical texts also champion specific behaviors such as taking care o the
poor standing up or the weak or loving the unlovely Tose behaviors may
reflect good character but they are to be done regardless o onersquos overall
character Many in Christianity have traditionally thought o love as a virtue
But biblical writings ofen ocus on love as an activity even a responsibility
Attention to character ormation is a major topic o discussion or scholars
examining the use o the Bible in ethics852017852017 Tat would be close to virtue ethicsbut not identical It ocuses on how encouragement in the practice o certain
biblical instructions shapes the lives o those who do them influencing what
kind o people they become Like virtue ethics this recognizes that a person
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must be trained in the right way o living to be able to become good It does
receive major support rom the Biblersquos writings themselves which encourage
a liestyle that is always growing in its awareness o God and Godrsquos desiresor humans Still the ethics o the parts o the Bible we will explore here will
also provide more than material or character ormation Tey will also
provide guidelines that help people make reasoned decisions about the
rightness and wrongness o certain activities as they ponder them
Te Bible ethical egoism and utilitarianism Some biblical writings promote
appraising harmul or beneficial outcomes o behaviors in ways that may seem
to resemble the ethical egoist or the utilitarian Tey tend to do so to show the
wisdom or olly o certain activities or to speak approvingly o advancing the
goodness or well-being o onersquos neighbor Tey do not make the avoidance o
personal pain or the acquisition o personal pleasure the ultimate goal Rather
they measure consequences observed rom the activities o others and offer
advice based on what is observed to have worked and what genuinely does not
ounded on how one studies the world as God created it Other writings talk
about growing in character rom enduring hardships such as persecution Again
the point is not to ocus on the personal gain rom such growth but on the ul-timate goal the remade hardship-ree creation one is destined to
Te Bible and duty Various biblical writings urge their readers to treat
others as people rather than objects but they do so in a manner that takes
into consideration the railties o the environment people live in and the
realities o human existence and weakness encouraging readers to be aware
o their own Tough obedience itsel in some contexts may be perceived
as a duty urther probing o those contexts ofen discloses that obedience
flows more out o a sincere relationship with God and a high regard or
others than rom a sense o resolute duty-bound obligation
Te Bible and divine command theory Te Bible is also ull o com-
mands But many o those commands come in specifically defined contexts
that are not meant to apply directly to people in most contemporaneous
settings And outside o those contexts much o what is ofen regarded as
command is really instructional advice which is quite a different orm o
expressionmdashordering someone to ldquoSlow downrdquo is not the same as advisingsomeone to ldquoake your timerdquo yet both communicate what grammarians call
imperatives Further much o the Biblersquos advice appears in contexts that
point to clear supporting reasons behind it Focusing on the advice without
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852025
dealing with its supporting rationale misses the actual ethics being advanced
Finally there are many ethical topics about which the Bible does not issue
any direct command or instruction leaving readers with no guidance orworse as we have already seen leading people to twist the Biblersquos words into
making points not really there Discovering Godrsquos will emerges as a major
concern in some o the writings we will explore or their ethics But we will
see how doing that leads a person beyond a search or direct statements or
interpretive moral rulings
When people probe the Bible to learn what it might say about a certain
moral topic they are really acting under a basic assumption o divine
command theory an act is right or wrong because God says so852017852018 And yet
without ever having read the Bible people all over the world have views
similar to biblical writingsrsquo views about the morality o certain acts A sense
o right and wrong can exist independent o the Bible In this book we will
proceed under the assumption that an act is not right or wrong just because
the Bible says so Te Bible says so ofen because the act is right or wrong Why
is an act right or wrong Answering that rom the Biblersquos writings will put
readers in touch with the ethics those writings advanceTe observations rom the previous paragraphs should not lessen any
respect that a reader gives to biblical texts Tey should in act increase it
Te writings o the Bible encourage more than they ofen receive credit or
Troughout the variety o ethical approaches we will examine in this book
we will see attitudes expressed by biblical texts that expect their words to be
taken seriously precisely because they are connected to God who is trust-
worthy who has made the world with purpose and who is in the process o
moving its events to an ultimate restorative climax Doing something be-
cause one is prompted by a saying in a biblical text is an attitude encouraged
directly by the words o the Biblersquos writings But studying biblical ethics
means much more than searching or and then obeying divinely established
commands or discovering what the Bible says about a topic Tat may some-
times be a good starting point but the Biblersquos words ofen lead its readers to
think about how to do even more than they say directly People who care
about the Bible should let their ethical vision be shaped by that
A V983137983154983145983141983156983161 983151983142 E983156983144983145983139983155 983137983150983140 983137 C983151983150983155983145983155983156983141983150983156 M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161
Te Bible is not a book written by a single author with a collection o chapters
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reflecting a beginning a middle and an end It is a collection o writings
emerging over a large time span and produced by a wide variety o authors
nearly one third o whom are not identified It alls into two unequal por-tions (1048625) the much larger Hebrew Bible (or to Christians the Old estament)
the product o hundreds o years o activity ocusing on the people o Israel
and their covenant with God and (1048626) the New estament produced within
the second hal o the first century 983139983141 or 983137983140 the writings o which all
reflect issues and events related to the person named Jesus the Christ Many
o the writings o both estaments disclose threads o an unolding story to
which they persistently connect divulging an emerging divine plan Some
writings connect to that plan with more detail than others And not all o
the writings try to advance that unolding story
In this book we are probing only our broad sections o biblical ethics (1048625)
Te orah (minus Numbers) and (1048626) proverbial wisdom rom the Old es-
tament (852019) two o the Gospels (Luke and Matthew) and (1048628) two o Paulrsquos
letters (1048625 Corinthians and Romans) rom the New estament8520171048627 Prophetic
thought rom Isaiah in the Old estament will be addressed briefly as well
not or separate ethical inquiry as much as to bridge the ethical worlds oorah and the Gospels Immediately some may ault this listing as incom-
plete and too limiting852017852020 Yes it is But these our basic sections each have
broad unique identifiable eatures that disclose significant depth o ethical
thought What orah communicates ethically is quite distinct rom what
Proverbs conveys And though the Gospels o Luke and Matthew each display
their own special ethical approaches their similarities offer a significantly
different slant rom what Paul advances We will be looking at our distinct
emphases covenant consequences kingdom and transormation Te Bible
does not portray a single unitary ethical vision We see multiple visions each
connecting people with God who has made the world and will remake it
Evidence within the biblical writings suggests that all our o the ap-
proaches we are exploring can interact not only with each other but with
those biblical approaches that we are not exploring in this book8520171048629 We are
looking at a useul basic starting point Tose wanting to pursue a uller
range o approaches and thought orms can then build rom hereRecognizing that there are different complementary ways o thinking ad-
vocated by biblical texts should give Bible readers a greater appreciation or
the richness o thought the writings encourage It should also caution them
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What Is Biblical Ethics 8520191048625
about the shallowness o approaches that disregard that variety in avor o
coming up with a ldquobiblicalrdquo position about a moral topic Tough one might
be able to discern common moral perspectives on some issues one would bemissing out on the ethical reasoning individual sets o writings advance
S983151983149983141 L983145983149983145983156983137983156983145983151983150983155 983151983142 T983144983145983155 A983152983152983154983151983137983139983144
Many biblical writings invite their readers to distinguish right rom wrong
Tough the Bible does not speak univocally (ie with one voice) its writings
display a remarkably consistent concern or distinguishing right rom wrong
even within the diversity o their expressions Consider the ollowing state-
ments rom a wide range o biblical books all but one o which we will
eventually survey
Moses the leader o Godrsquos people in the orah instructs them concerning
Godrsquos commands
In Proverbs a ather instructs his son
You must observe them diligently for this will show your wisdom and discernment
to the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say ldquoSurely this great
nation is a wise and discerning peoplerdquo For what other great nation has a god sonear to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him And what other great
nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before
you today Deut 46-8
Do not enter the path of the wicked
and do not walk in the way of evildoers
Avoid it do not go on it
turn away from it and pass on
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble
For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn
which shines brighter and brighter until full day
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness
they do not know what they stumble over Prov 414-19
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When accusing Israelite people o a series o wrongdoings the prophet
Isaiah writes
In one Gospel Jesus invites hearers to accept a set o his teachings many
o which address moral behavior
When disturbed that believers in Corinth are not distinguishing rightrom wrong that churchrsquos ounder Paul says
In a totally independent writing when disturbed at the immaturity dis-
played by his readersrsquo willingness to wander away rom the aith the writer
o the epistle to the Hebrews identifies spiritually mature as
Biblical writings clearly advocate that people distinguish moral right
rom moral wrongTat said letrsquos note once more how ocusing on ethics to the exclusion o
other issues is potentially misleading We will see that immediately in ex-
ploring the first part o the Bible the orah In Deuteronomy or example we
Ah you who call evil good
and good evil
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter Is 520
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads
to destruction and there are many who take it For the gate is narrow and the road
is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it Mt 713-14
Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one be-
liever and another but a believer goes to court against a believermdashand before
unbelievers at that 1 Cor 65-6
those whose faculties have been trained by
practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 514
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852019
will find activities identified as evil that our working definition o ethics would
call immoral alse witness adultery kidnapping (Deut 10486258520251048625852025 1048626104862610486261048626 10486261048628852023) But
that same writing identifies alse prophets and idolaters with the same labelmdashevil (Deut 1048625852019852021 1048625852023852023) Are idolaters and alse prophets immoral or something
else Elsewhere in the Bible we will see ethical activity such as loving enemies
(Mt 85202110486281048628-1048628852022) placed on the same reward level as acilitating the work o those
who spread the message o the kingdom (Mt 1048625104862410486281048624-10486281048626) Is supporting the
spread o the kingdomrsquos message moral or something else Biblical writings
ofen portray a more integrated view about lie than our strict definitions allow
We might like to put certain decisions into an ethics box Living in relationship
with the Biblersquos God is all encompassing not easily separable into box-like
categoriesmdasha worship box a sacrifice box a religion box an ethics box
So why are we doing this Because the list o statements we have just
looked at is one piece o evidence among many we will see that encourages
us to think ethically as a natural way o living in relationship with God
Failure to live in ways that emerge out o our definition o ethics is regularly
condemned in biblical writings (eg Is 104862510486251048624-1048625852023 Mt 10486268520191048626852019-10486261048628) But living in
relationship with God involves much more than ethics Our study o ethicsshould not keep us rom realizing that
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155 T983141983150983140983155 983156983151 983138983141 M983145983139983154983151983141983156983144983145983139983137983148
Ethicists generally do not use the expression microethical or its noun micro-
ethics Tose terms are unique to our discussions here Tey appeal to con-
cepts rom the world o economics Economists speak o microeconomics
and macroeconomics Te ormer reers to how people interact in day-to-
day business transactions Whenever people buy or sell items rom a store
they are engaging in microeconomics Te latter reers to larger national
and global issues that determine economic policies set by governments
Whenever people announce state or national employment figures or
whenever people are concerned about the prime rate being set by the Federal
Reserve Bank they are dealing with macroeconomics
Similar concepts are being applied here Microethics reers to what people
do when they interact directly with someone else ldquoShould I be kind or rudeto that woman who wonrsquot give me the time o dayrdquo ldquoShould I get angry at that
man who just cut me off in traffic or should I simply smile pleasantlyrdquo
ldquoShould I join in the conversation about our riend who is not present or
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should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
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Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 629
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 729
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appeals to their own authority become dissatisying and ineffective
So consider the ollowing upgrade
ldquoMom why do I have to brush my teethrdquo
ldquoTo keep your teeth healthy If you donrsquot theyrsquoll rot
and fall outrdquo
Now a new element has been addedmdashconsequences I people perorm well
they benefit i they perorm badly they can be harmed Te interaction now
appears to be airly reasonable But compare the explanation rom the pre-
ceding parent with those ollowing
ldquoBecause if you do Irsquoll take you to the zoo
tomorrowrdquo
Or
ldquoBecause if you donrsquot I will spank yourdquo
Tese also are consequences but something is a bit off Te consequences
do not seem to be tied to the behavior Tere is no genuine connection be-
tween tooth brushing and the zoo or tooth brushing and spanking Rather
the interaction appears disturbingly manipulative perhaps symptomatic o
a flawed relationship Te parents here appear to be on subtly weak ground
In one case the parent is bribing the child In the other the parent is threat-
ening the childEthics provides the rationale or perorming certain behaviors I the
reasons or perorming a behavior make sense the system makes sense I
they do not the system begins to alter
Ethics involves another important element Te two scenarios may be
instructive in the area o parenting but are they really dealing with ethics
Brushing teeth may be polite It may be healthy But is it right in the same
way that one would consider helping a person in need would be or is ailing
to do it wrong in the same way that murdering someone would be Brushing
teeth reflects social upbringing to be sure It has health consequences cer-
tainly Reusing to do so when asked to may indicate troublesome attitudes
that themselves do come into the sphere o ethicsmdashrebelliousness stub-
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852021
bornness selfishness But people would hardly call someone who ails to
brush teeth an unethical person merely because he or she happened not to
perorm an act o personal hygieneSo what else does ethics involve We are talking ultimately about how
someone is guided to become a good person who perorms good deeds Tat
would involve matters such as how people treat others or how they treat them-
selves It would more ully involve how one treats the world around onesel
Te ollowing scenario swerves more ully into the world o ethics
ldquoAlicia please share your toy with Junierdquo
ldquoWhyrdquo
ldquoBecause you want to be a good friend to her She
ought to enjoy coming to visit yourdquo
Here we are dealing with behavior that affects peoplersquos expression o their
humanness We are observing Aliciarsquos parent instructing her about right and
wrong behavior that affects another person
Tat kind o interaction even between parent and child shows a regard
or behavior that goes beyond the bounds o mere politeness It reflects a
concern or others It ultimately reflects a concern or what kind o person
the child should aim to become and the kinds o things she should be doing
as that sort o person In this scenario Alicia is being urged to advance good
or well-being on her world She is also being urged not to advance harm in
her world Tat basic pattern will serve as the working definition o what
ethics involves or this book In other words ethics involves championingbehavior that advances good or hinders harm in onersquos world
People who aim to be ethical people are good people We like good people
Good people do what is right Tey rerain rom what is evil We like asso-
ciating with people who are kind to us who give to us who care or us
Conversely we donrsquot like people who are nasty to us who take rom us who
harm us So what does it mean to be good Why should we do good An-
swers to those questions will reveal the kind o ethics we are applying
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155
In this book we are considering what the collection o writings known as the
Bible contributes to the world o ethics What is considered right and wrong
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behavior according to biblical writings What thought patterns do writings
in the Bible encourage in helping their readers distinguish right rom wrong
What reasons and motivations do biblical writings offer or why their readersshould perorm what is good and rerain rom what is bad
In addressing such questions letrsquos first note an important difference be-
tween what some would call ldquoChristian ethicsrdquo or ldquoreligious ethicsrdquo and what
we are exploring here in this book Christian or religious ethics might ad-
dress the question What do the tenets o the religious aith contribute to
distinguishing right rom wrong on liersquos issues Or more personally Since
I call mysel a Christian how should I behave as a Christian over this issue
Tese are great questions Tey launch the inquirer on a prescriptive task
that looks to the religion including the Bible as Christian Scripture to
advise about or make behavioral demands or the present moment
Biblical ethics should also inorm those kinds o questions But beore
we can determine how we must first try to discern what the biblical texts
appear to be communicating852017 Note biblical texts not simply biblical state-
ments Wersquore aiming to learn to observe the sustained lines o reasoning
offered by individual biblical writings or clusters o related writings In-stead o imposing our interests on themmdashWhat does the Bible say about
Xmdashwe want to discern the issues that the words o individual writings
appear to be designed to address Te biblical ethics we are pursuing here
is largely a descriptive task We will aim to understand what the Biblersquos
writings themselves promote ethically exploring them with a regard or
their literary cultural and historical contexts What we discover through
this kind o biblical ethics should then be the basis o conversation be-
tween Bible readers who can help each other understand more deeply
what to do with the kinds o ideas disclosed by this sort o investigation
Our primary pursuit in this book is to observe the ways o distinguishing
right rom wrong that are encouraged within biblical writings and what
rationale and motivations those writings offer or perorming right ac-
tivities and avoiding wrong ones Based on those people can begin to
discuss the prescriptive role these texts can have in their lives now no
matter the culture852018
Since much o Christian ethics is interested in using the Bible how is
what we are doing here different Our task will not be to use the Bible as a
source o moral statements but to describe the Biblersquos ethical vision how its
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852023
writings themselves shape the readersrsquo views o moral right and wrong For
example some Christian thinkers are interested in exploring the implica-
tions o humans being made in Godrsquos image a point made twice in the earlychapters o Genesis as wersquoll soon see ldquoI humans are said to be in Godrsquos
imagerdquo the reasoning goes ldquothen I should always treat other humans as
ellow image bearersrdquo Tatrsquos not a bad line o reasoning But it is not strictly
biblical in the way we are considering here How so Because that line o
reasoning is never explicitly ound or encouraged by any words in biblical
writings In act the last use o the expression ldquoimage o Godrdquo in the large
first part o the Bible the Old estament is in Genesis 852025 Biblical writings
appeal to the concept differently Tose writings instead ollow other iden-
tifiable sustained lines o reasoning that offer consistent and persistent ways
o thinking about right and wrong Learning to trace those lines is the point
o this book
In some religious contexts people are told prescriptively to do one
certain kind o activity or rerain rom others ldquobecause the Bible says sordquo
Such people could then go so ar as to say that such a reason makes their
ethics biblical Tough that religious approach may appeal to the Bible italso tends not to reflect consistently what the writings themselves commu-
nicate and should also not be conused with the biblical ethics we are pur-
suing here It rather tends to assume that the Bible is a collection o moral
injunctions and stories that declare and demonstrate what is right and
wrong or the aithul According to that view those who want to be con-
sidered aithul should do what the Bible says without hesitation Tough
as wersquoll see biblical writings expect their words to be taken seriously the
words o those writings present a much richer set o ideas than the rationale
o rote obedience allows or
Further the Biblersquos words shouldnrsquot be pressed into service to commu-
nicate ideas oreign to them I we impose assumptions rom our culture
onto what the Biblersquos words communicate in their original settings we in-
troduce distortions For example we may want a biblical ruling on when
human lie begins definitively but i we assume that biblical writers know
exactly what we may know about human conception we would be intro-ducing ideas oreign to the biblical texts Te emale ovum was not dis-
covered until the early nineteenth century Appeals to the Bible or such uses
tend to reflect what religious authorities claim about biblical texts more than
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852025
so in ways that dey uninormed popular-level assumptions When exam-
ining the Biblersquos words in their actual contexts readers will make surprising
observations that may dey their assumptions about the sense o religionadvocated by the Biblersquos varied writings For example eternal rewards and
punishments concerns with lie afer death even hell avoidance and
heaven attainment are generally side issues in the Bible (When we explore
the Gospel o Matthew though we will see aspects o those issues empha-
sized) And in those ew places in the Bible where hell is reerred to it is
portrayed not as a scare or bribery tactic but as a serious outcome or the
end o the age What happens to a person upon dying is scarcely a topic in
the Bible even i it becomes so or some expressions o Christianity so
closely connected to those writings Let Bible readers beware when ob-
served careully the words o the Bible will reveal criticize and correct their
sloppy religious assumptions
Now i biblical writings advocate various approaches to ethics that flow
out o peoplersquos relationship with God and i that God is neither a brute
authoritarian parent demanding rote obedience nor a weak manipulative
parent threatening with punishment and bribing with rewards what do weactually see Letrsquos look briefly at the first writing Genesis
Our original introduction to God in that writing displays the Creator
whose acts resemble more those o a beneficent monarch or king than o a
parent1048627 Tat king commands and it is so Even more revealing that king
evaluates to see that all is good Tat kingly activity results in an ordered
creation that humans are asked collectively to manage When we see God
instructing the first human a man known eventually as Adam he issues a
specific charge ldquoYou may reely eat o every tree o the garden but o the
tree o the knowledge o good and evil you shall not eat or in the day that
you eat o it you shall dierdquo (Gen 10486261048625852022-1048625852023)
Notice first o all that this is not an ethical scenario Rather this shows
a boundary-setting restriction Tat is important to observe Why Not
everything in the Bible is about ethics Tink about it What is inherently
wrong in eating ruit O course this is a particular kind o ruitmdasha unique
kind in act that is said to give ldquoknowledge o good and evilrdquo importantcategories or ethics But eating it is said to have severe consequencesmdash
death Certainly the rationale eventually offered or disobeying Godrsquos
command has implications or ethics ldquoWhen the woman saw that the tree
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What Is Biblical Ethics 10486261048625
speciic situations but are not inherently morally right or wrong hose
behaviors may all into the areas o cultural customs and manners or
even situation-speciic instructions but not ethics When consideringmorally neutral behaviors we will have to consider the ethics o pur-
suing those behaviors knowing that someone might be bothered or the
ethics o orcing people to conorm to neutral standards however im-
portant those standards may be culturally or religiously to those en-
orcing them
It will also require people recognizing that some o their own culturally
or religiously conditioned behaviors may actually be neutral not genu-
inely moral People should not expect biblical writings to affirm their own
culturersquos manners and expectations For example being prompt or timely
an important cultural value or some people in the West today is not really
an issue that alls into the category o ethics even though it may be wise
to be prompt in many circumstances amiliar to us Itrsquos really only a
culture-bound value near and dear to many people Certainly biblical
writings donrsquot count promptness among the issues that God cares about
Being impatient with others or being late however would be So also is areusal to honor anotherrsquos known sense o timeliness by insisting on having
onersquos own way
What we will see throughout the Bible is the notion that how a person
chooses to respond to God affects the kind o person he or she becomes
Tus those who aim to do what God wants are ethical people because much
o what God is said to want is also what most people would consider to be
good ethical behavior and because throughout the span o biblical writings
God is portrayed as being in the business o restoring rightness to his cre-
ation In the world o the Bible those who choose to dey God do not know
how to act consistently as ethical people because they have chosen to cut
themselves off rom the ways and plans o God and thus are incomplete in
their sense o what right and wrong behavior actually include
Obeying God trusting God having aith in God and responding to God
are all central issues to the Bible issues that affect the ethics that its varied
writings promote How one responds to God is reflected in a personrsquos ethicsIn act expect to see repeatedly how those who respond to God are ofen
shown as good responders by doing ethical acts Tose who disregard God
are ofen shown as bad responders with the unethical acts they perorm
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Ultimately what we see throughout the Bible are sets o ethics rooted
in peoplersquos relationship with Godmdashan ethic o relationship1048629 Doing good
flows out o a person coming to know God and growing in that rela-tionship with God Doing wrong shows how out o touch a person is with
God Biblical writings are ull o the language o devotion and com-
mitment It is not a mindless devotion but one that is highly attractive
showing people interacting with a God who gives cares and accepts even
i that God also has high standards or those who are connected to him
Tose standards are ofen shown to lead to personal well-being or those
who interact with God
Significantly because peoplersquos relating to God is the one constant advo-
cated by the varieties o biblical writings how God relates to people also
merits consideration Biblical writings offer hope and restoration or those
who mess up An important element o that is a concept known as repen-
tance people turning away rom their evil and embracing Godrsquos good
Along with that are grace receiving good rom God when one deserves the
opposite and mercy receiving good rom God when one is in a decidedly
weak position A sense o hope also emerges as a central eature o biblicalethics People are allowed to be works in progress Expect to discover im-
perect people in biblical writings people who as they draw close to God
also become better people in the process even i many o them have rough
edges In the world o the Bible God never rejects people who call on him
M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161 V983141983154983155983157983155 E983156983144983145983139983155
People ofen use the concepts o morality and ethics interchangeably
Morals generally reer to a personrsquos awareness o right and wrong A
moral person does the right kind o behavior in the sense we have been
probing here advancing good on the world while reraining rom what
inflicts harm For that reason some people would say that a moral person
is also ethical
A moral person may be doing what is right but may not know clearly
what makes the activity right or why she or he should do that right By con-
trast ethics as we discuss it here deals with how to distinguish right romwrong and why someone should do the right and hinder the wrong In
exploring the Bible we will see many statements weighing in on the moral
rightness or wrongness o various behaviors But we wonrsquot stop there We
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852019
will look or the ethics that will indicate what makes the activity right or
wrong and that offer rationale and motivation or engaging in the right ac-
tivity or reraining rom the wrong Moral people do what is right So dopeople who have ethics but they also know why1048630
Te distinction between morality and ethics is an important one wo
people can share the same moral convictions but they could easily have very
different ethics How Because the ethics will explain the answer to the
question Why is that wrong For example in the world that produced the
New estament section o the Bible Greek and Roman philosophers com-
monly discussed the moral wrongness o being guided by our passions
Toughtless passions lead people to do the wrong things One writer Paul
whose ethics we will explore in chapters nine and ten would basically agree
that people acting out their passions leads to misbehavior But i you asked
both sets o people why being guided by passion is wrong you would get
two entirely different sets o answers Paulrsquos answer connects directly to his
awareness o the crucifixion and resurrection o Jesus Te philosophers
know nothing o Jesus Teir answers are linked to their view o the psy-
chology o the soul Tough we might think we see moral agreement be-tween Paul and philosophers we see totally different ethics We will see the
same thing in the Bible itsel Te various places we will explore will re-
quently show common moral standards but different ethics Ethics and mo-
rality are not the same
Te Biblersquos writings do communicate a strong set o morals But they do
much more than that Tey portray genuine ethics Tey show ways o lie
stemming rom people living in attractive relationship with the true and
living God Reasons or living morally appear regularly either stated or
implied because relationship with God is portrayed as wonderully good
and genuinely healthy Relationship with God ultimately involves partici-
pating in Godrsquos process o remaking the world a world filled with bro-
kenness exhibited in and stemming rom human misbehavior As we probe
biblical texts we will discover ethical systems that are intriguing inviting
enlightening and uplifing People who read the Bible well will not only
have a stronger sense o what is right and wrong they will realize why ac-cording to those writings they also should do right and why living that
right is so ulfilling
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SUMMING IT UP
What is ethics
o Ethics reers to how a person distinguishes right rom
wrong behavior
o Ethics is also concerned with the reasons or why a
person should choose what is good and abstain rom
what is not
o Te kind o behavior that ethics is concerned with gen-erally is behavior that advances good or hinders harm
in onersquos world
What do we mean by biblical ethics
o With biblical ethics one is concerned with discerning
the kinds o behavior biblical writings indicate are right
and wrong
o One is also concerned with both how according to bib-
lical writings to distinguish right rom wrong and why
its readers should do right and rerain rom wrong
o Biblical ethics begins with describing what biblical
writings communicate ethically Only then can people see
how those ethics might apply to their lives prescriptively
o
Ethics is not the central concern o biblical writings o Other behaviors besides ethical behaviors are dealt
with in the Bible
o How people connect meaningully with God is a central
concern o biblical writings
o Ethics in the Bible flows primarily out o peoplersquos
healthy relationship with God
o Ethics in the Bible offers hope or those who recognize
their error and turn to God
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852021
A983148983156983141983154983150983137983156983145983158983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155
Ethical questions and dilemmas appear consistently and prominently within
human history Some o the ethical systems Western civilizations developed
to address those concerns are worth noting briefly as a way o comparing
how biblical writings offer both similarities to and dissimilarities rom
them1048631 Some o these systems actually influenced aspects o ethics as oundin parts o the Bible Others o these have themselves been influenced by the
sense o right and wrong ound in biblical writings
Virtue ethics Also closely related to what is called ldquocharacter ethicsrdquo
virtue ethics ocus on what kind o person one should become in order to
attain a higher goal such as happiness or well-being emphasizing various
virtues (eg courage wisdom justice sel-control kindness orbearance
riendliness modesty)852024 Conversely there are vices that one should avoid
(eg cowardice olly wrongness sel-indulgence meanness short-
temperedness diffidence extravagance) Many o those good character
qualities are learned rom observing people who are considered to be good
or by repeated practice o virtuous activities Discussions o virtues and
vices were especially important to the ancient Greeks and Romans Some
writings in the New estament reflect awareness o the ruit o such discus-
sions but also offer their own unique perspectives on virtues and vices
Ethical egoism Also coming rom ancient Greece ethical egoism advocatespursuing behaviors with outcomes that maximize personal pleasure while
minimizing personal pain Rather than resorting to out-and-out hedonism (ie
selfish pleasure seeking) the point here is to evaluate long-term outcomes or
How is morality different from ethics
o Morality is simply knowing what is right and what is
wrong
o Ethics involves both the reasoning or distinguishing
right rom wrong and the motivations or doing what
is right and hindering what is wrong
o Biblical writings regularly portray genuine ethics not
mere morality
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consequences Some immediate pleasures may result in such horrible pain in
the end that they should be avoided altogether But some pain may be necessary
to endure in order to attain the benefit o a long-term pleasureUtilitarianism Utilitarianism is similar to ethical egoism with its concern
or maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain but does so with societies in
view not merely the individual Whatever advances pleasure or the greatest
number o people is to be preerred Further it recognizes that there are
higher-order pleasures in lie beyond mere physical gratification Peoplersquos
ailure to exercise their minds or their pursuit o personal selfishness are two
major obstacles to good being advanced In current popular everyday
practice both ethical egoistic and utilitarian ways o thinking can lead
people to line up physical psychological and sociological conclusions in
order to prove that a genuine pleasure is being advanced or pain is being
avoided But sometimes those conclusions prove more tentative than their
communicators may indicate at the time especially when they are really
interested in justiying their own misbehavior
Duty With duty one should do what is right and rerain rom what is wrong
because that is the most reasonable orm o activity to pursue as a thinkinghuman being One has a duty to live consistently with onersquos being Right and
wrong are independent o human existence Right corresponds with what is
true to pursue what is alse is sel-contradictory and internally inconsistent
Practically speaking living by duty means unctioning in a world o beings As
a human being one has a duty to recognize people as people Whenever one
treats another or even onesel solely as an object one is violating onersquos duty to
a ellow creature Tis way o thinking partly resembles a well-known maxim
attributed to Jesus ofen called the Golden RulemdashldquoDo to others as you would
have them do to yourdquo But it has little regard or people thinking empathetically
about others with a desired ideal good or them the way Jesusrsquo words do
Divine command theory Divine command theory assumes that rightness
comes directly rom divinity and whatever any divinity commands the re-
ligious person must obey When applied to the Bible this approach assumes
that the Bible is ull o commands meant to be obeyed So as a reader one
should look diligently or those commands Whatever is commanded mustbe ollowed because it comes rom God o obey God is to do what is right
o disobey God is to do what is wrong While to many this would seem to
be biblical ethics in a nutshell it alls short by not seeing how biblical ethics
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852023
involves much more than obeying commands Ofen associated with this
approach at the popular level is an attitude that treats the Bible as a sort o
guiding constitution to scan or moral rulings discovering ldquowhat the Biblesaysrdquo about a topic then becomes the primary pursuit
eleology Many o these approaches to ethics also try to organize lie
around a ocused goal a teleological approach For example or some virtue
ethicists and ethical egoists achieving a orm o happiness or well-being is
the goal or which virtues are exercised or pain is minimized By contrast
the approach emphasizing duty regards the duty to be right all by itsel in-
dependent o any ultimate human goal or ideal
E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155 983137983150983140 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Te Bible and teleology In the Bible we will see varieties o teleological
thought stronger in some places than in others Concerns or example with
conormity to the created order or to Godrsquos merciul acts in a moment known
as the exodus are common in the first writings we will probe1048633 Even stronger
will be the awareness that lie is advancing toward a uture ultimate moment
o reordering a major component to the later writings being studied hereTe Bible and virtue ethics Tere are many places where biblical writings
champion conormity to a good character model852017852016 But good character is
advanced neither as a means to some sort o end nor merely as an end in
itsel the way it is in traditional virtue ethics Obtaining good lie outcomes
or avoiding bad ones is not the main goal o being good Rather good char-
acter in biblical writings is ofen seen as a reflection o the God who is being
served It is both an outcome o associating with God and a measuring stick
o how in touch one is with God Further in addition to character issues
biblical texts also champion specific behaviors such as taking care o the
poor standing up or the weak or loving the unlovely Tose behaviors may
reflect good character but they are to be done regardless o onersquos overall
character Many in Christianity have traditionally thought o love as a virtue
But biblical writings ofen ocus on love as an activity even a responsibility
Attention to character ormation is a major topic o discussion or scholars
examining the use o the Bible in ethics852017852017 Tat would be close to virtue ethicsbut not identical It ocuses on how encouragement in the practice o certain
biblical instructions shapes the lives o those who do them influencing what
kind o people they become Like virtue ethics this recognizes that a person
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must be trained in the right way o living to be able to become good It does
receive major support rom the Biblersquos writings themselves which encourage
a liestyle that is always growing in its awareness o God and Godrsquos desiresor humans Still the ethics o the parts o the Bible we will explore here will
also provide more than material or character ormation Tey will also
provide guidelines that help people make reasoned decisions about the
rightness and wrongness o certain activities as they ponder them
Te Bible ethical egoism and utilitarianism Some biblical writings promote
appraising harmul or beneficial outcomes o behaviors in ways that may seem
to resemble the ethical egoist or the utilitarian Tey tend to do so to show the
wisdom or olly o certain activities or to speak approvingly o advancing the
goodness or well-being o onersquos neighbor Tey do not make the avoidance o
personal pain or the acquisition o personal pleasure the ultimate goal Rather
they measure consequences observed rom the activities o others and offer
advice based on what is observed to have worked and what genuinely does not
ounded on how one studies the world as God created it Other writings talk
about growing in character rom enduring hardships such as persecution Again
the point is not to ocus on the personal gain rom such growth but on the ul-timate goal the remade hardship-ree creation one is destined to
Te Bible and duty Various biblical writings urge their readers to treat
others as people rather than objects but they do so in a manner that takes
into consideration the railties o the environment people live in and the
realities o human existence and weakness encouraging readers to be aware
o their own Tough obedience itsel in some contexts may be perceived
as a duty urther probing o those contexts ofen discloses that obedience
flows more out o a sincere relationship with God and a high regard or
others than rom a sense o resolute duty-bound obligation
Te Bible and divine command theory Te Bible is also ull o com-
mands But many o those commands come in specifically defined contexts
that are not meant to apply directly to people in most contemporaneous
settings And outside o those contexts much o what is ofen regarded as
command is really instructional advice which is quite a different orm o
expressionmdashordering someone to ldquoSlow downrdquo is not the same as advisingsomeone to ldquoake your timerdquo yet both communicate what grammarians call
imperatives Further much o the Biblersquos advice appears in contexts that
point to clear supporting reasons behind it Focusing on the advice without
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852025
dealing with its supporting rationale misses the actual ethics being advanced
Finally there are many ethical topics about which the Bible does not issue
any direct command or instruction leaving readers with no guidance orworse as we have already seen leading people to twist the Biblersquos words into
making points not really there Discovering Godrsquos will emerges as a major
concern in some o the writings we will explore or their ethics But we will
see how doing that leads a person beyond a search or direct statements or
interpretive moral rulings
When people probe the Bible to learn what it might say about a certain
moral topic they are really acting under a basic assumption o divine
command theory an act is right or wrong because God says so852017852018 And yet
without ever having read the Bible people all over the world have views
similar to biblical writingsrsquo views about the morality o certain acts A sense
o right and wrong can exist independent o the Bible In this book we will
proceed under the assumption that an act is not right or wrong just because
the Bible says so Te Bible says so ofen because the act is right or wrong Why
is an act right or wrong Answering that rom the Biblersquos writings will put
readers in touch with the ethics those writings advanceTe observations rom the previous paragraphs should not lessen any
respect that a reader gives to biblical texts Tey should in act increase it
Te writings o the Bible encourage more than they ofen receive credit or
Troughout the variety o ethical approaches we will examine in this book
we will see attitudes expressed by biblical texts that expect their words to be
taken seriously precisely because they are connected to God who is trust-
worthy who has made the world with purpose and who is in the process o
moving its events to an ultimate restorative climax Doing something be-
cause one is prompted by a saying in a biblical text is an attitude encouraged
directly by the words o the Biblersquos writings But studying biblical ethics
means much more than searching or and then obeying divinely established
commands or discovering what the Bible says about a topic Tat may some-
times be a good starting point but the Biblersquos words ofen lead its readers to
think about how to do even more than they say directly People who care
about the Bible should let their ethical vision be shaped by that
A V983137983154983145983141983156983161 983151983142 E983156983144983145983139983155 983137983150983140 983137 C983151983150983155983145983155983156983141983150983156 M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161
Te Bible is not a book written by a single author with a collection o chapters
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reflecting a beginning a middle and an end It is a collection o writings
emerging over a large time span and produced by a wide variety o authors
nearly one third o whom are not identified It alls into two unequal por-tions (1048625) the much larger Hebrew Bible (or to Christians the Old estament)
the product o hundreds o years o activity ocusing on the people o Israel
and their covenant with God and (1048626) the New estament produced within
the second hal o the first century 983139983141 or 983137983140 the writings o which all
reflect issues and events related to the person named Jesus the Christ Many
o the writings o both estaments disclose threads o an unolding story to
which they persistently connect divulging an emerging divine plan Some
writings connect to that plan with more detail than others And not all o
the writings try to advance that unolding story
In this book we are probing only our broad sections o biblical ethics (1048625)
Te orah (minus Numbers) and (1048626) proverbial wisdom rom the Old es-
tament (852019) two o the Gospels (Luke and Matthew) and (1048628) two o Paulrsquos
letters (1048625 Corinthians and Romans) rom the New estament8520171048627 Prophetic
thought rom Isaiah in the Old estament will be addressed briefly as well
not or separate ethical inquiry as much as to bridge the ethical worlds oorah and the Gospels Immediately some may ault this listing as incom-
plete and too limiting852017852020 Yes it is But these our basic sections each have
broad unique identifiable eatures that disclose significant depth o ethical
thought What orah communicates ethically is quite distinct rom what
Proverbs conveys And though the Gospels o Luke and Matthew each display
their own special ethical approaches their similarities offer a significantly
different slant rom what Paul advances We will be looking at our distinct
emphases covenant consequences kingdom and transormation Te Bible
does not portray a single unitary ethical vision We see multiple visions each
connecting people with God who has made the world and will remake it
Evidence within the biblical writings suggests that all our o the ap-
proaches we are exploring can interact not only with each other but with
those biblical approaches that we are not exploring in this book8520171048629 We are
looking at a useul basic starting point Tose wanting to pursue a uller
range o approaches and thought orms can then build rom hereRecognizing that there are different complementary ways o thinking ad-
vocated by biblical texts should give Bible readers a greater appreciation or
the richness o thought the writings encourage It should also caution them
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What Is Biblical Ethics 8520191048625
about the shallowness o approaches that disregard that variety in avor o
coming up with a ldquobiblicalrdquo position about a moral topic Tough one might
be able to discern common moral perspectives on some issues one would bemissing out on the ethical reasoning individual sets o writings advance
S983151983149983141 L983145983149983145983156983137983156983145983151983150983155 983151983142 T983144983145983155 A983152983152983154983151983137983139983144
Many biblical writings invite their readers to distinguish right rom wrong
Tough the Bible does not speak univocally (ie with one voice) its writings
display a remarkably consistent concern or distinguishing right rom wrong
even within the diversity o their expressions Consider the ollowing state-
ments rom a wide range o biblical books all but one o which we will
eventually survey
Moses the leader o Godrsquos people in the orah instructs them concerning
Godrsquos commands
In Proverbs a ather instructs his son
You must observe them diligently for this will show your wisdom and discernment
to the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say ldquoSurely this great
nation is a wise and discerning peoplerdquo For what other great nation has a god sonear to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him And what other great
nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before
you today Deut 46-8
Do not enter the path of the wicked
and do not walk in the way of evildoers
Avoid it do not go on it
turn away from it and pass on
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble
For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn
which shines brighter and brighter until full day
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness
they do not know what they stumble over Prov 414-19
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When accusing Israelite people o a series o wrongdoings the prophet
Isaiah writes
In one Gospel Jesus invites hearers to accept a set o his teachings many
o which address moral behavior
When disturbed that believers in Corinth are not distinguishing rightrom wrong that churchrsquos ounder Paul says
In a totally independent writing when disturbed at the immaturity dis-
played by his readersrsquo willingness to wander away rom the aith the writer
o the epistle to the Hebrews identifies spiritually mature as
Biblical writings clearly advocate that people distinguish moral right
rom moral wrongTat said letrsquos note once more how ocusing on ethics to the exclusion o
other issues is potentially misleading We will see that immediately in ex-
ploring the first part o the Bible the orah In Deuteronomy or example we
Ah you who call evil good
and good evil
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter Is 520
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads
to destruction and there are many who take it For the gate is narrow and the road
is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it Mt 713-14
Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one be-
liever and another but a believer goes to court against a believermdashand before
unbelievers at that 1 Cor 65-6
those whose faculties have been trained by
practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 514
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852019
will find activities identified as evil that our working definition o ethics would
call immoral alse witness adultery kidnapping (Deut 10486258520251048625852025 1048626104862610486261048626 10486261048628852023) But
that same writing identifies alse prophets and idolaters with the same labelmdashevil (Deut 1048625852019852021 1048625852023852023) Are idolaters and alse prophets immoral or something
else Elsewhere in the Bible we will see ethical activity such as loving enemies
(Mt 85202110486281048628-1048628852022) placed on the same reward level as acilitating the work o those
who spread the message o the kingdom (Mt 1048625104862410486281048624-10486281048626) Is supporting the
spread o the kingdomrsquos message moral or something else Biblical writings
ofen portray a more integrated view about lie than our strict definitions allow
We might like to put certain decisions into an ethics box Living in relationship
with the Biblersquos God is all encompassing not easily separable into box-like
categoriesmdasha worship box a sacrifice box a religion box an ethics box
So why are we doing this Because the list o statements we have just
looked at is one piece o evidence among many we will see that encourages
us to think ethically as a natural way o living in relationship with God
Failure to live in ways that emerge out o our definition o ethics is regularly
condemned in biblical writings (eg Is 104862510486251048624-1048625852023 Mt 10486268520191048626852019-10486261048628) But living in
relationship with God involves much more than ethics Our study o ethicsshould not keep us rom realizing that
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155 T983141983150983140983155 983156983151 983138983141 M983145983139983154983151983141983156983144983145983139983137983148
Ethicists generally do not use the expression microethical or its noun micro-
ethics Tose terms are unique to our discussions here Tey appeal to con-
cepts rom the world o economics Economists speak o microeconomics
and macroeconomics Te ormer reers to how people interact in day-to-
day business transactions Whenever people buy or sell items rom a store
they are engaging in microeconomics Te latter reers to larger national
and global issues that determine economic policies set by governments
Whenever people announce state or national employment figures or
whenever people are concerned about the prime rate being set by the Federal
Reserve Bank they are dealing with macroeconomics
Similar concepts are being applied here Microethics reers to what people
do when they interact directly with someone else ldquoShould I be kind or rudeto that woman who wonrsquot give me the time o dayrdquo ldquoShould I get angry at that
man who just cut me off in traffic or should I simply smile pleasantlyrdquo
ldquoShould I join in the conversation about our riend who is not present or
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should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
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Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 729
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appeals to their own authority become dissatisying and ineffective
So consider the ollowing upgrade
ldquoMom why do I have to brush my teethrdquo
ldquoTo keep your teeth healthy If you donrsquot theyrsquoll rot
and fall outrdquo
Now a new element has been addedmdashconsequences I people perorm well
they benefit i they perorm badly they can be harmed Te interaction now
appears to be airly reasonable But compare the explanation rom the pre-
ceding parent with those ollowing
ldquoBecause if you do Irsquoll take you to the zoo
tomorrowrdquo
Or
ldquoBecause if you donrsquot I will spank yourdquo
Tese also are consequences but something is a bit off Te consequences
do not seem to be tied to the behavior Tere is no genuine connection be-
tween tooth brushing and the zoo or tooth brushing and spanking Rather
the interaction appears disturbingly manipulative perhaps symptomatic o
a flawed relationship Te parents here appear to be on subtly weak ground
In one case the parent is bribing the child In the other the parent is threat-
ening the childEthics provides the rationale or perorming certain behaviors I the
reasons or perorming a behavior make sense the system makes sense I
they do not the system begins to alter
Ethics involves another important element Te two scenarios may be
instructive in the area o parenting but are they really dealing with ethics
Brushing teeth may be polite It may be healthy But is it right in the same
way that one would consider helping a person in need would be or is ailing
to do it wrong in the same way that murdering someone would be Brushing
teeth reflects social upbringing to be sure It has health consequences cer-
tainly Reusing to do so when asked to may indicate troublesome attitudes
that themselves do come into the sphere o ethicsmdashrebelliousness stub-
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852021
bornness selfishness But people would hardly call someone who ails to
brush teeth an unethical person merely because he or she happened not to
perorm an act o personal hygieneSo what else does ethics involve We are talking ultimately about how
someone is guided to become a good person who perorms good deeds Tat
would involve matters such as how people treat others or how they treat them-
selves It would more ully involve how one treats the world around onesel
Te ollowing scenario swerves more ully into the world o ethics
ldquoAlicia please share your toy with Junierdquo
ldquoWhyrdquo
ldquoBecause you want to be a good friend to her She
ought to enjoy coming to visit yourdquo
Here we are dealing with behavior that affects peoplersquos expression o their
humanness We are observing Aliciarsquos parent instructing her about right and
wrong behavior that affects another person
Tat kind o interaction even between parent and child shows a regard
or behavior that goes beyond the bounds o mere politeness It reflects a
concern or others It ultimately reflects a concern or what kind o person
the child should aim to become and the kinds o things she should be doing
as that sort o person In this scenario Alicia is being urged to advance good
or well-being on her world She is also being urged not to advance harm in
her world Tat basic pattern will serve as the working definition o what
ethics involves or this book In other words ethics involves championingbehavior that advances good or hinders harm in onersquos world
People who aim to be ethical people are good people We like good people
Good people do what is right Tey rerain rom what is evil We like asso-
ciating with people who are kind to us who give to us who care or us
Conversely we donrsquot like people who are nasty to us who take rom us who
harm us So what does it mean to be good Why should we do good An-
swers to those questions will reveal the kind o ethics we are applying
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155
In this book we are considering what the collection o writings known as the
Bible contributes to the world o ethics What is considered right and wrong
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
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1048625852022 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
behavior according to biblical writings What thought patterns do writings
in the Bible encourage in helping their readers distinguish right rom wrong
What reasons and motivations do biblical writings offer or why their readersshould perorm what is good and rerain rom what is bad
In addressing such questions letrsquos first note an important difference be-
tween what some would call ldquoChristian ethicsrdquo or ldquoreligious ethicsrdquo and what
we are exploring here in this book Christian or religious ethics might ad-
dress the question What do the tenets o the religious aith contribute to
distinguishing right rom wrong on liersquos issues Or more personally Since
I call mysel a Christian how should I behave as a Christian over this issue
Tese are great questions Tey launch the inquirer on a prescriptive task
that looks to the religion including the Bible as Christian Scripture to
advise about or make behavioral demands or the present moment
Biblical ethics should also inorm those kinds o questions But beore
we can determine how we must first try to discern what the biblical texts
appear to be communicating852017 Note biblical texts not simply biblical state-
ments Wersquore aiming to learn to observe the sustained lines o reasoning
offered by individual biblical writings or clusters o related writings In-stead o imposing our interests on themmdashWhat does the Bible say about
Xmdashwe want to discern the issues that the words o individual writings
appear to be designed to address Te biblical ethics we are pursuing here
is largely a descriptive task We will aim to understand what the Biblersquos
writings themselves promote ethically exploring them with a regard or
their literary cultural and historical contexts What we discover through
this kind o biblical ethics should then be the basis o conversation be-
tween Bible readers who can help each other understand more deeply
what to do with the kinds o ideas disclosed by this sort o investigation
Our primary pursuit in this book is to observe the ways o distinguishing
right rom wrong that are encouraged within biblical writings and what
rationale and motivations those writings offer or perorming right ac-
tivities and avoiding wrong ones Based on those people can begin to
discuss the prescriptive role these texts can have in their lives now no
matter the culture852018
Since much o Christian ethics is interested in using the Bible how is
what we are doing here different Our task will not be to use the Bible as a
source o moral statements but to describe the Biblersquos ethical vision how its
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852023
writings themselves shape the readersrsquo views o moral right and wrong For
example some Christian thinkers are interested in exploring the implica-
tions o humans being made in Godrsquos image a point made twice in the earlychapters o Genesis as wersquoll soon see ldquoI humans are said to be in Godrsquos
imagerdquo the reasoning goes ldquothen I should always treat other humans as
ellow image bearersrdquo Tatrsquos not a bad line o reasoning But it is not strictly
biblical in the way we are considering here How so Because that line o
reasoning is never explicitly ound or encouraged by any words in biblical
writings In act the last use o the expression ldquoimage o Godrdquo in the large
first part o the Bible the Old estament is in Genesis 852025 Biblical writings
appeal to the concept differently Tose writings instead ollow other iden-
tifiable sustained lines o reasoning that offer consistent and persistent ways
o thinking about right and wrong Learning to trace those lines is the point
o this book
In some religious contexts people are told prescriptively to do one
certain kind o activity or rerain rom others ldquobecause the Bible says sordquo
Such people could then go so ar as to say that such a reason makes their
ethics biblical Tough that religious approach may appeal to the Bible italso tends not to reflect consistently what the writings themselves commu-
nicate and should also not be conused with the biblical ethics we are pur-
suing here It rather tends to assume that the Bible is a collection o moral
injunctions and stories that declare and demonstrate what is right and
wrong or the aithul According to that view those who want to be con-
sidered aithul should do what the Bible says without hesitation Tough
as wersquoll see biblical writings expect their words to be taken seriously the
words o those writings present a much richer set o ideas than the rationale
o rote obedience allows or
Further the Biblersquos words shouldnrsquot be pressed into service to commu-
nicate ideas oreign to them I we impose assumptions rom our culture
onto what the Biblersquos words communicate in their original settings we in-
troduce distortions For example we may want a biblical ruling on when
human lie begins definitively but i we assume that biblical writers know
exactly what we may know about human conception we would be intro-ducing ideas oreign to the biblical texts Te emale ovum was not dis-
covered until the early nineteenth century Appeals to the Bible or such uses
tend to reflect what religious authorities claim about biblical texts more than
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852025
so in ways that dey uninormed popular-level assumptions When exam-
ining the Biblersquos words in their actual contexts readers will make surprising
observations that may dey their assumptions about the sense o religionadvocated by the Biblersquos varied writings For example eternal rewards and
punishments concerns with lie afer death even hell avoidance and
heaven attainment are generally side issues in the Bible (When we explore
the Gospel o Matthew though we will see aspects o those issues empha-
sized) And in those ew places in the Bible where hell is reerred to it is
portrayed not as a scare or bribery tactic but as a serious outcome or the
end o the age What happens to a person upon dying is scarcely a topic in
the Bible even i it becomes so or some expressions o Christianity so
closely connected to those writings Let Bible readers beware when ob-
served careully the words o the Bible will reveal criticize and correct their
sloppy religious assumptions
Now i biblical writings advocate various approaches to ethics that flow
out o peoplersquos relationship with God and i that God is neither a brute
authoritarian parent demanding rote obedience nor a weak manipulative
parent threatening with punishment and bribing with rewards what do weactually see Letrsquos look briefly at the first writing Genesis
Our original introduction to God in that writing displays the Creator
whose acts resemble more those o a beneficent monarch or king than o a
parent1048627 Tat king commands and it is so Even more revealing that king
evaluates to see that all is good Tat kingly activity results in an ordered
creation that humans are asked collectively to manage When we see God
instructing the first human a man known eventually as Adam he issues a
specific charge ldquoYou may reely eat o every tree o the garden but o the
tree o the knowledge o good and evil you shall not eat or in the day that
you eat o it you shall dierdquo (Gen 10486261048625852022-1048625852023)
Notice first o all that this is not an ethical scenario Rather this shows
a boundary-setting restriction Tat is important to observe Why Not
everything in the Bible is about ethics Tink about it What is inherently
wrong in eating ruit O course this is a particular kind o ruitmdasha unique
kind in act that is said to give ldquoknowledge o good and evilrdquo importantcategories or ethics But eating it is said to have severe consequencesmdash
death Certainly the rationale eventually offered or disobeying Godrsquos
command has implications or ethics ldquoWhen the woman saw that the tree
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What Is Biblical Ethics 10486261048625
speciic situations but are not inherently morally right or wrong hose
behaviors may all into the areas o cultural customs and manners or
even situation-speciic instructions but not ethics When consideringmorally neutral behaviors we will have to consider the ethics o pur-
suing those behaviors knowing that someone might be bothered or the
ethics o orcing people to conorm to neutral standards however im-
portant those standards may be culturally or religiously to those en-
orcing them
It will also require people recognizing that some o their own culturally
or religiously conditioned behaviors may actually be neutral not genu-
inely moral People should not expect biblical writings to affirm their own
culturersquos manners and expectations For example being prompt or timely
an important cultural value or some people in the West today is not really
an issue that alls into the category o ethics even though it may be wise
to be prompt in many circumstances amiliar to us Itrsquos really only a
culture-bound value near and dear to many people Certainly biblical
writings donrsquot count promptness among the issues that God cares about
Being impatient with others or being late however would be So also is areusal to honor anotherrsquos known sense o timeliness by insisting on having
onersquos own way
What we will see throughout the Bible is the notion that how a person
chooses to respond to God affects the kind o person he or she becomes
Tus those who aim to do what God wants are ethical people because much
o what God is said to want is also what most people would consider to be
good ethical behavior and because throughout the span o biblical writings
God is portrayed as being in the business o restoring rightness to his cre-
ation In the world o the Bible those who choose to dey God do not know
how to act consistently as ethical people because they have chosen to cut
themselves off rom the ways and plans o God and thus are incomplete in
their sense o what right and wrong behavior actually include
Obeying God trusting God having aith in God and responding to God
are all central issues to the Bible issues that affect the ethics that its varied
writings promote How one responds to God is reflected in a personrsquos ethicsIn act expect to see repeatedly how those who respond to God are ofen
shown as good responders by doing ethical acts Tose who disregard God
are ofen shown as bad responders with the unethical acts they perorm
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Ultimately what we see throughout the Bible are sets o ethics rooted
in peoplersquos relationship with Godmdashan ethic o relationship1048629 Doing good
flows out o a person coming to know God and growing in that rela-tionship with God Doing wrong shows how out o touch a person is with
God Biblical writings are ull o the language o devotion and com-
mitment It is not a mindless devotion but one that is highly attractive
showing people interacting with a God who gives cares and accepts even
i that God also has high standards or those who are connected to him
Tose standards are ofen shown to lead to personal well-being or those
who interact with God
Significantly because peoplersquos relating to God is the one constant advo-
cated by the varieties o biblical writings how God relates to people also
merits consideration Biblical writings offer hope and restoration or those
who mess up An important element o that is a concept known as repen-
tance people turning away rom their evil and embracing Godrsquos good
Along with that are grace receiving good rom God when one deserves the
opposite and mercy receiving good rom God when one is in a decidedly
weak position A sense o hope also emerges as a central eature o biblicalethics People are allowed to be works in progress Expect to discover im-
perect people in biblical writings people who as they draw close to God
also become better people in the process even i many o them have rough
edges In the world o the Bible God never rejects people who call on him
M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161 V983141983154983155983157983155 E983156983144983145983139983155
People ofen use the concepts o morality and ethics interchangeably
Morals generally reer to a personrsquos awareness o right and wrong A
moral person does the right kind o behavior in the sense we have been
probing here advancing good on the world while reraining rom what
inflicts harm For that reason some people would say that a moral person
is also ethical
A moral person may be doing what is right but may not know clearly
what makes the activity right or why she or he should do that right By con-
trast ethics as we discuss it here deals with how to distinguish right romwrong and why someone should do the right and hinder the wrong In
exploring the Bible we will see many statements weighing in on the moral
rightness or wrongness o various behaviors But we wonrsquot stop there We
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852019
will look or the ethics that will indicate what makes the activity right or
wrong and that offer rationale and motivation or engaging in the right ac-
tivity or reraining rom the wrong Moral people do what is right So dopeople who have ethics but they also know why1048630
Te distinction between morality and ethics is an important one wo
people can share the same moral convictions but they could easily have very
different ethics How Because the ethics will explain the answer to the
question Why is that wrong For example in the world that produced the
New estament section o the Bible Greek and Roman philosophers com-
monly discussed the moral wrongness o being guided by our passions
Toughtless passions lead people to do the wrong things One writer Paul
whose ethics we will explore in chapters nine and ten would basically agree
that people acting out their passions leads to misbehavior But i you asked
both sets o people why being guided by passion is wrong you would get
two entirely different sets o answers Paulrsquos answer connects directly to his
awareness o the crucifixion and resurrection o Jesus Te philosophers
know nothing o Jesus Teir answers are linked to their view o the psy-
chology o the soul Tough we might think we see moral agreement be-tween Paul and philosophers we see totally different ethics We will see the
same thing in the Bible itsel Te various places we will explore will re-
quently show common moral standards but different ethics Ethics and mo-
rality are not the same
Te Biblersquos writings do communicate a strong set o morals But they do
much more than that Tey portray genuine ethics Tey show ways o lie
stemming rom people living in attractive relationship with the true and
living God Reasons or living morally appear regularly either stated or
implied because relationship with God is portrayed as wonderully good
and genuinely healthy Relationship with God ultimately involves partici-
pating in Godrsquos process o remaking the world a world filled with bro-
kenness exhibited in and stemming rom human misbehavior As we probe
biblical texts we will discover ethical systems that are intriguing inviting
enlightening and uplifing People who read the Bible well will not only
have a stronger sense o what is right and wrong they will realize why ac-cording to those writings they also should do right and why living that
right is so ulfilling
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SUMMING IT UP
What is ethics
o Ethics reers to how a person distinguishes right rom
wrong behavior
o Ethics is also concerned with the reasons or why a
person should choose what is good and abstain rom
what is not
o Te kind o behavior that ethics is concerned with gen-erally is behavior that advances good or hinders harm
in onersquos world
What do we mean by biblical ethics
o With biblical ethics one is concerned with discerning
the kinds o behavior biblical writings indicate are right
and wrong
o One is also concerned with both how according to bib-
lical writings to distinguish right rom wrong and why
its readers should do right and rerain rom wrong
o Biblical ethics begins with describing what biblical
writings communicate ethically Only then can people see
how those ethics might apply to their lives prescriptively
o
Ethics is not the central concern o biblical writings o Other behaviors besides ethical behaviors are dealt
with in the Bible
o How people connect meaningully with God is a central
concern o biblical writings
o Ethics in the Bible flows primarily out o peoplersquos
healthy relationship with God
o Ethics in the Bible offers hope or those who recognize
their error and turn to God
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852021
A983148983156983141983154983150983137983156983145983158983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155
Ethical questions and dilemmas appear consistently and prominently within
human history Some o the ethical systems Western civilizations developed
to address those concerns are worth noting briefly as a way o comparing
how biblical writings offer both similarities to and dissimilarities rom
them1048631 Some o these systems actually influenced aspects o ethics as oundin parts o the Bible Others o these have themselves been influenced by the
sense o right and wrong ound in biblical writings
Virtue ethics Also closely related to what is called ldquocharacter ethicsrdquo
virtue ethics ocus on what kind o person one should become in order to
attain a higher goal such as happiness or well-being emphasizing various
virtues (eg courage wisdom justice sel-control kindness orbearance
riendliness modesty)852024 Conversely there are vices that one should avoid
(eg cowardice olly wrongness sel-indulgence meanness short-
temperedness diffidence extravagance) Many o those good character
qualities are learned rom observing people who are considered to be good
or by repeated practice o virtuous activities Discussions o virtues and
vices were especially important to the ancient Greeks and Romans Some
writings in the New estament reflect awareness o the ruit o such discus-
sions but also offer their own unique perspectives on virtues and vices
Ethical egoism Also coming rom ancient Greece ethical egoism advocatespursuing behaviors with outcomes that maximize personal pleasure while
minimizing personal pain Rather than resorting to out-and-out hedonism (ie
selfish pleasure seeking) the point here is to evaluate long-term outcomes or
How is morality different from ethics
o Morality is simply knowing what is right and what is
wrong
o Ethics involves both the reasoning or distinguishing
right rom wrong and the motivations or doing what
is right and hindering what is wrong
o Biblical writings regularly portray genuine ethics not
mere morality
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consequences Some immediate pleasures may result in such horrible pain in
the end that they should be avoided altogether But some pain may be necessary
to endure in order to attain the benefit o a long-term pleasureUtilitarianism Utilitarianism is similar to ethical egoism with its concern
or maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain but does so with societies in
view not merely the individual Whatever advances pleasure or the greatest
number o people is to be preerred Further it recognizes that there are
higher-order pleasures in lie beyond mere physical gratification Peoplersquos
ailure to exercise their minds or their pursuit o personal selfishness are two
major obstacles to good being advanced In current popular everyday
practice both ethical egoistic and utilitarian ways o thinking can lead
people to line up physical psychological and sociological conclusions in
order to prove that a genuine pleasure is being advanced or pain is being
avoided But sometimes those conclusions prove more tentative than their
communicators may indicate at the time especially when they are really
interested in justiying their own misbehavior
Duty With duty one should do what is right and rerain rom what is wrong
because that is the most reasonable orm o activity to pursue as a thinkinghuman being One has a duty to live consistently with onersquos being Right and
wrong are independent o human existence Right corresponds with what is
true to pursue what is alse is sel-contradictory and internally inconsistent
Practically speaking living by duty means unctioning in a world o beings As
a human being one has a duty to recognize people as people Whenever one
treats another or even onesel solely as an object one is violating onersquos duty to
a ellow creature Tis way o thinking partly resembles a well-known maxim
attributed to Jesus ofen called the Golden RulemdashldquoDo to others as you would
have them do to yourdquo But it has little regard or people thinking empathetically
about others with a desired ideal good or them the way Jesusrsquo words do
Divine command theory Divine command theory assumes that rightness
comes directly rom divinity and whatever any divinity commands the re-
ligious person must obey When applied to the Bible this approach assumes
that the Bible is ull o commands meant to be obeyed So as a reader one
should look diligently or those commands Whatever is commanded mustbe ollowed because it comes rom God o obey God is to do what is right
o disobey God is to do what is wrong While to many this would seem to
be biblical ethics in a nutshell it alls short by not seeing how biblical ethics
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852023
involves much more than obeying commands Ofen associated with this
approach at the popular level is an attitude that treats the Bible as a sort o
guiding constitution to scan or moral rulings discovering ldquowhat the Biblesaysrdquo about a topic then becomes the primary pursuit
eleology Many o these approaches to ethics also try to organize lie
around a ocused goal a teleological approach For example or some virtue
ethicists and ethical egoists achieving a orm o happiness or well-being is
the goal or which virtues are exercised or pain is minimized By contrast
the approach emphasizing duty regards the duty to be right all by itsel in-
dependent o any ultimate human goal or ideal
E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155 983137983150983140 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Te Bible and teleology In the Bible we will see varieties o teleological
thought stronger in some places than in others Concerns or example with
conormity to the created order or to Godrsquos merciul acts in a moment known
as the exodus are common in the first writings we will probe1048633 Even stronger
will be the awareness that lie is advancing toward a uture ultimate moment
o reordering a major component to the later writings being studied hereTe Bible and virtue ethics Tere are many places where biblical writings
champion conormity to a good character model852017852016 But good character is
advanced neither as a means to some sort o end nor merely as an end in
itsel the way it is in traditional virtue ethics Obtaining good lie outcomes
or avoiding bad ones is not the main goal o being good Rather good char-
acter in biblical writings is ofen seen as a reflection o the God who is being
served It is both an outcome o associating with God and a measuring stick
o how in touch one is with God Further in addition to character issues
biblical texts also champion specific behaviors such as taking care o the
poor standing up or the weak or loving the unlovely Tose behaviors may
reflect good character but they are to be done regardless o onersquos overall
character Many in Christianity have traditionally thought o love as a virtue
But biblical writings ofen ocus on love as an activity even a responsibility
Attention to character ormation is a major topic o discussion or scholars
examining the use o the Bible in ethics852017852017 Tat would be close to virtue ethicsbut not identical It ocuses on how encouragement in the practice o certain
biblical instructions shapes the lives o those who do them influencing what
kind o people they become Like virtue ethics this recognizes that a person
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must be trained in the right way o living to be able to become good It does
receive major support rom the Biblersquos writings themselves which encourage
a liestyle that is always growing in its awareness o God and Godrsquos desiresor humans Still the ethics o the parts o the Bible we will explore here will
also provide more than material or character ormation Tey will also
provide guidelines that help people make reasoned decisions about the
rightness and wrongness o certain activities as they ponder them
Te Bible ethical egoism and utilitarianism Some biblical writings promote
appraising harmul or beneficial outcomes o behaviors in ways that may seem
to resemble the ethical egoist or the utilitarian Tey tend to do so to show the
wisdom or olly o certain activities or to speak approvingly o advancing the
goodness or well-being o onersquos neighbor Tey do not make the avoidance o
personal pain or the acquisition o personal pleasure the ultimate goal Rather
they measure consequences observed rom the activities o others and offer
advice based on what is observed to have worked and what genuinely does not
ounded on how one studies the world as God created it Other writings talk
about growing in character rom enduring hardships such as persecution Again
the point is not to ocus on the personal gain rom such growth but on the ul-timate goal the remade hardship-ree creation one is destined to
Te Bible and duty Various biblical writings urge their readers to treat
others as people rather than objects but they do so in a manner that takes
into consideration the railties o the environment people live in and the
realities o human existence and weakness encouraging readers to be aware
o their own Tough obedience itsel in some contexts may be perceived
as a duty urther probing o those contexts ofen discloses that obedience
flows more out o a sincere relationship with God and a high regard or
others than rom a sense o resolute duty-bound obligation
Te Bible and divine command theory Te Bible is also ull o com-
mands But many o those commands come in specifically defined contexts
that are not meant to apply directly to people in most contemporaneous
settings And outside o those contexts much o what is ofen regarded as
command is really instructional advice which is quite a different orm o
expressionmdashordering someone to ldquoSlow downrdquo is not the same as advisingsomeone to ldquoake your timerdquo yet both communicate what grammarians call
imperatives Further much o the Biblersquos advice appears in contexts that
point to clear supporting reasons behind it Focusing on the advice without
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852025
dealing with its supporting rationale misses the actual ethics being advanced
Finally there are many ethical topics about which the Bible does not issue
any direct command or instruction leaving readers with no guidance orworse as we have already seen leading people to twist the Biblersquos words into
making points not really there Discovering Godrsquos will emerges as a major
concern in some o the writings we will explore or their ethics But we will
see how doing that leads a person beyond a search or direct statements or
interpretive moral rulings
When people probe the Bible to learn what it might say about a certain
moral topic they are really acting under a basic assumption o divine
command theory an act is right or wrong because God says so852017852018 And yet
without ever having read the Bible people all over the world have views
similar to biblical writingsrsquo views about the morality o certain acts A sense
o right and wrong can exist independent o the Bible In this book we will
proceed under the assumption that an act is not right or wrong just because
the Bible says so Te Bible says so ofen because the act is right or wrong Why
is an act right or wrong Answering that rom the Biblersquos writings will put
readers in touch with the ethics those writings advanceTe observations rom the previous paragraphs should not lessen any
respect that a reader gives to biblical texts Tey should in act increase it
Te writings o the Bible encourage more than they ofen receive credit or
Troughout the variety o ethical approaches we will examine in this book
we will see attitudes expressed by biblical texts that expect their words to be
taken seriously precisely because they are connected to God who is trust-
worthy who has made the world with purpose and who is in the process o
moving its events to an ultimate restorative climax Doing something be-
cause one is prompted by a saying in a biblical text is an attitude encouraged
directly by the words o the Biblersquos writings But studying biblical ethics
means much more than searching or and then obeying divinely established
commands or discovering what the Bible says about a topic Tat may some-
times be a good starting point but the Biblersquos words ofen lead its readers to
think about how to do even more than they say directly People who care
about the Bible should let their ethical vision be shaped by that
A V983137983154983145983141983156983161 983151983142 E983156983144983145983139983155 983137983150983140 983137 C983151983150983155983145983155983156983141983150983156 M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161
Te Bible is not a book written by a single author with a collection o chapters
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reflecting a beginning a middle and an end It is a collection o writings
emerging over a large time span and produced by a wide variety o authors
nearly one third o whom are not identified It alls into two unequal por-tions (1048625) the much larger Hebrew Bible (or to Christians the Old estament)
the product o hundreds o years o activity ocusing on the people o Israel
and their covenant with God and (1048626) the New estament produced within
the second hal o the first century 983139983141 or 983137983140 the writings o which all
reflect issues and events related to the person named Jesus the Christ Many
o the writings o both estaments disclose threads o an unolding story to
which they persistently connect divulging an emerging divine plan Some
writings connect to that plan with more detail than others And not all o
the writings try to advance that unolding story
In this book we are probing only our broad sections o biblical ethics (1048625)
Te orah (minus Numbers) and (1048626) proverbial wisdom rom the Old es-
tament (852019) two o the Gospels (Luke and Matthew) and (1048628) two o Paulrsquos
letters (1048625 Corinthians and Romans) rom the New estament8520171048627 Prophetic
thought rom Isaiah in the Old estament will be addressed briefly as well
not or separate ethical inquiry as much as to bridge the ethical worlds oorah and the Gospels Immediately some may ault this listing as incom-
plete and too limiting852017852020 Yes it is But these our basic sections each have
broad unique identifiable eatures that disclose significant depth o ethical
thought What orah communicates ethically is quite distinct rom what
Proverbs conveys And though the Gospels o Luke and Matthew each display
their own special ethical approaches their similarities offer a significantly
different slant rom what Paul advances We will be looking at our distinct
emphases covenant consequences kingdom and transormation Te Bible
does not portray a single unitary ethical vision We see multiple visions each
connecting people with God who has made the world and will remake it
Evidence within the biblical writings suggests that all our o the ap-
proaches we are exploring can interact not only with each other but with
those biblical approaches that we are not exploring in this book8520171048629 We are
looking at a useul basic starting point Tose wanting to pursue a uller
range o approaches and thought orms can then build rom hereRecognizing that there are different complementary ways o thinking ad-
vocated by biblical texts should give Bible readers a greater appreciation or
the richness o thought the writings encourage It should also caution them
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What Is Biblical Ethics 8520191048625
about the shallowness o approaches that disregard that variety in avor o
coming up with a ldquobiblicalrdquo position about a moral topic Tough one might
be able to discern common moral perspectives on some issues one would bemissing out on the ethical reasoning individual sets o writings advance
S983151983149983141 L983145983149983145983156983137983156983145983151983150983155 983151983142 T983144983145983155 A983152983152983154983151983137983139983144
Many biblical writings invite their readers to distinguish right rom wrong
Tough the Bible does not speak univocally (ie with one voice) its writings
display a remarkably consistent concern or distinguishing right rom wrong
even within the diversity o their expressions Consider the ollowing state-
ments rom a wide range o biblical books all but one o which we will
eventually survey
Moses the leader o Godrsquos people in the orah instructs them concerning
Godrsquos commands
In Proverbs a ather instructs his son
You must observe them diligently for this will show your wisdom and discernment
to the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say ldquoSurely this great
nation is a wise and discerning peoplerdquo For what other great nation has a god sonear to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him And what other great
nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before
you today Deut 46-8
Do not enter the path of the wicked
and do not walk in the way of evildoers
Avoid it do not go on it
turn away from it and pass on
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble
For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn
which shines brighter and brighter until full day
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness
they do not know what they stumble over Prov 414-19
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8520191048626 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
When accusing Israelite people o a series o wrongdoings the prophet
Isaiah writes
In one Gospel Jesus invites hearers to accept a set o his teachings many
o which address moral behavior
When disturbed that believers in Corinth are not distinguishing rightrom wrong that churchrsquos ounder Paul says
In a totally independent writing when disturbed at the immaturity dis-
played by his readersrsquo willingness to wander away rom the aith the writer
o the epistle to the Hebrews identifies spiritually mature as
Biblical writings clearly advocate that people distinguish moral right
rom moral wrongTat said letrsquos note once more how ocusing on ethics to the exclusion o
other issues is potentially misleading We will see that immediately in ex-
ploring the first part o the Bible the orah In Deuteronomy or example we
Ah you who call evil good
and good evil
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter Is 520
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads
to destruction and there are many who take it For the gate is narrow and the road
is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it Mt 713-14
Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one be-
liever and another but a believer goes to court against a believermdashand before
unbelievers at that 1 Cor 65-6
those whose faculties have been trained by
practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 514
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852019
will find activities identified as evil that our working definition o ethics would
call immoral alse witness adultery kidnapping (Deut 10486258520251048625852025 1048626104862610486261048626 10486261048628852023) But
that same writing identifies alse prophets and idolaters with the same labelmdashevil (Deut 1048625852019852021 1048625852023852023) Are idolaters and alse prophets immoral or something
else Elsewhere in the Bible we will see ethical activity such as loving enemies
(Mt 85202110486281048628-1048628852022) placed on the same reward level as acilitating the work o those
who spread the message o the kingdom (Mt 1048625104862410486281048624-10486281048626) Is supporting the
spread o the kingdomrsquos message moral or something else Biblical writings
ofen portray a more integrated view about lie than our strict definitions allow
We might like to put certain decisions into an ethics box Living in relationship
with the Biblersquos God is all encompassing not easily separable into box-like
categoriesmdasha worship box a sacrifice box a religion box an ethics box
So why are we doing this Because the list o statements we have just
looked at is one piece o evidence among many we will see that encourages
us to think ethically as a natural way o living in relationship with God
Failure to live in ways that emerge out o our definition o ethics is regularly
condemned in biblical writings (eg Is 104862510486251048624-1048625852023 Mt 10486268520191048626852019-10486261048628) But living in
relationship with God involves much more than ethics Our study o ethicsshould not keep us rom realizing that
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155 T983141983150983140983155 983156983151 983138983141 M983145983139983154983151983141983156983144983145983139983137983148
Ethicists generally do not use the expression microethical or its noun micro-
ethics Tose terms are unique to our discussions here Tey appeal to con-
cepts rom the world o economics Economists speak o microeconomics
and macroeconomics Te ormer reers to how people interact in day-to-
day business transactions Whenever people buy or sell items rom a store
they are engaging in microeconomics Te latter reers to larger national
and global issues that determine economic policies set by governments
Whenever people announce state or national employment figures or
whenever people are concerned about the prime rate being set by the Federal
Reserve Bank they are dealing with macroeconomics
Similar concepts are being applied here Microethics reers to what people
do when they interact directly with someone else ldquoShould I be kind or rudeto that woman who wonrsquot give me the time o dayrdquo ldquoShould I get angry at that
man who just cut me off in traffic or should I simply smile pleasantlyrdquo
ldquoShould I join in the conversation about our riend who is not present or
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should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
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852019852022 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852021
bornness selfishness But people would hardly call someone who ails to
brush teeth an unethical person merely because he or she happened not to
perorm an act o personal hygieneSo what else does ethics involve We are talking ultimately about how
someone is guided to become a good person who perorms good deeds Tat
would involve matters such as how people treat others or how they treat them-
selves It would more ully involve how one treats the world around onesel
Te ollowing scenario swerves more ully into the world o ethics
ldquoAlicia please share your toy with Junierdquo
ldquoWhyrdquo
ldquoBecause you want to be a good friend to her She
ought to enjoy coming to visit yourdquo
Here we are dealing with behavior that affects peoplersquos expression o their
humanness We are observing Aliciarsquos parent instructing her about right and
wrong behavior that affects another person
Tat kind o interaction even between parent and child shows a regard
or behavior that goes beyond the bounds o mere politeness It reflects a
concern or others It ultimately reflects a concern or what kind o person
the child should aim to become and the kinds o things she should be doing
as that sort o person In this scenario Alicia is being urged to advance good
or well-being on her world She is also being urged not to advance harm in
her world Tat basic pattern will serve as the working definition o what
ethics involves or this book In other words ethics involves championingbehavior that advances good or hinders harm in onersquos world
People who aim to be ethical people are good people We like good people
Good people do what is right Tey rerain rom what is evil We like asso-
ciating with people who are kind to us who give to us who care or us
Conversely we donrsquot like people who are nasty to us who take rom us who
harm us So what does it mean to be good Why should we do good An-
swers to those questions will reveal the kind o ethics we are applying
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155
In this book we are considering what the collection o writings known as the
Bible contributes to the world o ethics What is considered right and wrong
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behavior according to biblical writings What thought patterns do writings
in the Bible encourage in helping their readers distinguish right rom wrong
What reasons and motivations do biblical writings offer or why their readersshould perorm what is good and rerain rom what is bad
In addressing such questions letrsquos first note an important difference be-
tween what some would call ldquoChristian ethicsrdquo or ldquoreligious ethicsrdquo and what
we are exploring here in this book Christian or religious ethics might ad-
dress the question What do the tenets o the religious aith contribute to
distinguishing right rom wrong on liersquos issues Or more personally Since
I call mysel a Christian how should I behave as a Christian over this issue
Tese are great questions Tey launch the inquirer on a prescriptive task
that looks to the religion including the Bible as Christian Scripture to
advise about or make behavioral demands or the present moment
Biblical ethics should also inorm those kinds o questions But beore
we can determine how we must first try to discern what the biblical texts
appear to be communicating852017 Note biblical texts not simply biblical state-
ments Wersquore aiming to learn to observe the sustained lines o reasoning
offered by individual biblical writings or clusters o related writings In-stead o imposing our interests on themmdashWhat does the Bible say about
Xmdashwe want to discern the issues that the words o individual writings
appear to be designed to address Te biblical ethics we are pursuing here
is largely a descriptive task We will aim to understand what the Biblersquos
writings themselves promote ethically exploring them with a regard or
their literary cultural and historical contexts What we discover through
this kind o biblical ethics should then be the basis o conversation be-
tween Bible readers who can help each other understand more deeply
what to do with the kinds o ideas disclosed by this sort o investigation
Our primary pursuit in this book is to observe the ways o distinguishing
right rom wrong that are encouraged within biblical writings and what
rationale and motivations those writings offer or perorming right ac-
tivities and avoiding wrong ones Based on those people can begin to
discuss the prescriptive role these texts can have in their lives now no
matter the culture852018
Since much o Christian ethics is interested in using the Bible how is
what we are doing here different Our task will not be to use the Bible as a
source o moral statements but to describe the Biblersquos ethical vision how its
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852023
writings themselves shape the readersrsquo views o moral right and wrong For
example some Christian thinkers are interested in exploring the implica-
tions o humans being made in Godrsquos image a point made twice in the earlychapters o Genesis as wersquoll soon see ldquoI humans are said to be in Godrsquos
imagerdquo the reasoning goes ldquothen I should always treat other humans as
ellow image bearersrdquo Tatrsquos not a bad line o reasoning But it is not strictly
biblical in the way we are considering here How so Because that line o
reasoning is never explicitly ound or encouraged by any words in biblical
writings In act the last use o the expression ldquoimage o Godrdquo in the large
first part o the Bible the Old estament is in Genesis 852025 Biblical writings
appeal to the concept differently Tose writings instead ollow other iden-
tifiable sustained lines o reasoning that offer consistent and persistent ways
o thinking about right and wrong Learning to trace those lines is the point
o this book
In some religious contexts people are told prescriptively to do one
certain kind o activity or rerain rom others ldquobecause the Bible says sordquo
Such people could then go so ar as to say that such a reason makes their
ethics biblical Tough that religious approach may appeal to the Bible italso tends not to reflect consistently what the writings themselves commu-
nicate and should also not be conused with the biblical ethics we are pur-
suing here It rather tends to assume that the Bible is a collection o moral
injunctions and stories that declare and demonstrate what is right and
wrong or the aithul According to that view those who want to be con-
sidered aithul should do what the Bible says without hesitation Tough
as wersquoll see biblical writings expect their words to be taken seriously the
words o those writings present a much richer set o ideas than the rationale
o rote obedience allows or
Further the Biblersquos words shouldnrsquot be pressed into service to commu-
nicate ideas oreign to them I we impose assumptions rom our culture
onto what the Biblersquos words communicate in their original settings we in-
troduce distortions For example we may want a biblical ruling on when
human lie begins definitively but i we assume that biblical writers know
exactly what we may know about human conception we would be intro-ducing ideas oreign to the biblical texts Te emale ovum was not dis-
covered until the early nineteenth century Appeals to the Bible or such uses
tend to reflect what religious authorities claim about biblical texts more than
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852025
so in ways that dey uninormed popular-level assumptions When exam-
ining the Biblersquos words in their actual contexts readers will make surprising
observations that may dey their assumptions about the sense o religionadvocated by the Biblersquos varied writings For example eternal rewards and
punishments concerns with lie afer death even hell avoidance and
heaven attainment are generally side issues in the Bible (When we explore
the Gospel o Matthew though we will see aspects o those issues empha-
sized) And in those ew places in the Bible where hell is reerred to it is
portrayed not as a scare or bribery tactic but as a serious outcome or the
end o the age What happens to a person upon dying is scarcely a topic in
the Bible even i it becomes so or some expressions o Christianity so
closely connected to those writings Let Bible readers beware when ob-
served careully the words o the Bible will reveal criticize and correct their
sloppy religious assumptions
Now i biblical writings advocate various approaches to ethics that flow
out o peoplersquos relationship with God and i that God is neither a brute
authoritarian parent demanding rote obedience nor a weak manipulative
parent threatening with punishment and bribing with rewards what do weactually see Letrsquos look briefly at the first writing Genesis
Our original introduction to God in that writing displays the Creator
whose acts resemble more those o a beneficent monarch or king than o a
parent1048627 Tat king commands and it is so Even more revealing that king
evaluates to see that all is good Tat kingly activity results in an ordered
creation that humans are asked collectively to manage When we see God
instructing the first human a man known eventually as Adam he issues a
specific charge ldquoYou may reely eat o every tree o the garden but o the
tree o the knowledge o good and evil you shall not eat or in the day that
you eat o it you shall dierdquo (Gen 10486261048625852022-1048625852023)
Notice first o all that this is not an ethical scenario Rather this shows
a boundary-setting restriction Tat is important to observe Why Not
everything in the Bible is about ethics Tink about it What is inherently
wrong in eating ruit O course this is a particular kind o ruitmdasha unique
kind in act that is said to give ldquoknowledge o good and evilrdquo importantcategories or ethics But eating it is said to have severe consequencesmdash
death Certainly the rationale eventually offered or disobeying Godrsquos
command has implications or ethics ldquoWhen the woman saw that the tree
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What Is Biblical Ethics 10486261048625
speciic situations but are not inherently morally right or wrong hose
behaviors may all into the areas o cultural customs and manners or
even situation-speciic instructions but not ethics When consideringmorally neutral behaviors we will have to consider the ethics o pur-
suing those behaviors knowing that someone might be bothered or the
ethics o orcing people to conorm to neutral standards however im-
portant those standards may be culturally or religiously to those en-
orcing them
It will also require people recognizing that some o their own culturally
or religiously conditioned behaviors may actually be neutral not genu-
inely moral People should not expect biblical writings to affirm their own
culturersquos manners and expectations For example being prompt or timely
an important cultural value or some people in the West today is not really
an issue that alls into the category o ethics even though it may be wise
to be prompt in many circumstances amiliar to us Itrsquos really only a
culture-bound value near and dear to many people Certainly biblical
writings donrsquot count promptness among the issues that God cares about
Being impatient with others or being late however would be So also is areusal to honor anotherrsquos known sense o timeliness by insisting on having
onersquos own way
What we will see throughout the Bible is the notion that how a person
chooses to respond to God affects the kind o person he or she becomes
Tus those who aim to do what God wants are ethical people because much
o what God is said to want is also what most people would consider to be
good ethical behavior and because throughout the span o biblical writings
God is portrayed as being in the business o restoring rightness to his cre-
ation In the world o the Bible those who choose to dey God do not know
how to act consistently as ethical people because they have chosen to cut
themselves off rom the ways and plans o God and thus are incomplete in
their sense o what right and wrong behavior actually include
Obeying God trusting God having aith in God and responding to God
are all central issues to the Bible issues that affect the ethics that its varied
writings promote How one responds to God is reflected in a personrsquos ethicsIn act expect to see repeatedly how those who respond to God are ofen
shown as good responders by doing ethical acts Tose who disregard God
are ofen shown as bad responders with the unethical acts they perorm
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10486261048626 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Ultimately what we see throughout the Bible are sets o ethics rooted
in peoplersquos relationship with Godmdashan ethic o relationship1048629 Doing good
flows out o a person coming to know God and growing in that rela-tionship with God Doing wrong shows how out o touch a person is with
God Biblical writings are ull o the language o devotion and com-
mitment It is not a mindless devotion but one that is highly attractive
showing people interacting with a God who gives cares and accepts even
i that God also has high standards or those who are connected to him
Tose standards are ofen shown to lead to personal well-being or those
who interact with God
Significantly because peoplersquos relating to God is the one constant advo-
cated by the varieties o biblical writings how God relates to people also
merits consideration Biblical writings offer hope and restoration or those
who mess up An important element o that is a concept known as repen-
tance people turning away rom their evil and embracing Godrsquos good
Along with that are grace receiving good rom God when one deserves the
opposite and mercy receiving good rom God when one is in a decidedly
weak position A sense o hope also emerges as a central eature o biblicalethics People are allowed to be works in progress Expect to discover im-
perect people in biblical writings people who as they draw close to God
also become better people in the process even i many o them have rough
edges In the world o the Bible God never rejects people who call on him
M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161 V983141983154983155983157983155 E983156983144983145983139983155
People ofen use the concepts o morality and ethics interchangeably
Morals generally reer to a personrsquos awareness o right and wrong A
moral person does the right kind o behavior in the sense we have been
probing here advancing good on the world while reraining rom what
inflicts harm For that reason some people would say that a moral person
is also ethical
A moral person may be doing what is right but may not know clearly
what makes the activity right or why she or he should do that right By con-
trast ethics as we discuss it here deals with how to distinguish right romwrong and why someone should do the right and hinder the wrong In
exploring the Bible we will see many statements weighing in on the moral
rightness or wrongness o various behaviors But we wonrsquot stop there We
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852019
will look or the ethics that will indicate what makes the activity right or
wrong and that offer rationale and motivation or engaging in the right ac-
tivity or reraining rom the wrong Moral people do what is right So dopeople who have ethics but they also know why1048630
Te distinction between morality and ethics is an important one wo
people can share the same moral convictions but they could easily have very
different ethics How Because the ethics will explain the answer to the
question Why is that wrong For example in the world that produced the
New estament section o the Bible Greek and Roman philosophers com-
monly discussed the moral wrongness o being guided by our passions
Toughtless passions lead people to do the wrong things One writer Paul
whose ethics we will explore in chapters nine and ten would basically agree
that people acting out their passions leads to misbehavior But i you asked
both sets o people why being guided by passion is wrong you would get
two entirely different sets o answers Paulrsquos answer connects directly to his
awareness o the crucifixion and resurrection o Jesus Te philosophers
know nothing o Jesus Teir answers are linked to their view o the psy-
chology o the soul Tough we might think we see moral agreement be-tween Paul and philosophers we see totally different ethics We will see the
same thing in the Bible itsel Te various places we will explore will re-
quently show common moral standards but different ethics Ethics and mo-
rality are not the same
Te Biblersquos writings do communicate a strong set o morals But they do
much more than that Tey portray genuine ethics Tey show ways o lie
stemming rom people living in attractive relationship with the true and
living God Reasons or living morally appear regularly either stated or
implied because relationship with God is portrayed as wonderully good
and genuinely healthy Relationship with God ultimately involves partici-
pating in Godrsquos process o remaking the world a world filled with bro-
kenness exhibited in and stemming rom human misbehavior As we probe
biblical texts we will discover ethical systems that are intriguing inviting
enlightening and uplifing People who read the Bible well will not only
have a stronger sense o what is right and wrong they will realize why ac-cording to those writings they also should do right and why living that
right is so ulfilling
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SUMMING IT UP
What is ethics
o Ethics reers to how a person distinguishes right rom
wrong behavior
o Ethics is also concerned with the reasons or why a
person should choose what is good and abstain rom
what is not
o Te kind o behavior that ethics is concerned with gen-erally is behavior that advances good or hinders harm
in onersquos world
What do we mean by biblical ethics
o With biblical ethics one is concerned with discerning
the kinds o behavior biblical writings indicate are right
and wrong
o One is also concerned with both how according to bib-
lical writings to distinguish right rom wrong and why
its readers should do right and rerain rom wrong
o Biblical ethics begins with describing what biblical
writings communicate ethically Only then can people see
how those ethics might apply to their lives prescriptively
o
Ethics is not the central concern o biblical writings o Other behaviors besides ethical behaviors are dealt
with in the Bible
o How people connect meaningully with God is a central
concern o biblical writings
o Ethics in the Bible flows primarily out o peoplersquos
healthy relationship with God
o Ethics in the Bible offers hope or those who recognize
their error and turn to God
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852021
A983148983156983141983154983150983137983156983145983158983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155
Ethical questions and dilemmas appear consistently and prominently within
human history Some o the ethical systems Western civilizations developed
to address those concerns are worth noting briefly as a way o comparing
how biblical writings offer both similarities to and dissimilarities rom
them1048631 Some o these systems actually influenced aspects o ethics as oundin parts o the Bible Others o these have themselves been influenced by the
sense o right and wrong ound in biblical writings
Virtue ethics Also closely related to what is called ldquocharacter ethicsrdquo
virtue ethics ocus on what kind o person one should become in order to
attain a higher goal such as happiness or well-being emphasizing various
virtues (eg courage wisdom justice sel-control kindness orbearance
riendliness modesty)852024 Conversely there are vices that one should avoid
(eg cowardice olly wrongness sel-indulgence meanness short-
temperedness diffidence extravagance) Many o those good character
qualities are learned rom observing people who are considered to be good
or by repeated practice o virtuous activities Discussions o virtues and
vices were especially important to the ancient Greeks and Romans Some
writings in the New estament reflect awareness o the ruit o such discus-
sions but also offer their own unique perspectives on virtues and vices
Ethical egoism Also coming rom ancient Greece ethical egoism advocatespursuing behaviors with outcomes that maximize personal pleasure while
minimizing personal pain Rather than resorting to out-and-out hedonism (ie
selfish pleasure seeking) the point here is to evaluate long-term outcomes or
How is morality different from ethics
o Morality is simply knowing what is right and what is
wrong
o Ethics involves both the reasoning or distinguishing
right rom wrong and the motivations or doing what
is right and hindering what is wrong
o Biblical writings regularly portray genuine ethics not
mere morality
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consequences Some immediate pleasures may result in such horrible pain in
the end that they should be avoided altogether But some pain may be necessary
to endure in order to attain the benefit o a long-term pleasureUtilitarianism Utilitarianism is similar to ethical egoism with its concern
or maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain but does so with societies in
view not merely the individual Whatever advances pleasure or the greatest
number o people is to be preerred Further it recognizes that there are
higher-order pleasures in lie beyond mere physical gratification Peoplersquos
ailure to exercise their minds or their pursuit o personal selfishness are two
major obstacles to good being advanced In current popular everyday
practice both ethical egoistic and utilitarian ways o thinking can lead
people to line up physical psychological and sociological conclusions in
order to prove that a genuine pleasure is being advanced or pain is being
avoided But sometimes those conclusions prove more tentative than their
communicators may indicate at the time especially when they are really
interested in justiying their own misbehavior
Duty With duty one should do what is right and rerain rom what is wrong
because that is the most reasonable orm o activity to pursue as a thinkinghuman being One has a duty to live consistently with onersquos being Right and
wrong are independent o human existence Right corresponds with what is
true to pursue what is alse is sel-contradictory and internally inconsistent
Practically speaking living by duty means unctioning in a world o beings As
a human being one has a duty to recognize people as people Whenever one
treats another or even onesel solely as an object one is violating onersquos duty to
a ellow creature Tis way o thinking partly resembles a well-known maxim
attributed to Jesus ofen called the Golden RulemdashldquoDo to others as you would
have them do to yourdquo But it has little regard or people thinking empathetically
about others with a desired ideal good or them the way Jesusrsquo words do
Divine command theory Divine command theory assumes that rightness
comes directly rom divinity and whatever any divinity commands the re-
ligious person must obey When applied to the Bible this approach assumes
that the Bible is ull o commands meant to be obeyed So as a reader one
should look diligently or those commands Whatever is commanded mustbe ollowed because it comes rom God o obey God is to do what is right
o disobey God is to do what is wrong While to many this would seem to
be biblical ethics in a nutshell it alls short by not seeing how biblical ethics
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852023
involves much more than obeying commands Ofen associated with this
approach at the popular level is an attitude that treats the Bible as a sort o
guiding constitution to scan or moral rulings discovering ldquowhat the Biblesaysrdquo about a topic then becomes the primary pursuit
eleology Many o these approaches to ethics also try to organize lie
around a ocused goal a teleological approach For example or some virtue
ethicists and ethical egoists achieving a orm o happiness or well-being is
the goal or which virtues are exercised or pain is minimized By contrast
the approach emphasizing duty regards the duty to be right all by itsel in-
dependent o any ultimate human goal or ideal
E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155 983137983150983140 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Te Bible and teleology In the Bible we will see varieties o teleological
thought stronger in some places than in others Concerns or example with
conormity to the created order or to Godrsquos merciul acts in a moment known
as the exodus are common in the first writings we will probe1048633 Even stronger
will be the awareness that lie is advancing toward a uture ultimate moment
o reordering a major component to the later writings being studied hereTe Bible and virtue ethics Tere are many places where biblical writings
champion conormity to a good character model852017852016 But good character is
advanced neither as a means to some sort o end nor merely as an end in
itsel the way it is in traditional virtue ethics Obtaining good lie outcomes
or avoiding bad ones is not the main goal o being good Rather good char-
acter in biblical writings is ofen seen as a reflection o the God who is being
served It is both an outcome o associating with God and a measuring stick
o how in touch one is with God Further in addition to character issues
biblical texts also champion specific behaviors such as taking care o the
poor standing up or the weak or loving the unlovely Tose behaviors may
reflect good character but they are to be done regardless o onersquos overall
character Many in Christianity have traditionally thought o love as a virtue
But biblical writings ofen ocus on love as an activity even a responsibility
Attention to character ormation is a major topic o discussion or scholars
examining the use o the Bible in ethics852017852017 Tat would be close to virtue ethicsbut not identical It ocuses on how encouragement in the practice o certain
biblical instructions shapes the lives o those who do them influencing what
kind o people they become Like virtue ethics this recognizes that a person
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must be trained in the right way o living to be able to become good It does
receive major support rom the Biblersquos writings themselves which encourage
a liestyle that is always growing in its awareness o God and Godrsquos desiresor humans Still the ethics o the parts o the Bible we will explore here will
also provide more than material or character ormation Tey will also
provide guidelines that help people make reasoned decisions about the
rightness and wrongness o certain activities as they ponder them
Te Bible ethical egoism and utilitarianism Some biblical writings promote
appraising harmul or beneficial outcomes o behaviors in ways that may seem
to resemble the ethical egoist or the utilitarian Tey tend to do so to show the
wisdom or olly o certain activities or to speak approvingly o advancing the
goodness or well-being o onersquos neighbor Tey do not make the avoidance o
personal pain or the acquisition o personal pleasure the ultimate goal Rather
they measure consequences observed rom the activities o others and offer
advice based on what is observed to have worked and what genuinely does not
ounded on how one studies the world as God created it Other writings talk
about growing in character rom enduring hardships such as persecution Again
the point is not to ocus on the personal gain rom such growth but on the ul-timate goal the remade hardship-ree creation one is destined to
Te Bible and duty Various biblical writings urge their readers to treat
others as people rather than objects but they do so in a manner that takes
into consideration the railties o the environment people live in and the
realities o human existence and weakness encouraging readers to be aware
o their own Tough obedience itsel in some contexts may be perceived
as a duty urther probing o those contexts ofen discloses that obedience
flows more out o a sincere relationship with God and a high regard or
others than rom a sense o resolute duty-bound obligation
Te Bible and divine command theory Te Bible is also ull o com-
mands But many o those commands come in specifically defined contexts
that are not meant to apply directly to people in most contemporaneous
settings And outside o those contexts much o what is ofen regarded as
command is really instructional advice which is quite a different orm o
expressionmdashordering someone to ldquoSlow downrdquo is not the same as advisingsomeone to ldquoake your timerdquo yet both communicate what grammarians call
imperatives Further much o the Biblersquos advice appears in contexts that
point to clear supporting reasons behind it Focusing on the advice without
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852025
dealing with its supporting rationale misses the actual ethics being advanced
Finally there are many ethical topics about which the Bible does not issue
any direct command or instruction leaving readers with no guidance orworse as we have already seen leading people to twist the Biblersquos words into
making points not really there Discovering Godrsquos will emerges as a major
concern in some o the writings we will explore or their ethics But we will
see how doing that leads a person beyond a search or direct statements or
interpretive moral rulings
When people probe the Bible to learn what it might say about a certain
moral topic they are really acting under a basic assumption o divine
command theory an act is right or wrong because God says so852017852018 And yet
without ever having read the Bible people all over the world have views
similar to biblical writingsrsquo views about the morality o certain acts A sense
o right and wrong can exist independent o the Bible In this book we will
proceed under the assumption that an act is not right or wrong just because
the Bible says so Te Bible says so ofen because the act is right or wrong Why
is an act right or wrong Answering that rom the Biblersquos writings will put
readers in touch with the ethics those writings advanceTe observations rom the previous paragraphs should not lessen any
respect that a reader gives to biblical texts Tey should in act increase it
Te writings o the Bible encourage more than they ofen receive credit or
Troughout the variety o ethical approaches we will examine in this book
we will see attitudes expressed by biblical texts that expect their words to be
taken seriously precisely because they are connected to God who is trust-
worthy who has made the world with purpose and who is in the process o
moving its events to an ultimate restorative climax Doing something be-
cause one is prompted by a saying in a biblical text is an attitude encouraged
directly by the words o the Biblersquos writings But studying biblical ethics
means much more than searching or and then obeying divinely established
commands or discovering what the Bible says about a topic Tat may some-
times be a good starting point but the Biblersquos words ofen lead its readers to
think about how to do even more than they say directly People who care
about the Bible should let their ethical vision be shaped by that
A V983137983154983145983141983156983161 983151983142 E983156983144983145983139983155 983137983150983140 983137 C983151983150983155983145983155983156983141983150983156 M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161
Te Bible is not a book written by a single author with a collection o chapters
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reflecting a beginning a middle and an end It is a collection o writings
emerging over a large time span and produced by a wide variety o authors
nearly one third o whom are not identified It alls into two unequal por-tions (1048625) the much larger Hebrew Bible (or to Christians the Old estament)
the product o hundreds o years o activity ocusing on the people o Israel
and their covenant with God and (1048626) the New estament produced within
the second hal o the first century 983139983141 or 983137983140 the writings o which all
reflect issues and events related to the person named Jesus the Christ Many
o the writings o both estaments disclose threads o an unolding story to
which they persistently connect divulging an emerging divine plan Some
writings connect to that plan with more detail than others And not all o
the writings try to advance that unolding story
In this book we are probing only our broad sections o biblical ethics (1048625)
Te orah (minus Numbers) and (1048626) proverbial wisdom rom the Old es-
tament (852019) two o the Gospels (Luke and Matthew) and (1048628) two o Paulrsquos
letters (1048625 Corinthians and Romans) rom the New estament8520171048627 Prophetic
thought rom Isaiah in the Old estament will be addressed briefly as well
not or separate ethical inquiry as much as to bridge the ethical worlds oorah and the Gospels Immediately some may ault this listing as incom-
plete and too limiting852017852020 Yes it is But these our basic sections each have
broad unique identifiable eatures that disclose significant depth o ethical
thought What orah communicates ethically is quite distinct rom what
Proverbs conveys And though the Gospels o Luke and Matthew each display
their own special ethical approaches their similarities offer a significantly
different slant rom what Paul advances We will be looking at our distinct
emphases covenant consequences kingdom and transormation Te Bible
does not portray a single unitary ethical vision We see multiple visions each
connecting people with God who has made the world and will remake it
Evidence within the biblical writings suggests that all our o the ap-
proaches we are exploring can interact not only with each other but with
those biblical approaches that we are not exploring in this book8520171048629 We are
looking at a useul basic starting point Tose wanting to pursue a uller
range o approaches and thought orms can then build rom hereRecognizing that there are different complementary ways o thinking ad-
vocated by biblical texts should give Bible readers a greater appreciation or
the richness o thought the writings encourage It should also caution them
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What Is Biblical Ethics 8520191048625
about the shallowness o approaches that disregard that variety in avor o
coming up with a ldquobiblicalrdquo position about a moral topic Tough one might
be able to discern common moral perspectives on some issues one would bemissing out on the ethical reasoning individual sets o writings advance
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Many biblical writings invite their readers to distinguish right rom wrong
Tough the Bible does not speak univocally (ie with one voice) its writings
display a remarkably consistent concern or distinguishing right rom wrong
even within the diversity o their expressions Consider the ollowing state-
ments rom a wide range o biblical books all but one o which we will
eventually survey
Moses the leader o Godrsquos people in the orah instructs them concerning
Godrsquos commands
In Proverbs a ather instructs his son
You must observe them diligently for this will show your wisdom and discernment
to the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say ldquoSurely this great
nation is a wise and discerning peoplerdquo For what other great nation has a god sonear to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him And what other great
nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before
you today Deut 46-8
Do not enter the path of the wicked
and do not walk in the way of evildoers
Avoid it do not go on it
turn away from it and pass on
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble
For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn
which shines brighter and brighter until full day
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness
they do not know what they stumble over Prov 414-19
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When accusing Israelite people o a series o wrongdoings the prophet
Isaiah writes
In one Gospel Jesus invites hearers to accept a set o his teachings many
o which address moral behavior
When disturbed that believers in Corinth are not distinguishing rightrom wrong that churchrsquos ounder Paul says
In a totally independent writing when disturbed at the immaturity dis-
played by his readersrsquo willingness to wander away rom the aith the writer
o the epistle to the Hebrews identifies spiritually mature as
Biblical writings clearly advocate that people distinguish moral right
rom moral wrongTat said letrsquos note once more how ocusing on ethics to the exclusion o
other issues is potentially misleading We will see that immediately in ex-
ploring the first part o the Bible the orah In Deuteronomy or example we
Ah you who call evil good
and good evil
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter Is 520
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads
to destruction and there are many who take it For the gate is narrow and the road
is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it Mt 713-14
Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one be-
liever and another but a believer goes to court against a believermdashand before
unbelievers at that 1 Cor 65-6
those whose faculties have been trained by
practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 514
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852019
will find activities identified as evil that our working definition o ethics would
call immoral alse witness adultery kidnapping (Deut 10486258520251048625852025 1048626104862610486261048626 10486261048628852023) But
that same writing identifies alse prophets and idolaters with the same labelmdashevil (Deut 1048625852019852021 1048625852023852023) Are idolaters and alse prophets immoral or something
else Elsewhere in the Bible we will see ethical activity such as loving enemies
(Mt 85202110486281048628-1048628852022) placed on the same reward level as acilitating the work o those
who spread the message o the kingdom (Mt 1048625104862410486281048624-10486281048626) Is supporting the
spread o the kingdomrsquos message moral or something else Biblical writings
ofen portray a more integrated view about lie than our strict definitions allow
We might like to put certain decisions into an ethics box Living in relationship
with the Biblersquos God is all encompassing not easily separable into box-like
categoriesmdasha worship box a sacrifice box a religion box an ethics box
So why are we doing this Because the list o statements we have just
looked at is one piece o evidence among many we will see that encourages
us to think ethically as a natural way o living in relationship with God
Failure to live in ways that emerge out o our definition o ethics is regularly
condemned in biblical writings (eg Is 104862510486251048624-1048625852023 Mt 10486268520191048626852019-10486261048628) But living in
relationship with God involves much more than ethics Our study o ethicsshould not keep us rom realizing that
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155 T983141983150983140983155 983156983151 983138983141 M983145983139983154983151983141983156983144983145983139983137983148
Ethicists generally do not use the expression microethical or its noun micro-
ethics Tose terms are unique to our discussions here Tey appeal to con-
cepts rom the world o economics Economists speak o microeconomics
and macroeconomics Te ormer reers to how people interact in day-to-
day business transactions Whenever people buy or sell items rom a store
they are engaging in microeconomics Te latter reers to larger national
and global issues that determine economic policies set by governments
Whenever people announce state or national employment figures or
whenever people are concerned about the prime rate being set by the Federal
Reserve Bank they are dealing with macroeconomics
Similar concepts are being applied here Microethics reers to what people
do when they interact directly with someone else ldquoShould I be kind or rudeto that woman who wonrsquot give me the time o dayrdquo ldquoShould I get angry at that
man who just cut me off in traffic or should I simply smile pleasantlyrdquo
ldquoShould I join in the conversation about our riend who is not present or
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should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
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Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 929
1048625852022 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
behavior according to biblical writings What thought patterns do writings
in the Bible encourage in helping their readers distinguish right rom wrong
What reasons and motivations do biblical writings offer or why their readersshould perorm what is good and rerain rom what is bad
In addressing such questions letrsquos first note an important difference be-
tween what some would call ldquoChristian ethicsrdquo or ldquoreligious ethicsrdquo and what
we are exploring here in this book Christian or religious ethics might ad-
dress the question What do the tenets o the religious aith contribute to
distinguishing right rom wrong on liersquos issues Or more personally Since
I call mysel a Christian how should I behave as a Christian over this issue
Tese are great questions Tey launch the inquirer on a prescriptive task
that looks to the religion including the Bible as Christian Scripture to
advise about or make behavioral demands or the present moment
Biblical ethics should also inorm those kinds o questions But beore
we can determine how we must first try to discern what the biblical texts
appear to be communicating852017 Note biblical texts not simply biblical state-
ments Wersquore aiming to learn to observe the sustained lines o reasoning
offered by individual biblical writings or clusters o related writings In-stead o imposing our interests on themmdashWhat does the Bible say about
Xmdashwe want to discern the issues that the words o individual writings
appear to be designed to address Te biblical ethics we are pursuing here
is largely a descriptive task We will aim to understand what the Biblersquos
writings themselves promote ethically exploring them with a regard or
their literary cultural and historical contexts What we discover through
this kind o biblical ethics should then be the basis o conversation be-
tween Bible readers who can help each other understand more deeply
what to do with the kinds o ideas disclosed by this sort o investigation
Our primary pursuit in this book is to observe the ways o distinguishing
right rom wrong that are encouraged within biblical writings and what
rationale and motivations those writings offer or perorming right ac-
tivities and avoiding wrong ones Based on those people can begin to
discuss the prescriptive role these texts can have in their lives now no
matter the culture852018
Since much o Christian ethics is interested in using the Bible how is
what we are doing here different Our task will not be to use the Bible as a
source o moral statements but to describe the Biblersquos ethical vision how its
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852023
writings themselves shape the readersrsquo views o moral right and wrong For
example some Christian thinkers are interested in exploring the implica-
tions o humans being made in Godrsquos image a point made twice in the earlychapters o Genesis as wersquoll soon see ldquoI humans are said to be in Godrsquos
imagerdquo the reasoning goes ldquothen I should always treat other humans as
ellow image bearersrdquo Tatrsquos not a bad line o reasoning But it is not strictly
biblical in the way we are considering here How so Because that line o
reasoning is never explicitly ound or encouraged by any words in biblical
writings In act the last use o the expression ldquoimage o Godrdquo in the large
first part o the Bible the Old estament is in Genesis 852025 Biblical writings
appeal to the concept differently Tose writings instead ollow other iden-
tifiable sustained lines o reasoning that offer consistent and persistent ways
o thinking about right and wrong Learning to trace those lines is the point
o this book
In some religious contexts people are told prescriptively to do one
certain kind o activity or rerain rom others ldquobecause the Bible says sordquo
Such people could then go so ar as to say that such a reason makes their
ethics biblical Tough that religious approach may appeal to the Bible italso tends not to reflect consistently what the writings themselves commu-
nicate and should also not be conused with the biblical ethics we are pur-
suing here It rather tends to assume that the Bible is a collection o moral
injunctions and stories that declare and demonstrate what is right and
wrong or the aithul According to that view those who want to be con-
sidered aithul should do what the Bible says without hesitation Tough
as wersquoll see biblical writings expect their words to be taken seriously the
words o those writings present a much richer set o ideas than the rationale
o rote obedience allows or
Further the Biblersquos words shouldnrsquot be pressed into service to commu-
nicate ideas oreign to them I we impose assumptions rom our culture
onto what the Biblersquos words communicate in their original settings we in-
troduce distortions For example we may want a biblical ruling on when
human lie begins definitively but i we assume that biblical writers know
exactly what we may know about human conception we would be intro-ducing ideas oreign to the biblical texts Te emale ovum was not dis-
covered until the early nineteenth century Appeals to the Bible or such uses
tend to reflect what religious authorities claim about biblical texts more than
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852025
so in ways that dey uninormed popular-level assumptions When exam-
ining the Biblersquos words in their actual contexts readers will make surprising
observations that may dey their assumptions about the sense o religionadvocated by the Biblersquos varied writings For example eternal rewards and
punishments concerns with lie afer death even hell avoidance and
heaven attainment are generally side issues in the Bible (When we explore
the Gospel o Matthew though we will see aspects o those issues empha-
sized) And in those ew places in the Bible where hell is reerred to it is
portrayed not as a scare or bribery tactic but as a serious outcome or the
end o the age What happens to a person upon dying is scarcely a topic in
the Bible even i it becomes so or some expressions o Christianity so
closely connected to those writings Let Bible readers beware when ob-
served careully the words o the Bible will reveal criticize and correct their
sloppy religious assumptions
Now i biblical writings advocate various approaches to ethics that flow
out o peoplersquos relationship with God and i that God is neither a brute
authoritarian parent demanding rote obedience nor a weak manipulative
parent threatening with punishment and bribing with rewards what do weactually see Letrsquos look briefly at the first writing Genesis
Our original introduction to God in that writing displays the Creator
whose acts resemble more those o a beneficent monarch or king than o a
parent1048627 Tat king commands and it is so Even more revealing that king
evaluates to see that all is good Tat kingly activity results in an ordered
creation that humans are asked collectively to manage When we see God
instructing the first human a man known eventually as Adam he issues a
specific charge ldquoYou may reely eat o every tree o the garden but o the
tree o the knowledge o good and evil you shall not eat or in the day that
you eat o it you shall dierdquo (Gen 10486261048625852022-1048625852023)
Notice first o all that this is not an ethical scenario Rather this shows
a boundary-setting restriction Tat is important to observe Why Not
everything in the Bible is about ethics Tink about it What is inherently
wrong in eating ruit O course this is a particular kind o ruitmdasha unique
kind in act that is said to give ldquoknowledge o good and evilrdquo importantcategories or ethics But eating it is said to have severe consequencesmdash
death Certainly the rationale eventually offered or disobeying Godrsquos
command has implications or ethics ldquoWhen the woman saw that the tree
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8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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What Is Biblical Ethics 10486261048625
speciic situations but are not inherently morally right or wrong hose
behaviors may all into the areas o cultural customs and manners or
even situation-speciic instructions but not ethics When consideringmorally neutral behaviors we will have to consider the ethics o pur-
suing those behaviors knowing that someone might be bothered or the
ethics o orcing people to conorm to neutral standards however im-
portant those standards may be culturally or religiously to those en-
orcing them
It will also require people recognizing that some o their own culturally
or religiously conditioned behaviors may actually be neutral not genu-
inely moral People should not expect biblical writings to affirm their own
culturersquos manners and expectations For example being prompt or timely
an important cultural value or some people in the West today is not really
an issue that alls into the category o ethics even though it may be wise
to be prompt in many circumstances amiliar to us Itrsquos really only a
culture-bound value near and dear to many people Certainly biblical
writings donrsquot count promptness among the issues that God cares about
Being impatient with others or being late however would be So also is areusal to honor anotherrsquos known sense o timeliness by insisting on having
onersquos own way
What we will see throughout the Bible is the notion that how a person
chooses to respond to God affects the kind o person he or she becomes
Tus those who aim to do what God wants are ethical people because much
o what God is said to want is also what most people would consider to be
good ethical behavior and because throughout the span o biblical writings
God is portrayed as being in the business o restoring rightness to his cre-
ation In the world o the Bible those who choose to dey God do not know
how to act consistently as ethical people because they have chosen to cut
themselves off rom the ways and plans o God and thus are incomplete in
their sense o what right and wrong behavior actually include
Obeying God trusting God having aith in God and responding to God
are all central issues to the Bible issues that affect the ethics that its varied
writings promote How one responds to God is reflected in a personrsquos ethicsIn act expect to see repeatedly how those who respond to God are ofen
shown as good responders by doing ethical acts Tose who disregard God
are ofen shown as bad responders with the unethical acts they perorm
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8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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Ultimately what we see throughout the Bible are sets o ethics rooted
in peoplersquos relationship with Godmdashan ethic o relationship1048629 Doing good
flows out o a person coming to know God and growing in that rela-tionship with God Doing wrong shows how out o touch a person is with
God Biblical writings are ull o the language o devotion and com-
mitment It is not a mindless devotion but one that is highly attractive
showing people interacting with a God who gives cares and accepts even
i that God also has high standards or those who are connected to him
Tose standards are ofen shown to lead to personal well-being or those
who interact with God
Significantly because peoplersquos relating to God is the one constant advo-
cated by the varieties o biblical writings how God relates to people also
merits consideration Biblical writings offer hope and restoration or those
who mess up An important element o that is a concept known as repen-
tance people turning away rom their evil and embracing Godrsquos good
Along with that are grace receiving good rom God when one deserves the
opposite and mercy receiving good rom God when one is in a decidedly
weak position A sense o hope also emerges as a central eature o biblicalethics People are allowed to be works in progress Expect to discover im-
perect people in biblical writings people who as they draw close to God
also become better people in the process even i many o them have rough
edges In the world o the Bible God never rejects people who call on him
M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161 V983141983154983155983157983155 E983156983144983145983139983155
People ofen use the concepts o morality and ethics interchangeably
Morals generally reer to a personrsquos awareness o right and wrong A
moral person does the right kind o behavior in the sense we have been
probing here advancing good on the world while reraining rom what
inflicts harm For that reason some people would say that a moral person
is also ethical
A moral person may be doing what is right but may not know clearly
what makes the activity right or why she or he should do that right By con-
trast ethics as we discuss it here deals with how to distinguish right romwrong and why someone should do the right and hinder the wrong In
exploring the Bible we will see many statements weighing in on the moral
rightness or wrongness o various behaviors But we wonrsquot stop there We
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852019
will look or the ethics that will indicate what makes the activity right or
wrong and that offer rationale and motivation or engaging in the right ac-
tivity or reraining rom the wrong Moral people do what is right So dopeople who have ethics but they also know why1048630
Te distinction between morality and ethics is an important one wo
people can share the same moral convictions but they could easily have very
different ethics How Because the ethics will explain the answer to the
question Why is that wrong For example in the world that produced the
New estament section o the Bible Greek and Roman philosophers com-
monly discussed the moral wrongness o being guided by our passions
Toughtless passions lead people to do the wrong things One writer Paul
whose ethics we will explore in chapters nine and ten would basically agree
that people acting out their passions leads to misbehavior But i you asked
both sets o people why being guided by passion is wrong you would get
two entirely different sets o answers Paulrsquos answer connects directly to his
awareness o the crucifixion and resurrection o Jesus Te philosophers
know nothing o Jesus Teir answers are linked to their view o the psy-
chology o the soul Tough we might think we see moral agreement be-tween Paul and philosophers we see totally different ethics We will see the
same thing in the Bible itsel Te various places we will explore will re-
quently show common moral standards but different ethics Ethics and mo-
rality are not the same
Te Biblersquos writings do communicate a strong set o morals But they do
much more than that Tey portray genuine ethics Tey show ways o lie
stemming rom people living in attractive relationship with the true and
living God Reasons or living morally appear regularly either stated or
implied because relationship with God is portrayed as wonderully good
and genuinely healthy Relationship with God ultimately involves partici-
pating in Godrsquos process o remaking the world a world filled with bro-
kenness exhibited in and stemming rom human misbehavior As we probe
biblical texts we will discover ethical systems that are intriguing inviting
enlightening and uplifing People who read the Bible well will not only
have a stronger sense o what is right and wrong they will realize why ac-cording to those writings they also should do right and why living that
right is so ulfilling
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SUMMING IT UP
What is ethics
o Ethics reers to how a person distinguishes right rom
wrong behavior
o Ethics is also concerned with the reasons or why a
person should choose what is good and abstain rom
what is not
o Te kind o behavior that ethics is concerned with gen-erally is behavior that advances good or hinders harm
in onersquos world
What do we mean by biblical ethics
o With biblical ethics one is concerned with discerning
the kinds o behavior biblical writings indicate are right
and wrong
o One is also concerned with both how according to bib-
lical writings to distinguish right rom wrong and why
its readers should do right and rerain rom wrong
o Biblical ethics begins with describing what biblical
writings communicate ethically Only then can people see
how those ethics might apply to their lives prescriptively
o
Ethics is not the central concern o biblical writings o Other behaviors besides ethical behaviors are dealt
with in the Bible
o How people connect meaningully with God is a central
concern o biblical writings
o Ethics in the Bible flows primarily out o peoplersquos
healthy relationship with God
o Ethics in the Bible offers hope or those who recognize
their error and turn to God
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852021
A983148983156983141983154983150983137983156983145983158983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155
Ethical questions and dilemmas appear consistently and prominently within
human history Some o the ethical systems Western civilizations developed
to address those concerns are worth noting briefly as a way o comparing
how biblical writings offer both similarities to and dissimilarities rom
them1048631 Some o these systems actually influenced aspects o ethics as oundin parts o the Bible Others o these have themselves been influenced by the
sense o right and wrong ound in biblical writings
Virtue ethics Also closely related to what is called ldquocharacter ethicsrdquo
virtue ethics ocus on what kind o person one should become in order to
attain a higher goal such as happiness or well-being emphasizing various
virtues (eg courage wisdom justice sel-control kindness orbearance
riendliness modesty)852024 Conversely there are vices that one should avoid
(eg cowardice olly wrongness sel-indulgence meanness short-
temperedness diffidence extravagance) Many o those good character
qualities are learned rom observing people who are considered to be good
or by repeated practice o virtuous activities Discussions o virtues and
vices were especially important to the ancient Greeks and Romans Some
writings in the New estament reflect awareness o the ruit o such discus-
sions but also offer their own unique perspectives on virtues and vices
Ethical egoism Also coming rom ancient Greece ethical egoism advocatespursuing behaviors with outcomes that maximize personal pleasure while
minimizing personal pain Rather than resorting to out-and-out hedonism (ie
selfish pleasure seeking) the point here is to evaluate long-term outcomes or
How is morality different from ethics
o Morality is simply knowing what is right and what is
wrong
o Ethics involves both the reasoning or distinguishing
right rom wrong and the motivations or doing what
is right and hindering what is wrong
o Biblical writings regularly portray genuine ethics not
mere morality
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consequences Some immediate pleasures may result in such horrible pain in
the end that they should be avoided altogether But some pain may be necessary
to endure in order to attain the benefit o a long-term pleasureUtilitarianism Utilitarianism is similar to ethical egoism with its concern
or maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain but does so with societies in
view not merely the individual Whatever advances pleasure or the greatest
number o people is to be preerred Further it recognizes that there are
higher-order pleasures in lie beyond mere physical gratification Peoplersquos
ailure to exercise their minds or their pursuit o personal selfishness are two
major obstacles to good being advanced In current popular everyday
practice both ethical egoistic and utilitarian ways o thinking can lead
people to line up physical psychological and sociological conclusions in
order to prove that a genuine pleasure is being advanced or pain is being
avoided But sometimes those conclusions prove more tentative than their
communicators may indicate at the time especially when they are really
interested in justiying their own misbehavior
Duty With duty one should do what is right and rerain rom what is wrong
because that is the most reasonable orm o activity to pursue as a thinkinghuman being One has a duty to live consistently with onersquos being Right and
wrong are independent o human existence Right corresponds with what is
true to pursue what is alse is sel-contradictory and internally inconsistent
Practically speaking living by duty means unctioning in a world o beings As
a human being one has a duty to recognize people as people Whenever one
treats another or even onesel solely as an object one is violating onersquos duty to
a ellow creature Tis way o thinking partly resembles a well-known maxim
attributed to Jesus ofen called the Golden RulemdashldquoDo to others as you would
have them do to yourdquo But it has little regard or people thinking empathetically
about others with a desired ideal good or them the way Jesusrsquo words do
Divine command theory Divine command theory assumes that rightness
comes directly rom divinity and whatever any divinity commands the re-
ligious person must obey When applied to the Bible this approach assumes
that the Bible is ull o commands meant to be obeyed So as a reader one
should look diligently or those commands Whatever is commanded mustbe ollowed because it comes rom God o obey God is to do what is right
o disobey God is to do what is wrong While to many this would seem to
be biblical ethics in a nutshell it alls short by not seeing how biblical ethics
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852023
involves much more than obeying commands Ofen associated with this
approach at the popular level is an attitude that treats the Bible as a sort o
guiding constitution to scan or moral rulings discovering ldquowhat the Biblesaysrdquo about a topic then becomes the primary pursuit
eleology Many o these approaches to ethics also try to organize lie
around a ocused goal a teleological approach For example or some virtue
ethicists and ethical egoists achieving a orm o happiness or well-being is
the goal or which virtues are exercised or pain is minimized By contrast
the approach emphasizing duty regards the duty to be right all by itsel in-
dependent o any ultimate human goal or ideal
E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155 983137983150983140 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Te Bible and teleology In the Bible we will see varieties o teleological
thought stronger in some places than in others Concerns or example with
conormity to the created order or to Godrsquos merciul acts in a moment known
as the exodus are common in the first writings we will probe1048633 Even stronger
will be the awareness that lie is advancing toward a uture ultimate moment
o reordering a major component to the later writings being studied hereTe Bible and virtue ethics Tere are many places where biblical writings
champion conormity to a good character model852017852016 But good character is
advanced neither as a means to some sort o end nor merely as an end in
itsel the way it is in traditional virtue ethics Obtaining good lie outcomes
or avoiding bad ones is not the main goal o being good Rather good char-
acter in biblical writings is ofen seen as a reflection o the God who is being
served It is both an outcome o associating with God and a measuring stick
o how in touch one is with God Further in addition to character issues
biblical texts also champion specific behaviors such as taking care o the
poor standing up or the weak or loving the unlovely Tose behaviors may
reflect good character but they are to be done regardless o onersquos overall
character Many in Christianity have traditionally thought o love as a virtue
But biblical writings ofen ocus on love as an activity even a responsibility
Attention to character ormation is a major topic o discussion or scholars
examining the use o the Bible in ethics852017852017 Tat would be close to virtue ethicsbut not identical It ocuses on how encouragement in the practice o certain
biblical instructions shapes the lives o those who do them influencing what
kind o people they become Like virtue ethics this recognizes that a person
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must be trained in the right way o living to be able to become good It does
receive major support rom the Biblersquos writings themselves which encourage
a liestyle that is always growing in its awareness o God and Godrsquos desiresor humans Still the ethics o the parts o the Bible we will explore here will
also provide more than material or character ormation Tey will also
provide guidelines that help people make reasoned decisions about the
rightness and wrongness o certain activities as they ponder them
Te Bible ethical egoism and utilitarianism Some biblical writings promote
appraising harmul or beneficial outcomes o behaviors in ways that may seem
to resemble the ethical egoist or the utilitarian Tey tend to do so to show the
wisdom or olly o certain activities or to speak approvingly o advancing the
goodness or well-being o onersquos neighbor Tey do not make the avoidance o
personal pain or the acquisition o personal pleasure the ultimate goal Rather
they measure consequences observed rom the activities o others and offer
advice based on what is observed to have worked and what genuinely does not
ounded on how one studies the world as God created it Other writings talk
about growing in character rom enduring hardships such as persecution Again
the point is not to ocus on the personal gain rom such growth but on the ul-timate goal the remade hardship-ree creation one is destined to
Te Bible and duty Various biblical writings urge their readers to treat
others as people rather than objects but they do so in a manner that takes
into consideration the railties o the environment people live in and the
realities o human existence and weakness encouraging readers to be aware
o their own Tough obedience itsel in some contexts may be perceived
as a duty urther probing o those contexts ofen discloses that obedience
flows more out o a sincere relationship with God and a high regard or
others than rom a sense o resolute duty-bound obligation
Te Bible and divine command theory Te Bible is also ull o com-
mands But many o those commands come in specifically defined contexts
that are not meant to apply directly to people in most contemporaneous
settings And outside o those contexts much o what is ofen regarded as
command is really instructional advice which is quite a different orm o
expressionmdashordering someone to ldquoSlow downrdquo is not the same as advisingsomeone to ldquoake your timerdquo yet both communicate what grammarians call
imperatives Further much o the Biblersquos advice appears in contexts that
point to clear supporting reasons behind it Focusing on the advice without
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852025
dealing with its supporting rationale misses the actual ethics being advanced
Finally there are many ethical topics about which the Bible does not issue
any direct command or instruction leaving readers with no guidance orworse as we have already seen leading people to twist the Biblersquos words into
making points not really there Discovering Godrsquos will emerges as a major
concern in some o the writings we will explore or their ethics But we will
see how doing that leads a person beyond a search or direct statements or
interpretive moral rulings
When people probe the Bible to learn what it might say about a certain
moral topic they are really acting under a basic assumption o divine
command theory an act is right or wrong because God says so852017852018 And yet
without ever having read the Bible people all over the world have views
similar to biblical writingsrsquo views about the morality o certain acts A sense
o right and wrong can exist independent o the Bible In this book we will
proceed under the assumption that an act is not right or wrong just because
the Bible says so Te Bible says so ofen because the act is right or wrong Why
is an act right or wrong Answering that rom the Biblersquos writings will put
readers in touch with the ethics those writings advanceTe observations rom the previous paragraphs should not lessen any
respect that a reader gives to biblical texts Tey should in act increase it
Te writings o the Bible encourage more than they ofen receive credit or
Troughout the variety o ethical approaches we will examine in this book
we will see attitudes expressed by biblical texts that expect their words to be
taken seriously precisely because they are connected to God who is trust-
worthy who has made the world with purpose and who is in the process o
moving its events to an ultimate restorative climax Doing something be-
cause one is prompted by a saying in a biblical text is an attitude encouraged
directly by the words o the Biblersquos writings But studying biblical ethics
means much more than searching or and then obeying divinely established
commands or discovering what the Bible says about a topic Tat may some-
times be a good starting point but the Biblersquos words ofen lead its readers to
think about how to do even more than they say directly People who care
about the Bible should let their ethical vision be shaped by that
A V983137983154983145983141983156983161 983151983142 E983156983144983145983139983155 983137983150983140 983137 C983151983150983155983145983155983156983141983150983156 M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161
Te Bible is not a book written by a single author with a collection o chapters
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8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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8520191048624 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
reflecting a beginning a middle and an end It is a collection o writings
emerging over a large time span and produced by a wide variety o authors
nearly one third o whom are not identified It alls into two unequal por-tions (1048625) the much larger Hebrew Bible (or to Christians the Old estament)
the product o hundreds o years o activity ocusing on the people o Israel
and their covenant with God and (1048626) the New estament produced within
the second hal o the first century 983139983141 or 983137983140 the writings o which all
reflect issues and events related to the person named Jesus the Christ Many
o the writings o both estaments disclose threads o an unolding story to
which they persistently connect divulging an emerging divine plan Some
writings connect to that plan with more detail than others And not all o
the writings try to advance that unolding story
In this book we are probing only our broad sections o biblical ethics (1048625)
Te orah (minus Numbers) and (1048626) proverbial wisdom rom the Old es-
tament (852019) two o the Gospels (Luke and Matthew) and (1048628) two o Paulrsquos
letters (1048625 Corinthians and Romans) rom the New estament8520171048627 Prophetic
thought rom Isaiah in the Old estament will be addressed briefly as well
not or separate ethical inquiry as much as to bridge the ethical worlds oorah and the Gospels Immediately some may ault this listing as incom-
plete and too limiting852017852020 Yes it is But these our basic sections each have
broad unique identifiable eatures that disclose significant depth o ethical
thought What orah communicates ethically is quite distinct rom what
Proverbs conveys And though the Gospels o Luke and Matthew each display
their own special ethical approaches their similarities offer a significantly
different slant rom what Paul advances We will be looking at our distinct
emphases covenant consequences kingdom and transormation Te Bible
does not portray a single unitary ethical vision We see multiple visions each
connecting people with God who has made the world and will remake it
Evidence within the biblical writings suggests that all our o the ap-
proaches we are exploring can interact not only with each other but with
those biblical approaches that we are not exploring in this book8520171048629 We are
looking at a useul basic starting point Tose wanting to pursue a uller
range o approaches and thought orms can then build rom hereRecognizing that there are different complementary ways o thinking ad-
vocated by biblical texts should give Bible readers a greater appreciation or
the richness o thought the writings encourage It should also caution them
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What Is Biblical Ethics 8520191048625
about the shallowness o approaches that disregard that variety in avor o
coming up with a ldquobiblicalrdquo position about a moral topic Tough one might
be able to discern common moral perspectives on some issues one would bemissing out on the ethical reasoning individual sets o writings advance
S983151983149983141 L983145983149983145983156983137983156983145983151983150983155 983151983142 T983144983145983155 A983152983152983154983151983137983139983144
Many biblical writings invite their readers to distinguish right rom wrong
Tough the Bible does not speak univocally (ie with one voice) its writings
display a remarkably consistent concern or distinguishing right rom wrong
even within the diversity o their expressions Consider the ollowing state-
ments rom a wide range o biblical books all but one o which we will
eventually survey
Moses the leader o Godrsquos people in the orah instructs them concerning
Godrsquos commands
In Proverbs a ather instructs his son
You must observe them diligently for this will show your wisdom and discernment
to the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say ldquoSurely this great
nation is a wise and discerning peoplerdquo For what other great nation has a god sonear to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him And what other great
nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before
you today Deut 46-8
Do not enter the path of the wicked
and do not walk in the way of evildoers
Avoid it do not go on it
turn away from it and pass on
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble
For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn
which shines brighter and brighter until full day
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness
they do not know what they stumble over Prov 414-19
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8520191048626 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
When accusing Israelite people o a series o wrongdoings the prophet
Isaiah writes
In one Gospel Jesus invites hearers to accept a set o his teachings many
o which address moral behavior
When disturbed that believers in Corinth are not distinguishing rightrom wrong that churchrsquos ounder Paul says
In a totally independent writing when disturbed at the immaturity dis-
played by his readersrsquo willingness to wander away rom the aith the writer
o the epistle to the Hebrews identifies spiritually mature as
Biblical writings clearly advocate that people distinguish moral right
rom moral wrongTat said letrsquos note once more how ocusing on ethics to the exclusion o
other issues is potentially misleading We will see that immediately in ex-
ploring the first part o the Bible the orah In Deuteronomy or example we
Ah you who call evil good
and good evil
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter Is 520
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads
to destruction and there are many who take it For the gate is narrow and the road
is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it Mt 713-14
Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one be-
liever and another but a believer goes to court against a believermdashand before
unbelievers at that 1 Cor 65-6
those whose faculties have been trained by
practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 514
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852019
will find activities identified as evil that our working definition o ethics would
call immoral alse witness adultery kidnapping (Deut 10486258520251048625852025 1048626104862610486261048626 10486261048628852023) But
that same writing identifies alse prophets and idolaters with the same labelmdashevil (Deut 1048625852019852021 1048625852023852023) Are idolaters and alse prophets immoral or something
else Elsewhere in the Bible we will see ethical activity such as loving enemies
(Mt 85202110486281048628-1048628852022) placed on the same reward level as acilitating the work o those
who spread the message o the kingdom (Mt 1048625104862410486281048624-10486281048626) Is supporting the
spread o the kingdomrsquos message moral or something else Biblical writings
ofen portray a more integrated view about lie than our strict definitions allow
We might like to put certain decisions into an ethics box Living in relationship
with the Biblersquos God is all encompassing not easily separable into box-like
categoriesmdasha worship box a sacrifice box a religion box an ethics box
So why are we doing this Because the list o statements we have just
looked at is one piece o evidence among many we will see that encourages
us to think ethically as a natural way o living in relationship with God
Failure to live in ways that emerge out o our definition o ethics is regularly
condemned in biblical writings (eg Is 104862510486251048624-1048625852023 Mt 10486268520191048626852019-10486261048628) But living in
relationship with God involves much more than ethics Our study o ethicsshould not keep us rom realizing that
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155 T983141983150983140983155 983156983151 983138983141 M983145983139983154983151983141983156983144983145983139983137983148
Ethicists generally do not use the expression microethical or its noun micro-
ethics Tose terms are unique to our discussions here Tey appeal to con-
cepts rom the world o economics Economists speak o microeconomics
and macroeconomics Te ormer reers to how people interact in day-to-
day business transactions Whenever people buy or sell items rom a store
they are engaging in microeconomics Te latter reers to larger national
and global issues that determine economic policies set by governments
Whenever people announce state or national employment figures or
whenever people are concerned about the prime rate being set by the Federal
Reserve Bank they are dealing with macroeconomics
Similar concepts are being applied here Microethics reers to what people
do when they interact directly with someone else ldquoShould I be kind or rudeto that woman who wonrsquot give me the time o dayrdquo ldquoShould I get angry at that
man who just cut me off in traffic or should I simply smile pleasantlyrdquo
ldquoShould I join in the conversation about our riend who is not present or
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8520191048628 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
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Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852023
writings themselves shape the readersrsquo views o moral right and wrong For
example some Christian thinkers are interested in exploring the implica-
tions o humans being made in Godrsquos image a point made twice in the earlychapters o Genesis as wersquoll soon see ldquoI humans are said to be in Godrsquos
imagerdquo the reasoning goes ldquothen I should always treat other humans as
ellow image bearersrdquo Tatrsquos not a bad line o reasoning But it is not strictly
biblical in the way we are considering here How so Because that line o
reasoning is never explicitly ound or encouraged by any words in biblical
writings In act the last use o the expression ldquoimage o Godrdquo in the large
first part o the Bible the Old estament is in Genesis 852025 Biblical writings
appeal to the concept differently Tose writings instead ollow other iden-
tifiable sustained lines o reasoning that offer consistent and persistent ways
o thinking about right and wrong Learning to trace those lines is the point
o this book
In some religious contexts people are told prescriptively to do one
certain kind o activity or rerain rom others ldquobecause the Bible says sordquo
Such people could then go so ar as to say that such a reason makes their
ethics biblical Tough that religious approach may appeal to the Bible italso tends not to reflect consistently what the writings themselves commu-
nicate and should also not be conused with the biblical ethics we are pur-
suing here It rather tends to assume that the Bible is a collection o moral
injunctions and stories that declare and demonstrate what is right and
wrong or the aithul According to that view those who want to be con-
sidered aithul should do what the Bible says without hesitation Tough
as wersquoll see biblical writings expect their words to be taken seriously the
words o those writings present a much richer set o ideas than the rationale
o rote obedience allows or
Further the Biblersquos words shouldnrsquot be pressed into service to commu-
nicate ideas oreign to them I we impose assumptions rom our culture
onto what the Biblersquos words communicate in their original settings we in-
troduce distortions For example we may want a biblical ruling on when
human lie begins definitively but i we assume that biblical writers know
exactly what we may know about human conception we would be intro-ducing ideas oreign to the biblical texts Te emale ovum was not dis-
covered until the early nineteenth century Appeals to the Bible or such uses
tend to reflect what religious authorities claim about biblical texts more than
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852025
so in ways that dey uninormed popular-level assumptions When exam-
ining the Biblersquos words in their actual contexts readers will make surprising
observations that may dey their assumptions about the sense o religionadvocated by the Biblersquos varied writings For example eternal rewards and
punishments concerns with lie afer death even hell avoidance and
heaven attainment are generally side issues in the Bible (When we explore
the Gospel o Matthew though we will see aspects o those issues empha-
sized) And in those ew places in the Bible where hell is reerred to it is
portrayed not as a scare or bribery tactic but as a serious outcome or the
end o the age What happens to a person upon dying is scarcely a topic in
the Bible even i it becomes so or some expressions o Christianity so
closely connected to those writings Let Bible readers beware when ob-
served careully the words o the Bible will reveal criticize and correct their
sloppy religious assumptions
Now i biblical writings advocate various approaches to ethics that flow
out o peoplersquos relationship with God and i that God is neither a brute
authoritarian parent demanding rote obedience nor a weak manipulative
parent threatening with punishment and bribing with rewards what do weactually see Letrsquos look briefly at the first writing Genesis
Our original introduction to God in that writing displays the Creator
whose acts resemble more those o a beneficent monarch or king than o a
parent1048627 Tat king commands and it is so Even more revealing that king
evaluates to see that all is good Tat kingly activity results in an ordered
creation that humans are asked collectively to manage When we see God
instructing the first human a man known eventually as Adam he issues a
specific charge ldquoYou may reely eat o every tree o the garden but o the
tree o the knowledge o good and evil you shall not eat or in the day that
you eat o it you shall dierdquo (Gen 10486261048625852022-1048625852023)
Notice first o all that this is not an ethical scenario Rather this shows
a boundary-setting restriction Tat is important to observe Why Not
everything in the Bible is about ethics Tink about it What is inherently
wrong in eating ruit O course this is a particular kind o ruitmdasha unique
kind in act that is said to give ldquoknowledge o good and evilrdquo importantcategories or ethics But eating it is said to have severe consequencesmdash
death Certainly the rationale eventually offered or disobeying Godrsquos
command has implications or ethics ldquoWhen the woman saw that the tree
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What Is Biblical Ethics 10486261048625
speciic situations but are not inherently morally right or wrong hose
behaviors may all into the areas o cultural customs and manners or
even situation-speciic instructions but not ethics When consideringmorally neutral behaviors we will have to consider the ethics o pur-
suing those behaviors knowing that someone might be bothered or the
ethics o orcing people to conorm to neutral standards however im-
portant those standards may be culturally or religiously to those en-
orcing them
It will also require people recognizing that some o their own culturally
or religiously conditioned behaviors may actually be neutral not genu-
inely moral People should not expect biblical writings to affirm their own
culturersquos manners and expectations For example being prompt or timely
an important cultural value or some people in the West today is not really
an issue that alls into the category o ethics even though it may be wise
to be prompt in many circumstances amiliar to us Itrsquos really only a
culture-bound value near and dear to many people Certainly biblical
writings donrsquot count promptness among the issues that God cares about
Being impatient with others or being late however would be So also is areusal to honor anotherrsquos known sense o timeliness by insisting on having
onersquos own way
What we will see throughout the Bible is the notion that how a person
chooses to respond to God affects the kind o person he or she becomes
Tus those who aim to do what God wants are ethical people because much
o what God is said to want is also what most people would consider to be
good ethical behavior and because throughout the span o biblical writings
God is portrayed as being in the business o restoring rightness to his cre-
ation In the world o the Bible those who choose to dey God do not know
how to act consistently as ethical people because they have chosen to cut
themselves off rom the ways and plans o God and thus are incomplete in
their sense o what right and wrong behavior actually include
Obeying God trusting God having aith in God and responding to God
are all central issues to the Bible issues that affect the ethics that its varied
writings promote How one responds to God is reflected in a personrsquos ethicsIn act expect to see repeatedly how those who respond to God are ofen
shown as good responders by doing ethical acts Tose who disregard God
are ofen shown as bad responders with the unethical acts they perorm
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Ultimately what we see throughout the Bible are sets o ethics rooted
in peoplersquos relationship with Godmdashan ethic o relationship1048629 Doing good
flows out o a person coming to know God and growing in that rela-tionship with God Doing wrong shows how out o touch a person is with
God Biblical writings are ull o the language o devotion and com-
mitment It is not a mindless devotion but one that is highly attractive
showing people interacting with a God who gives cares and accepts even
i that God also has high standards or those who are connected to him
Tose standards are ofen shown to lead to personal well-being or those
who interact with God
Significantly because peoplersquos relating to God is the one constant advo-
cated by the varieties o biblical writings how God relates to people also
merits consideration Biblical writings offer hope and restoration or those
who mess up An important element o that is a concept known as repen-
tance people turning away rom their evil and embracing Godrsquos good
Along with that are grace receiving good rom God when one deserves the
opposite and mercy receiving good rom God when one is in a decidedly
weak position A sense o hope also emerges as a central eature o biblicalethics People are allowed to be works in progress Expect to discover im-
perect people in biblical writings people who as they draw close to God
also become better people in the process even i many o them have rough
edges In the world o the Bible God never rejects people who call on him
M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161 V983141983154983155983157983155 E983156983144983145983139983155
People ofen use the concepts o morality and ethics interchangeably
Morals generally reer to a personrsquos awareness o right and wrong A
moral person does the right kind o behavior in the sense we have been
probing here advancing good on the world while reraining rom what
inflicts harm For that reason some people would say that a moral person
is also ethical
A moral person may be doing what is right but may not know clearly
what makes the activity right or why she or he should do that right By con-
trast ethics as we discuss it here deals with how to distinguish right romwrong and why someone should do the right and hinder the wrong In
exploring the Bible we will see many statements weighing in on the moral
rightness or wrongness o various behaviors But we wonrsquot stop there We
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852019
will look or the ethics that will indicate what makes the activity right or
wrong and that offer rationale and motivation or engaging in the right ac-
tivity or reraining rom the wrong Moral people do what is right So dopeople who have ethics but they also know why1048630
Te distinction between morality and ethics is an important one wo
people can share the same moral convictions but they could easily have very
different ethics How Because the ethics will explain the answer to the
question Why is that wrong For example in the world that produced the
New estament section o the Bible Greek and Roman philosophers com-
monly discussed the moral wrongness o being guided by our passions
Toughtless passions lead people to do the wrong things One writer Paul
whose ethics we will explore in chapters nine and ten would basically agree
that people acting out their passions leads to misbehavior But i you asked
both sets o people why being guided by passion is wrong you would get
two entirely different sets o answers Paulrsquos answer connects directly to his
awareness o the crucifixion and resurrection o Jesus Te philosophers
know nothing o Jesus Teir answers are linked to their view o the psy-
chology o the soul Tough we might think we see moral agreement be-tween Paul and philosophers we see totally different ethics We will see the
same thing in the Bible itsel Te various places we will explore will re-
quently show common moral standards but different ethics Ethics and mo-
rality are not the same
Te Biblersquos writings do communicate a strong set o morals But they do
much more than that Tey portray genuine ethics Tey show ways o lie
stemming rom people living in attractive relationship with the true and
living God Reasons or living morally appear regularly either stated or
implied because relationship with God is portrayed as wonderully good
and genuinely healthy Relationship with God ultimately involves partici-
pating in Godrsquos process o remaking the world a world filled with bro-
kenness exhibited in and stemming rom human misbehavior As we probe
biblical texts we will discover ethical systems that are intriguing inviting
enlightening and uplifing People who read the Bible well will not only
have a stronger sense o what is right and wrong they will realize why ac-cording to those writings they also should do right and why living that
right is so ulfilling
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SUMMING IT UP
What is ethics
o Ethics reers to how a person distinguishes right rom
wrong behavior
o Ethics is also concerned with the reasons or why a
person should choose what is good and abstain rom
what is not
o Te kind o behavior that ethics is concerned with gen-erally is behavior that advances good or hinders harm
in onersquos world
What do we mean by biblical ethics
o With biblical ethics one is concerned with discerning
the kinds o behavior biblical writings indicate are right
and wrong
o One is also concerned with both how according to bib-
lical writings to distinguish right rom wrong and why
its readers should do right and rerain rom wrong
o Biblical ethics begins with describing what biblical
writings communicate ethically Only then can people see
how those ethics might apply to their lives prescriptively
o
Ethics is not the central concern o biblical writings o Other behaviors besides ethical behaviors are dealt
with in the Bible
o How people connect meaningully with God is a central
concern o biblical writings
o Ethics in the Bible flows primarily out o peoplersquos
healthy relationship with God
o Ethics in the Bible offers hope or those who recognize
their error and turn to God
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852021
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Ethical questions and dilemmas appear consistently and prominently within
human history Some o the ethical systems Western civilizations developed
to address those concerns are worth noting briefly as a way o comparing
how biblical writings offer both similarities to and dissimilarities rom
them1048631 Some o these systems actually influenced aspects o ethics as oundin parts o the Bible Others o these have themselves been influenced by the
sense o right and wrong ound in biblical writings
Virtue ethics Also closely related to what is called ldquocharacter ethicsrdquo
virtue ethics ocus on what kind o person one should become in order to
attain a higher goal such as happiness or well-being emphasizing various
virtues (eg courage wisdom justice sel-control kindness orbearance
riendliness modesty)852024 Conversely there are vices that one should avoid
(eg cowardice olly wrongness sel-indulgence meanness short-
temperedness diffidence extravagance) Many o those good character
qualities are learned rom observing people who are considered to be good
or by repeated practice o virtuous activities Discussions o virtues and
vices were especially important to the ancient Greeks and Romans Some
writings in the New estament reflect awareness o the ruit o such discus-
sions but also offer their own unique perspectives on virtues and vices
Ethical egoism Also coming rom ancient Greece ethical egoism advocatespursuing behaviors with outcomes that maximize personal pleasure while
minimizing personal pain Rather than resorting to out-and-out hedonism (ie
selfish pleasure seeking) the point here is to evaluate long-term outcomes or
How is morality different from ethics
o Morality is simply knowing what is right and what is
wrong
o Ethics involves both the reasoning or distinguishing
right rom wrong and the motivations or doing what
is right and hindering what is wrong
o Biblical writings regularly portray genuine ethics not
mere morality
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consequences Some immediate pleasures may result in such horrible pain in
the end that they should be avoided altogether But some pain may be necessary
to endure in order to attain the benefit o a long-term pleasureUtilitarianism Utilitarianism is similar to ethical egoism with its concern
or maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain but does so with societies in
view not merely the individual Whatever advances pleasure or the greatest
number o people is to be preerred Further it recognizes that there are
higher-order pleasures in lie beyond mere physical gratification Peoplersquos
ailure to exercise their minds or their pursuit o personal selfishness are two
major obstacles to good being advanced In current popular everyday
practice both ethical egoistic and utilitarian ways o thinking can lead
people to line up physical psychological and sociological conclusions in
order to prove that a genuine pleasure is being advanced or pain is being
avoided But sometimes those conclusions prove more tentative than their
communicators may indicate at the time especially when they are really
interested in justiying their own misbehavior
Duty With duty one should do what is right and rerain rom what is wrong
because that is the most reasonable orm o activity to pursue as a thinkinghuman being One has a duty to live consistently with onersquos being Right and
wrong are independent o human existence Right corresponds with what is
true to pursue what is alse is sel-contradictory and internally inconsistent
Practically speaking living by duty means unctioning in a world o beings As
a human being one has a duty to recognize people as people Whenever one
treats another or even onesel solely as an object one is violating onersquos duty to
a ellow creature Tis way o thinking partly resembles a well-known maxim
attributed to Jesus ofen called the Golden RulemdashldquoDo to others as you would
have them do to yourdquo But it has little regard or people thinking empathetically
about others with a desired ideal good or them the way Jesusrsquo words do
Divine command theory Divine command theory assumes that rightness
comes directly rom divinity and whatever any divinity commands the re-
ligious person must obey When applied to the Bible this approach assumes
that the Bible is ull o commands meant to be obeyed So as a reader one
should look diligently or those commands Whatever is commanded mustbe ollowed because it comes rom God o obey God is to do what is right
o disobey God is to do what is wrong While to many this would seem to
be biblical ethics in a nutshell it alls short by not seeing how biblical ethics
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852023
involves much more than obeying commands Ofen associated with this
approach at the popular level is an attitude that treats the Bible as a sort o
guiding constitution to scan or moral rulings discovering ldquowhat the Biblesaysrdquo about a topic then becomes the primary pursuit
eleology Many o these approaches to ethics also try to organize lie
around a ocused goal a teleological approach For example or some virtue
ethicists and ethical egoists achieving a orm o happiness or well-being is
the goal or which virtues are exercised or pain is minimized By contrast
the approach emphasizing duty regards the duty to be right all by itsel in-
dependent o any ultimate human goal or ideal
E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155 983137983150983140 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Te Bible and teleology In the Bible we will see varieties o teleological
thought stronger in some places than in others Concerns or example with
conormity to the created order or to Godrsquos merciul acts in a moment known
as the exodus are common in the first writings we will probe1048633 Even stronger
will be the awareness that lie is advancing toward a uture ultimate moment
o reordering a major component to the later writings being studied hereTe Bible and virtue ethics Tere are many places where biblical writings
champion conormity to a good character model852017852016 But good character is
advanced neither as a means to some sort o end nor merely as an end in
itsel the way it is in traditional virtue ethics Obtaining good lie outcomes
or avoiding bad ones is not the main goal o being good Rather good char-
acter in biblical writings is ofen seen as a reflection o the God who is being
served It is both an outcome o associating with God and a measuring stick
o how in touch one is with God Further in addition to character issues
biblical texts also champion specific behaviors such as taking care o the
poor standing up or the weak or loving the unlovely Tose behaviors may
reflect good character but they are to be done regardless o onersquos overall
character Many in Christianity have traditionally thought o love as a virtue
But biblical writings ofen ocus on love as an activity even a responsibility
Attention to character ormation is a major topic o discussion or scholars
examining the use o the Bible in ethics852017852017 Tat would be close to virtue ethicsbut not identical It ocuses on how encouragement in the practice o certain
biblical instructions shapes the lives o those who do them influencing what
kind o people they become Like virtue ethics this recognizes that a person
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must be trained in the right way o living to be able to become good It does
receive major support rom the Biblersquos writings themselves which encourage
a liestyle that is always growing in its awareness o God and Godrsquos desiresor humans Still the ethics o the parts o the Bible we will explore here will
also provide more than material or character ormation Tey will also
provide guidelines that help people make reasoned decisions about the
rightness and wrongness o certain activities as they ponder them
Te Bible ethical egoism and utilitarianism Some biblical writings promote
appraising harmul or beneficial outcomes o behaviors in ways that may seem
to resemble the ethical egoist or the utilitarian Tey tend to do so to show the
wisdom or olly o certain activities or to speak approvingly o advancing the
goodness or well-being o onersquos neighbor Tey do not make the avoidance o
personal pain or the acquisition o personal pleasure the ultimate goal Rather
they measure consequences observed rom the activities o others and offer
advice based on what is observed to have worked and what genuinely does not
ounded on how one studies the world as God created it Other writings talk
about growing in character rom enduring hardships such as persecution Again
the point is not to ocus on the personal gain rom such growth but on the ul-timate goal the remade hardship-ree creation one is destined to
Te Bible and duty Various biblical writings urge their readers to treat
others as people rather than objects but they do so in a manner that takes
into consideration the railties o the environment people live in and the
realities o human existence and weakness encouraging readers to be aware
o their own Tough obedience itsel in some contexts may be perceived
as a duty urther probing o those contexts ofen discloses that obedience
flows more out o a sincere relationship with God and a high regard or
others than rom a sense o resolute duty-bound obligation
Te Bible and divine command theory Te Bible is also ull o com-
mands But many o those commands come in specifically defined contexts
that are not meant to apply directly to people in most contemporaneous
settings And outside o those contexts much o what is ofen regarded as
command is really instructional advice which is quite a different orm o
expressionmdashordering someone to ldquoSlow downrdquo is not the same as advisingsomeone to ldquoake your timerdquo yet both communicate what grammarians call
imperatives Further much o the Biblersquos advice appears in contexts that
point to clear supporting reasons behind it Focusing on the advice without
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852025
dealing with its supporting rationale misses the actual ethics being advanced
Finally there are many ethical topics about which the Bible does not issue
any direct command or instruction leaving readers with no guidance orworse as we have already seen leading people to twist the Biblersquos words into
making points not really there Discovering Godrsquos will emerges as a major
concern in some o the writings we will explore or their ethics But we will
see how doing that leads a person beyond a search or direct statements or
interpretive moral rulings
When people probe the Bible to learn what it might say about a certain
moral topic they are really acting under a basic assumption o divine
command theory an act is right or wrong because God says so852017852018 And yet
without ever having read the Bible people all over the world have views
similar to biblical writingsrsquo views about the morality o certain acts A sense
o right and wrong can exist independent o the Bible In this book we will
proceed under the assumption that an act is not right or wrong just because
the Bible says so Te Bible says so ofen because the act is right or wrong Why
is an act right or wrong Answering that rom the Biblersquos writings will put
readers in touch with the ethics those writings advanceTe observations rom the previous paragraphs should not lessen any
respect that a reader gives to biblical texts Tey should in act increase it
Te writings o the Bible encourage more than they ofen receive credit or
Troughout the variety o ethical approaches we will examine in this book
we will see attitudes expressed by biblical texts that expect their words to be
taken seriously precisely because they are connected to God who is trust-
worthy who has made the world with purpose and who is in the process o
moving its events to an ultimate restorative climax Doing something be-
cause one is prompted by a saying in a biblical text is an attitude encouraged
directly by the words o the Biblersquos writings But studying biblical ethics
means much more than searching or and then obeying divinely established
commands or discovering what the Bible says about a topic Tat may some-
times be a good starting point but the Biblersquos words ofen lead its readers to
think about how to do even more than they say directly People who care
about the Bible should let their ethical vision be shaped by that
A V983137983154983145983141983156983161 983151983142 E983156983144983145983139983155 983137983150983140 983137 C983151983150983155983145983155983156983141983150983156 M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161
Te Bible is not a book written by a single author with a collection o chapters
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reflecting a beginning a middle and an end It is a collection o writings
emerging over a large time span and produced by a wide variety o authors
nearly one third o whom are not identified It alls into two unequal por-tions (1048625) the much larger Hebrew Bible (or to Christians the Old estament)
the product o hundreds o years o activity ocusing on the people o Israel
and their covenant with God and (1048626) the New estament produced within
the second hal o the first century 983139983141 or 983137983140 the writings o which all
reflect issues and events related to the person named Jesus the Christ Many
o the writings o both estaments disclose threads o an unolding story to
which they persistently connect divulging an emerging divine plan Some
writings connect to that plan with more detail than others And not all o
the writings try to advance that unolding story
In this book we are probing only our broad sections o biblical ethics (1048625)
Te orah (minus Numbers) and (1048626) proverbial wisdom rom the Old es-
tament (852019) two o the Gospels (Luke and Matthew) and (1048628) two o Paulrsquos
letters (1048625 Corinthians and Romans) rom the New estament8520171048627 Prophetic
thought rom Isaiah in the Old estament will be addressed briefly as well
not or separate ethical inquiry as much as to bridge the ethical worlds oorah and the Gospels Immediately some may ault this listing as incom-
plete and too limiting852017852020 Yes it is But these our basic sections each have
broad unique identifiable eatures that disclose significant depth o ethical
thought What orah communicates ethically is quite distinct rom what
Proverbs conveys And though the Gospels o Luke and Matthew each display
their own special ethical approaches their similarities offer a significantly
different slant rom what Paul advances We will be looking at our distinct
emphases covenant consequences kingdom and transormation Te Bible
does not portray a single unitary ethical vision We see multiple visions each
connecting people with God who has made the world and will remake it
Evidence within the biblical writings suggests that all our o the ap-
proaches we are exploring can interact not only with each other but with
those biblical approaches that we are not exploring in this book8520171048629 We are
looking at a useul basic starting point Tose wanting to pursue a uller
range o approaches and thought orms can then build rom hereRecognizing that there are different complementary ways o thinking ad-
vocated by biblical texts should give Bible readers a greater appreciation or
the richness o thought the writings encourage It should also caution them
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What Is Biblical Ethics 8520191048625
about the shallowness o approaches that disregard that variety in avor o
coming up with a ldquobiblicalrdquo position about a moral topic Tough one might
be able to discern common moral perspectives on some issues one would bemissing out on the ethical reasoning individual sets o writings advance
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Many biblical writings invite their readers to distinguish right rom wrong
Tough the Bible does not speak univocally (ie with one voice) its writings
display a remarkably consistent concern or distinguishing right rom wrong
even within the diversity o their expressions Consider the ollowing state-
ments rom a wide range o biblical books all but one o which we will
eventually survey
Moses the leader o Godrsquos people in the orah instructs them concerning
Godrsquos commands
In Proverbs a ather instructs his son
You must observe them diligently for this will show your wisdom and discernment
to the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say ldquoSurely this great
nation is a wise and discerning peoplerdquo For what other great nation has a god sonear to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him And what other great
nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before
you today Deut 46-8
Do not enter the path of the wicked
and do not walk in the way of evildoers
Avoid it do not go on it
turn away from it and pass on
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble
For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn
which shines brighter and brighter until full day
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness
they do not know what they stumble over Prov 414-19
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When accusing Israelite people o a series o wrongdoings the prophet
Isaiah writes
In one Gospel Jesus invites hearers to accept a set o his teachings many
o which address moral behavior
When disturbed that believers in Corinth are not distinguishing rightrom wrong that churchrsquos ounder Paul says
In a totally independent writing when disturbed at the immaturity dis-
played by his readersrsquo willingness to wander away rom the aith the writer
o the epistle to the Hebrews identifies spiritually mature as
Biblical writings clearly advocate that people distinguish moral right
rom moral wrongTat said letrsquos note once more how ocusing on ethics to the exclusion o
other issues is potentially misleading We will see that immediately in ex-
ploring the first part o the Bible the orah In Deuteronomy or example we
Ah you who call evil good
and good evil
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter Is 520
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads
to destruction and there are many who take it For the gate is narrow and the road
is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it Mt 713-14
Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one be-
liever and another but a believer goes to court against a believermdashand before
unbelievers at that 1 Cor 65-6
those whose faculties have been trained by
practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 514
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852019
will find activities identified as evil that our working definition o ethics would
call immoral alse witness adultery kidnapping (Deut 10486258520251048625852025 1048626104862610486261048626 10486261048628852023) But
that same writing identifies alse prophets and idolaters with the same labelmdashevil (Deut 1048625852019852021 1048625852023852023) Are idolaters and alse prophets immoral or something
else Elsewhere in the Bible we will see ethical activity such as loving enemies
(Mt 85202110486281048628-1048628852022) placed on the same reward level as acilitating the work o those
who spread the message o the kingdom (Mt 1048625104862410486281048624-10486281048626) Is supporting the
spread o the kingdomrsquos message moral or something else Biblical writings
ofen portray a more integrated view about lie than our strict definitions allow
We might like to put certain decisions into an ethics box Living in relationship
with the Biblersquos God is all encompassing not easily separable into box-like
categoriesmdasha worship box a sacrifice box a religion box an ethics box
So why are we doing this Because the list o statements we have just
looked at is one piece o evidence among many we will see that encourages
us to think ethically as a natural way o living in relationship with God
Failure to live in ways that emerge out o our definition o ethics is regularly
condemned in biblical writings (eg Is 104862510486251048624-1048625852023 Mt 10486268520191048626852019-10486261048628) But living in
relationship with God involves much more than ethics Our study o ethicsshould not keep us rom realizing that
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155 T983141983150983140983155 983156983151 983138983141 M983145983139983154983151983141983156983144983145983139983137983148
Ethicists generally do not use the expression microethical or its noun micro-
ethics Tose terms are unique to our discussions here Tey appeal to con-
cepts rom the world o economics Economists speak o microeconomics
and macroeconomics Te ormer reers to how people interact in day-to-
day business transactions Whenever people buy or sell items rom a store
they are engaging in microeconomics Te latter reers to larger national
and global issues that determine economic policies set by governments
Whenever people announce state or national employment figures or
whenever people are concerned about the prime rate being set by the Federal
Reserve Bank they are dealing with macroeconomics
Similar concepts are being applied here Microethics reers to what people
do when they interact directly with someone else ldquoShould I be kind or rudeto that woman who wonrsquot give me the time o dayrdquo ldquoShould I get angry at that
man who just cut me off in traffic or should I simply smile pleasantlyrdquo
ldquoShould I join in the conversation about our riend who is not present or
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should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
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Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 1129
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 1229
What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852025
so in ways that dey uninormed popular-level assumptions When exam-
ining the Biblersquos words in their actual contexts readers will make surprising
observations that may dey their assumptions about the sense o religionadvocated by the Biblersquos varied writings For example eternal rewards and
punishments concerns with lie afer death even hell avoidance and
heaven attainment are generally side issues in the Bible (When we explore
the Gospel o Matthew though we will see aspects o those issues empha-
sized) And in those ew places in the Bible where hell is reerred to it is
portrayed not as a scare or bribery tactic but as a serious outcome or the
end o the age What happens to a person upon dying is scarcely a topic in
the Bible even i it becomes so or some expressions o Christianity so
closely connected to those writings Let Bible readers beware when ob-
served careully the words o the Bible will reveal criticize and correct their
sloppy religious assumptions
Now i biblical writings advocate various approaches to ethics that flow
out o peoplersquos relationship with God and i that God is neither a brute
authoritarian parent demanding rote obedience nor a weak manipulative
parent threatening with punishment and bribing with rewards what do weactually see Letrsquos look briefly at the first writing Genesis
Our original introduction to God in that writing displays the Creator
whose acts resemble more those o a beneficent monarch or king than o a
parent1048627 Tat king commands and it is so Even more revealing that king
evaluates to see that all is good Tat kingly activity results in an ordered
creation that humans are asked collectively to manage When we see God
instructing the first human a man known eventually as Adam he issues a
specific charge ldquoYou may reely eat o every tree o the garden but o the
tree o the knowledge o good and evil you shall not eat or in the day that
you eat o it you shall dierdquo (Gen 10486261048625852022-1048625852023)
Notice first o all that this is not an ethical scenario Rather this shows
a boundary-setting restriction Tat is important to observe Why Not
everything in the Bible is about ethics Tink about it What is inherently
wrong in eating ruit O course this is a particular kind o ruitmdasha unique
kind in act that is said to give ldquoknowledge o good and evilrdquo importantcategories or ethics But eating it is said to have severe consequencesmdash
death Certainly the rationale eventually offered or disobeying Godrsquos
command has implications or ethics ldquoWhen the woman saw that the tree
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What Is Biblical Ethics 10486261048625
speciic situations but are not inherently morally right or wrong hose
behaviors may all into the areas o cultural customs and manners or
even situation-speciic instructions but not ethics When consideringmorally neutral behaviors we will have to consider the ethics o pur-
suing those behaviors knowing that someone might be bothered or the
ethics o orcing people to conorm to neutral standards however im-
portant those standards may be culturally or religiously to those en-
orcing them
It will also require people recognizing that some o their own culturally
or religiously conditioned behaviors may actually be neutral not genu-
inely moral People should not expect biblical writings to affirm their own
culturersquos manners and expectations For example being prompt or timely
an important cultural value or some people in the West today is not really
an issue that alls into the category o ethics even though it may be wise
to be prompt in many circumstances amiliar to us Itrsquos really only a
culture-bound value near and dear to many people Certainly biblical
writings donrsquot count promptness among the issues that God cares about
Being impatient with others or being late however would be So also is areusal to honor anotherrsquos known sense o timeliness by insisting on having
onersquos own way
What we will see throughout the Bible is the notion that how a person
chooses to respond to God affects the kind o person he or she becomes
Tus those who aim to do what God wants are ethical people because much
o what God is said to want is also what most people would consider to be
good ethical behavior and because throughout the span o biblical writings
God is portrayed as being in the business o restoring rightness to his cre-
ation In the world o the Bible those who choose to dey God do not know
how to act consistently as ethical people because they have chosen to cut
themselves off rom the ways and plans o God and thus are incomplete in
their sense o what right and wrong behavior actually include
Obeying God trusting God having aith in God and responding to God
are all central issues to the Bible issues that affect the ethics that its varied
writings promote How one responds to God is reflected in a personrsquos ethicsIn act expect to see repeatedly how those who respond to God are ofen
shown as good responders by doing ethical acts Tose who disregard God
are ofen shown as bad responders with the unethical acts they perorm
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Ultimately what we see throughout the Bible are sets o ethics rooted
in peoplersquos relationship with Godmdashan ethic o relationship1048629 Doing good
flows out o a person coming to know God and growing in that rela-tionship with God Doing wrong shows how out o touch a person is with
God Biblical writings are ull o the language o devotion and com-
mitment It is not a mindless devotion but one that is highly attractive
showing people interacting with a God who gives cares and accepts even
i that God also has high standards or those who are connected to him
Tose standards are ofen shown to lead to personal well-being or those
who interact with God
Significantly because peoplersquos relating to God is the one constant advo-
cated by the varieties o biblical writings how God relates to people also
merits consideration Biblical writings offer hope and restoration or those
who mess up An important element o that is a concept known as repen-
tance people turning away rom their evil and embracing Godrsquos good
Along with that are grace receiving good rom God when one deserves the
opposite and mercy receiving good rom God when one is in a decidedly
weak position A sense o hope also emerges as a central eature o biblicalethics People are allowed to be works in progress Expect to discover im-
perect people in biblical writings people who as they draw close to God
also become better people in the process even i many o them have rough
edges In the world o the Bible God never rejects people who call on him
M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161 V983141983154983155983157983155 E983156983144983145983139983155
People ofen use the concepts o morality and ethics interchangeably
Morals generally reer to a personrsquos awareness o right and wrong A
moral person does the right kind o behavior in the sense we have been
probing here advancing good on the world while reraining rom what
inflicts harm For that reason some people would say that a moral person
is also ethical
A moral person may be doing what is right but may not know clearly
what makes the activity right or why she or he should do that right By con-
trast ethics as we discuss it here deals with how to distinguish right romwrong and why someone should do the right and hinder the wrong In
exploring the Bible we will see many statements weighing in on the moral
rightness or wrongness o various behaviors But we wonrsquot stop there We
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852019
will look or the ethics that will indicate what makes the activity right or
wrong and that offer rationale and motivation or engaging in the right ac-
tivity or reraining rom the wrong Moral people do what is right So dopeople who have ethics but they also know why1048630
Te distinction between morality and ethics is an important one wo
people can share the same moral convictions but they could easily have very
different ethics How Because the ethics will explain the answer to the
question Why is that wrong For example in the world that produced the
New estament section o the Bible Greek and Roman philosophers com-
monly discussed the moral wrongness o being guided by our passions
Toughtless passions lead people to do the wrong things One writer Paul
whose ethics we will explore in chapters nine and ten would basically agree
that people acting out their passions leads to misbehavior But i you asked
both sets o people why being guided by passion is wrong you would get
two entirely different sets o answers Paulrsquos answer connects directly to his
awareness o the crucifixion and resurrection o Jesus Te philosophers
know nothing o Jesus Teir answers are linked to their view o the psy-
chology o the soul Tough we might think we see moral agreement be-tween Paul and philosophers we see totally different ethics We will see the
same thing in the Bible itsel Te various places we will explore will re-
quently show common moral standards but different ethics Ethics and mo-
rality are not the same
Te Biblersquos writings do communicate a strong set o morals But they do
much more than that Tey portray genuine ethics Tey show ways o lie
stemming rom people living in attractive relationship with the true and
living God Reasons or living morally appear regularly either stated or
implied because relationship with God is portrayed as wonderully good
and genuinely healthy Relationship with God ultimately involves partici-
pating in Godrsquos process o remaking the world a world filled with bro-
kenness exhibited in and stemming rom human misbehavior As we probe
biblical texts we will discover ethical systems that are intriguing inviting
enlightening and uplifing People who read the Bible well will not only
have a stronger sense o what is right and wrong they will realize why ac-cording to those writings they also should do right and why living that
right is so ulfilling
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SUMMING IT UP
What is ethics
o Ethics reers to how a person distinguishes right rom
wrong behavior
o Ethics is also concerned with the reasons or why a
person should choose what is good and abstain rom
what is not
o Te kind o behavior that ethics is concerned with gen-erally is behavior that advances good or hinders harm
in onersquos world
What do we mean by biblical ethics
o With biblical ethics one is concerned with discerning
the kinds o behavior biblical writings indicate are right
and wrong
o One is also concerned with both how according to bib-
lical writings to distinguish right rom wrong and why
its readers should do right and rerain rom wrong
o Biblical ethics begins with describing what biblical
writings communicate ethically Only then can people see
how those ethics might apply to their lives prescriptively
o
Ethics is not the central concern o biblical writings o Other behaviors besides ethical behaviors are dealt
with in the Bible
o How people connect meaningully with God is a central
concern o biblical writings
o Ethics in the Bible flows primarily out o peoplersquos
healthy relationship with God
o Ethics in the Bible offers hope or those who recognize
their error and turn to God
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852021
A983148983156983141983154983150983137983156983145983158983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155
Ethical questions and dilemmas appear consistently and prominently within
human history Some o the ethical systems Western civilizations developed
to address those concerns are worth noting briefly as a way o comparing
how biblical writings offer both similarities to and dissimilarities rom
them1048631 Some o these systems actually influenced aspects o ethics as oundin parts o the Bible Others o these have themselves been influenced by the
sense o right and wrong ound in biblical writings
Virtue ethics Also closely related to what is called ldquocharacter ethicsrdquo
virtue ethics ocus on what kind o person one should become in order to
attain a higher goal such as happiness or well-being emphasizing various
virtues (eg courage wisdom justice sel-control kindness orbearance
riendliness modesty)852024 Conversely there are vices that one should avoid
(eg cowardice olly wrongness sel-indulgence meanness short-
temperedness diffidence extravagance) Many o those good character
qualities are learned rom observing people who are considered to be good
or by repeated practice o virtuous activities Discussions o virtues and
vices were especially important to the ancient Greeks and Romans Some
writings in the New estament reflect awareness o the ruit o such discus-
sions but also offer their own unique perspectives on virtues and vices
Ethical egoism Also coming rom ancient Greece ethical egoism advocatespursuing behaviors with outcomes that maximize personal pleasure while
minimizing personal pain Rather than resorting to out-and-out hedonism (ie
selfish pleasure seeking) the point here is to evaluate long-term outcomes or
How is morality different from ethics
o Morality is simply knowing what is right and what is
wrong
o Ethics involves both the reasoning or distinguishing
right rom wrong and the motivations or doing what
is right and hindering what is wrong
o Biblical writings regularly portray genuine ethics not
mere morality
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consequences Some immediate pleasures may result in such horrible pain in
the end that they should be avoided altogether But some pain may be necessary
to endure in order to attain the benefit o a long-term pleasureUtilitarianism Utilitarianism is similar to ethical egoism with its concern
or maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain but does so with societies in
view not merely the individual Whatever advances pleasure or the greatest
number o people is to be preerred Further it recognizes that there are
higher-order pleasures in lie beyond mere physical gratification Peoplersquos
ailure to exercise their minds or their pursuit o personal selfishness are two
major obstacles to good being advanced In current popular everyday
practice both ethical egoistic and utilitarian ways o thinking can lead
people to line up physical psychological and sociological conclusions in
order to prove that a genuine pleasure is being advanced or pain is being
avoided But sometimes those conclusions prove more tentative than their
communicators may indicate at the time especially when they are really
interested in justiying their own misbehavior
Duty With duty one should do what is right and rerain rom what is wrong
because that is the most reasonable orm o activity to pursue as a thinkinghuman being One has a duty to live consistently with onersquos being Right and
wrong are independent o human existence Right corresponds with what is
true to pursue what is alse is sel-contradictory and internally inconsistent
Practically speaking living by duty means unctioning in a world o beings As
a human being one has a duty to recognize people as people Whenever one
treats another or even onesel solely as an object one is violating onersquos duty to
a ellow creature Tis way o thinking partly resembles a well-known maxim
attributed to Jesus ofen called the Golden RulemdashldquoDo to others as you would
have them do to yourdquo But it has little regard or people thinking empathetically
about others with a desired ideal good or them the way Jesusrsquo words do
Divine command theory Divine command theory assumes that rightness
comes directly rom divinity and whatever any divinity commands the re-
ligious person must obey When applied to the Bible this approach assumes
that the Bible is ull o commands meant to be obeyed So as a reader one
should look diligently or those commands Whatever is commanded mustbe ollowed because it comes rom God o obey God is to do what is right
o disobey God is to do what is wrong While to many this would seem to
be biblical ethics in a nutshell it alls short by not seeing how biblical ethics
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852023
involves much more than obeying commands Ofen associated with this
approach at the popular level is an attitude that treats the Bible as a sort o
guiding constitution to scan or moral rulings discovering ldquowhat the Biblesaysrdquo about a topic then becomes the primary pursuit
eleology Many o these approaches to ethics also try to organize lie
around a ocused goal a teleological approach For example or some virtue
ethicists and ethical egoists achieving a orm o happiness or well-being is
the goal or which virtues are exercised or pain is minimized By contrast
the approach emphasizing duty regards the duty to be right all by itsel in-
dependent o any ultimate human goal or ideal
E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155 983137983150983140 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Te Bible and teleology In the Bible we will see varieties o teleological
thought stronger in some places than in others Concerns or example with
conormity to the created order or to Godrsquos merciul acts in a moment known
as the exodus are common in the first writings we will probe1048633 Even stronger
will be the awareness that lie is advancing toward a uture ultimate moment
o reordering a major component to the later writings being studied hereTe Bible and virtue ethics Tere are many places where biblical writings
champion conormity to a good character model852017852016 But good character is
advanced neither as a means to some sort o end nor merely as an end in
itsel the way it is in traditional virtue ethics Obtaining good lie outcomes
or avoiding bad ones is not the main goal o being good Rather good char-
acter in biblical writings is ofen seen as a reflection o the God who is being
served It is both an outcome o associating with God and a measuring stick
o how in touch one is with God Further in addition to character issues
biblical texts also champion specific behaviors such as taking care o the
poor standing up or the weak or loving the unlovely Tose behaviors may
reflect good character but they are to be done regardless o onersquos overall
character Many in Christianity have traditionally thought o love as a virtue
But biblical writings ofen ocus on love as an activity even a responsibility
Attention to character ormation is a major topic o discussion or scholars
examining the use o the Bible in ethics852017852017 Tat would be close to virtue ethicsbut not identical It ocuses on how encouragement in the practice o certain
biblical instructions shapes the lives o those who do them influencing what
kind o people they become Like virtue ethics this recognizes that a person
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must be trained in the right way o living to be able to become good It does
receive major support rom the Biblersquos writings themselves which encourage
a liestyle that is always growing in its awareness o God and Godrsquos desiresor humans Still the ethics o the parts o the Bible we will explore here will
also provide more than material or character ormation Tey will also
provide guidelines that help people make reasoned decisions about the
rightness and wrongness o certain activities as they ponder them
Te Bible ethical egoism and utilitarianism Some biblical writings promote
appraising harmul or beneficial outcomes o behaviors in ways that may seem
to resemble the ethical egoist or the utilitarian Tey tend to do so to show the
wisdom or olly o certain activities or to speak approvingly o advancing the
goodness or well-being o onersquos neighbor Tey do not make the avoidance o
personal pain or the acquisition o personal pleasure the ultimate goal Rather
they measure consequences observed rom the activities o others and offer
advice based on what is observed to have worked and what genuinely does not
ounded on how one studies the world as God created it Other writings talk
about growing in character rom enduring hardships such as persecution Again
the point is not to ocus on the personal gain rom such growth but on the ul-timate goal the remade hardship-ree creation one is destined to
Te Bible and duty Various biblical writings urge their readers to treat
others as people rather than objects but they do so in a manner that takes
into consideration the railties o the environment people live in and the
realities o human existence and weakness encouraging readers to be aware
o their own Tough obedience itsel in some contexts may be perceived
as a duty urther probing o those contexts ofen discloses that obedience
flows more out o a sincere relationship with God and a high regard or
others than rom a sense o resolute duty-bound obligation
Te Bible and divine command theory Te Bible is also ull o com-
mands But many o those commands come in specifically defined contexts
that are not meant to apply directly to people in most contemporaneous
settings And outside o those contexts much o what is ofen regarded as
command is really instructional advice which is quite a different orm o
expressionmdashordering someone to ldquoSlow downrdquo is not the same as advisingsomeone to ldquoake your timerdquo yet both communicate what grammarians call
imperatives Further much o the Biblersquos advice appears in contexts that
point to clear supporting reasons behind it Focusing on the advice without
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852025
dealing with its supporting rationale misses the actual ethics being advanced
Finally there are many ethical topics about which the Bible does not issue
any direct command or instruction leaving readers with no guidance orworse as we have already seen leading people to twist the Biblersquos words into
making points not really there Discovering Godrsquos will emerges as a major
concern in some o the writings we will explore or their ethics But we will
see how doing that leads a person beyond a search or direct statements or
interpretive moral rulings
When people probe the Bible to learn what it might say about a certain
moral topic they are really acting under a basic assumption o divine
command theory an act is right or wrong because God says so852017852018 And yet
without ever having read the Bible people all over the world have views
similar to biblical writingsrsquo views about the morality o certain acts A sense
o right and wrong can exist independent o the Bible In this book we will
proceed under the assumption that an act is not right or wrong just because
the Bible says so Te Bible says so ofen because the act is right or wrong Why
is an act right or wrong Answering that rom the Biblersquos writings will put
readers in touch with the ethics those writings advanceTe observations rom the previous paragraphs should not lessen any
respect that a reader gives to biblical texts Tey should in act increase it
Te writings o the Bible encourage more than they ofen receive credit or
Troughout the variety o ethical approaches we will examine in this book
we will see attitudes expressed by biblical texts that expect their words to be
taken seriously precisely because they are connected to God who is trust-
worthy who has made the world with purpose and who is in the process o
moving its events to an ultimate restorative climax Doing something be-
cause one is prompted by a saying in a biblical text is an attitude encouraged
directly by the words o the Biblersquos writings But studying biblical ethics
means much more than searching or and then obeying divinely established
commands or discovering what the Bible says about a topic Tat may some-
times be a good starting point but the Biblersquos words ofen lead its readers to
think about how to do even more than they say directly People who care
about the Bible should let their ethical vision be shaped by that
A V983137983154983145983141983156983161 983151983142 E983156983144983145983139983155 983137983150983140 983137 C983151983150983155983145983155983156983141983150983156 M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161
Te Bible is not a book written by a single author with a collection o chapters
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reflecting a beginning a middle and an end It is a collection o writings
emerging over a large time span and produced by a wide variety o authors
nearly one third o whom are not identified It alls into two unequal por-tions (1048625) the much larger Hebrew Bible (or to Christians the Old estament)
the product o hundreds o years o activity ocusing on the people o Israel
and their covenant with God and (1048626) the New estament produced within
the second hal o the first century 983139983141 or 983137983140 the writings o which all
reflect issues and events related to the person named Jesus the Christ Many
o the writings o both estaments disclose threads o an unolding story to
which they persistently connect divulging an emerging divine plan Some
writings connect to that plan with more detail than others And not all o
the writings try to advance that unolding story
In this book we are probing only our broad sections o biblical ethics (1048625)
Te orah (minus Numbers) and (1048626) proverbial wisdom rom the Old es-
tament (852019) two o the Gospels (Luke and Matthew) and (1048628) two o Paulrsquos
letters (1048625 Corinthians and Romans) rom the New estament8520171048627 Prophetic
thought rom Isaiah in the Old estament will be addressed briefly as well
not or separate ethical inquiry as much as to bridge the ethical worlds oorah and the Gospels Immediately some may ault this listing as incom-
plete and too limiting852017852020 Yes it is But these our basic sections each have
broad unique identifiable eatures that disclose significant depth o ethical
thought What orah communicates ethically is quite distinct rom what
Proverbs conveys And though the Gospels o Luke and Matthew each display
their own special ethical approaches their similarities offer a significantly
different slant rom what Paul advances We will be looking at our distinct
emphases covenant consequences kingdom and transormation Te Bible
does not portray a single unitary ethical vision We see multiple visions each
connecting people with God who has made the world and will remake it
Evidence within the biblical writings suggests that all our o the ap-
proaches we are exploring can interact not only with each other but with
those biblical approaches that we are not exploring in this book8520171048629 We are
looking at a useul basic starting point Tose wanting to pursue a uller
range o approaches and thought orms can then build rom hereRecognizing that there are different complementary ways o thinking ad-
vocated by biblical texts should give Bible readers a greater appreciation or
the richness o thought the writings encourage It should also caution them
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What Is Biblical Ethics 8520191048625
about the shallowness o approaches that disregard that variety in avor o
coming up with a ldquobiblicalrdquo position about a moral topic Tough one might
be able to discern common moral perspectives on some issues one would bemissing out on the ethical reasoning individual sets o writings advance
S983151983149983141 L983145983149983145983156983137983156983145983151983150983155 983151983142 T983144983145983155 A983152983152983154983151983137983139983144
Many biblical writings invite their readers to distinguish right rom wrong
Tough the Bible does not speak univocally (ie with one voice) its writings
display a remarkably consistent concern or distinguishing right rom wrong
even within the diversity o their expressions Consider the ollowing state-
ments rom a wide range o biblical books all but one o which we will
eventually survey
Moses the leader o Godrsquos people in the orah instructs them concerning
Godrsquos commands
In Proverbs a ather instructs his son
You must observe them diligently for this will show your wisdom and discernment
to the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say ldquoSurely this great
nation is a wise and discerning peoplerdquo For what other great nation has a god sonear to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him And what other great
nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before
you today Deut 46-8
Do not enter the path of the wicked
and do not walk in the way of evildoers
Avoid it do not go on it
turn away from it and pass on
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble
For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn
which shines brighter and brighter until full day
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness
they do not know what they stumble over Prov 414-19
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When accusing Israelite people o a series o wrongdoings the prophet
Isaiah writes
In one Gospel Jesus invites hearers to accept a set o his teachings many
o which address moral behavior
When disturbed that believers in Corinth are not distinguishing rightrom wrong that churchrsquos ounder Paul says
In a totally independent writing when disturbed at the immaturity dis-
played by his readersrsquo willingness to wander away rom the aith the writer
o the epistle to the Hebrews identifies spiritually mature as
Biblical writings clearly advocate that people distinguish moral right
rom moral wrongTat said letrsquos note once more how ocusing on ethics to the exclusion o
other issues is potentially misleading We will see that immediately in ex-
ploring the first part o the Bible the orah In Deuteronomy or example we
Ah you who call evil good
and good evil
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter Is 520
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads
to destruction and there are many who take it For the gate is narrow and the road
is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it Mt 713-14
Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one be-
liever and another but a believer goes to court against a believermdashand before
unbelievers at that 1 Cor 65-6
those whose faculties have been trained by
practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 514
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852019
will find activities identified as evil that our working definition o ethics would
call immoral alse witness adultery kidnapping (Deut 10486258520251048625852025 1048626104862610486261048626 10486261048628852023) But
that same writing identifies alse prophets and idolaters with the same labelmdashevil (Deut 1048625852019852021 1048625852023852023) Are idolaters and alse prophets immoral or something
else Elsewhere in the Bible we will see ethical activity such as loving enemies
(Mt 85202110486281048628-1048628852022) placed on the same reward level as acilitating the work o those
who spread the message o the kingdom (Mt 1048625104862410486281048624-10486281048626) Is supporting the
spread o the kingdomrsquos message moral or something else Biblical writings
ofen portray a more integrated view about lie than our strict definitions allow
We might like to put certain decisions into an ethics box Living in relationship
with the Biblersquos God is all encompassing not easily separable into box-like
categoriesmdasha worship box a sacrifice box a religion box an ethics box
So why are we doing this Because the list o statements we have just
looked at is one piece o evidence among many we will see that encourages
us to think ethically as a natural way o living in relationship with God
Failure to live in ways that emerge out o our definition o ethics is regularly
condemned in biblical writings (eg Is 104862510486251048624-1048625852023 Mt 10486268520191048626852019-10486261048628) But living in
relationship with God involves much more than ethics Our study o ethicsshould not keep us rom realizing that
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155 T983141983150983140983155 983156983151 983138983141 M983145983139983154983151983141983156983144983145983139983137983148
Ethicists generally do not use the expression microethical or its noun micro-
ethics Tose terms are unique to our discussions here Tey appeal to con-
cepts rom the world o economics Economists speak o microeconomics
and macroeconomics Te ormer reers to how people interact in day-to-
day business transactions Whenever people buy or sell items rom a store
they are engaging in microeconomics Te latter reers to larger national
and global issues that determine economic policies set by governments
Whenever people announce state or national employment figures or
whenever people are concerned about the prime rate being set by the Federal
Reserve Bank they are dealing with macroeconomics
Similar concepts are being applied here Microethics reers to what people
do when they interact directly with someone else ldquoShould I be kind or rudeto that woman who wonrsquot give me the time o dayrdquo ldquoShould I get angry at that
man who just cut me off in traffic or should I simply smile pleasantlyrdquo
ldquoShould I join in the conversation about our riend who is not present or
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should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
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Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048625852025
so in ways that dey uninormed popular-level assumptions When exam-
ining the Biblersquos words in their actual contexts readers will make surprising
observations that may dey their assumptions about the sense o religionadvocated by the Biblersquos varied writings For example eternal rewards and
punishments concerns with lie afer death even hell avoidance and
heaven attainment are generally side issues in the Bible (When we explore
the Gospel o Matthew though we will see aspects o those issues empha-
sized) And in those ew places in the Bible where hell is reerred to it is
portrayed not as a scare or bribery tactic but as a serious outcome or the
end o the age What happens to a person upon dying is scarcely a topic in
the Bible even i it becomes so or some expressions o Christianity so
closely connected to those writings Let Bible readers beware when ob-
served careully the words o the Bible will reveal criticize and correct their
sloppy religious assumptions
Now i biblical writings advocate various approaches to ethics that flow
out o peoplersquos relationship with God and i that God is neither a brute
authoritarian parent demanding rote obedience nor a weak manipulative
parent threatening with punishment and bribing with rewards what do weactually see Letrsquos look briefly at the first writing Genesis
Our original introduction to God in that writing displays the Creator
whose acts resemble more those o a beneficent monarch or king than o a
parent1048627 Tat king commands and it is so Even more revealing that king
evaluates to see that all is good Tat kingly activity results in an ordered
creation that humans are asked collectively to manage When we see God
instructing the first human a man known eventually as Adam he issues a
specific charge ldquoYou may reely eat o every tree o the garden but o the
tree o the knowledge o good and evil you shall not eat or in the day that
you eat o it you shall dierdquo (Gen 10486261048625852022-1048625852023)
Notice first o all that this is not an ethical scenario Rather this shows
a boundary-setting restriction Tat is important to observe Why Not
everything in the Bible is about ethics Tink about it What is inherently
wrong in eating ruit O course this is a particular kind o ruitmdasha unique
kind in act that is said to give ldquoknowledge o good and evilrdquo importantcategories or ethics But eating it is said to have severe consequencesmdash
death Certainly the rationale eventually offered or disobeying Godrsquos
command has implications or ethics ldquoWhen the woman saw that the tree
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8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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What Is Biblical Ethics 10486261048625
speciic situations but are not inherently morally right or wrong hose
behaviors may all into the areas o cultural customs and manners or
even situation-speciic instructions but not ethics When consideringmorally neutral behaviors we will have to consider the ethics o pur-
suing those behaviors knowing that someone might be bothered or the
ethics o orcing people to conorm to neutral standards however im-
portant those standards may be culturally or religiously to those en-
orcing them
It will also require people recognizing that some o their own culturally
or religiously conditioned behaviors may actually be neutral not genu-
inely moral People should not expect biblical writings to affirm their own
culturersquos manners and expectations For example being prompt or timely
an important cultural value or some people in the West today is not really
an issue that alls into the category o ethics even though it may be wise
to be prompt in many circumstances amiliar to us Itrsquos really only a
culture-bound value near and dear to many people Certainly biblical
writings donrsquot count promptness among the issues that God cares about
Being impatient with others or being late however would be So also is areusal to honor anotherrsquos known sense o timeliness by insisting on having
onersquos own way
What we will see throughout the Bible is the notion that how a person
chooses to respond to God affects the kind o person he or she becomes
Tus those who aim to do what God wants are ethical people because much
o what God is said to want is also what most people would consider to be
good ethical behavior and because throughout the span o biblical writings
God is portrayed as being in the business o restoring rightness to his cre-
ation In the world o the Bible those who choose to dey God do not know
how to act consistently as ethical people because they have chosen to cut
themselves off rom the ways and plans o God and thus are incomplete in
their sense o what right and wrong behavior actually include
Obeying God trusting God having aith in God and responding to God
are all central issues to the Bible issues that affect the ethics that its varied
writings promote How one responds to God is reflected in a personrsquos ethicsIn act expect to see repeatedly how those who respond to God are ofen
shown as good responders by doing ethical acts Tose who disregard God
are ofen shown as bad responders with the unethical acts they perorm
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Ultimately what we see throughout the Bible are sets o ethics rooted
in peoplersquos relationship with Godmdashan ethic o relationship1048629 Doing good
flows out o a person coming to know God and growing in that rela-tionship with God Doing wrong shows how out o touch a person is with
God Biblical writings are ull o the language o devotion and com-
mitment It is not a mindless devotion but one that is highly attractive
showing people interacting with a God who gives cares and accepts even
i that God also has high standards or those who are connected to him
Tose standards are ofen shown to lead to personal well-being or those
who interact with God
Significantly because peoplersquos relating to God is the one constant advo-
cated by the varieties o biblical writings how God relates to people also
merits consideration Biblical writings offer hope and restoration or those
who mess up An important element o that is a concept known as repen-
tance people turning away rom their evil and embracing Godrsquos good
Along with that are grace receiving good rom God when one deserves the
opposite and mercy receiving good rom God when one is in a decidedly
weak position A sense o hope also emerges as a central eature o biblicalethics People are allowed to be works in progress Expect to discover im-
perect people in biblical writings people who as they draw close to God
also become better people in the process even i many o them have rough
edges In the world o the Bible God never rejects people who call on him
M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161 V983141983154983155983157983155 E983156983144983145983139983155
People ofen use the concepts o morality and ethics interchangeably
Morals generally reer to a personrsquos awareness o right and wrong A
moral person does the right kind o behavior in the sense we have been
probing here advancing good on the world while reraining rom what
inflicts harm For that reason some people would say that a moral person
is also ethical
A moral person may be doing what is right but may not know clearly
what makes the activity right or why she or he should do that right By con-
trast ethics as we discuss it here deals with how to distinguish right romwrong and why someone should do the right and hinder the wrong In
exploring the Bible we will see many statements weighing in on the moral
rightness or wrongness o various behaviors But we wonrsquot stop there We
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852019
will look or the ethics that will indicate what makes the activity right or
wrong and that offer rationale and motivation or engaging in the right ac-
tivity or reraining rom the wrong Moral people do what is right So dopeople who have ethics but they also know why1048630
Te distinction between morality and ethics is an important one wo
people can share the same moral convictions but they could easily have very
different ethics How Because the ethics will explain the answer to the
question Why is that wrong For example in the world that produced the
New estament section o the Bible Greek and Roman philosophers com-
monly discussed the moral wrongness o being guided by our passions
Toughtless passions lead people to do the wrong things One writer Paul
whose ethics we will explore in chapters nine and ten would basically agree
that people acting out their passions leads to misbehavior But i you asked
both sets o people why being guided by passion is wrong you would get
two entirely different sets o answers Paulrsquos answer connects directly to his
awareness o the crucifixion and resurrection o Jesus Te philosophers
know nothing o Jesus Teir answers are linked to their view o the psy-
chology o the soul Tough we might think we see moral agreement be-tween Paul and philosophers we see totally different ethics We will see the
same thing in the Bible itsel Te various places we will explore will re-
quently show common moral standards but different ethics Ethics and mo-
rality are not the same
Te Biblersquos writings do communicate a strong set o morals But they do
much more than that Tey portray genuine ethics Tey show ways o lie
stemming rom people living in attractive relationship with the true and
living God Reasons or living morally appear regularly either stated or
implied because relationship with God is portrayed as wonderully good
and genuinely healthy Relationship with God ultimately involves partici-
pating in Godrsquos process o remaking the world a world filled with bro-
kenness exhibited in and stemming rom human misbehavior As we probe
biblical texts we will discover ethical systems that are intriguing inviting
enlightening and uplifing People who read the Bible well will not only
have a stronger sense o what is right and wrong they will realize why ac-cording to those writings they also should do right and why living that
right is so ulfilling
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SUMMING IT UP
What is ethics
o Ethics reers to how a person distinguishes right rom
wrong behavior
o Ethics is also concerned with the reasons or why a
person should choose what is good and abstain rom
what is not
o Te kind o behavior that ethics is concerned with gen-erally is behavior that advances good or hinders harm
in onersquos world
What do we mean by biblical ethics
o With biblical ethics one is concerned with discerning
the kinds o behavior biblical writings indicate are right
and wrong
o One is also concerned with both how according to bib-
lical writings to distinguish right rom wrong and why
its readers should do right and rerain rom wrong
o Biblical ethics begins with describing what biblical
writings communicate ethically Only then can people see
how those ethics might apply to their lives prescriptively
o
Ethics is not the central concern o biblical writings o Other behaviors besides ethical behaviors are dealt
with in the Bible
o How people connect meaningully with God is a central
concern o biblical writings
o Ethics in the Bible flows primarily out o peoplersquos
healthy relationship with God
o Ethics in the Bible offers hope or those who recognize
their error and turn to God
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852021
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Ethical questions and dilemmas appear consistently and prominently within
human history Some o the ethical systems Western civilizations developed
to address those concerns are worth noting briefly as a way o comparing
how biblical writings offer both similarities to and dissimilarities rom
them1048631 Some o these systems actually influenced aspects o ethics as oundin parts o the Bible Others o these have themselves been influenced by the
sense o right and wrong ound in biblical writings
Virtue ethics Also closely related to what is called ldquocharacter ethicsrdquo
virtue ethics ocus on what kind o person one should become in order to
attain a higher goal such as happiness or well-being emphasizing various
virtues (eg courage wisdom justice sel-control kindness orbearance
riendliness modesty)852024 Conversely there are vices that one should avoid
(eg cowardice olly wrongness sel-indulgence meanness short-
temperedness diffidence extravagance) Many o those good character
qualities are learned rom observing people who are considered to be good
or by repeated practice o virtuous activities Discussions o virtues and
vices were especially important to the ancient Greeks and Romans Some
writings in the New estament reflect awareness o the ruit o such discus-
sions but also offer their own unique perspectives on virtues and vices
Ethical egoism Also coming rom ancient Greece ethical egoism advocatespursuing behaviors with outcomes that maximize personal pleasure while
minimizing personal pain Rather than resorting to out-and-out hedonism (ie
selfish pleasure seeking) the point here is to evaluate long-term outcomes or
How is morality different from ethics
o Morality is simply knowing what is right and what is
wrong
o Ethics involves both the reasoning or distinguishing
right rom wrong and the motivations or doing what
is right and hindering what is wrong
o Biblical writings regularly portray genuine ethics not
mere morality
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consequences Some immediate pleasures may result in such horrible pain in
the end that they should be avoided altogether But some pain may be necessary
to endure in order to attain the benefit o a long-term pleasureUtilitarianism Utilitarianism is similar to ethical egoism with its concern
or maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain but does so with societies in
view not merely the individual Whatever advances pleasure or the greatest
number o people is to be preerred Further it recognizes that there are
higher-order pleasures in lie beyond mere physical gratification Peoplersquos
ailure to exercise their minds or their pursuit o personal selfishness are two
major obstacles to good being advanced In current popular everyday
practice both ethical egoistic and utilitarian ways o thinking can lead
people to line up physical psychological and sociological conclusions in
order to prove that a genuine pleasure is being advanced or pain is being
avoided But sometimes those conclusions prove more tentative than their
communicators may indicate at the time especially when they are really
interested in justiying their own misbehavior
Duty With duty one should do what is right and rerain rom what is wrong
because that is the most reasonable orm o activity to pursue as a thinkinghuman being One has a duty to live consistently with onersquos being Right and
wrong are independent o human existence Right corresponds with what is
true to pursue what is alse is sel-contradictory and internally inconsistent
Practically speaking living by duty means unctioning in a world o beings As
a human being one has a duty to recognize people as people Whenever one
treats another or even onesel solely as an object one is violating onersquos duty to
a ellow creature Tis way o thinking partly resembles a well-known maxim
attributed to Jesus ofen called the Golden RulemdashldquoDo to others as you would
have them do to yourdquo But it has little regard or people thinking empathetically
about others with a desired ideal good or them the way Jesusrsquo words do
Divine command theory Divine command theory assumes that rightness
comes directly rom divinity and whatever any divinity commands the re-
ligious person must obey When applied to the Bible this approach assumes
that the Bible is ull o commands meant to be obeyed So as a reader one
should look diligently or those commands Whatever is commanded mustbe ollowed because it comes rom God o obey God is to do what is right
o disobey God is to do what is wrong While to many this would seem to
be biblical ethics in a nutshell it alls short by not seeing how biblical ethics
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852023
involves much more than obeying commands Ofen associated with this
approach at the popular level is an attitude that treats the Bible as a sort o
guiding constitution to scan or moral rulings discovering ldquowhat the Biblesaysrdquo about a topic then becomes the primary pursuit
eleology Many o these approaches to ethics also try to organize lie
around a ocused goal a teleological approach For example or some virtue
ethicists and ethical egoists achieving a orm o happiness or well-being is
the goal or which virtues are exercised or pain is minimized By contrast
the approach emphasizing duty regards the duty to be right all by itsel in-
dependent o any ultimate human goal or ideal
E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155 983137983150983140 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Te Bible and teleology In the Bible we will see varieties o teleological
thought stronger in some places than in others Concerns or example with
conormity to the created order or to Godrsquos merciul acts in a moment known
as the exodus are common in the first writings we will probe1048633 Even stronger
will be the awareness that lie is advancing toward a uture ultimate moment
o reordering a major component to the later writings being studied hereTe Bible and virtue ethics Tere are many places where biblical writings
champion conormity to a good character model852017852016 But good character is
advanced neither as a means to some sort o end nor merely as an end in
itsel the way it is in traditional virtue ethics Obtaining good lie outcomes
or avoiding bad ones is not the main goal o being good Rather good char-
acter in biblical writings is ofen seen as a reflection o the God who is being
served It is both an outcome o associating with God and a measuring stick
o how in touch one is with God Further in addition to character issues
biblical texts also champion specific behaviors such as taking care o the
poor standing up or the weak or loving the unlovely Tose behaviors may
reflect good character but they are to be done regardless o onersquos overall
character Many in Christianity have traditionally thought o love as a virtue
But biblical writings ofen ocus on love as an activity even a responsibility
Attention to character ormation is a major topic o discussion or scholars
examining the use o the Bible in ethics852017852017 Tat would be close to virtue ethicsbut not identical It ocuses on how encouragement in the practice o certain
biblical instructions shapes the lives o those who do them influencing what
kind o people they become Like virtue ethics this recognizes that a person
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must be trained in the right way o living to be able to become good It does
receive major support rom the Biblersquos writings themselves which encourage
a liestyle that is always growing in its awareness o God and Godrsquos desiresor humans Still the ethics o the parts o the Bible we will explore here will
also provide more than material or character ormation Tey will also
provide guidelines that help people make reasoned decisions about the
rightness and wrongness o certain activities as they ponder them
Te Bible ethical egoism and utilitarianism Some biblical writings promote
appraising harmul or beneficial outcomes o behaviors in ways that may seem
to resemble the ethical egoist or the utilitarian Tey tend to do so to show the
wisdom or olly o certain activities or to speak approvingly o advancing the
goodness or well-being o onersquos neighbor Tey do not make the avoidance o
personal pain or the acquisition o personal pleasure the ultimate goal Rather
they measure consequences observed rom the activities o others and offer
advice based on what is observed to have worked and what genuinely does not
ounded on how one studies the world as God created it Other writings talk
about growing in character rom enduring hardships such as persecution Again
the point is not to ocus on the personal gain rom such growth but on the ul-timate goal the remade hardship-ree creation one is destined to
Te Bible and duty Various biblical writings urge their readers to treat
others as people rather than objects but they do so in a manner that takes
into consideration the railties o the environment people live in and the
realities o human existence and weakness encouraging readers to be aware
o their own Tough obedience itsel in some contexts may be perceived
as a duty urther probing o those contexts ofen discloses that obedience
flows more out o a sincere relationship with God and a high regard or
others than rom a sense o resolute duty-bound obligation
Te Bible and divine command theory Te Bible is also ull o com-
mands But many o those commands come in specifically defined contexts
that are not meant to apply directly to people in most contemporaneous
settings And outside o those contexts much o what is ofen regarded as
command is really instructional advice which is quite a different orm o
expressionmdashordering someone to ldquoSlow downrdquo is not the same as advisingsomeone to ldquoake your timerdquo yet both communicate what grammarians call
imperatives Further much o the Biblersquos advice appears in contexts that
point to clear supporting reasons behind it Focusing on the advice without
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852025
dealing with its supporting rationale misses the actual ethics being advanced
Finally there are many ethical topics about which the Bible does not issue
any direct command or instruction leaving readers with no guidance orworse as we have already seen leading people to twist the Biblersquos words into
making points not really there Discovering Godrsquos will emerges as a major
concern in some o the writings we will explore or their ethics But we will
see how doing that leads a person beyond a search or direct statements or
interpretive moral rulings
When people probe the Bible to learn what it might say about a certain
moral topic they are really acting under a basic assumption o divine
command theory an act is right or wrong because God says so852017852018 And yet
without ever having read the Bible people all over the world have views
similar to biblical writingsrsquo views about the morality o certain acts A sense
o right and wrong can exist independent o the Bible In this book we will
proceed under the assumption that an act is not right or wrong just because
the Bible says so Te Bible says so ofen because the act is right or wrong Why
is an act right or wrong Answering that rom the Biblersquos writings will put
readers in touch with the ethics those writings advanceTe observations rom the previous paragraphs should not lessen any
respect that a reader gives to biblical texts Tey should in act increase it
Te writings o the Bible encourage more than they ofen receive credit or
Troughout the variety o ethical approaches we will examine in this book
we will see attitudes expressed by biblical texts that expect their words to be
taken seriously precisely because they are connected to God who is trust-
worthy who has made the world with purpose and who is in the process o
moving its events to an ultimate restorative climax Doing something be-
cause one is prompted by a saying in a biblical text is an attitude encouraged
directly by the words o the Biblersquos writings But studying biblical ethics
means much more than searching or and then obeying divinely established
commands or discovering what the Bible says about a topic Tat may some-
times be a good starting point but the Biblersquos words ofen lead its readers to
think about how to do even more than they say directly People who care
about the Bible should let their ethical vision be shaped by that
A V983137983154983145983141983156983161 983151983142 E983156983144983145983139983155 983137983150983140 983137 C983151983150983155983145983155983156983141983150983156 M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161
Te Bible is not a book written by a single author with a collection o chapters
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reflecting a beginning a middle and an end It is a collection o writings
emerging over a large time span and produced by a wide variety o authors
nearly one third o whom are not identified It alls into two unequal por-tions (1048625) the much larger Hebrew Bible (or to Christians the Old estament)
the product o hundreds o years o activity ocusing on the people o Israel
and their covenant with God and (1048626) the New estament produced within
the second hal o the first century 983139983141 or 983137983140 the writings o which all
reflect issues and events related to the person named Jesus the Christ Many
o the writings o both estaments disclose threads o an unolding story to
which they persistently connect divulging an emerging divine plan Some
writings connect to that plan with more detail than others And not all o
the writings try to advance that unolding story
In this book we are probing only our broad sections o biblical ethics (1048625)
Te orah (minus Numbers) and (1048626) proverbial wisdom rom the Old es-
tament (852019) two o the Gospels (Luke and Matthew) and (1048628) two o Paulrsquos
letters (1048625 Corinthians and Romans) rom the New estament8520171048627 Prophetic
thought rom Isaiah in the Old estament will be addressed briefly as well
not or separate ethical inquiry as much as to bridge the ethical worlds oorah and the Gospels Immediately some may ault this listing as incom-
plete and too limiting852017852020 Yes it is But these our basic sections each have
broad unique identifiable eatures that disclose significant depth o ethical
thought What orah communicates ethically is quite distinct rom what
Proverbs conveys And though the Gospels o Luke and Matthew each display
their own special ethical approaches their similarities offer a significantly
different slant rom what Paul advances We will be looking at our distinct
emphases covenant consequences kingdom and transormation Te Bible
does not portray a single unitary ethical vision We see multiple visions each
connecting people with God who has made the world and will remake it
Evidence within the biblical writings suggests that all our o the ap-
proaches we are exploring can interact not only with each other but with
those biblical approaches that we are not exploring in this book8520171048629 We are
looking at a useul basic starting point Tose wanting to pursue a uller
range o approaches and thought orms can then build rom hereRecognizing that there are different complementary ways o thinking ad-
vocated by biblical texts should give Bible readers a greater appreciation or
the richness o thought the writings encourage It should also caution them
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What Is Biblical Ethics 8520191048625
about the shallowness o approaches that disregard that variety in avor o
coming up with a ldquobiblicalrdquo position about a moral topic Tough one might
be able to discern common moral perspectives on some issues one would bemissing out on the ethical reasoning individual sets o writings advance
S983151983149983141 L983145983149983145983156983137983156983145983151983150983155 983151983142 T983144983145983155 A983152983152983154983151983137983139983144
Many biblical writings invite their readers to distinguish right rom wrong
Tough the Bible does not speak univocally (ie with one voice) its writings
display a remarkably consistent concern or distinguishing right rom wrong
even within the diversity o their expressions Consider the ollowing state-
ments rom a wide range o biblical books all but one o which we will
eventually survey
Moses the leader o Godrsquos people in the orah instructs them concerning
Godrsquos commands
In Proverbs a ather instructs his son
You must observe them diligently for this will show your wisdom and discernment
to the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say ldquoSurely this great
nation is a wise and discerning peoplerdquo For what other great nation has a god sonear to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him And what other great
nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before
you today Deut 46-8
Do not enter the path of the wicked
and do not walk in the way of evildoers
Avoid it do not go on it
turn away from it and pass on
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble
For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn
which shines brighter and brighter until full day
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness
they do not know what they stumble over Prov 414-19
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When accusing Israelite people o a series o wrongdoings the prophet
Isaiah writes
In one Gospel Jesus invites hearers to accept a set o his teachings many
o which address moral behavior
When disturbed that believers in Corinth are not distinguishing rightrom wrong that churchrsquos ounder Paul says
In a totally independent writing when disturbed at the immaturity dis-
played by his readersrsquo willingness to wander away rom the aith the writer
o the epistle to the Hebrews identifies spiritually mature as
Biblical writings clearly advocate that people distinguish moral right
rom moral wrongTat said letrsquos note once more how ocusing on ethics to the exclusion o
other issues is potentially misleading We will see that immediately in ex-
ploring the first part o the Bible the orah In Deuteronomy or example we
Ah you who call evil good
and good evil
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter Is 520
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads
to destruction and there are many who take it For the gate is narrow and the road
is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it Mt 713-14
Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one be-
liever and another but a believer goes to court against a believermdashand before
unbelievers at that 1 Cor 65-6
those whose faculties have been trained by
practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 514
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852019
will find activities identified as evil that our working definition o ethics would
call immoral alse witness adultery kidnapping (Deut 10486258520251048625852025 1048626104862610486261048626 10486261048628852023) But
that same writing identifies alse prophets and idolaters with the same labelmdashevil (Deut 1048625852019852021 1048625852023852023) Are idolaters and alse prophets immoral or something
else Elsewhere in the Bible we will see ethical activity such as loving enemies
(Mt 85202110486281048628-1048628852022) placed on the same reward level as acilitating the work o those
who spread the message o the kingdom (Mt 1048625104862410486281048624-10486281048626) Is supporting the
spread o the kingdomrsquos message moral or something else Biblical writings
ofen portray a more integrated view about lie than our strict definitions allow
We might like to put certain decisions into an ethics box Living in relationship
with the Biblersquos God is all encompassing not easily separable into box-like
categoriesmdasha worship box a sacrifice box a religion box an ethics box
So why are we doing this Because the list o statements we have just
looked at is one piece o evidence among many we will see that encourages
us to think ethically as a natural way o living in relationship with God
Failure to live in ways that emerge out o our definition o ethics is regularly
condemned in biblical writings (eg Is 104862510486251048624-1048625852023 Mt 10486268520191048626852019-10486261048628) But living in
relationship with God involves much more than ethics Our study o ethicsshould not keep us rom realizing that
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Ethicists generally do not use the expression microethical or its noun micro-
ethics Tose terms are unique to our discussions here Tey appeal to con-
cepts rom the world o economics Economists speak o microeconomics
and macroeconomics Te ormer reers to how people interact in day-to-
day business transactions Whenever people buy or sell items rom a store
they are engaging in microeconomics Te latter reers to larger national
and global issues that determine economic policies set by governments
Whenever people announce state or national employment figures or
whenever people are concerned about the prime rate being set by the Federal
Reserve Bank they are dealing with macroeconomics
Similar concepts are being applied here Microethics reers to what people
do when they interact directly with someone else ldquoShould I be kind or rudeto that woman who wonrsquot give me the time o dayrdquo ldquoShould I get angry at that
man who just cut me off in traffic or should I simply smile pleasantlyrdquo
ldquoShould I join in the conversation about our riend who is not present or
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should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
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Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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What Is Biblical Ethics 10486261048625
speciic situations but are not inherently morally right or wrong hose
behaviors may all into the areas o cultural customs and manners or
even situation-speciic instructions but not ethics When consideringmorally neutral behaviors we will have to consider the ethics o pur-
suing those behaviors knowing that someone might be bothered or the
ethics o orcing people to conorm to neutral standards however im-
portant those standards may be culturally or religiously to those en-
orcing them
It will also require people recognizing that some o their own culturally
or religiously conditioned behaviors may actually be neutral not genu-
inely moral People should not expect biblical writings to affirm their own
culturersquos manners and expectations For example being prompt or timely
an important cultural value or some people in the West today is not really
an issue that alls into the category o ethics even though it may be wise
to be prompt in many circumstances amiliar to us Itrsquos really only a
culture-bound value near and dear to many people Certainly biblical
writings donrsquot count promptness among the issues that God cares about
Being impatient with others or being late however would be So also is areusal to honor anotherrsquos known sense o timeliness by insisting on having
onersquos own way
What we will see throughout the Bible is the notion that how a person
chooses to respond to God affects the kind o person he or she becomes
Tus those who aim to do what God wants are ethical people because much
o what God is said to want is also what most people would consider to be
good ethical behavior and because throughout the span o biblical writings
God is portrayed as being in the business o restoring rightness to his cre-
ation In the world o the Bible those who choose to dey God do not know
how to act consistently as ethical people because they have chosen to cut
themselves off rom the ways and plans o God and thus are incomplete in
their sense o what right and wrong behavior actually include
Obeying God trusting God having aith in God and responding to God
are all central issues to the Bible issues that affect the ethics that its varied
writings promote How one responds to God is reflected in a personrsquos ethicsIn act expect to see repeatedly how those who respond to God are ofen
shown as good responders by doing ethical acts Tose who disregard God
are ofen shown as bad responders with the unethical acts they perorm
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Ultimately what we see throughout the Bible are sets o ethics rooted
in peoplersquos relationship with Godmdashan ethic o relationship1048629 Doing good
flows out o a person coming to know God and growing in that rela-tionship with God Doing wrong shows how out o touch a person is with
God Biblical writings are ull o the language o devotion and com-
mitment It is not a mindless devotion but one that is highly attractive
showing people interacting with a God who gives cares and accepts even
i that God also has high standards or those who are connected to him
Tose standards are ofen shown to lead to personal well-being or those
who interact with God
Significantly because peoplersquos relating to God is the one constant advo-
cated by the varieties o biblical writings how God relates to people also
merits consideration Biblical writings offer hope and restoration or those
who mess up An important element o that is a concept known as repen-
tance people turning away rom their evil and embracing Godrsquos good
Along with that are grace receiving good rom God when one deserves the
opposite and mercy receiving good rom God when one is in a decidedly
weak position A sense o hope also emerges as a central eature o biblicalethics People are allowed to be works in progress Expect to discover im-
perect people in biblical writings people who as they draw close to God
also become better people in the process even i many o them have rough
edges In the world o the Bible God never rejects people who call on him
M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161 V983141983154983155983157983155 E983156983144983145983139983155
People ofen use the concepts o morality and ethics interchangeably
Morals generally reer to a personrsquos awareness o right and wrong A
moral person does the right kind o behavior in the sense we have been
probing here advancing good on the world while reraining rom what
inflicts harm For that reason some people would say that a moral person
is also ethical
A moral person may be doing what is right but may not know clearly
what makes the activity right or why she or he should do that right By con-
trast ethics as we discuss it here deals with how to distinguish right romwrong and why someone should do the right and hinder the wrong In
exploring the Bible we will see many statements weighing in on the moral
rightness or wrongness o various behaviors But we wonrsquot stop there We
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852019
will look or the ethics that will indicate what makes the activity right or
wrong and that offer rationale and motivation or engaging in the right ac-
tivity or reraining rom the wrong Moral people do what is right So dopeople who have ethics but they also know why1048630
Te distinction between morality and ethics is an important one wo
people can share the same moral convictions but they could easily have very
different ethics How Because the ethics will explain the answer to the
question Why is that wrong For example in the world that produced the
New estament section o the Bible Greek and Roman philosophers com-
monly discussed the moral wrongness o being guided by our passions
Toughtless passions lead people to do the wrong things One writer Paul
whose ethics we will explore in chapters nine and ten would basically agree
that people acting out their passions leads to misbehavior But i you asked
both sets o people why being guided by passion is wrong you would get
two entirely different sets o answers Paulrsquos answer connects directly to his
awareness o the crucifixion and resurrection o Jesus Te philosophers
know nothing o Jesus Teir answers are linked to their view o the psy-
chology o the soul Tough we might think we see moral agreement be-tween Paul and philosophers we see totally different ethics We will see the
same thing in the Bible itsel Te various places we will explore will re-
quently show common moral standards but different ethics Ethics and mo-
rality are not the same
Te Biblersquos writings do communicate a strong set o morals But they do
much more than that Tey portray genuine ethics Tey show ways o lie
stemming rom people living in attractive relationship with the true and
living God Reasons or living morally appear regularly either stated or
implied because relationship with God is portrayed as wonderully good
and genuinely healthy Relationship with God ultimately involves partici-
pating in Godrsquos process o remaking the world a world filled with bro-
kenness exhibited in and stemming rom human misbehavior As we probe
biblical texts we will discover ethical systems that are intriguing inviting
enlightening and uplifing People who read the Bible well will not only
have a stronger sense o what is right and wrong they will realize why ac-cording to those writings they also should do right and why living that
right is so ulfilling
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SUMMING IT UP
What is ethics
o Ethics reers to how a person distinguishes right rom
wrong behavior
o Ethics is also concerned with the reasons or why a
person should choose what is good and abstain rom
what is not
o Te kind o behavior that ethics is concerned with gen-erally is behavior that advances good or hinders harm
in onersquos world
What do we mean by biblical ethics
o With biblical ethics one is concerned with discerning
the kinds o behavior biblical writings indicate are right
and wrong
o One is also concerned with both how according to bib-
lical writings to distinguish right rom wrong and why
its readers should do right and rerain rom wrong
o Biblical ethics begins with describing what biblical
writings communicate ethically Only then can people see
how those ethics might apply to their lives prescriptively
o
Ethics is not the central concern o biblical writings o Other behaviors besides ethical behaviors are dealt
with in the Bible
o How people connect meaningully with God is a central
concern o biblical writings
o Ethics in the Bible flows primarily out o peoplersquos
healthy relationship with God
o Ethics in the Bible offers hope or those who recognize
their error and turn to God
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852021
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Ethical questions and dilemmas appear consistently and prominently within
human history Some o the ethical systems Western civilizations developed
to address those concerns are worth noting briefly as a way o comparing
how biblical writings offer both similarities to and dissimilarities rom
them1048631 Some o these systems actually influenced aspects o ethics as oundin parts o the Bible Others o these have themselves been influenced by the
sense o right and wrong ound in biblical writings
Virtue ethics Also closely related to what is called ldquocharacter ethicsrdquo
virtue ethics ocus on what kind o person one should become in order to
attain a higher goal such as happiness or well-being emphasizing various
virtues (eg courage wisdom justice sel-control kindness orbearance
riendliness modesty)852024 Conversely there are vices that one should avoid
(eg cowardice olly wrongness sel-indulgence meanness short-
temperedness diffidence extravagance) Many o those good character
qualities are learned rom observing people who are considered to be good
or by repeated practice o virtuous activities Discussions o virtues and
vices were especially important to the ancient Greeks and Romans Some
writings in the New estament reflect awareness o the ruit o such discus-
sions but also offer their own unique perspectives on virtues and vices
Ethical egoism Also coming rom ancient Greece ethical egoism advocatespursuing behaviors with outcomes that maximize personal pleasure while
minimizing personal pain Rather than resorting to out-and-out hedonism (ie
selfish pleasure seeking) the point here is to evaluate long-term outcomes or
How is morality different from ethics
o Morality is simply knowing what is right and what is
wrong
o Ethics involves both the reasoning or distinguishing
right rom wrong and the motivations or doing what
is right and hindering what is wrong
o Biblical writings regularly portray genuine ethics not
mere morality
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consequences Some immediate pleasures may result in such horrible pain in
the end that they should be avoided altogether But some pain may be necessary
to endure in order to attain the benefit o a long-term pleasureUtilitarianism Utilitarianism is similar to ethical egoism with its concern
or maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain but does so with societies in
view not merely the individual Whatever advances pleasure or the greatest
number o people is to be preerred Further it recognizes that there are
higher-order pleasures in lie beyond mere physical gratification Peoplersquos
ailure to exercise their minds or their pursuit o personal selfishness are two
major obstacles to good being advanced In current popular everyday
practice both ethical egoistic and utilitarian ways o thinking can lead
people to line up physical psychological and sociological conclusions in
order to prove that a genuine pleasure is being advanced or pain is being
avoided But sometimes those conclusions prove more tentative than their
communicators may indicate at the time especially when they are really
interested in justiying their own misbehavior
Duty With duty one should do what is right and rerain rom what is wrong
because that is the most reasonable orm o activity to pursue as a thinkinghuman being One has a duty to live consistently with onersquos being Right and
wrong are independent o human existence Right corresponds with what is
true to pursue what is alse is sel-contradictory and internally inconsistent
Practically speaking living by duty means unctioning in a world o beings As
a human being one has a duty to recognize people as people Whenever one
treats another or even onesel solely as an object one is violating onersquos duty to
a ellow creature Tis way o thinking partly resembles a well-known maxim
attributed to Jesus ofen called the Golden RulemdashldquoDo to others as you would
have them do to yourdquo But it has little regard or people thinking empathetically
about others with a desired ideal good or them the way Jesusrsquo words do
Divine command theory Divine command theory assumes that rightness
comes directly rom divinity and whatever any divinity commands the re-
ligious person must obey When applied to the Bible this approach assumes
that the Bible is ull o commands meant to be obeyed So as a reader one
should look diligently or those commands Whatever is commanded mustbe ollowed because it comes rom God o obey God is to do what is right
o disobey God is to do what is wrong While to many this would seem to
be biblical ethics in a nutshell it alls short by not seeing how biblical ethics
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852023
involves much more than obeying commands Ofen associated with this
approach at the popular level is an attitude that treats the Bible as a sort o
guiding constitution to scan or moral rulings discovering ldquowhat the Biblesaysrdquo about a topic then becomes the primary pursuit
eleology Many o these approaches to ethics also try to organize lie
around a ocused goal a teleological approach For example or some virtue
ethicists and ethical egoists achieving a orm o happiness or well-being is
the goal or which virtues are exercised or pain is minimized By contrast
the approach emphasizing duty regards the duty to be right all by itsel in-
dependent o any ultimate human goal or ideal
E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155 983137983150983140 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Te Bible and teleology In the Bible we will see varieties o teleological
thought stronger in some places than in others Concerns or example with
conormity to the created order or to Godrsquos merciul acts in a moment known
as the exodus are common in the first writings we will probe1048633 Even stronger
will be the awareness that lie is advancing toward a uture ultimate moment
o reordering a major component to the later writings being studied hereTe Bible and virtue ethics Tere are many places where biblical writings
champion conormity to a good character model852017852016 But good character is
advanced neither as a means to some sort o end nor merely as an end in
itsel the way it is in traditional virtue ethics Obtaining good lie outcomes
or avoiding bad ones is not the main goal o being good Rather good char-
acter in biblical writings is ofen seen as a reflection o the God who is being
served It is both an outcome o associating with God and a measuring stick
o how in touch one is with God Further in addition to character issues
biblical texts also champion specific behaviors such as taking care o the
poor standing up or the weak or loving the unlovely Tose behaviors may
reflect good character but they are to be done regardless o onersquos overall
character Many in Christianity have traditionally thought o love as a virtue
But biblical writings ofen ocus on love as an activity even a responsibility
Attention to character ormation is a major topic o discussion or scholars
examining the use o the Bible in ethics852017852017 Tat would be close to virtue ethicsbut not identical It ocuses on how encouragement in the practice o certain
biblical instructions shapes the lives o those who do them influencing what
kind o people they become Like virtue ethics this recognizes that a person
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must be trained in the right way o living to be able to become good It does
receive major support rom the Biblersquos writings themselves which encourage
a liestyle that is always growing in its awareness o God and Godrsquos desiresor humans Still the ethics o the parts o the Bible we will explore here will
also provide more than material or character ormation Tey will also
provide guidelines that help people make reasoned decisions about the
rightness and wrongness o certain activities as they ponder them
Te Bible ethical egoism and utilitarianism Some biblical writings promote
appraising harmul or beneficial outcomes o behaviors in ways that may seem
to resemble the ethical egoist or the utilitarian Tey tend to do so to show the
wisdom or olly o certain activities or to speak approvingly o advancing the
goodness or well-being o onersquos neighbor Tey do not make the avoidance o
personal pain or the acquisition o personal pleasure the ultimate goal Rather
they measure consequences observed rom the activities o others and offer
advice based on what is observed to have worked and what genuinely does not
ounded on how one studies the world as God created it Other writings talk
about growing in character rom enduring hardships such as persecution Again
the point is not to ocus on the personal gain rom such growth but on the ul-timate goal the remade hardship-ree creation one is destined to
Te Bible and duty Various biblical writings urge their readers to treat
others as people rather than objects but they do so in a manner that takes
into consideration the railties o the environment people live in and the
realities o human existence and weakness encouraging readers to be aware
o their own Tough obedience itsel in some contexts may be perceived
as a duty urther probing o those contexts ofen discloses that obedience
flows more out o a sincere relationship with God and a high regard or
others than rom a sense o resolute duty-bound obligation
Te Bible and divine command theory Te Bible is also ull o com-
mands But many o those commands come in specifically defined contexts
that are not meant to apply directly to people in most contemporaneous
settings And outside o those contexts much o what is ofen regarded as
command is really instructional advice which is quite a different orm o
expressionmdashordering someone to ldquoSlow downrdquo is not the same as advisingsomeone to ldquoake your timerdquo yet both communicate what grammarians call
imperatives Further much o the Biblersquos advice appears in contexts that
point to clear supporting reasons behind it Focusing on the advice without
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852025
dealing with its supporting rationale misses the actual ethics being advanced
Finally there are many ethical topics about which the Bible does not issue
any direct command or instruction leaving readers with no guidance orworse as we have already seen leading people to twist the Biblersquos words into
making points not really there Discovering Godrsquos will emerges as a major
concern in some o the writings we will explore or their ethics But we will
see how doing that leads a person beyond a search or direct statements or
interpretive moral rulings
When people probe the Bible to learn what it might say about a certain
moral topic they are really acting under a basic assumption o divine
command theory an act is right or wrong because God says so852017852018 And yet
without ever having read the Bible people all over the world have views
similar to biblical writingsrsquo views about the morality o certain acts A sense
o right and wrong can exist independent o the Bible In this book we will
proceed under the assumption that an act is not right or wrong just because
the Bible says so Te Bible says so ofen because the act is right or wrong Why
is an act right or wrong Answering that rom the Biblersquos writings will put
readers in touch with the ethics those writings advanceTe observations rom the previous paragraphs should not lessen any
respect that a reader gives to biblical texts Tey should in act increase it
Te writings o the Bible encourage more than they ofen receive credit or
Troughout the variety o ethical approaches we will examine in this book
we will see attitudes expressed by biblical texts that expect their words to be
taken seriously precisely because they are connected to God who is trust-
worthy who has made the world with purpose and who is in the process o
moving its events to an ultimate restorative climax Doing something be-
cause one is prompted by a saying in a biblical text is an attitude encouraged
directly by the words o the Biblersquos writings But studying biblical ethics
means much more than searching or and then obeying divinely established
commands or discovering what the Bible says about a topic Tat may some-
times be a good starting point but the Biblersquos words ofen lead its readers to
think about how to do even more than they say directly People who care
about the Bible should let their ethical vision be shaped by that
A V983137983154983145983141983156983161 983151983142 E983156983144983145983139983155 983137983150983140 983137 C983151983150983155983145983155983156983141983150983156 M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161
Te Bible is not a book written by a single author with a collection o chapters
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reflecting a beginning a middle and an end It is a collection o writings
emerging over a large time span and produced by a wide variety o authors
nearly one third o whom are not identified It alls into two unequal por-tions (1048625) the much larger Hebrew Bible (or to Christians the Old estament)
the product o hundreds o years o activity ocusing on the people o Israel
and their covenant with God and (1048626) the New estament produced within
the second hal o the first century 983139983141 or 983137983140 the writings o which all
reflect issues and events related to the person named Jesus the Christ Many
o the writings o both estaments disclose threads o an unolding story to
which they persistently connect divulging an emerging divine plan Some
writings connect to that plan with more detail than others And not all o
the writings try to advance that unolding story
In this book we are probing only our broad sections o biblical ethics (1048625)
Te orah (minus Numbers) and (1048626) proverbial wisdom rom the Old es-
tament (852019) two o the Gospels (Luke and Matthew) and (1048628) two o Paulrsquos
letters (1048625 Corinthians and Romans) rom the New estament8520171048627 Prophetic
thought rom Isaiah in the Old estament will be addressed briefly as well
not or separate ethical inquiry as much as to bridge the ethical worlds oorah and the Gospels Immediately some may ault this listing as incom-
plete and too limiting852017852020 Yes it is But these our basic sections each have
broad unique identifiable eatures that disclose significant depth o ethical
thought What orah communicates ethically is quite distinct rom what
Proverbs conveys And though the Gospels o Luke and Matthew each display
their own special ethical approaches their similarities offer a significantly
different slant rom what Paul advances We will be looking at our distinct
emphases covenant consequences kingdom and transormation Te Bible
does not portray a single unitary ethical vision We see multiple visions each
connecting people with God who has made the world and will remake it
Evidence within the biblical writings suggests that all our o the ap-
proaches we are exploring can interact not only with each other but with
those biblical approaches that we are not exploring in this book8520171048629 We are
looking at a useul basic starting point Tose wanting to pursue a uller
range o approaches and thought orms can then build rom hereRecognizing that there are different complementary ways o thinking ad-
vocated by biblical texts should give Bible readers a greater appreciation or
the richness o thought the writings encourage It should also caution them
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What Is Biblical Ethics 8520191048625
about the shallowness o approaches that disregard that variety in avor o
coming up with a ldquobiblicalrdquo position about a moral topic Tough one might
be able to discern common moral perspectives on some issues one would bemissing out on the ethical reasoning individual sets o writings advance
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Many biblical writings invite their readers to distinguish right rom wrong
Tough the Bible does not speak univocally (ie with one voice) its writings
display a remarkably consistent concern or distinguishing right rom wrong
even within the diversity o their expressions Consider the ollowing state-
ments rom a wide range o biblical books all but one o which we will
eventually survey
Moses the leader o Godrsquos people in the orah instructs them concerning
Godrsquos commands
In Proverbs a ather instructs his son
You must observe them diligently for this will show your wisdom and discernment
to the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say ldquoSurely this great
nation is a wise and discerning peoplerdquo For what other great nation has a god sonear to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him And what other great
nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before
you today Deut 46-8
Do not enter the path of the wicked
and do not walk in the way of evildoers
Avoid it do not go on it
turn away from it and pass on
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble
For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn
which shines brighter and brighter until full day
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness
they do not know what they stumble over Prov 414-19
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When accusing Israelite people o a series o wrongdoings the prophet
Isaiah writes
In one Gospel Jesus invites hearers to accept a set o his teachings many
o which address moral behavior
When disturbed that believers in Corinth are not distinguishing rightrom wrong that churchrsquos ounder Paul says
In a totally independent writing when disturbed at the immaturity dis-
played by his readersrsquo willingness to wander away rom the aith the writer
o the epistle to the Hebrews identifies spiritually mature as
Biblical writings clearly advocate that people distinguish moral right
rom moral wrongTat said letrsquos note once more how ocusing on ethics to the exclusion o
other issues is potentially misleading We will see that immediately in ex-
ploring the first part o the Bible the orah In Deuteronomy or example we
Ah you who call evil good
and good evil
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter Is 520
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads
to destruction and there are many who take it For the gate is narrow and the road
is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it Mt 713-14
Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one be-
liever and another but a believer goes to court against a believermdashand before
unbelievers at that 1 Cor 65-6
those whose faculties have been trained by
practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 514
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852019
will find activities identified as evil that our working definition o ethics would
call immoral alse witness adultery kidnapping (Deut 10486258520251048625852025 1048626104862610486261048626 10486261048628852023) But
that same writing identifies alse prophets and idolaters with the same labelmdashevil (Deut 1048625852019852021 1048625852023852023) Are idolaters and alse prophets immoral or something
else Elsewhere in the Bible we will see ethical activity such as loving enemies
(Mt 85202110486281048628-1048628852022) placed on the same reward level as acilitating the work o those
who spread the message o the kingdom (Mt 1048625104862410486281048624-10486281048626) Is supporting the
spread o the kingdomrsquos message moral or something else Biblical writings
ofen portray a more integrated view about lie than our strict definitions allow
We might like to put certain decisions into an ethics box Living in relationship
with the Biblersquos God is all encompassing not easily separable into box-like
categoriesmdasha worship box a sacrifice box a religion box an ethics box
So why are we doing this Because the list o statements we have just
looked at is one piece o evidence among many we will see that encourages
us to think ethically as a natural way o living in relationship with God
Failure to live in ways that emerge out o our definition o ethics is regularly
condemned in biblical writings (eg Is 104862510486251048624-1048625852023 Mt 10486268520191048626852019-10486261048628) But living in
relationship with God involves much more than ethics Our study o ethicsshould not keep us rom realizing that
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155 T983141983150983140983155 983156983151 983138983141 M983145983139983154983151983141983156983144983145983139983137983148
Ethicists generally do not use the expression microethical or its noun micro-
ethics Tose terms are unique to our discussions here Tey appeal to con-
cepts rom the world o economics Economists speak o microeconomics
and macroeconomics Te ormer reers to how people interact in day-to-
day business transactions Whenever people buy or sell items rom a store
they are engaging in microeconomics Te latter reers to larger national
and global issues that determine economic policies set by governments
Whenever people announce state or national employment figures or
whenever people are concerned about the prime rate being set by the Federal
Reserve Bank they are dealing with macroeconomics
Similar concepts are being applied here Microethics reers to what people
do when they interact directly with someone else ldquoShould I be kind or rudeto that woman who wonrsquot give me the time o dayrdquo ldquoShould I get angry at that
man who just cut me off in traffic or should I simply smile pleasantlyrdquo
ldquoShould I join in the conversation about our riend who is not present or
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should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
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Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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What Is Biblical Ethics 10486261048625
speciic situations but are not inherently morally right or wrong hose
behaviors may all into the areas o cultural customs and manners or
even situation-speciic instructions but not ethics When consideringmorally neutral behaviors we will have to consider the ethics o pur-
suing those behaviors knowing that someone might be bothered or the
ethics o orcing people to conorm to neutral standards however im-
portant those standards may be culturally or religiously to those en-
orcing them
It will also require people recognizing that some o their own culturally
or religiously conditioned behaviors may actually be neutral not genu-
inely moral People should not expect biblical writings to affirm their own
culturersquos manners and expectations For example being prompt or timely
an important cultural value or some people in the West today is not really
an issue that alls into the category o ethics even though it may be wise
to be prompt in many circumstances amiliar to us Itrsquos really only a
culture-bound value near and dear to many people Certainly biblical
writings donrsquot count promptness among the issues that God cares about
Being impatient with others or being late however would be So also is areusal to honor anotherrsquos known sense o timeliness by insisting on having
onersquos own way
What we will see throughout the Bible is the notion that how a person
chooses to respond to God affects the kind o person he or she becomes
Tus those who aim to do what God wants are ethical people because much
o what God is said to want is also what most people would consider to be
good ethical behavior and because throughout the span o biblical writings
God is portrayed as being in the business o restoring rightness to his cre-
ation In the world o the Bible those who choose to dey God do not know
how to act consistently as ethical people because they have chosen to cut
themselves off rom the ways and plans o God and thus are incomplete in
their sense o what right and wrong behavior actually include
Obeying God trusting God having aith in God and responding to God
are all central issues to the Bible issues that affect the ethics that its varied
writings promote How one responds to God is reflected in a personrsquos ethicsIn act expect to see repeatedly how those who respond to God are ofen
shown as good responders by doing ethical acts Tose who disregard God
are ofen shown as bad responders with the unethical acts they perorm
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
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10486261048626 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Ultimately what we see throughout the Bible are sets o ethics rooted
in peoplersquos relationship with Godmdashan ethic o relationship1048629 Doing good
flows out o a person coming to know God and growing in that rela-tionship with God Doing wrong shows how out o touch a person is with
God Biblical writings are ull o the language o devotion and com-
mitment It is not a mindless devotion but one that is highly attractive
showing people interacting with a God who gives cares and accepts even
i that God also has high standards or those who are connected to him
Tose standards are ofen shown to lead to personal well-being or those
who interact with God
Significantly because peoplersquos relating to God is the one constant advo-
cated by the varieties o biblical writings how God relates to people also
merits consideration Biblical writings offer hope and restoration or those
who mess up An important element o that is a concept known as repen-
tance people turning away rom their evil and embracing Godrsquos good
Along with that are grace receiving good rom God when one deserves the
opposite and mercy receiving good rom God when one is in a decidedly
weak position A sense o hope also emerges as a central eature o biblicalethics People are allowed to be works in progress Expect to discover im-
perect people in biblical writings people who as they draw close to God
also become better people in the process even i many o them have rough
edges In the world o the Bible God never rejects people who call on him
M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161 V983141983154983155983157983155 E983156983144983145983139983155
People ofen use the concepts o morality and ethics interchangeably
Morals generally reer to a personrsquos awareness o right and wrong A
moral person does the right kind o behavior in the sense we have been
probing here advancing good on the world while reraining rom what
inflicts harm For that reason some people would say that a moral person
is also ethical
A moral person may be doing what is right but may not know clearly
what makes the activity right or why she or he should do that right By con-
trast ethics as we discuss it here deals with how to distinguish right romwrong and why someone should do the right and hinder the wrong In
exploring the Bible we will see many statements weighing in on the moral
rightness or wrongness o various behaviors But we wonrsquot stop there We
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852019
will look or the ethics that will indicate what makes the activity right or
wrong and that offer rationale and motivation or engaging in the right ac-
tivity or reraining rom the wrong Moral people do what is right So dopeople who have ethics but they also know why1048630
Te distinction between morality and ethics is an important one wo
people can share the same moral convictions but they could easily have very
different ethics How Because the ethics will explain the answer to the
question Why is that wrong For example in the world that produced the
New estament section o the Bible Greek and Roman philosophers com-
monly discussed the moral wrongness o being guided by our passions
Toughtless passions lead people to do the wrong things One writer Paul
whose ethics we will explore in chapters nine and ten would basically agree
that people acting out their passions leads to misbehavior But i you asked
both sets o people why being guided by passion is wrong you would get
two entirely different sets o answers Paulrsquos answer connects directly to his
awareness o the crucifixion and resurrection o Jesus Te philosophers
know nothing o Jesus Teir answers are linked to their view o the psy-
chology o the soul Tough we might think we see moral agreement be-tween Paul and philosophers we see totally different ethics We will see the
same thing in the Bible itsel Te various places we will explore will re-
quently show common moral standards but different ethics Ethics and mo-
rality are not the same
Te Biblersquos writings do communicate a strong set o morals But they do
much more than that Tey portray genuine ethics Tey show ways o lie
stemming rom people living in attractive relationship with the true and
living God Reasons or living morally appear regularly either stated or
implied because relationship with God is portrayed as wonderully good
and genuinely healthy Relationship with God ultimately involves partici-
pating in Godrsquos process o remaking the world a world filled with bro-
kenness exhibited in and stemming rom human misbehavior As we probe
biblical texts we will discover ethical systems that are intriguing inviting
enlightening and uplifing People who read the Bible well will not only
have a stronger sense o what is right and wrong they will realize why ac-cording to those writings they also should do right and why living that
right is so ulfilling
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SUMMING IT UP
What is ethics
o Ethics reers to how a person distinguishes right rom
wrong behavior
o Ethics is also concerned with the reasons or why a
person should choose what is good and abstain rom
what is not
o Te kind o behavior that ethics is concerned with gen-erally is behavior that advances good or hinders harm
in onersquos world
What do we mean by biblical ethics
o With biblical ethics one is concerned with discerning
the kinds o behavior biblical writings indicate are right
and wrong
o One is also concerned with both how according to bib-
lical writings to distinguish right rom wrong and why
its readers should do right and rerain rom wrong
o Biblical ethics begins with describing what biblical
writings communicate ethically Only then can people see
how those ethics might apply to their lives prescriptively
o
Ethics is not the central concern o biblical writings o Other behaviors besides ethical behaviors are dealt
with in the Bible
o How people connect meaningully with God is a central
concern o biblical writings
o Ethics in the Bible flows primarily out o peoplersquos
healthy relationship with God
o Ethics in the Bible offers hope or those who recognize
their error and turn to God
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852021
A983148983156983141983154983150983137983156983145983158983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155
Ethical questions and dilemmas appear consistently and prominently within
human history Some o the ethical systems Western civilizations developed
to address those concerns are worth noting briefly as a way o comparing
how biblical writings offer both similarities to and dissimilarities rom
them1048631 Some o these systems actually influenced aspects o ethics as oundin parts o the Bible Others o these have themselves been influenced by the
sense o right and wrong ound in biblical writings
Virtue ethics Also closely related to what is called ldquocharacter ethicsrdquo
virtue ethics ocus on what kind o person one should become in order to
attain a higher goal such as happiness or well-being emphasizing various
virtues (eg courage wisdom justice sel-control kindness orbearance
riendliness modesty)852024 Conversely there are vices that one should avoid
(eg cowardice olly wrongness sel-indulgence meanness short-
temperedness diffidence extravagance) Many o those good character
qualities are learned rom observing people who are considered to be good
or by repeated practice o virtuous activities Discussions o virtues and
vices were especially important to the ancient Greeks and Romans Some
writings in the New estament reflect awareness o the ruit o such discus-
sions but also offer their own unique perspectives on virtues and vices
Ethical egoism Also coming rom ancient Greece ethical egoism advocatespursuing behaviors with outcomes that maximize personal pleasure while
minimizing personal pain Rather than resorting to out-and-out hedonism (ie
selfish pleasure seeking) the point here is to evaluate long-term outcomes or
How is morality different from ethics
o Morality is simply knowing what is right and what is
wrong
o Ethics involves both the reasoning or distinguishing
right rom wrong and the motivations or doing what
is right and hindering what is wrong
o Biblical writings regularly portray genuine ethics not
mere morality
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consequences Some immediate pleasures may result in such horrible pain in
the end that they should be avoided altogether But some pain may be necessary
to endure in order to attain the benefit o a long-term pleasureUtilitarianism Utilitarianism is similar to ethical egoism with its concern
or maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain but does so with societies in
view not merely the individual Whatever advances pleasure or the greatest
number o people is to be preerred Further it recognizes that there are
higher-order pleasures in lie beyond mere physical gratification Peoplersquos
ailure to exercise their minds or their pursuit o personal selfishness are two
major obstacles to good being advanced In current popular everyday
practice both ethical egoistic and utilitarian ways o thinking can lead
people to line up physical psychological and sociological conclusions in
order to prove that a genuine pleasure is being advanced or pain is being
avoided But sometimes those conclusions prove more tentative than their
communicators may indicate at the time especially when they are really
interested in justiying their own misbehavior
Duty With duty one should do what is right and rerain rom what is wrong
because that is the most reasonable orm o activity to pursue as a thinkinghuman being One has a duty to live consistently with onersquos being Right and
wrong are independent o human existence Right corresponds with what is
true to pursue what is alse is sel-contradictory and internally inconsistent
Practically speaking living by duty means unctioning in a world o beings As
a human being one has a duty to recognize people as people Whenever one
treats another or even onesel solely as an object one is violating onersquos duty to
a ellow creature Tis way o thinking partly resembles a well-known maxim
attributed to Jesus ofen called the Golden RulemdashldquoDo to others as you would
have them do to yourdquo But it has little regard or people thinking empathetically
about others with a desired ideal good or them the way Jesusrsquo words do
Divine command theory Divine command theory assumes that rightness
comes directly rom divinity and whatever any divinity commands the re-
ligious person must obey When applied to the Bible this approach assumes
that the Bible is ull o commands meant to be obeyed So as a reader one
should look diligently or those commands Whatever is commanded mustbe ollowed because it comes rom God o obey God is to do what is right
o disobey God is to do what is wrong While to many this would seem to
be biblical ethics in a nutshell it alls short by not seeing how biblical ethics
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852023
involves much more than obeying commands Ofen associated with this
approach at the popular level is an attitude that treats the Bible as a sort o
guiding constitution to scan or moral rulings discovering ldquowhat the Biblesaysrdquo about a topic then becomes the primary pursuit
eleology Many o these approaches to ethics also try to organize lie
around a ocused goal a teleological approach For example or some virtue
ethicists and ethical egoists achieving a orm o happiness or well-being is
the goal or which virtues are exercised or pain is minimized By contrast
the approach emphasizing duty regards the duty to be right all by itsel in-
dependent o any ultimate human goal or ideal
E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155 983137983150983140 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Te Bible and teleology In the Bible we will see varieties o teleological
thought stronger in some places than in others Concerns or example with
conormity to the created order or to Godrsquos merciul acts in a moment known
as the exodus are common in the first writings we will probe1048633 Even stronger
will be the awareness that lie is advancing toward a uture ultimate moment
o reordering a major component to the later writings being studied hereTe Bible and virtue ethics Tere are many places where biblical writings
champion conormity to a good character model852017852016 But good character is
advanced neither as a means to some sort o end nor merely as an end in
itsel the way it is in traditional virtue ethics Obtaining good lie outcomes
or avoiding bad ones is not the main goal o being good Rather good char-
acter in biblical writings is ofen seen as a reflection o the God who is being
served It is both an outcome o associating with God and a measuring stick
o how in touch one is with God Further in addition to character issues
biblical texts also champion specific behaviors such as taking care o the
poor standing up or the weak or loving the unlovely Tose behaviors may
reflect good character but they are to be done regardless o onersquos overall
character Many in Christianity have traditionally thought o love as a virtue
But biblical writings ofen ocus on love as an activity even a responsibility
Attention to character ormation is a major topic o discussion or scholars
examining the use o the Bible in ethics852017852017 Tat would be close to virtue ethicsbut not identical It ocuses on how encouragement in the practice o certain
biblical instructions shapes the lives o those who do them influencing what
kind o people they become Like virtue ethics this recognizes that a person
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must be trained in the right way o living to be able to become good It does
receive major support rom the Biblersquos writings themselves which encourage
a liestyle that is always growing in its awareness o God and Godrsquos desiresor humans Still the ethics o the parts o the Bible we will explore here will
also provide more than material or character ormation Tey will also
provide guidelines that help people make reasoned decisions about the
rightness and wrongness o certain activities as they ponder them
Te Bible ethical egoism and utilitarianism Some biblical writings promote
appraising harmul or beneficial outcomes o behaviors in ways that may seem
to resemble the ethical egoist or the utilitarian Tey tend to do so to show the
wisdom or olly o certain activities or to speak approvingly o advancing the
goodness or well-being o onersquos neighbor Tey do not make the avoidance o
personal pain or the acquisition o personal pleasure the ultimate goal Rather
they measure consequences observed rom the activities o others and offer
advice based on what is observed to have worked and what genuinely does not
ounded on how one studies the world as God created it Other writings talk
about growing in character rom enduring hardships such as persecution Again
the point is not to ocus on the personal gain rom such growth but on the ul-timate goal the remade hardship-ree creation one is destined to
Te Bible and duty Various biblical writings urge their readers to treat
others as people rather than objects but they do so in a manner that takes
into consideration the railties o the environment people live in and the
realities o human existence and weakness encouraging readers to be aware
o their own Tough obedience itsel in some contexts may be perceived
as a duty urther probing o those contexts ofen discloses that obedience
flows more out o a sincere relationship with God and a high regard or
others than rom a sense o resolute duty-bound obligation
Te Bible and divine command theory Te Bible is also ull o com-
mands But many o those commands come in specifically defined contexts
that are not meant to apply directly to people in most contemporaneous
settings And outside o those contexts much o what is ofen regarded as
command is really instructional advice which is quite a different orm o
expressionmdashordering someone to ldquoSlow downrdquo is not the same as advisingsomeone to ldquoake your timerdquo yet both communicate what grammarians call
imperatives Further much o the Biblersquos advice appears in contexts that
point to clear supporting reasons behind it Focusing on the advice without
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852025
dealing with its supporting rationale misses the actual ethics being advanced
Finally there are many ethical topics about which the Bible does not issue
any direct command or instruction leaving readers with no guidance orworse as we have already seen leading people to twist the Biblersquos words into
making points not really there Discovering Godrsquos will emerges as a major
concern in some o the writings we will explore or their ethics But we will
see how doing that leads a person beyond a search or direct statements or
interpretive moral rulings
When people probe the Bible to learn what it might say about a certain
moral topic they are really acting under a basic assumption o divine
command theory an act is right or wrong because God says so852017852018 And yet
without ever having read the Bible people all over the world have views
similar to biblical writingsrsquo views about the morality o certain acts A sense
o right and wrong can exist independent o the Bible In this book we will
proceed under the assumption that an act is not right or wrong just because
the Bible says so Te Bible says so ofen because the act is right or wrong Why
is an act right or wrong Answering that rom the Biblersquos writings will put
readers in touch with the ethics those writings advanceTe observations rom the previous paragraphs should not lessen any
respect that a reader gives to biblical texts Tey should in act increase it
Te writings o the Bible encourage more than they ofen receive credit or
Troughout the variety o ethical approaches we will examine in this book
we will see attitudes expressed by biblical texts that expect their words to be
taken seriously precisely because they are connected to God who is trust-
worthy who has made the world with purpose and who is in the process o
moving its events to an ultimate restorative climax Doing something be-
cause one is prompted by a saying in a biblical text is an attitude encouraged
directly by the words o the Biblersquos writings But studying biblical ethics
means much more than searching or and then obeying divinely established
commands or discovering what the Bible says about a topic Tat may some-
times be a good starting point but the Biblersquos words ofen lead its readers to
think about how to do even more than they say directly People who care
about the Bible should let their ethical vision be shaped by that
A V983137983154983145983141983156983161 983151983142 E983156983144983145983139983155 983137983150983140 983137 C983151983150983155983145983155983156983141983150983156 M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161
Te Bible is not a book written by a single author with a collection o chapters
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reflecting a beginning a middle and an end It is a collection o writings
emerging over a large time span and produced by a wide variety o authors
nearly one third o whom are not identified It alls into two unequal por-tions (1048625) the much larger Hebrew Bible (or to Christians the Old estament)
the product o hundreds o years o activity ocusing on the people o Israel
and their covenant with God and (1048626) the New estament produced within
the second hal o the first century 983139983141 or 983137983140 the writings o which all
reflect issues and events related to the person named Jesus the Christ Many
o the writings o both estaments disclose threads o an unolding story to
which they persistently connect divulging an emerging divine plan Some
writings connect to that plan with more detail than others And not all o
the writings try to advance that unolding story
In this book we are probing only our broad sections o biblical ethics (1048625)
Te orah (minus Numbers) and (1048626) proverbial wisdom rom the Old es-
tament (852019) two o the Gospels (Luke and Matthew) and (1048628) two o Paulrsquos
letters (1048625 Corinthians and Romans) rom the New estament8520171048627 Prophetic
thought rom Isaiah in the Old estament will be addressed briefly as well
not or separate ethical inquiry as much as to bridge the ethical worlds oorah and the Gospels Immediately some may ault this listing as incom-
plete and too limiting852017852020 Yes it is But these our basic sections each have
broad unique identifiable eatures that disclose significant depth o ethical
thought What orah communicates ethically is quite distinct rom what
Proverbs conveys And though the Gospels o Luke and Matthew each display
their own special ethical approaches their similarities offer a significantly
different slant rom what Paul advances We will be looking at our distinct
emphases covenant consequences kingdom and transormation Te Bible
does not portray a single unitary ethical vision We see multiple visions each
connecting people with God who has made the world and will remake it
Evidence within the biblical writings suggests that all our o the ap-
proaches we are exploring can interact not only with each other but with
those biblical approaches that we are not exploring in this book8520171048629 We are
looking at a useul basic starting point Tose wanting to pursue a uller
range o approaches and thought orms can then build rom hereRecognizing that there are different complementary ways o thinking ad-
vocated by biblical texts should give Bible readers a greater appreciation or
the richness o thought the writings encourage It should also caution them
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What Is Biblical Ethics 8520191048625
about the shallowness o approaches that disregard that variety in avor o
coming up with a ldquobiblicalrdquo position about a moral topic Tough one might
be able to discern common moral perspectives on some issues one would bemissing out on the ethical reasoning individual sets o writings advance
S983151983149983141 L983145983149983145983156983137983156983145983151983150983155 983151983142 T983144983145983155 A983152983152983154983151983137983139983144
Many biblical writings invite their readers to distinguish right rom wrong
Tough the Bible does not speak univocally (ie with one voice) its writings
display a remarkably consistent concern or distinguishing right rom wrong
even within the diversity o their expressions Consider the ollowing state-
ments rom a wide range o biblical books all but one o which we will
eventually survey
Moses the leader o Godrsquos people in the orah instructs them concerning
Godrsquos commands
In Proverbs a ather instructs his son
You must observe them diligently for this will show your wisdom and discernment
to the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say ldquoSurely this great
nation is a wise and discerning peoplerdquo For what other great nation has a god sonear to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him And what other great
nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before
you today Deut 46-8
Do not enter the path of the wicked
and do not walk in the way of evildoers
Avoid it do not go on it
turn away from it and pass on
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble
For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn
which shines brighter and brighter until full day
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness
they do not know what they stumble over Prov 414-19
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When accusing Israelite people o a series o wrongdoings the prophet
Isaiah writes
In one Gospel Jesus invites hearers to accept a set o his teachings many
o which address moral behavior
When disturbed that believers in Corinth are not distinguishing rightrom wrong that churchrsquos ounder Paul says
In a totally independent writing when disturbed at the immaturity dis-
played by his readersrsquo willingness to wander away rom the aith the writer
o the epistle to the Hebrews identifies spiritually mature as
Biblical writings clearly advocate that people distinguish moral right
rom moral wrongTat said letrsquos note once more how ocusing on ethics to the exclusion o
other issues is potentially misleading We will see that immediately in ex-
ploring the first part o the Bible the orah In Deuteronomy or example we
Ah you who call evil good
and good evil
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter Is 520
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads
to destruction and there are many who take it For the gate is narrow and the road
is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it Mt 713-14
Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one be-
liever and another but a believer goes to court against a believermdashand before
unbelievers at that 1 Cor 65-6
those whose faculties have been trained by
practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 514
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852019
will find activities identified as evil that our working definition o ethics would
call immoral alse witness adultery kidnapping (Deut 10486258520251048625852025 1048626104862610486261048626 10486261048628852023) But
that same writing identifies alse prophets and idolaters with the same labelmdashevil (Deut 1048625852019852021 1048625852023852023) Are idolaters and alse prophets immoral or something
else Elsewhere in the Bible we will see ethical activity such as loving enemies
(Mt 85202110486281048628-1048628852022) placed on the same reward level as acilitating the work o those
who spread the message o the kingdom (Mt 1048625104862410486281048624-10486281048626) Is supporting the
spread o the kingdomrsquos message moral or something else Biblical writings
ofen portray a more integrated view about lie than our strict definitions allow
We might like to put certain decisions into an ethics box Living in relationship
with the Biblersquos God is all encompassing not easily separable into box-like
categoriesmdasha worship box a sacrifice box a religion box an ethics box
So why are we doing this Because the list o statements we have just
looked at is one piece o evidence among many we will see that encourages
us to think ethically as a natural way o living in relationship with God
Failure to live in ways that emerge out o our definition o ethics is regularly
condemned in biblical writings (eg Is 104862510486251048624-1048625852023 Mt 10486268520191048626852019-10486261048628) But living in
relationship with God involves much more than ethics Our study o ethicsshould not keep us rom realizing that
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155 T983141983150983140983155 983156983151 983138983141 M983145983139983154983151983141983156983144983145983139983137983148
Ethicists generally do not use the expression microethical or its noun micro-
ethics Tose terms are unique to our discussions here Tey appeal to con-
cepts rom the world o economics Economists speak o microeconomics
and macroeconomics Te ormer reers to how people interact in day-to-
day business transactions Whenever people buy or sell items rom a store
they are engaging in microeconomics Te latter reers to larger national
and global issues that determine economic policies set by governments
Whenever people announce state or national employment figures or
whenever people are concerned about the prime rate being set by the Federal
Reserve Bank they are dealing with macroeconomics
Similar concepts are being applied here Microethics reers to what people
do when they interact directly with someone else ldquoShould I be kind or rudeto that woman who wonrsquot give me the time o dayrdquo ldquoShould I get angry at that
man who just cut me off in traffic or should I simply smile pleasantlyrdquo
ldquoShould I join in the conversation about our riend who is not present or
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should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
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Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 1529
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Ultimately what we see throughout the Bible are sets o ethics rooted
in peoplersquos relationship with Godmdashan ethic o relationship1048629 Doing good
flows out o a person coming to know God and growing in that rela-tionship with God Doing wrong shows how out o touch a person is with
God Biblical writings are ull o the language o devotion and com-
mitment It is not a mindless devotion but one that is highly attractive
showing people interacting with a God who gives cares and accepts even
i that God also has high standards or those who are connected to him
Tose standards are ofen shown to lead to personal well-being or those
who interact with God
Significantly because peoplersquos relating to God is the one constant advo-
cated by the varieties o biblical writings how God relates to people also
merits consideration Biblical writings offer hope and restoration or those
who mess up An important element o that is a concept known as repen-
tance people turning away rom their evil and embracing Godrsquos good
Along with that are grace receiving good rom God when one deserves the
opposite and mercy receiving good rom God when one is in a decidedly
weak position A sense o hope also emerges as a central eature o biblicalethics People are allowed to be works in progress Expect to discover im-
perect people in biblical writings people who as they draw close to God
also become better people in the process even i many o them have rough
edges In the world o the Bible God never rejects people who call on him
M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161 V983141983154983155983157983155 E983156983144983145983139983155
People ofen use the concepts o morality and ethics interchangeably
Morals generally reer to a personrsquos awareness o right and wrong A
moral person does the right kind o behavior in the sense we have been
probing here advancing good on the world while reraining rom what
inflicts harm For that reason some people would say that a moral person
is also ethical
A moral person may be doing what is right but may not know clearly
what makes the activity right or why she or he should do that right By con-
trast ethics as we discuss it here deals with how to distinguish right romwrong and why someone should do the right and hinder the wrong In
exploring the Bible we will see many statements weighing in on the moral
rightness or wrongness o various behaviors But we wonrsquot stop there We
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852019
will look or the ethics that will indicate what makes the activity right or
wrong and that offer rationale and motivation or engaging in the right ac-
tivity or reraining rom the wrong Moral people do what is right So dopeople who have ethics but they also know why1048630
Te distinction between morality and ethics is an important one wo
people can share the same moral convictions but they could easily have very
different ethics How Because the ethics will explain the answer to the
question Why is that wrong For example in the world that produced the
New estament section o the Bible Greek and Roman philosophers com-
monly discussed the moral wrongness o being guided by our passions
Toughtless passions lead people to do the wrong things One writer Paul
whose ethics we will explore in chapters nine and ten would basically agree
that people acting out their passions leads to misbehavior But i you asked
both sets o people why being guided by passion is wrong you would get
two entirely different sets o answers Paulrsquos answer connects directly to his
awareness o the crucifixion and resurrection o Jesus Te philosophers
know nothing o Jesus Teir answers are linked to their view o the psy-
chology o the soul Tough we might think we see moral agreement be-tween Paul and philosophers we see totally different ethics We will see the
same thing in the Bible itsel Te various places we will explore will re-
quently show common moral standards but different ethics Ethics and mo-
rality are not the same
Te Biblersquos writings do communicate a strong set o morals But they do
much more than that Tey portray genuine ethics Tey show ways o lie
stemming rom people living in attractive relationship with the true and
living God Reasons or living morally appear regularly either stated or
implied because relationship with God is portrayed as wonderully good
and genuinely healthy Relationship with God ultimately involves partici-
pating in Godrsquos process o remaking the world a world filled with bro-
kenness exhibited in and stemming rom human misbehavior As we probe
biblical texts we will discover ethical systems that are intriguing inviting
enlightening and uplifing People who read the Bible well will not only
have a stronger sense o what is right and wrong they will realize why ac-cording to those writings they also should do right and why living that
right is so ulfilling
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SUMMING IT UP
What is ethics
o Ethics reers to how a person distinguishes right rom
wrong behavior
o Ethics is also concerned with the reasons or why a
person should choose what is good and abstain rom
what is not
o Te kind o behavior that ethics is concerned with gen-erally is behavior that advances good or hinders harm
in onersquos world
What do we mean by biblical ethics
o With biblical ethics one is concerned with discerning
the kinds o behavior biblical writings indicate are right
and wrong
o One is also concerned with both how according to bib-
lical writings to distinguish right rom wrong and why
its readers should do right and rerain rom wrong
o Biblical ethics begins with describing what biblical
writings communicate ethically Only then can people see
how those ethics might apply to their lives prescriptively
o
Ethics is not the central concern o biblical writings o Other behaviors besides ethical behaviors are dealt
with in the Bible
o How people connect meaningully with God is a central
concern o biblical writings
o Ethics in the Bible flows primarily out o peoplersquos
healthy relationship with God
o Ethics in the Bible offers hope or those who recognize
their error and turn to God
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852021
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Ethical questions and dilemmas appear consistently and prominently within
human history Some o the ethical systems Western civilizations developed
to address those concerns are worth noting briefly as a way o comparing
how biblical writings offer both similarities to and dissimilarities rom
them1048631 Some o these systems actually influenced aspects o ethics as oundin parts o the Bible Others o these have themselves been influenced by the
sense o right and wrong ound in biblical writings
Virtue ethics Also closely related to what is called ldquocharacter ethicsrdquo
virtue ethics ocus on what kind o person one should become in order to
attain a higher goal such as happiness or well-being emphasizing various
virtues (eg courage wisdom justice sel-control kindness orbearance
riendliness modesty)852024 Conversely there are vices that one should avoid
(eg cowardice olly wrongness sel-indulgence meanness short-
temperedness diffidence extravagance) Many o those good character
qualities are learned rom observing people who are considered to be good
or by repeated practice o virtuous activities Discussions o virtues and
vices were especially important to the ancient Greeks and Romans Some
writings in the New estament reflect awareness o the ruit o such discus-
sions but also offer their own unique perspectives on virtues and vices
Ethical egoism Also coming rom ancient Greece ethical egoism advocatespursuing behaviors with outcomes that maximize personal pleasure while
minimizing personal pain Rather than resorting to out-and-out hedonism (ie
selfish pleasure seeking) the point here is to evaluate long-term outcomes or
How is morality different from ethics
o Morality is simply knowing what is right and what is
wrong
o Ethics involves both the reasoning or distinguishing
right rom wrong and the motivations or doing what
is right and hindering what is wrong
o Biblical writings regularly portray genuine ethics not
mere morality
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consequences Some immediate pleasures may result in such horrible pain in
the end that they should be avoided altogether But some pain may be necessary
to endure in order to attain the benefit o a long-term pleasureUtilitarianism Utilitarianism is similar to ethical egoism with its concern
or maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain but does so with societies in
view not merely the individual Whatever advances pleasure or the greatest
number o people is to be preerred Further it recognizes that there are
higher-order pleasures in lie beyond mere physical gratification Peoplersquos
ailure to exercise their minds or their pursuit o personal selfishness are two
major obstacles to good being advanced In current popular everyday
practice both ethical egoistic and utilitarian ways o thinking can lead
people to line up physical psychological and sociological conclusions in
order to prove that a genuine pleasure is being advanced or pain is being
avoided But sometimes those conclusions prove more tentative than their
communicators may indicate at the time especially when they are really
interested in justiying their own misbehavior
Duty With duty one should do what is right and rerain rom what is wrong
because that is the most reasonable orm o activity to pursue as a thinkinghuman being One has a duty to live consistently with onersquos being Right and
wrong are independent o human existence Right corresponds with what is
true to pursue what is alse is sel-contradictory and internally inconsistent
Practically speaking living by duty means unctioning in a world o beings As
a human being one has a duty to recognize people as people Whenever one
treats another or even onesel solely as an object one is violating onersquos duty to
a ellow creature Tis way o thinking partly resembles a well-known maxim
attributed to Jesus ofen called the Golden RulemdashldquoDo to others as you would
have them do to yourdquo But it has little regard or people thinking empathetically
about others with a desired ideal good or them the way Jesusrsquo words do
Divine command theory Divine command theory assumes that rightness
comes directly rom divinity and whatever any divinity commands the re-
ligious person must obey When applied to the Bible this approach assumes
that the Bible is ull o commands meant to be obeyed So as a reader one
should look diligently or those commands Whatever is commanded mustbe ollowed because it comes rom God o obey God is to do what is right
o disobey God is to do what is wrong While to many this would seem to
be biblical ethics in a nutshell it alls short by not seeing how biblical ethics
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852023
involves much more than obeying commands Ofen associated with this
approach at the popular level is an attitude that treats the Bible as a sort o
guiding constitution to scan or moral rulings discovering ldquowhat the Biblesaysrdquo about a topic then becomes the primary pursuit
eleology Many o these approaches to ethics also try to organize lie
around a ocused goal a teleological approach For example or some virtue
ethicists and ethical egoists achieving a orm o happiness or well-being is
the goal or which virtues are exercised or pain is minimized By contrast
the approach emphasizing duty regards the duty to be right all by itsel in-
dependent o any ultimate human goal or ideal
E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155 983137983150983140 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Te Bible and teleology In the Bible we will see varieties o teleological
thought stronger in some places than in others Concerns or example with
conormity to the created order or to Godrsquos merciul acts in a moment known
as the exodus are common in the first writings we will probe1048633 Even stronger
will be the awareness that lie is advancing toward a uture ultimate moment
o reordering a major component to the later writings being studied hereTe Bible and virtue ethics Tere are many places where biblical writings
champion conormity to a good character model852017852016 But good character is
advanced neither as a means to some sort o end nor merely as an end in
itsel the way it is in traditional virtue ethics Obtaining good lie outcomes
or avoiding bad ones is not the main goal o being good Rather good char-
acter in biblical writings is ofen seen as a reflection o the God who is being
served It is both an outcome o associating with God and a measuring stick
o how in touch one is with God Further in addition to character issues
biblical texts also champion specific behaviors such as taking care o the
poor standing up or the weak or loving the unlovely Tose behaviors may
reflect good character but they are to be done regardless o onersquos overall
character Many in Christianity have traditionally thought o love as a virtue
But biblical writings ofen ocus on love as an activity even a responsibility
Attention to character ormation is a major topic o discussion or scholars
examining the use o the Bible in ethics852017852017 Tat would be close to virtue ethicsbut not identical It ocuses on how encouragement in the practice o certain
biblical instructions shapes the lives o those who do them influencing what
kind o people they become Like virtue ethics this recognizes that a person
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must be trained in the right way o living to be able to become good It does
receive major support rom the Biblersquos writings themselves which encourage
a liestyle that is always growing in its awareness o God and Godrsquos desiresor humans Still the ethics o the parts o the Bible we will explore here will
also provide more than material or character ormation Tey will also
provide guidelines that help people make reasoned decisions about the
rightness and wrongness o certain activities as they ponder them
Te Bible ethical egoism and utilitarianism Some biblical writings promote
appraising harmul or beneficial outcomes o behaviors in ways that may seem
to resemble the ethical egoist or the utilitarian Tey tend to do so to show the
wisdom or olly o certain activities or to speak approvingly o advancing the
goodness or well-being o onersquos neighbor Tey do not make the avoidance o
personal pain or the acquisition o personal pleasure the ultimate goal Rather
they measure consequences observed rom the activities o others and offer
advice based on what is observed to have worked and what genuinely does not
ounded on how one studies the world as God created it Other writings talk
about growing in character rom enduring hardships such as persecution Again
the point is not to ocus on the personal gain rom such growth but on the ul-timate goal the remade hardship-ree creation one is destined to
Te Bible and duty Various biblical writings urge their readers to treat
others as people rather than objects but they do so in a manner that takes
into consideration the railties o the environment people live in and the
realities o human existence and weakness encouraging readers to be aware
o their own Tough obedience itsel in some contexts may be perceived
as a duty urther probing o those contexts ofen discloses that obedience
flows more out o a sincere relationship with God and a high regard or
others than rom a sense o resolute duty-bound obligation
Te Bible and divine command theory Te Bible is also ull o com-
mands But many o those commands come in specifically defined contexts
that are not meant to apply directly to people in most contemporaneous
settings And outside o those contexts much o what is ofen regarded as
command is really instructional advice which is quite a different orm o
expressionmdashordering someone to ldquoSlow downrdquo is not the same as advisingsomeone to ldquoake your timerdquo yet both communicate what grammarians call
imperatives Further much o the Biblersquos advice appears in contexts that
point to clear supporting reasons behind it Focusing on the advice without
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852025
dealing with its supporting rationale misses the actual ethics being advanced
Finally there are many ethical topics about which the Bible does not issue
any direct command or instruction leaving readers with no guidance orworse as we have already seen leading people to twist the Biblersquos words into
making points not really there Discovering Godrsquos will emerges as a major
concern in some o the writings we will explore or their ethics But we will
see how doing that leads a person beyond a search or direct statements or
interpretive moral rulings
When people probe the Bible to learn what it might say about a certain
moral topic they are really acting under a basic assumption o divine
command theory an act is right or wrong because God says so852017852018 And yet
without ever having read the Bible people all over the world have views
similar to biblical writingsrsquo views about the morality o certain acts A sense
o right and wrong can exist independent o the Bible In this book we will
proceed under the assumption that an act is not right or wrong just because
the Bible says so Te Bible says so ofen because the act is right or wrong Why
is an act right or wrong Answering that rom the Biblersquos writings will put
readers in touch with the ethics those writings advanceTe observations rom the previous paragraphs should not lessen any
respect that a reader gives to biblical texts Tey should in act increase it
Te writings o the Bible encourage more than they ofen receive credit or
Troughout the variety o ethical approaches we will examine in this book
we will see attitudes expressed by biblical texts that expect their words to be
taken seriously precisely because they are connected to God who is trust-
worthy who has made the world with purpose and who is in the process o
moving its events to an ultimate restorative climax Doing something be-
cause one is prompted by a saying in a biblical text is an attitude encouraged
directly by the words o the Biblersquos writings But studying biblical ethics
means much more than searching or and then obeying divinely established
commands or discovering what the Bible says about a topic Tat may some-
times be a good starting point but the Biblersquos words ofen lead its readers to
think about how to do even more than they say directly People who care
about the Bible should let their ethical vision be shaped by that
A V983137983154983145983141983156983161 983151983142 E983156983144983145983139983155 983137983150983140 983137 C983151983150983155983145983155983156983141983150983156 M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161
Te Bible is not a book written by a single author with a collection o chapters
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reflecting a beginning a middle and an end It is a collection o writings
emerging over a large time span and produced by a wide variety o authors
nearly one third o whom are not identified It alls into two unequal por-tions (1048625) the much larger Hebrew Bible (or to Christians the Old estament)
the product o hundreds o years o activity ocusing on the people o Israel
and their covenant with God and (1048626) the New estament produced within
the second hal o the first century 983139983141 or 983137983140 the writings o which all
reflect issues and events related to the person named Jesus the Christ Many
o the writings o both estaments disclose threads o an unolding story to
which they persistently connect divulging an emerging divine plan Some
writings connect to that plan with more detail than others And not all o
the writings try to advance that unolding story
In this book we are probing only our broad sections o biblical ethics (1048625)
Te orah (minus Numbers) and (1048626) proverbial wisdom rom the Old es-
tament (852019) two o the Gospels (Luke and Matthew) and (1048628) two o Paulrsquos
letters (1048625 Corinthians and Romans) rom the New estament8520171048627 Prophetic
thought rom Isaiah in the Old estament will be addressed briefly as well
not or separate ethical inquiry as much as to bridge the ethical worlds oorah and the Gospels Immediately some may ault this listing as incom-
plete and too limiting852017852020 Yes it is But these our basic sections each have
broad unique identifiable eatures that disclose significant depth o ethical
thought What orah communicates ethically is quite distinct rom what
Proverbs conveys And though the Gospels o Luke and Matthew each display
their own special ethical approaches their similarities offer a significantly
different slant rom what Paul advances We will be looking at our distinct
emphases covenant consequences kingdom and transormation Te Bible
does not portray a single unitary ethical vision We see multiple visions each
connecting people with God who has made the world and will remake it
Evidence within the biblical writings suggests that all our o the ap-
proaches we are exploring can interact not only with each other but with
those biblical approaches that we are not exploring in this book8520171048629 We are
looking at a useul basic starting point Tose wanting to pursue a uller
range o approaches and thought orms can then build rom hereRecognizing that there are different complementary ways o thinking ad-
vocated by biblical texts should give Bible readers a greater appreciation or
the richness o thought the writings encourage It should also caution them
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What Is Biblical Ethics 8520191048625
about the shallowness o approaches that disregard that variety in avor o
coming up with a ldquobiblicalrdquo position about a moral topic Tough one might
be able to discern common moral perspectives on some issues one would bemissing out on the ethical reasoning individual sets o writings advance
S983151983149983141 L983145983149983145983156983137983156983145983151983150983155 983151983142 T983144983145983155 A983152983152983154983151983137983139983144
Many biblical writings invite their readers to distinguish right rom wrong
Tough the Bible does not speak univocally (ie with one voice) its writings
display a remarkably consistent concern or distinguishing right rom wrong
even within the diversity o their expressions Consider the ollowing state-
ments rom a wide range o biblical books all but one o which we will
eventually survey
Moses the leader o Godrsquos people in the orah instructs them concerning
Godrsquos commands
In Proverbs a ather instructs his son
You must observe them diligently for this will show your wisdom and discernment
to the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say ldquoSurely this great
nation is a wise and discerning peoplerdquo For what other great nation has a god sonear to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him And what other great
nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before
you today Deut 46-8
Do not enter the path of the wicked
and do not walk in the way of evildoers
Avoid it do not go on it
turn away from it and pass on
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble
For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn
which shines brighter and brighter until full day
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness
they do not know what they stumble over Prov 414-19
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When accusing Israelite people o a series o wrongdoings the prophet
Isaiah writes
In one Gospel Jesus invites hearers to accept a set o his teachings many
o which address moral behavior
When disturbed that believers in Corinth are not distinguishing rightrom wrong that churchrsquos ounder Paul says
In a totally independent writing when disturbed at the immaturity dis-
played by his readersrsquo willingness to wander away rom the aith the writer
o the epistle to the Hebrews identifies spiritually mature as
Biblical writings clearly advocate that people distinguish moral right
rom moral wrongTat said letrsquos note once more how ocusing on ethics to the exclusion o
other issues is potentially misleading We will see that immediately in ex-
ploring the first part o the Bible the orah In Deuteronomy or example we
Ah you who call evil good
and good evil
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter Is 520
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads
to destruction and there are many who take it For the gate is narrow and the road
is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it Mt 713-14
Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one be-
liever and another but a believer goes to court against a believermdashand before
unbelievers at that 1 Cor 65-6
those whose faculties have been trained by
practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 514
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852019
will find activities identified as evil that our working definition o ethics would
call immoral alse witness adultery kidnapping (Deut 10486258520251048625852025 1048626104862610486261048626 10486261048628852023) But
that same writing identifies alse prophets and idolaters with the same labelmdashevil (Deut 1048625852019852021 1048625852023852023) Are idolaters and alse prophets immoral or something
else Elsewhere in the Bible we will see ethical activity such as loving enemies
(Mt 85202110486281048628-1048628852022) placed on the same reward level as acilitating the work o those
who spread the message o the kingdom (Mt 1048625104862410486281048624-10486281048626) Is supporting the
spread o the kingdomrsquos message moral or something else Biblical writings
ofen portray a more integrated view about lie than our strict definitions allow
We might like to put certain decisions into an ethics box Living in relationship
with the Biblersquos God is all encompassing not easily separable into box-like
categoriesmdasha worship box a sacrifice box a religion box an ethics box
So why are we doing this Because the list o statements we have just
looked at is one piece o evidence among many we will see that encourages
us to think ethically as a natural way o living in relationship with God
Failure to live in ways that emerge out o our definition o ethics is regularly
condemned in biblical writings (eg Is 104862510486251048624-1048625852023 Mt 10486268520191048626852019-10486261048628) But living in
relationship with God involves much more than ethics Our study o ethicsshould not keep us rom realizing that
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155 T983141983150983140983155 983156983151 983138983141 M983145983139983154983151983141983156983144983145983139983137983148
Ethicists generally do not use the expression microethical or its noun micro-
ethics Tose terms are unique to our discussions here Tey appeal to con-
cepts rom the world o economics Economists speak o microeconomics
and macroeconomics Te ormer reers to how people interact in day-to-
day business transactions Whenever people buy or sell items rom a store
they are engaging in microeconomics Te latter reers to larger national
and global issues that determine economic policies set by governments
Whenever people announce state or national employment figures or
whenever people are concerned about the prime rate being set by the Federal
Reserve Bank they are dealing with macroeconomics
Similar concepts are being applied here Microethics reers to what people
do when they interact directly with someone else ldquoShould I be kind or rudeto that woman who wonrsquot give me the time o dayrdquo ldquoShould I get angry at that
man who just cut me off in traffic or should I simply smile pleasantlyrdquo
ldquoShould I join in the conversation about our riend who is not present or
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should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
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Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852019
will look or the ethics that will indicate what makes the activity right or
wrong and that offer rationale and motivation or engaging in the right ac-
tivity or reraining rom the wrong Moral people do what is right So dopeople who have ethics but they also know why1048630
Te distinction between morality and ethics is an important one wo
people can share the same moral convictions but they could easily have very
different ethics How Because the ethics will explain the answer to the
question Why is that wrong For example in the world that produced the
New estament section o the Bible Greek and Roman philosophers com-
monly discussed the moral wrongness o being guided by our passions
Toughtless passions lead people to do the wrong things One writer Paul
whose ethics we will explore in chapters nine and ten would basically agree
that people acting out their passions leads to misbehavior But i you asked
both sets o people why being guided by passion is wrong you would get
two entirely different sets o answers Paulrsquos answer connects directly to his
awareness o the crucifixion and resurrection o Jesus Te philosophers
know nothing o Jesus Teir answers are linked to their view o the psy-
chology o the soul Tough we might think we see moral agreement be-tween Paul and philosophers we see totally different ethics We will see the
same thing in the Bible itsel Te various places we will explore will re-
quently show common moral standards but different ethics Ethics and mo-
rality are not the same
Te Biblersquos writings do communicate a strong set o morals But they do
much more than that Tey portray genuine ethics Tey show ways o lie
stemming rom people living in attractive relationship with the true and
living God Reasons or living morally appear regularly either stated or
implied because relationship with God is portrayed as wonderully good
and genuinely healthy Relationship with God ultimately involves partici-
pating in Godrsquos process o remaking the world a world filled with bro-
kenness exhibited in and stemming rom human misbehavior As we probe
biblical texts we will discover ethical systems that are intriguing inviting
enlightening and uplifing People who read the Bible well will not only
have a stronger sense o what is right and wrong they will realize why ac-cording to those writings they also should do right and why living that
right is so ulfilling
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SUMMING IT UP
What is ethics
o Ethics reers to how a person distinguishes right rom
wrong behavior
o Ethics is also concerned with the reasons or why a
person should choose what is good and abstain rom
what is not
o Te kind o behavior that ethics is concerned with gen-erally is behavior that advances good or hinders harm
in onersquos world
What do we mean by biblical ethics
o With biblical ethics one is concerned with discerning
the kinds o behavior biblical writings indicate are right
and wrong
o One is also concerned with both how according to bib-
lical writings to distinguish right rom wrong and why
its readers should do right and rerain rom wrong
o Biblical ethics begins with describing what biblical
writings communicate ethically Only then can people see
how those ethics might apply to their lives prescriptively
o
Ethics is not the central concern o biblical writings o Other behaviors besides ethical behaviors are dealt
with in the Bible
o How people connect meaningully with God is a central
concern o biblical writings
o Ethics in the Bible flows primarily out o peoplersquos
healthy relationship with God
o Ethics in the Bible offers hope or those who recognize
their error and turn to God
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852021
A983148983156983141983154983150983137983156983145983158983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155
Ethical questions and dilemmas appear consistently and prominently within
human history Some o the ethical systems Western civilizations developed
to address those concerns are worth noting briefly as a way o comparing
how biblical writings offer both similarities to and dissimilarities rom
them1048631 Some o these systems actually influenced aspects o ethics as oundin parts o the Bible Others o these have themselves been influenced by the
sense o right and wrong ound in biblical writings
Virtue ethics Also closely related to what is called ldquocharacter ethicsrdquo
virtue ethics ocus on what kind o person one should become in order to
attain a higher goal such as happiness or well-being emphasizing various
virtues (eg courage wisdom justice sel-control kindness orbearance
riendliness modesty)852024 Conversely there are vices that one should avoid
(eg cowardice olly wrongness sel-indulgence meanness short-
temperedness diffidence extravagance) Many o those good character
qualities are learned rom observing people who are considered to be good
or by repeated practice o virtuous activities Discussions o virtues and
vices were especially important to the ancient Greeks and Romans Some
writings in the New estament reflect awareness o the ruit o such discus-
sions but also offer their own unique perspectives on virtues and vices
Ethical egoism Also coming rom ancient Greece ethical egoism advocatespursuing behaviors with outcomes that maximize personal pleasure while
minimizing personal pain Rather than resorting to out-and-out hedonism (ie
selfish pleasure seeking) the point here is to evaluate long-term outcomes or
How is morality different from ethics
o Morality is simply knowing what is right and what is
wrong
o Ethics involves both the reasoning or distinguishing
right rom wrong and the motivations or doing what
is right and hindering what is wrong
o Biblical writings regularly portray genuine ethics not
mere morality
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consequences Some immediate pleasures may result in such horrible pain in
the end that they should be avoided altogether But some pain may be necessary
to endure in order to attain the benefit o a long-term pleasureUtilitarianism Utilitarianism is similar to ethical egoism with its concern
or maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain but does so with societies in
view not merely the individual Whatever advances pleasure or the greatest
number o people is to be preerred Further it recognizes that there are
higher-order pleasures in lie beyond mere physical gratification Peoplersquos
ailure to exercise their minds or their pursuit o personal selfishness are two
major obstacles to good being advanced In current popular everyday
practice both ethical egoistic and utilitarian ways o thinking can lead
people to line up physical psychological and sociological conclusions in
order to prove that a genuine pleasure is being advanced or pain is being
avoided But sometimes those conclusions prove more tentative than their
communicators may indicate at the time especially when they are really
interested in justiying their own misbehavior
Duty With duty one should do what is right and rerain rom what is wrong
because that is the most reasonable orm o activity to pursue as a thinkinghuman being One has a duty to live consistently with onersquos being Right and
wrong are independent o human existence Right corresponds with what is
true to pursue what is alse is sel-contradictory and internally inconsistent
Practically speaking living by duty means unctioning in a world o beings As
a human being one has a duty to recognize people as people Whenever one
treats another or even onesel solely as an object one is violating onersquos duty to
a ellow creature Tis way o thinking partly resembles a well-known maxim
attributed to Jesus ofen called the Golden RulemdashldquoDo to others as you would
have them do to yourdquo But it has little regard or people thinking empathetically
about others with a desired ideal good or them the way Jesusrsquo words do
Divine command theory Divine command theory assumes that rightness
comes directly rom divinity and whatever any divinity commands the re-
ligious person must obey When applied to the Bible this approach assumes
that the Bible is ull o commands meant to be obeyed So as a reader one
should look diligently or those commands Whatever is commanded mustbe ollowed because it comes rom God o obey God is to do what is right
o disobey God is to do what is wrong While to many this would seem to
be biblical ethics in a nutshell it alls short by not seeing how biblical ethics
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852023
involves much more than obeying commands Ofen associated with this
approach at the popular level is an attitude that treats the Bible as a sort o
guiding constitution to scan or moral rulings discovering ldquowhat the Biblesaysrdquo about a topic then becomes the primary pursuit
eleology Many o these approaches to ethics also try to organize lie
around a ocused goal a teleological approach For example or some virtue
ethicists and ethical egoists achieving a orm o happiness or well-being is
the goal or which virtues are exercised or pain is minimized By contrast
the approach emphasizing duty regards the duty to be right all by itsel in-
dependent o any ultimate human goal or ideal
E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155 983137983150983140 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Te Bible and teleology In the Bible we will see varieties o teleological
thought stronger in some places than in others Concerns or example with
conormity to the created order or to Godrsquos merciul acts in a moment known
as the exodus are common in the first writings we will probe1048633 Even stronger
will be the awareness that lie is advancing toward a uture ultimate moment
o reordering a major component to the later writings being studied hereTe Bible and virtue ethics Tere are many places where biblical writings
champion conormity to a good character model852017852016 But good character is
advanced neither as a means to some sort o end nor merely as an end in
itsel the way it is in traditional virtue ethics Obtaining good lie outcomes
or avoiding bad ones is not the main goal o being good Rather good char-
acter in biblical writings is ofen seen as a reflection o the God who is being
served It is both an outcome o associating with God and a measuring stick
o how in touch one is with God Further in addition to character issues
biblical texts also champion specific behaviors such as taking care o the
poor standing up or the weak or loving the unlovely Tose behaviors may
reflect good character but they are to be done regardless o onersquos overall
character Many in Christianity have traditionally thought o love as a virtue
But biblical writings ofen ocus on love as an activity even a responsibility
Attention to character ormation is a major topic o discussion or scholars
examining the use o the Bible in ethics852017852017 Tat would be close to virtue ethicsbut not identical It ocuses on how encouragement in the practice o certain
biblical instructions shapes the lives o those who do them influencing what
kind o people they become Like virtue ethics this recognizes that a person
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must be trained in the right way o living to be able to become good It does
receive major support rom the Biblersquos writings themselves which encourage
a liestyle that is always growing in its awareness o God and Godrsquos desiresor humans Still the ethics o the parts o the Bible we will explore here will
also provide more than material or character ormation Tey will also
provide guidelines that help people make reasoned decisions about the
rightness and wrongness o certain activities as they ponder them
Te Bible ethical egoism and utilitarianism Some biblical writings promote
appraising harmul or beneficial outcomes o behaviors in ways that may seem
to resemble the ethical egoist or the utilitarian Tey tend to do so to show the
wisdom or olly o certain activities or to speak approvingly o advancing the
goodness or well-being o onersquos neighbor Tey do not make the avoidance o
personal pain or the acquisition o personal pleasure the ultimate goal Rather
they measure consequences observed rom the activities o others and offer
advice based on what is observed to have worked and what genuinely does not
ounded on how one studies the world as God created it Other writings talk
about growing in character rom enduring hardships such as persecution Again
the point is not to ocus on the personal gain rom such growth but on the ul-timate goal the remade hardship-ree creation one is destined to
Te Bible and duty Various biblical writings urge their readers to treat
others as people rather than objects but they do so in a manner that takes
into consideration the railties o the environment people live in and the
realities o human existence and weakness encouraging readers to be aware
o their own Tough obedience itsel in some contexts may be perceived
as a duty urther probing o those contexts ofen discloses that obedience
flows more out o a sincere relationship with God and a high regard or
others than rom a sense o resolute duty-bound obligation
Te Bible and divine command theory Te Bible is also ull o com-
mands But many o those commands come in specifically defined contexts
that are not meant to apply directly to people in most contemporaneous
settings And outside o those contexts much o what is ofen regarded as
command is really instructional advice which is quite a different orm o
expressionmdashordering someone to ldquoSlow downrdquo is not the same as advisingsomeone to ldquoake your timerdquo yet both communicate what grammarians call
imperatives Further much o the Biblersquos advice appears in contexts that
point to clear supporting reasons behind it Focusing on the advice without
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852025
dealing with its supporting rationale misses the actual ethics being advanced
Finally there are many ethical topics about which the Bible does not issue
any direct command or instruction leaving readers with no guidance orworse as we have already seen leading people to twist the Biblersquos words into
making points not really there Discovering Godrsquos will emerges as a major
concern in some o the writings we will explore or their ethics But we will
see how doing that leads a person beyond a search or direct statements or
interpretive moral rulings
When people probe the Bible to learn what it might say about a certain
moral topic they are really acting under a basic assumption o divine
command theory an act is right or wrong because God says so852017852018 And yet
without ever having read the Bible people all over the world have views
similar to biblical writingsrsquo views about the morality o certain acts A sense
o right and wrong can exist independent o the Bible In this book we will
proceed under the assumption that an act is not right or wrong just because
the Bible says so Te Bible says so ofen because the act is right or wrong Why
is an act right or wrong Answering that rom the Biblersquos writings will put
readers in touch with the ethics those writings advanceTe observations rom the previous paragraphs should not lessen any
respect that a reader gives to biblical texts Tey should in act increase it
Te writings o the Bible encourage more than they ofen receive credit or
Troughout the variety o ethical approaches we will examine in this book
we will see attitudes expressed by biblical texts that expect their words to be
taken seriously precisely because they are connected to God who is trust-
worthy who has made the world with purpose and who is in the process o
moving its events to an ultimate restorative climax Doing something be-
cause one is prompted by a saying in a biblical text is an attitude encouraged
directly by the words o the Biblersquos writings But studying biblical ethics
means much more than searching or and then obeying divinely established
commands or discovering what the Bible says about a topic Tat may some-
times be a good starting point but the Biblersquos words ofen lead its readers to
think about how to do even more than they say directly People who care
about the Bible should let their ethical vision be shaped by that
A V983137983154983145983141983156983161 983151983142 E983156983144983145983139983155 983137983150983140 983137 C983151983150983155983145983155983156983141983150983156 M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161
Te Bible is not a book written by a single author with a collection o chapters
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reflecting a beginning a middle and an end It is a collection o writings
emerging over a large time span and produced by a wide variety o authors
nearly one third o whom are not identified It alls into two unequal por-tions (1048625) the much larger Hebrew Bible (or to Christians the Old estament)
the product o hundreds o years o activity ocusing on the people o Israel
and their covenant with God and (1048626) the New estament produced within
the second hal o the first century 983139983141 or 983137983140 the writings o which all
reflect issues and events related to the person named Jesus the Christ Many
o the writings o both estaments disclose threads o an unolding story to
which they persistently connect divulging an emerging divine plan Some
writings connect to that plan with more detail than others And not all o
the writings try to advance that unolding story
In this book we are probing only our broad sections o biblical ethics (1048625)
Te orah (minus Numbers) and (1048626) proverbial wisdom rom the Old es-
tament (852019) two o the Gospels (Luke and Matthew) and (1048628) two o Paulrsquos
letters (1048625 Corinthians and Romans) rom the New estament8520171048627 Prophetic
thought rom Isaiah in the Old estament will be addressed briefly as well
not or separate ethical inquiry as much as to bridge the ethical worlds oorah and the Gospels Immediately some may ault this listing as incom-
plete and too limiting852017852020 Yes it is But these our basic sections each have
broad unique identifiable eatures that disclose significant depth o ethical
thought What orah communicates ethically is quite distinct rom what
Proverbs conveys And though the Gospels o Luke and Matthew each display
their own special ethical approaches their similarities offer a significantly
different slant rom what Paul advances We will be looking at our distinct
emphases covenant consequences kingdom and transormation Te Bible
does not portray a single unitary ethical vision We see multiple visions each
connecting people with God who has made the world and will remake it
Evidence within the biblical writings suggests that all our o the ap-
proaches we are exploring can interact not only with each other but with
those biblical approaches that we are not exploring in this book8520171048629 We are
looking at a useul basic starting point Tose wanting to pursue a uller
range o approaches and thought orms can then build rom hereRecognizing that there are different complementary ways o thinking ad-
vocated by biblical texts should give Bible readers a greater appreciation or
the richness o thought the writings encourage It should also caution them
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8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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What Is Biblical Ethics 8520191048625
about the shallowness o approaches that disregard that variety in avor o
coming up with a ldquobiblicalrdquo position about a moral topic Tough one might
be able to discern common moral perspectives on some issues one would bemissing out on the ethical reasoning individual sets o writings advance
S983151983149983141 L983145983149983145983156983137983156983145983151983150983155 983151983142 T983144983145983155 A983152983152983154983151983137983139983144
Many biblical writings invite their readers to distinguish right rom wrong
Tough the Bible does not speak univocally (ie with one voice) its writings
display a remarkably consistent concern or distinguishing right rom wrong
even within the diversity o their expressions Consider the ollowing state-
ments rom a wide range o biblical books all but one o which we will
eventually survey
Moses the leader o Godrsquos people in the orah instructs them concerning
Godrsquos commands
In Proverbs a ather instructs his son
You must observe them diligently for this will show your wisdom and discernment
to the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say ldquoSurely this great
nation is a wise and discerning peoplerdquo For what other great nation has a god sonear to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him And what other great
nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before
you today Deut 46-8
Do not enter the path of the wicked
and do not walk in the way of evildoers
Avoid it do not go on it
turn away from it and pass on
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble
For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn
which shines brighter and brighter until full day
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness
they do not know what they stumble over Prov 414-19
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When accusing Israelite people o a series o wrongdoings the prophet
Isaiah writes
In one Gospel Jesus invites hearers to accept a set o his teachings many
o which address moral behavior
When disturbed that believers in Corinth are not distinguishing rightrom wrong that churchrsquos ounder Paul says
In a totally independent writing when disturbed at the immaturity dis-
played by his readersrsquo willingness to wander away rom the aith the writer
o the epistle to the Hebrews identifies spiritually mature as
Biblical writings clearly advocate that people distinguish moral right
rom moral wrongTat said letrsquos note once more how ocusing on ethics to the exclusion o
other issues is potentially misleading We will see that immediately in ex-
ploring the first part o the Bible the orah In Deuteronomy or example we
Ah you who call evil good
and good evil
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter Is 520
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads
to destruction and there are many who take it For the gate is narrow and the road
is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it Mt 713-14
Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one be-
liever and another but a believer goes to court against a believermdashand before
unbelievers at that 1 Cor 65-6
those whose faculties have been trained by
practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 514
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852019
will find activities identified as evil that our working definition o ethics would
call immoral alse witness adultery kidnapping (Deut 10486258520251048625852025 1048626104862610486261048626 10486261048628852023) But
that same writing identifies alse prophets and idolaters with the same labelmdashevil (Deut 1048625852019852021 1048625852023852023) Are idolaters and alse prophets immoral or something
else Elsewhere in the Bible we will see ethical activity such as loving enemies
(Mt 85202110486281048628-1048628852022) placed on the same reward level as acilitating the work o those
who spread the message o the kingdom (Mt 1048625104862410486281048624-10486281048626) Is supporting the
spread o the kingdomrsquos message moral or something else Biblical writings
ofen portray a more integrated view about lie than our strict definitions allow
We might like to put certain decisions into an ethics box Living in relationship
with the Biblersquos God is all encompassing not easily separable into box-like
categoriesmdasha worship box a sacrifice box a religion box an ethics box
So why are we doing this Because the list o statements we have just
looked at is one piece o evidence among many we will see that encourages
us to think ethically as a natural way o living in relationship with God
Failure to live in ways that emerge out o our definition o ethics is regularly
condemned in biblical writings (eg Is 104862510486251048624-1048625852023 Mt 10486268520191048626852019-10486261048628) But living in
relationship with God involves much more than ethics Our study o ethicsshould not keep us rom realizing that
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155 T983141983150983140983155 983156983151 983138983141 M983145983139983154983151983141983156983144983145983139983137983148
Ethicists generally do not use the expression microethical or its noun micro-
ethics Tose terms are unique to our discussions here Tey appeal to con-
cepts rom the world o economics Economists speak o microeconomics
and macroeconomics Te ormer reers to how people interact in day-to-
day business transactions Whenever people buy or sell items rom a store
they are engaging in microeconomics Te latter reers to larger national
and global issues that determine economic policies set by governments
Whenever people announce state or national employment figures or
whenever people are concerned about the prime rate being set by the Federal
Reserve Bank they are dealing with macroeconomics
Similar concepts are being applied here Microethics reers to what people
do when they interact directly with someone else ldquoShould I be kind or rudeto that woman who wonrsquot give me the time o dayrdquo ldquoShould I get angry at that
man who just cut me off in traffic or should I simply smile pleasantlyrdquo
ldquoShould I join in the conversation about our riend who is not present or
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should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
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Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 1729
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SUMMING IT UP
What is ethics
o Ethics reers to how a person distinguishes right rom
wrong behavior
o Ethics is also concerned with the reasons or why a
person should choose what is good and abstain rom
what is not
o Te kind o behavior that ethics is concerned with gen-erally is behavior that advances good or hinders harm
in onersquos world
What do we mean by biblical ethics
o With biblical ethics one is concerned with discerning
the kinds o behavior biblical writings indicate are right
and wrong
o One is also concerned with both how according to bib-
lical writings to distinguish right rom wrong and why
its readers should do right and rerain rom wrong
o Biblical ethics begins with describing what biblical
writings communicate ethically Only then can people see
how those ethics might apply to their lives prescriptively
o
Ethics is not the central concern o biblical writings o Other behaviors besides ethical behaviors are dealt
with in the Bible
o How people connect meaningully with God is a central
concern o biblical writings
o Ethics in the Bible flows primarily out o peoplersquos
healthy relationship with God
o Ethics in the Bible offers hope or those who recognize
their error and turn to God
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852021
A983148983156983141983154983150983137983156983145983158983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155
Ethical questions and dilemmas appear consistently and prominently within
human history Some o the ethical systems Western civilizations developed
to address those concerns are worth noting briefly as a way o comparing
how biblical writings offer both similarities to and dissimilarities rom
them1048631 Some o these systems actually influenced aspects o ethics as oundin parts o the Bible Others o these have themselves been influenced by the
sense o right and wrong ound in biblical writings
Virtue ethics Also closely related to what is called ldquocharacter ethicsrdquo
virtue ethics ocus on what kind o person one should become in order to
attain a higher goal such as happiness or well-being emphasizing various
virtues (eg courage wisdom justice sel-control kindness orbearance
riendliness modesty)852024 Conversely there are vices that one should avoid
(eg cowardice olly wrongness sel-indulgence meanness short-
temperedness diffidence extravagance) Many o those good character
qualities are learned rom observing people who are considered to be good
or by repeated practice o virtuous activities Discussions o virtues and
vices were especially important to the ancient Greeks and Romans Some
writings in the New estament reflect awareness o the ruit o such discus-
sions but also offer their own unique perspectives on virtues and vices
Ethical egoism Also coming rom ancient Greece ethical egoism advocatespursuing behaviors with outcomes that maximize personal pleasure while
minimizing personal pain Rather than resorting to out-and-out hedonism (ie
selfish pleasure seeking) the point here is to evaluate long-term outcomes or
How is morality different from ethics
o Morality is simply knowing what is right and what is
wrong
o Ethics involves both the reasoning or distinguishing
right rom wrong and the motivations or doing what
is right and hindering what is wrong
o Biblical writings regularly portray genuine ethics not
mere morality
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consequences Some immediate pleasures may result in such horrible pain in
the end that they should be avoided altogether But some pain may be necessary
to endure in order to attain the benefit o a long-term pleasureUtilitarianism Utilitarianism is similar to ethical egoism with its concern
or maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain but does so with societies in
view not merely the individual Whatever advances pleasure or the greatest
number o people is to be preerred Further it recognizes that there are
higher-order pleasures in lie beyond mere physical gratification Peoplersquos
ailure to exercise their minds or their pursuit o personal selfishness are two
major obstacles to good being advanced In current popular everyday
practice both ethical egoistic and utilitarian ways o thinking can lead
people to line up physical psychological and sociological conclusions in
order to prove that a genuine pleasure is being advanced or pain is being
avoided But sometimes those conclusions prove more tentative than their
communicators may indicate at the time especially when they are really
interested in justiying their own misbehavior
Duty With duty one should do what is right and rerain rom what is wrong
because that is the most reasonable orm o activity to pursue as a thinkinghuman being One has a duty to live consistently with onersquos being Right and
wrong are independent o human existence Right corresponds with what is
true to pursue what is alse is sel-contradictory and internally inconsistent
Practically speaking living by duty means unctioning in a world o beings As
a human being one has a duty to recognize people as people Whenever one
treats another or even onesel solely as an object one is violating onersquos duty to
a ellow creature Tis way o thinking partly resembles a well-known maxim
attributed to Jesus ofen called the Golden RulemdashldquoDo to others as you would
have them do to yourdquo But it has little regard or people thinking empathetically
about others with a desired ideal good or them the way Jesusrsquo words do
Divine command theory Divine command theory assumes that rightness
comes directly rom divinity and whatever any divinity commands the re-
ligious person must obey When applied to the Bible this approach assumes
that the Bible is ull o commands meant to be obeyed So as a reader one
should look diligently or those commands Whatever is commanded mustbe ollowed because it comes rom God o obey God is to do what is right
o disobey God is to do what is wrong While to many this would seem to
be biblical ethics in a nutshell it alls short by not seeing how biblical ethics
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852023
involves much more than obeying commands Ofen associated with this
approach at the popular level is an attitude that treats the Bible as a sort o
guiding constitution to scan or moral rulings discovering ldquowhat the Biblesaysrdquo about a topic then becomes the primary pursuit
eleology Many o these approaches to ethics also try to organize lie
around a ocused goal a teleological approach For example or some virtue
ethicists and ethical egoists achieving a orm o happiness or well-being is
the goal or which virtues are exercised or pain is minimized By contrast
the approach emphasizing duty regards the duty to be right all by itsel in-
dependent o any ultimate human goal or ideal
E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155 983137983150983140 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Te Bible and teleology In the Bible we will see varieties o teleological
thought stronger in some places than in others Concerns or example with
conormity to the created order or to Godrsquos merciul acts in a moment known
as the exodus are common in the first writings we will probe1048633 Even stronger
will be the awareness that lie is advancing toward a uture ultimate moment
o reordering a major component to the later writings being studied hereTe Bible and virtue ethics Tere are many places where biblical writings
champion conormity to a good character model852017852016 But good character is
advanced neither as a means to some sort o end nor merely as an end in
itsel the way it is in traditional virtue ethics Obtaining good lie outcomes
or avoiding bad ones is not the main goal o being good Rather good char-
acter in biblical writings is ofen seen as a reflection o the God who is being
served It is both an outcome o associating with God and a measuring stick
o how in touch one is with God Further in addition to character issues
biblical texts also champion specific behaviors such as taking care o the
poor standing up or the weak or loving the unlovely Tose behaviors may
reflect good character but they are to be done regardless o onersquos overall
character Many in Christianity have traditionally thought o love as a virtue
But biblical writings ofen ocus on love as an activity even a responsibility
Attention to character ormation is a major topic o discussion or scholars
examining the use o the Bible in ethics852017852017 Tat would be close to virtue ethicsbut not identical It ocuses on how encouragement in the practice o certain
biblical instructions shapes the lives o those who do them influencing what
kind o people they become Like virtue ethics this recognizes that a person
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must be trained in the right way o living to be able to become good It does
receive major support rom the Biblersquos writings themselves which encourage
a liestyle that is always growing in its awareness o God and Godrsquos desiresor humans Still the ethics o the parts o the Bible we will explore here will
also provide more than material or character ormation Tey will also
provide guidelines that help people make reasoned decisions about the
rightness and wrongness o certain activities as they ponder them
Te Bible ethical egoism and utilitarianism Some biblical writings promote
appraising harmul or beneficial outcomes o behaviors in ways that may seem
to resemble the ethical egoist or the utilitarian Tey tend to do so to show the
wisdom or olly o certain activities or to speak approvingly o advancing the
goodness or well-being o onersquos neighbor Tey do not make the avoidance o
personal pain or the acquisition o personal pleasure the ultimate goal Rather
they measure consequences observed rom the activities o others and offer
advice based on what is observed to have worked and what genuinely does not
ounded on how one studies the world as God created it Other writings talk
about growing in character rom enduring hardships such as persecution Again
the point is not to ocus on the personal gain rom such growth but on the ul-timate goal the remade hardship-ree creation one is destined to
Te Bible and duty Various biblical writings urge their readers to treat
others as people rather than objects but they do so in a manner that takes
into consideration the railties o the environment people live in and the
realities o human existence and weakness encouraging readers to be aware
o their own Tough obedience itsel in some contexts may be perceived
as a duty urther probing o those contexts ofen discloses that obedience
flows more out o a sincere relationship with God and a high regard or
others than rom a sense o resolute duty-bound obligation
Te Bible and divine command theory Te Bible is also ull o com-
mands But many o those commands come in specifically defined contexts
that are not meant to apply directly to people in most contemporaneous
settings And outside o those contexts much o what is ofen regarded as
command is really instructional advice which is quite a different orm o
expressionmdashordering someone to ldquoSlow downrdquo is not the same as advisingsomeone to ldquoake your timerdquo yet both communicate what grammarians call
imperatives Further much o the Biblersquos advice appears in contexts that
point to clear supporting reasons behind it Focusing on the advice without
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852025
dealing with its supporting rationale misses the actual ethics being advanced
Finally there are many ethical topics about which the Bible does not issue
any direct command or instruction leaving readers with no guidance orworse as we have already seen leading people to twist the Biblersquos words into
making points not really there Discovering Godrsquos will emerges as a major
concern in some o the writings we will explore or their ethics But we will
see how doing that leads a person beyond a search or direct statements or
interpretive moral rulings
When people probe the Bible to learn what it might say about a certain
moral topic they are really acting under a basic assumption o divine
command theory an act is right or wrong because God says so852017852018 And yet
without ever having read the Bible people all over the world have views
similar to biblical writingsrsquo views about the morality o certain acts A sense
o right and wrong can exist independent o the Bible In this book we will
proceed under the assumption that an act is not right or wrong just because
the Bible says so Te Bible says so ofen because the act is right or wrong Why
is an act right or wrong Answering that rom the Biblersquos writings will put
readers in touch with the ethics those writings advanceTe observations rom the previous paragraphs should not lessen any
respect that a reader gives to biblical texts Tey should in act increase it
Te writings o the Bible encourage more than they ofen receive credit or
Troughout the variety o ethical approaches we will examine in this book
we will see attitudes expressed by biblical texts that expect their words to be
taken seriously precisely because they are connected to God who is trust-
worthy who has made the world with purpose and who is in the process o
moving its events to an ultimate restorative climax Doing something be-
cause one is prompted by a saying in a biblical text is an attitude encouraged
directly by the words o the Biblersquos writings But studying biblical ethics
means much more than searching or and then obeying divinely established
commands or discovering what the Bible says about a topic Tat may some-
times be a good starting point but the Biblersquos words ofen lead its readers to
think about how to do even more than they say directly People who care
about the Bible should let their ethical vision be shaped by that
A V983137983154983145983141983156983161 983151983142 E983156983144983145983139983155 983137983150983140 983137 C983151983150983155983145983155983156983141983150983156 M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161
Te Bible is not a book written by a single author with a collection o chapters
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reflecting a beginning a middle and an end It is a collection o writings
emerging over a large time span and produced by a wide variety o authors
nearly one third o whom are not identified It alls into two unequal por-tions (1048625) the much larger Hebrew Bible (or to Christians the Old estament)
the product o hundreds o years o activity ocusing on the people o Israel
and their covenant with God and (1048626) the New estament produced within
the second hal o the first century 983139983141 or 983137983140 the writings o which all
reflect issues and events related to the person named Jesus the Christ Many
o the writings o both estaments disclose threads o an unolding story to
which they persistently connect divulging an emerging divine plan Some
writings connect to that plan with more detail than others And not all o
the writings try to advance that unolding story
In this book we are probing only our broad sections o biblical ethics (1048625)
Te orah (minus Numbers) and (1048626) proverbial wisdom rom the Old es-
tament (852019) two o the Gospels (Luke and Matthew) and (1048628) two o Paulrsquos
letters (1048625 Corinthians and Romans) rom the New estament8520171048627 Prophetic
thought rom Isaiah in the Old estament will be addressed briefly as well
not or separate ethical inquiry as much as to bridge the ethical worlds oorah and the Gospels Immediately some may ault this listing as incom-
plete and too limiting852017852020 Yes it is But these our basic sections each have
broad unique identifiable eatures that disclose significant depth o ethical
thought What orah communicates ethically is quite distinct rom what
Proverbs conveys And though the Gospels o Luke and Matthew each display
their own special ethical approaches their similarities offer a significantly
different slant rom what Paul advances We will be looking at our distinct
emphases covenant consequences kingdom and transormation Te Bible
does not portray a single unitary ethical vision We see multiple visions each
connecting people with God who has made the world and will remake it
Evidence within the biblical writings suggests that all our o the ap-
proaches we are exploring can interact not only with each other but with
those biblical approaches that we are not exploring in this book8520171048629 We are
looking at a useul basic starting point Tose wanting to pursue a uller
range o approaches and thought orms can then build rom hereRecognizing that there are different complementary ways o thinking ad-
vocated by biblical texts should give Bible readers a greater appreciation or
the richness o thought the writings encourage It should also caution them
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8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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What Is Biblical Ethics 8520191048625
about the shallowness o approaches that disregard that variety in avor o
coming up with a ldquobiblicalrdquo position about a moral topic Tough one might
be able to discern common moral perspectives on some issues one would bemissing out on the ethical reasoning individual sets o writings advance
S983151983149983141 L983145983149983145983156983137983156983145983151983150983155 983151983142 T983144983145983155 A983152983152983154983151983137983139983144
Many biblical writings invite their readers to distinguish right rom wrong
Tough the Bible does not speak univocally (ie with one voice) its writings
display a remarkably consistent concern or distinguishing right rom wrong
even within the diversity o their expressions Consider the ollowing state-
ments rom a wide range o biblical books all but one o which we will
eventually survey
Moses the leader o Godrsquos people in the orah instructs them concerning
Godrsquos commands
In Proverbs a ather instructs his son
You must observe them diligently for this will show your wisdom and discernment
to the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say ldquoSurely this great
nation is a wise and discerning peoplerdquo For what other great nation has a god sonear to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him And what other great
nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before
you today Deut 46-8
Do not enter the path of the wicked
and do not walk in the way of evildoers
Avoid it do not go on it
turn away from it and pass on
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble
For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn
which shines brighter and brighter until full day
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness
they do not know what they stumble over Prov 414-19
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When accusing Israelite people o a series o wrongdoings the prophet
Isaiah writes
In one Gospel Jesus invites hearers to accept a set o his teachings many
o which address moral behavior
When disturbed that believers in Corinth are not distinguishing rightrom wrong that churchrsquos ounder Paul says
In a totally independent writing when disturbed at the immaturity dis-
played by his readersrsquo willingness to wander away rom the aith the writer
o the epistle to the Hebrews identifies spiritually mature as
Biblical writings clearly advocate that people distinguish moral right
rom moral wrongTat said letrsquos note once more how ocusing on ethics to the exclusion o
other issues is potentially misleading We will see that immediately in ex-
ploring the first part o the Bible the orah In Deuteronomy or example we
Ah you who call evil good
and good evil
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter Is 520
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads
to destruction and there are many who take it For the gate is narrow and the road
is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it Mt 713-14
Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one be-
liever and another but a believer goes to court against a believermdashand before
unbelievers at that 1 Cor 65-6
those whose faculties have been trained by
practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 514
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852019
will find activities identified as evil that our working definition o ethics would
call immoral alse witness adultery kidnapping (Deut 10486258520251048625852025 1048626104862610486261048626 10486261048628852023) But
that same writing identifies alse prophets and idolaters with the same labelmdashevil (Deut 1048625852019852021 1048625852023852023) Are idolaters and alse prophets immoral or something
else Elsewhere in the Bible we will see ethical activity such as loving enemies
(Mt 85202110486281048628-1048628852022) placed on the same reward level as acilitating the work o those
who spread the message o the kingdom (Mt 1048625104862410486281048624-10486281048626) Is supporting the
spread o the kingdomrsquos message moral or something else Biblical writings
ofen portray a more integrated view about lie than our strict definitions allow
We might like to put certain decisions into an ethics box Living in relationship
with the Biblersquos God is all encompassing not easily separable into box-like
categoriesmdasha worship box a sacrifice box a religion box an ethics box
So why are we doing this Because the list o statements we have just
looked at is one piece o evidence among many we will see that encourages
us to think ethically as a natural way o living in relationship with God
Failure to live in ways that emerge out o our definition o ethics is regularly
condemned in biblical writings (eg Is 104862510486251048624-1048625852023 Mt 10486268520191048626852019-10486261048628) But living in
relationship with God involves much more than ethics Our study o ethicsshould not keep us rom realizing that
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155 T983141983150983140983155 983156983151 983138983141 M983145983139983154983151983141983156983144983145983139983137983148
Ethicists generally do not use the expression microethical or its noun micro-
ethics Tose terms are unique to our discussions here Tey appeal to con-
cepts rom the world o economics Economists speak o microeconomics
and macroeconomics Te ormer reers to how people interact in day-to-
day business transactions Whenever people buy or sell items rom a store
they are engaging in microeconomics Te latter reers to larger national
and global issues that determine economic policies set by governments
Whenever people announce state or national employment figures or
whenever people are concerned about the prime rate being set by the Federal
Reserve Bank they are dealing with macroeconomics
Similar concepts are being applied here Microethics reers to what people
do when they interact directly with someone else ldquoShould I be kind or rudeto that woman who wonrsquot give me the time o dayrdquo ldquoShould I get angry at that
man who just cut me off in traffic or should I simply smile pleasantlyrdquo
ldquoShould I join in the conversation about our riend who is not present or
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should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
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852019852022 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 1829
What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852021
A983148983156983141983154983150983137983156983145983158983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155
Ethical questions and dilemmas appear consistently and prominently within
human history Some o the ethical systems Western civilizations developed
to address those concerns are worth noting briefly as a way o comparing
how biblical writings offer both similarities to and dissimilarities rom
them1048631 Some o these systems actually influenced aspects o ethics as oundin parts o the Bible Others o these have themselves been influenced by the
sense o right and wrong ound in biblical writings
Virtue ethics Also closely related to what is called ldquocharacter ethicsrdquo
virtue ethics ocus on what kind o person one should become in order to
attain a higher goal such as happiness or well-being emphasizing various
virtues (eg courage wisdom justice sel-control kindness orbearance
riendliness modesty)852024 Conversely there are vices that one should avoid
(eg cowardice olly wrongness sel-indulgence meanness short-
temperedness diffidence extravagance) Many o those good character
qualities are learned rom observing people who are considered to be good
or by repeated practice o virtuous activities Discussions o virtues and
vices were especially important to the ancient Greeks and Romans Some
writings in the New estament reflect awareness o the ruit o such discus-
sions but also offer their own unique perspectives on virtues and vices
Ethical egoism Also coming rom ancient Greece ethical egoism advocatespursuing behaviors with outcomes that maximize personal pleasure while
minimizing personal pain Rather than resorting to out-and-out hedonism (ie
selfish pleasure seeking) the point here is to evaluate long-term outcomes or
How is morality different from ethics
o Morality is simply knowing what is right and what is
wrong
o Ethics involves both the reasoning or distinguishing
right rom wrong and the motivations or doing what
is right and hindering what is wrong
o Biblical writings regularly portray genuine ethics not
mere morality
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consequences Some immediate pleasures may result in such horrible pain in
the end that they should be avoided altogether But some pain may be necessary
to endure in order to attain the benefit o a long-term pleasureUtilitarianism Utilitarianism is similar to ethical egoism with its concern
or maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain but does so with societies in
view not merely the individual Whatever advances pleasure or the greatest
number o people is to be preerred Further it recognizes that there are
higher-order pleasures in lie beyond mere physical gratification Peoplersquos
ailure to exercise their minds or their pursuit o personal selfishness are two
major obstacles to good being advanced In current popular everyday
practice both ethical egoistic and utilitarian ways o thinking can lead
people to line up physical psychological and sociological conclusions in
order to prove that a genuine pleasure is being advanced or pain is being
avoided But sometimes those conclusions prove more tentative than their
communicators may indicate at the time especially when they are really
interested in justiying their own misbehavior
Duty With duty one should do what is right and rerain rom what is wrong
because that is the most reasonable orm o activity to pursue as a thinkinghuman being One has a duty to live consistently with onersquos being Right and
wrong are independent o human existence Right corresponds with what is
true to pursue what is alse is sel-contradictory and internally inconsistent
Practically speaking living by duty means unctioning in a world o beings As
a human being one has a duty to recognize people as people Whenever one
treats another or even onesel solely as an object one is violating onersquos duty to
a ellow creature Tis way o thinking partly resembles a well-known maxim
attributed to Jesus ofen called the Golden RulemdashldquoDo to others as you would
have them do to yourdquo But it has little regard or people thinking empathetically
about others with a desired ideal good or them the way Jesusrsquo words do
Divine command theory Divine command theory assumes that rightness
comes directly rom divinity and whatever any divinity commands the re-
ligious person must obey When applied to the Bible this approach assumes
that the Bible is ull o commands meant to be obeyed So as a reader one
should look diligently or those commands Whatever is commanded mustbe ollowed because it comes rom God o obey God is to do what is right
o disobey God is to do what is wrong While to many this would seem to
be biblical ethics in a nutshell it alls short by not seeing how biblical ethics
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852023
involves much more than obeying commands Ofen associated with this
approach at the popular level is an attitude that treats the Bible as a sort o
guiding constitution to scan or moral rulings discovering ldquowhat the Biblesaysrdquo about a topic then becomes the primary pursuit
eleology Many o these approaches to ethics also try to organize lie
around a ocused goal a teleological approach For example or some virtue
ethicists and ethical egoists achieving a orm o happiness or well-being is
the goal or which virtues are exercised or pain is minimized By contrast
the approach emphasizing duty regards the duty to be right all by itsel in-
dependent o any ultimate human goal or ideal
E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155 983137983150983140 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Te Bible and teleology In the Bible we will see varieties o teleological
thought stronger in some places than in others Concerns or example with
conormity to the created order or to Godrsquos merciul acts in a moment known
as the exodus are common in the first writings we will probe1048633 Even stronger
will be the awareness that lie is advancing toward a uture ultimate moment
o reordering a major component to the later writings being studied hereTe Bible and virtue ethics Tere are many places where biblical writings
champion conormity to a good character model852017852016 But good character is
advanced neither as a means to some sort o end nor merely as an end in
itsel the way it is in traditional virtue ethics Obtaining good lie outcomes
or avoiding bad ones is not the main goal o being good Rather good char-
acter in biblical writings is ofen seen as a reflection o the God who is being
served It is both an outcome o associating with God and a measuring stick
o how in touch one is with God Further in addition to character issues
biblical texts also champion specific behaviors such as taking care o the
poor standing up or the weak or loving the unlovely Tose behaviors may
reflect good character but they are to be done regardless o onersquos overall
character Many in Christianity have traditionally thought o love as a virtue
But biblical writings ofen ocus on love as an activity even a responsibility
Attention to character ormation is a major topic o discussion or scholars
examining the use o the Bible in ethics852017852017 Tat would be close to virtue ethicsbut not identical It ocuses on how encouragement in the practice o certain
biblical instructions shapes the lives o those who do them influencing what
kind o people they become Like virtue ethics this recognizes that a person
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must be trained in the right way o living to be able to become good It does
receive major support rom the Biblersquos writings themselves which encourage
a liestyle that is always growing in its awareness o God and Godrsquos desiresor humans Still the ethics o the parts o the Bible we will explore here will
also provide more than material or character ormation Tey will also
provide guidelines that help people make reasoned decisions about the
rightness and wrongness o certain activities as they ponder them
Te Bible ethical egoism and utilitarianism Some biblical writings promote
appraising harmul or beneficial outcomes o behaviors in ways that may seem
to resemble the ethical egoist or the utilitarian Tey tend to do so to show the
wisdom or olly o certain activities or to speak approvingly o advancing the
goodness or well-being o onersquos neighbor Tey do not make the avoidance o
personal pain or the acquisition o personal pleasure the ultimate goal Rather
they measure consequences observed rom the activities o others and offer
advice based on what is observed to have worked and what genuinely does not
ounded on how one studies the world as God created it Other writings talk
about growing in character rom enduring hardships such as persecution Again
the point is not to ocus on the personal gain rom such growth but on the ul-timate goal the remade hardship-ree creation one is destined to
Te Bible and duty Various biblical writings urge their readers to treat
others as people rather than objects but they do so in a manner that takes
into consideration the railties o the environment people live in and the
realities o human existence and weakness encouraging readers to be aware
o their own Tough obedience itsel in some contexts may be perceived
as a duty urther probing o those contexts ofen discloses that obedience
flows more out o a sincere relationship with God and a high regard or
others than rom a sense o resolute duty-bound obligation
Te Bible and divine command theory Te Bible is also ull o com-
mands But many o those commands come in specifically defined contexts
that are not meant to apply directly to people in most contemporaneous
settings And outside o those contexts much o what is ofen regarded as
command is really instructional advice which is quite a different orm o
expressionmdashordering someone to ldquoSlow downrdquo is not the same as advisingsomeone to ldquoake your timerdquo yet both communicate what grammarians call
imperatives Further much o the Biblersquos advice appears in contexts that
point to clear supporting reasons behind it Focusing on the advice without
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852025
dealing with its supporting rationale misses the actual ethics being advanced
Finally there are many ethical topics about which the Bible does not issue
any direct command or instruction leaving readers with no guidance orworse as we have already seen leading people to twist the Biblersquos words into
making points not really there Discovering Godrsquos will emerges as a major
concern in some o the writings we will explore or their ethics But we will
see how doing that leads a person beyond a search or direct statements or
interpretive moral rulings
When people probe the Bible to learn what it might say about a certain
moral topic they are really acting under a basic assumption o divine
command theory an act is right or wrong because God says so852017852018 And yet
without ever having read the Bible people all over the world have views
similar to biblical writingsrsquo views about the morality o certain acts A sense
o right and wrong can exist independent o the Bible In this book we will
proceed under the assumption that an act is not right or wrong just because
the Bible says so Te Bible says so ofen because the act is right or wrong Why
is an act right or wrong Answering that rom the Biblersquos writings will put
readers in touch with the ethics those writings advanceTe observations rom the previous paragraphs should not lessen any
respect that a reader gives to biblical texts Tey should in act increase it
Te writings o the Bible encourage more than they ofen receive credit or
Troughout the variety o ethical approaches we will examine in this book
we will see attitudes expressed by biblical texts that expect their words to be
taken seriously precisely because they are connected to God who is trust-
worthy who has made the world with purpose and who is in the process o
moving its events to an ultimate restorative climax Doing something be-
cause one is prompted by a saying in a biblical text is an attitude encouraged
directly by the words o the Biblersquos writings But studying biblical ethics
means much more than searching or and then obeying divinely established
commands or discovering what the Bible says about a topic Tat may some-
times be a good starting point but the Biblersquos words ofen lead its readers to
think about how to do even more than they say directly People who care
about the Bible should let their ethical vision be shaped by that
A V983137983154983145983141983156983161 983151983142 E983156983144983145983139983155 983137983150983140 983137 C983151983150983155983145983155983156983141983150983156 M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161
Te Bible is not a book written by a single author with a collection o chapters
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reflecting a beginning a middle and an end It is a collection o writings
emerging over a large time span and produced by a wide variety o authors
nearly one third o whom are not identified It alls into two unequal por-tions (1048625) the much larger Hebrew Bible (or to Christians the Old estament)
the product o hundreds o years o activity ocusing on the people o Israel
and their covenant with God and (1048626) the New estament produced within
the second hal o the first century 983139983141 or 983137983140 the writings o which all
reflect issues and events related to the person named Jesus the Christ Many
o the writings o both estaments disclose threads o an unolding story to
which they persistently connect divulging an emerging divine plan Some
writings connect to that plan with more detail than others And not all o
the writings try to advance that unolding story
In this book we are probing only our broad sections o biblical ethics (1048625)
Te orah (minus Numbers) and (1048626) proverbial wisdom rom the Old es-
tament (852019) two o the Gospels (Luke and Matthew) and (1048628) two o Paulrsquos
letters (1048625 Corinthians and Romans) rom the New estament8520171048627 Prophetic
thought rom Isaiah in the Old estament will be addressed briefly as well
not or separate ethical inquiry as much as to bridge the ethical worlds oorah and the Gospels Immediately some may ault this listing as incom-
plete and too limiting852017852020 Yes it is But these our basic sections each have
broad unique identifiable eatures that disclose significant depth o ethical
thought What orah communicates ethically is quite distinct rom what
Proverbs conveys And though the Gospels o Luke and Matthew each display
their own special ethical approaches their similarities offer a significantly
different slant rom what Paul advances We will be looking at our distinct
emphases covenant consequences kingdom and transormation Te Bible
does not portray a single unitary ethical vision We see multiple visions each
connecting people with God who has made the world and will remake it
Evidence within the biblical writings suggests that all our o the ap-
proaches we are exploring can interact not only with each other but with
those biblical approaches that we are not exploring in this book8520171048629 We are
looking at a useul basic starting point Tose wanting to pursue a uller
range o approaches and thought orms can then build rom hereRecognizing that there are different complementary ways o thinking ad-
vocated by biblical texts should give Bible readers a greater appreciation or
the richness o thought the writings encourage It should also caution them
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8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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What Is Biblical Ethics 8520191048625
about the shallowness o approaches that disregard that variety in avor o
coming up with a ldquobiblicalrdquo position about a moral topic Tough one might
be able to discern common moral perspectives on some issues one would bemissing out on the ethical reasoning individual sets o writings advance
S983151983149983141 L983145983149983145983156983137983156983145983151983150983155 983151983142 T983144983145983155 A983152983152983154983151983137983139983144
Many biblical writings invite their readers to distinguish right rom wrong
Tough the Bible does not speak univocally (ie with one voice) its writings
display a remarkably consistent concern or distinguishing right rom wrong
even within the diversity o their expressions Consider the ollowing state-
ments rom a wide range o biblical books all but one o which we will
eventually survey
Moses the leader o Godrsquos people in the orah instructs them concerning
Godrsquos commands
In Proverbs a ather instructs his son
You must observe them diligently for this will show your wisdom and discernment
to the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say ldquoSurely this great
nation is a wise and discerning peoplerdquo For what other great nation has a god sonear to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him And what other great
nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before
you today Deut 46-8
Do not enter the path of the wicked
and do not walk in the way of evildoers
Avoid it do not go on it
turn away from it and pass on
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble
For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn
which shines brighter and brighter until full day
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness
they do not know what they stumble over Prov 414-19
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8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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8520191048626 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
When accusing Israelite people o a series o wrongdoings the prophet
Isaiah writes
In one Gospel Jesus invites hearers to accept a set o his teachings many
o which address moral behavior
When disturbed that believers in Corinth are not distinguishing rightrom wrong that churchrsquos ounder Paul says
In a totally independent writing when disturbed at the immaturity dis-
played by his readersrsquo willingness to wander away rom the aith the writer
o the epistle to the Hebrews identifies spiritually mature as
Biblical writings clearly advocate that people distinguish moral right
rom moral wrongTat said letrsquos note once more how ocusing on ethics to the exclusion o
other issues is potentially misleading We will see that immediately in ex-
ploring the first part o the Bible the orah In Deuteronomy or example we
Ah you who call evil good
and good evil
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter Is 520
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads
to destruction and there are many who take it For the gate is narrow and the road
is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it Mt 713-14
Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one be-
liever and another but a believer goes to court against a believermdashand before
unbelievers at that 1 Cor 65-6
those whose faculties have been trained by
practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 514
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852019
will find activities identified as evil that our working definition o ethics would
call immoral alse witness adultery kidnapping (Deut 10486258520251048625852025 1048626104862610486261048626 10486261048628852023) But
that same writing identifies alse prophets and idolaters with the same labelmdashevil (Deut 1048625852019852021 1048625852023852023) Are idolaters and alse prophets immoral or something
else Elsewhere in the Bible we will see ethical activity such as loving enemies
(Mt 85202110486281048628-1048628852022) placed on the same reward level as acilitating the work o those
who spread the message o the kingdom (Mt 1048625104862410486281048624-10486281048626) Is supporting the
spread o the kingdomrsquos message moral or something else Biblical writings
ofen portray a more integrated view about lie than our strict definitions allow
We might like to put certain decisions into an ethics box Living in relationship
with the Biblersquos God is all encompassing not easily separable into box-like
categoriesmdasha worship box a sacrifice box a religion box an ethics box
So why are we doing this Because the list o statements we have just
looked at is one piece o evidence among many we will see that encourages
us to think ethically as a natural way o living in relationship with God
Failure to live in ways that emerge out o our definition o ethics is regularly
condemned in biblical writings (eg Is 104862510486251048624-1048625852023 Mt 10486268520191048626852019-10486261048628) But living in
relationship with God involves much more than ethics Our study o ethicsshould not keep us rom realizing that
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155 T983141983150983140983155 983156983151 983138983141 M983145983139983154983151983141983156983144983145983139983137983148
Ethicists generally do not use the expression microethical or its noun micro-
ethics Tose terms are unique to our discussions here Tey appeal to con-
cepts rom the world o economics Economists speak o microeconomics
and macroeconomics Te ormer reers to how people interact in day-to-
day business transactions Whenever people buy or sell items rom a store
they are engaging in microeconomics Te latter reers to larger national
and global issues that determine economic policies set by governments
Whenever people announce state or national employment figures or
whenever people are concerned about the prime rate being set by the Federal
Reserve Bank they are dealing with macroeconomics
Similar concepts are being applied here Microethics reers to what people
do when they interact directly with someone else ldquoShould I be kind or rudeto that woman who wonrsquot give me the time o dayrdquo ldquoShould I get angry at that
man who just cut me off in traffic or should I simply smile pleasantlyrdquo
ldquoShould I join in the conversation about our riend who is not present or
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
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8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
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8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 1929
1048626852022 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
consequences Some immediate pleasures may result in such horrible pain in
the end that they should be avoided altogether But some pain may be necessary
to endure in order to attain the benefit o a long-term pleasureUtilitarianism Utilitarianism is similar to ethical egoism with its concern
or maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain but does so with societies in
view not merely the individual Whatever advances pleasure or the greatest
number o people is to be preerred Further it recognizes that there are
higher-order pleasures in lie beyond mere physical gratification Peoplersquos
ailure to exercise their minds or their pursuit o personal selfishness are two
major obstacles to good being advanced In current popular everyday
practice both ethical egoistic and utilitarian ways o thinking can lead
people to line up physical psychological and sociological conclusions in
order to prove that a genuine pleasure is being advanced or pain is being
avoided But sometimes those conclusions prove more tentative than their
communicators may indicate at the time especially when they are really
interested in justiying their own misbehavior
Duty With duty one should do what is right and rerain rom what is wrong
because that is the most reasonable orm o activity to pursue as a thinkinghuman being One has a duty to live consistently with onersquos being Right and
wrong are independent o human existence Right corresponds with what is
true to pursue what is alse is sel-contradictory and internally inconsistent
Practically speaking living by duty means unctioning in a world o beings As
a human being one has a duty to recognize people as people Whenever one
treats another or even onesel solely as an object one is violating onersquos duty to
a ellow creature Tis way o thinking partly resembles a well-known maxim
attributed to Jesus ofen called the Golden RulemdashldquoDo to others as you would
have them do to yourdquo But it has little regard or people thinking empathetically
about others with a desired ideal good or them the way Jesusrsquo words do
Divine command theory Divine command theory assumes that rightness
comes directly rom divinity and whatever any divinity commands the re-
ligious person must obey When applied to the Bible this approach assumes
that the Bible is ull o commands meant to be obeyed So as a reader one
should look diligently or those commands Whatever is commanded mustbe ollowed because it comes rom God o obey God is to do what is right
o disobey God is to do what is wrong While to many this would seem to
be biblical ethics in a nutshell it alls short by not seeing how biblical ethics
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852023
involves much more than obeying commands Ofen associated with this
approach at the popular level is an attitude that treats the Bible as a sort o
guiding constitution to scan or moral rulings discovering ldquowhat the Biblesaysrdquo about a topic then becomes the primary pursuit
eleology Many o these approaches to ethics also try to organize lie
around a ocused goal a teleological approach For example or some virtue
ethicists and ethical egoists achieving a orm o happiness or well-being is
the goal or which virtues are exercised or pain is minimized By contrast
the approach emphasizing duty regards the duty to be right all by itsel in-
dependent o any ultimate human goal or ideal
E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155 983137983150983140 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Te Bible and teleology In the Bible we will see varieties o teleological
thought stronger in some places than in others Concerns or example with
conormity to the created order or to Godrsquos merciul acts in a moment known
as the exodus are common in the first writings we will probe1048633 Even stronger
will be the awareness that lie is advancing toward a uture ultimate moment
o reordering a major component to the later writings being studied hereTe Bible and virtue ethics Tere are many places where biblical writings
champion conormity to a good character model852017852016 But good character is
advanced neither as a means to some sort o end nor merely as an end in
itsel the way it is in traditional virtue ethics Obtaining good lie outcomes
or avoiding bad ones is not the main goal o being good Rather good char-
acter in biblical writings is ofen seen as a reflection o the God who is being
served It is both an outcome o associating with God and a measuring stick
o how in touch one is with God Further in addition to character issues
biblical texts also champion specific behaviors such as taking care o the
poor standing up or the weak or loving the unlovely Tose behaviors may
reflect good character but they are to be done regardless o onersquos overall
character Many in Christianity have traditionally thought o love as a virtue
But biblical writings ofen ocus on love as an activity even a responsibility
Attention to character ormation is a major topic o discussion or scholars
examining the use o the Bible in ethics852017852017 Tat would be close to virtue ethicsbut not identical It ocuses on how encouragement in the practice o certain
biblical instructions shapes the lives o those who do them influencing what
kind o people they become Like virtue ethics this recognizes that a person
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must be trained in the right way o living to be able to become good It does
receive major support rom the Biblersquos writings themselves which encourage
a liestyle that is always growing in its awareness o God and Godrsquos desiresor humans Still the ethics o the parts o the Bible we will explore here will
also provide more than material or character ormation Tey will also
provide guidelines that help people make reasoned decisions about the
rightness and wrongness o certain activities as they ponder them
Te Bible ethical egoism and utilitarianism Some biblical writings promote
appraising harmul or beneficial outcomes o behaviors in ways that may seem
to resemble the ethical egoist or the utilitarian Tey tend to do so to show the
wisdom or olly o certain activities or to speak approvingly o advancing the
goodness or well-being o onersquos neighbor Tey do not make the avoidance o
personal pain or the acquisition o personal pleasure the ultimate goal Rather
they measure consequences observed rom the activities o others and offer
advice based on what is observed to have worked and what genuinely does not
ounded on how one studies the world as God created it Other writings talk
about growing in character rom enduring hardships such as persecution Again
the point is not to ocus on the personal gain rom such growth but on the ul-timate goal the remade hardship-ree creation one is destined to
Te Bible and duty Various biblical writings urge their readers to treat
others as people rather than objects but they do so in a manner that takes
into consideration the railties o the environment people live in and the
realities o human existence and weakness encouraging readers to be aware
o their own Tough obedience itsel in some contexts may be perceived
as a duty urther probing o those contexts ofen discloses that obedience
flows more out o a sincere relationship with God and a high regard or
others than rom a sense o resolute duty-bound obligation
Te Bible and divine command theory Te Bible is also ull o com-
mands But many o those commands come in specifically defined contexts
that are not meant to apply directly to people in most contemporaneous
settings And outside o those contexts much o what is ofen regarded as
command is really instructional advice which is quite a different orm o
expressionmdashordering someone to ldquoSlow downrdquo is not the same as advisingsomeone to ldquoake your timerdquo yet both communicate what grammarians call
imperatives Further much o the Biblersquos advice appears in contexts that
point to clear supporting reasons behind it Focusing on the advice without
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852025
dealing with its supporting rationale misses the actual ethics being advanced
Finally there are many ethical topics about which the Bible does not issue
any direct command or instruction leaving readers with no guidance orworse as we have already seen leading people to twist the Biblersquos words into
making points not really there Discovering Godrsquos will emerges as a major
concern in some o the writings we will explore or their ethics But we will
see how doing that leads a person beyond a search or direct statements or
interpretive moral rulings
When people probe the Bible to learn what it might say about a certain
moral topic they are really acting under a basic assumption o divine
command theory an act is right or wrong because God says so852017852018 And yet
without ever having read the Bible people all over the world have views
similar to biblical writingsrsquo views about the morality o certain acts A sense
o right and wrong can exist independent o the Bible In this book we will
proceed under the assumption that an act is not right or wrong just because
the Bible says so Te Bible says so ofen because the act is right or wrong Why
is an act right or wrong Answering that rom the Biblersquos writings will put
readers in touch with the ethics those writings advanceTe observations rom the previous paragraphs should not lessen any
respect that a reader gives to biblical texts Tey should in act increase it
Te writings o the Bible encourage more than they ofen receive credit or
Troughout the variety o ethical approaches we will examine in this book
we will see attitudes expressed by biblical texts that expect their words to be
taken seriously precisely because they are connected to God who is trust-
worthy who has made the world with purpose and who is in the process o
moving its events to an ultimate restorative climax Doing something be-
cause one is prompted by a saying in a biblical text is an attitude encouraged
directly by the words o the Biblersquos writings But studying biblical ethics
means much more than searching or and then obeying divinely established
commands or discovering what the Bible says about a topic Tat may some-
times be a good starting point but the Biblersquos words ofen lead its readers to
think about how to do even more than they say directly People who care
about the Bible should let their ethical vision be shaped by that
A V983137983154983145983141983156983161 983151983142 E983156983144983145983139983155 983137983150983140 983137 C983151983150983155983145983155983156983141983150983156 M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161
Te Bible is not a book written by a single author with a collection o chapters
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reflecting a beginning a middle and an end It is a collection o writings
emerging over a large time span and produced by a wide variety o authors
nearly one third o whom are not identified It alls into two unequal por-tions (1048625) the much larger Hebrew Bible (or to Christians the Old estament)
the product o hundreds o years o activity ocusing on the people o Israel
and their covenant with God and (1048626) the New estament produced within
the second hal o the first century 983139983141 or 983137983140 the writings o which all
reflect issues and events related to the person named Jesus the Christ Many
o the writings o both estaments disclose threads o an unolding story to
which they persistently connect divulging an emerging divine plan Some
writings connect to that plan with more detail than others And not all o
the writings try to advance that unolding story
In this book we are probing only our broad sections o biblical ethics (1048625)
Te orah (minus Numbers) and (1048626) proverbial wisdom rom the Old es-
tament (852019) two o the Gospels (Luke and Matthew) and (1048628) two o Paulrsquos
letters (1048625 Corinthians and Romans) rom the New estament8520171048627 Prophetic
thought rom Isaiah in the Old estament will be addressed briefly as well
not or separate ethical inquiry as much as to bridge the ethical worlds oorah and the Gospels Immediately some may ault this listing as incom-
plete and too limiting852017852020 Yes it is But these our basic sections each have
broad unique identifiable eatures that disclose significant depth o ethical
thought What orah communicates ethically is quite distinct rom what
Proverbs conveys And though the Gospels o Luke and Matthew each display
their own special ethical approaches their similarities offer a significantly
different slant rom what Paul advances We will be looking at our distinct
emphases covenant consequences kingdom and transormation Te Bible
does not portray a single unitary ethical vision We see multiple visions each
connecting people with God who has made the world and will remake it
Evidence within the biblical writings suggests that all our o the ap-
proaches we are exploring can interact not only with each other but with
those biblical approaches that we are not exploring in this book8520171048629 We are
looking at a useul basic starting point Tose wanting to pursue a uller
range o approaches and thought orms can then build rom hereRecognizing that there are different complementary ways o thinking ad-
vocated by biblical texts should give Bible readers a greater appreciation or
the richness o thought the writings encourage It should also caution them
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What Is Biblical Ethics 8520191048625
about the shallowness o approaches that disregard that variety in avor o
coming up with a ldquobiblicalrdquo position about a moral topic Tough one might
be able to discern common moral perspectives on some issues one would bemissing out on the ethical reasoning individual sets o writings advance
S983151983149983141 L983145983149983145983156983137983156983145983151983150983155 983151983142 T983144983145983155 A983152983152983154983151983137983139983144
Many biblical writings invite their readers to distinguish right rom wrong
Tough the Bible does not speak univocally (ie with one voice) its writings
display a remarkably consistent concern or distinguishing right rom wrong
even within the diversity o their expressions Consider the ollowing state-
ments rom a wide range o biblical books all but one o which we will
eventually survey
Moses the leader o Godrsquos people in the orah instructs them concerning
Godrsquos commands
In Proverbs a ather instructs his son
You must observe them diligently for this will show your wisdom and discernment
to the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say ldquoSurely this great
nation is a wise and discerning peoplerdquo For what other great nation has a god sonear to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him And what other great
nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before
you today Deut 46-8
Do not enter the path of the wicked
and do not walk in the way of evildoers
Avoid it do not go on it
turn away from it and pass on
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble
For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn
which shines brighter and brighter until full day
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness
they do not know what they stumble over Prov 414-19
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8520191048626 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
When accusing Israelite people o a series o wrongdoings the prophet
Isaiah writes
In one Gospel Jesus invites hearers to accept a set o his teachings many
o which address moral behavior
When disturbed that believers in Corinth are not distinguishing rightrom wrong that churchrsquos ounder Paul says
In a totally independent writing when disturbed at the immaturity dis-
played by his readersrsquo willingness to wander away rom the aith the writer
o the epistle to the Hebrews identifies spiritually mature as
Biblical writings clearly advocate that people distinguish moral right
rom moral wrongTat said letrsquos note once more how ocusing on ethics to the exclusion o
other issues is potentially misleading We will see that immediately in ex-
ploring the first part o the Bible the orah In Deuteronomy or example we
Ah you who call evil good
and good evil
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter Is 520
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads
to destruction and there are many who take it For the gate is narrow and the road
is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it Mt 713-14
Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one be-
liever and another but a believer goes to court against a believermdashand before
unbelievers at that 1 Cor 65-6
those whose faculties have been trained by
practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 514
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8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852019
will find activities identified as evil that our working definition o ethics would
call immoral alse witness adultery kidnapping (Deut 10486258520251048625852025 1048626104862610486261048626 10486261048628852023) But
that same writing identifies alse prophets and idolaters with the same labelmdashevil (Deut 1048625852019852021 1048625852023852023) Are idolaters and alse prophets immoral or something
else Elsewhere in the Bible we will see ethical activity such as loving enemies
(Mt 85202110486281048628-1048628852022) placed on the same reward level as acilitating the work o those
who spread the message o the kingdom (Mt 1048625104862410486281048624-10486281048626) Is supporting the
spread o the kingdomrsquos message moral or something else Biblical writings
ofen portray a more integrated view about lie than our strict definitions allow
We might like to put certain decisions into an ethics box Living in relationship
with the Biblersquos God is all encompassing not easily separable into box-like
categoriesmdasha worship box a sacrifice box a religion box an ethics box
So why are we doing this Because the list o statements we have just
looked at is one piece o evidence among many we will see that encourages
us to think ethically as a natural way o living in relationship with God
Failure to live in ways that emerge out o our definition o ethics is regularly
condemned in biblical writings (eg Is 104862510486251048624-1048625852023 Mt 10486268520191048626852019-10486261048628) But living in
relationship with God involves much more than ethics Our study o ethicsshould not keep us rom realizing that
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155 T983141983150983140983155 983156983151 983138983141 M983145983139983154983151983141983156983144983145983139983137983148
Ethicists generally do not use the expression microethical or its noun micro-
ethics Tose terms are unique to our discussions here Tey appeal to con-
cepts rom the world o economics Economists speak o microeconomics
and macroeconomics Te ormer reers to how people interact in day-to-
day business transactions Whenever people buy or sell items rom a store
they are engaging in microeconomics Te latter reers to larger national
and global issues that determine economic policies set by governments
Whenever people announce state or national employment figures or
whenever people are concerned about the prime rate being set by the Federal
Reserve Bank they are dealing with macroeconomics
Similar concepts are being applied here Microethics reers to what people
do when they interact directly with someone else ldquoShould I be kind or rudeto that woman who wonrsquot give me the time o dayrdquo ldquoShould I get angry at that
man who just cut me off in traffic or should I simply smile pleasantlyrdquo
ldquoShould I join in the conversation about our riend who is not present or
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2729
8520191048628 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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852019852022 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852023
involves much more than obeying commands Ofen associated with this
approach at the popular level is an attitude that treats the Bible as a sort o
guiding constitution to scan or moral rulings discovering ldquowhat the Biblesaysrdquo about a topic then becomes the primary pursuit
eleology Many o these approaches to ethics also try to organize lie
around a ocused goal a teleological approach For example or some virtue
ethicists and ethical egoists achieving a orm o happiness or well-being is
the goal or which virtues are exercised or pain is minimized By contrast
the approach emphasizing duty regards the duty to be right all by itsel in-
dependent o any ultimate human goal or ideal
E983156983144983145983139983137983148 S983161983155983156983141983149983155 983137983150983140 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Te Bible and teleology In the Bible we will see varieties o teleological
thought stronger in some places than in others Concerns or example with
conormity to the created order or to Godrsquos merciul acts in a moment known
as the exodus are common in the first writings we will probe1048633 Even stronger
will be the awareness that lie is advancing toward a uture ultimate moment
o reordering a major component to the later writings being studied hereTe Bible and virtue ethics Tere are many places where biblical writings
champion conormity to a good character model852017852016 But good character is
advanced neither as a means to some sort o end nor merely as an end in
itsel the way it is in traditional virtue ethics Obtaining good lie outcomes
or avoiding bad ones is not the main goal o being good Rather good char-
acter in biblical writings is ofen seen as a reflection o the God who is being
served It is both an outcome o associating with God and a measuring stick
o how in touch one is with God Further in addition to character issues
biblical texts also champion specific behaviors such as taking care o the
poor standing up or the weak or loving the unlovely Tose behaviors may
reflect good character but they are to be done regardless o onersquos overall
character Many in Christianity have traditionally thought o love as a virtue
But biblical writings ofen ocus on love as an activity even a responsibility
Attention to character ormation is a major topic o discussion or scholars
examining the use o the Bible in ethics852017852017 Tat would be close to virtue ethicsbut not identical It ocuses on how encouragement in the practice o certain
biblical instructions shapes the lives o those who do them influencing what
kind o people they become Like virtue ethics this recognizes that a person
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
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10486261048632 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
must be trained in the right way o living to be able to become good It does
receive major support rom the Biblersquos writings themselves which encourage
a liestyle that is always growing in its awareness o God and Godrsquos desiresor humans Still the ethics o the parts o the Bible we will explore here will
also provide more than material or character ormation Tey will also
provide guidelines that help people make reasoned decisions about the
rightness and wrongness o certain activities as they ponder them
Te Bible ethical egoism and utilitarianism Some biblical writings promote
appraising harmul or beneficial outcomes o behaviors in ways that may seem
to resemble the ethical egoist or the utilitarian Tey tend to do so to show the
wisdom or olly o certain activities or to speak approvingly o advancing the
goodness or well-being o onersquos neighbor Tey do not make the avoidance o
personal pain or the acquisition o personal pleasure the ultimate goal Rather
they measure consequences observed rom the activities o others and offer
advice based on what is observed to have worked and what genuinely does not
ounded on how one studies the world as God created it Other writings talk
about growing in character rom enduring hardships such as persecution Again
the point is not to ocus on the personal gain rom such growth but on the ul-timate goal the remade hardship-ree creation one is destined to
Te Bible and duty Various biblical writings urge their readers to treat
others as people rather than objects but they do so in a manner that takes
into consideration the railties o the environment people live in and the
realities o human existence and weakness encouraging readers to be aware
o their own Tough obedience itsel in some contexts may be perceived
as a duty urther probing o those contexts ofen discloses that obedience
flows more out o a sincere relationship with God and a high regard or
others than rom a sense o resolute duty-bound obligation
Te Bible and divine command theory Te Bible is also ull o com-
mands But many o those commands come in specifically defined contexts
that are not meant to apply directly to people in most contemporaneous
settings And outside o those contexts much o what is ofen regarded as
command is really instructional advice which is quite a different orm o
expressionmdashordering someone to ldquoSlow downrdquo is not the same as advisingsomeone to ldquoake your timerdquo yet both communicate what grammarians call
imperatives Further much o the Biblersquos advice appears in contexts that
point to clear supporting reasons behind it Focusing on the advice without
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8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852025
dealing with its supporting rationale misses the actual ethics being advanced
Finally there are many ethical topics about which the Bible does not issue
any direct command or instruction leaving readers with no guidance orworse as we have already seen leading people to twist the Biblersquos words into
making points not really there Discovering Godrsquos will emerges as a major
concern in some o the writings we will explore or their ethics But we will
see how doing that leads a person beyond a search or direct statements or
interpretive moral rulings
When people probe the Bible to learn what it might say about a certain
moral topic they are really acting under a basic assumption o divine
command theory an act is right or wrong because God says so852017852018 And yet
without ever having read the Bible people all over the world have views
similar to biblical writingsrsquo views about the morality o certain acts A sense
o right and wrong can exist independent o the Bible In this book we will
proceed under the assumption that an act is not right or wrong just because
the Bible says so Te Bible says so ofen because the act is right or wrong Why
is an act right or wrong Answering that rom the Biblersquos writings will put
readers in touch with the ethics those writings advanceTe observations rom the previous paragraphs should not lessen any
respect that a reader gives to biblical texts Tey should in act increase it
Te writings o the Bible encourage more than they ofen receive credit or
Troughout the variety o ethical approaches we will examine in this book
we will see attitudes expressed by biblical texts that expect their words to be
taken seriously precisely because they are connected to God who is trust-
worthy who has made the world with purpose and who is in the process o
moving its events to an ultimate restorative climax Doing something be-
cause one is prompted by a saying in a biblical text is an attitude encouraged
directly by the words o the Biblersquos writings But studying biblical ethics
means much more than searching or and then obeying divinely established
commands or discovering what the Bible says about a topic Tat may some-
times be a good starting point but the Biblersquos words ofen lead its readers to
think about how to do even more than they say directly People who care
about the Bible should let their ethical vision be shaped by that
A V983137983154983145983141983156983161 983151983142 E983156983144983145983139983155 983137983150983140 983137 C983151983150983155983145983155983156983141983150983156 M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161
Te Bible is not a book written by a single author with a collection o chapters
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reflecting a beginning a middle and an end It is a collection o writings
emerging over a large time span and produced by a wide variety o authors
nearly one third o whom are not identified It alls into two unequal por-tions (1048625) the much larger Hebrew Bible (or to Christians the Old estament)
the product o hundreds o years o activity ocusing on the people o Israel
and their covenant with God and (1048626) the New estament produced within
the second hal o the first century 983139983141 or 983137983140 the writings o which all
reflect issues and events related to the person named Jesus the Christ Many
o the writings o both estaments disclose threads o an unolding story to
which they persistently connect divulging an emerging divine plan Some
writings connect to that plan with more detail than others And not all o
the writings try to advance that unolding story
In this book we are probing only our broad sections o biblical ethics (1048625)
Te orah (minus Numbers) and (1048626) proverbial wisdom rom the Old es-
tament (852019) two o the Gospels (Luke and Matthew) and (1048628) two o Paulrsquos
letters (1048625 Corinthians and Romans) rom the New estament8520171048627 Prophetic
thought rom Isaiah in the Old estament will be addressed briefly as well
not or separate ethical inquiry as much as to bridge the ethical worlds oorah and the Gospels Immediately some may ault this listing as incom-
plete and too limiting852017852020 Yes it is But these our basic sections each have
broad unique identifiable eatures that disclose significant depth o ethical
thought What orah communicates ethically is quite distinct rom what
Proverbs conveys And though the Gospels o Luke and Matthew each display
their own special ethical approaches their similarities offer a significantly
different slant rom what Paul advances We will be looking at our distinct
emphases covenant consequences kingdom and transormation Te Bible
does not portray a single unitary ethical vision We see multiple visions each
connecting people with God who has made the world and will remake it
Evidence within the biblical writings suggests that all our o the ap-
proaches we are exploring can interact not only with each other but with
those biblical approaches that we are not exploring in this book8520171048629 We are
looking at a useul basic starting point Tose wanting to pursue a uller
range o approaches and thought orms can then build rom hereRecognizing that there are different complementary ways o thinking ad-
vocated by biblical texts should give Bible readers a greater appreciation or
the richness o thought the writings encourage It should also caution them
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What Is Biblical Ethics 8520191048625
about the shallowness o approaches that disregard that variety in avor o
coming up with a ldquobiblicalrdquo position about a moral topic Tough one might
be able to discern common moral perspectives on some issues one would bemissing out on the ethical reasoning individual sets o writings advance
S983151983149983141 L983145983149983145983156983137983156983145983151983150983155 983151983142 T983144983145983155 A983152983152983154983151983137983139983144
Many biblical writings invite their readers to distinguish right rom wrong
Tough the Bible does not speak univocally (ie with one voice) its writings
display a remarkably consistent concern or distinguishing right rom wrong
even within the diversity o their expressions Consider the ollowing state-
ments rom a wide range o biblical books all but one o which we will
eventually survey
Moses the leader o Godrsquos people in the orah instructs them concerning
Godrsquos commands
In Proverbs a ather instructs his son
You must observe them diligently for this will show your wisdom and discernment
to the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say ldquoSurely this great
nation is a wise and discerning peoplerdquo For what other great nation has a god sonear to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him And what other great
nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before
you today Deut 46-8
Do not enter the path of the wicked
and do not walk in the way of evildoers
Avoid it do not go on it
turn away from it and pass on
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble
For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn
which shines brighter and brighter until full day
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness
they do not know what they stumble over Prov 414-19
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8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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8520191048626 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
When accusing Israelite people o a series o wrongdoings the prophet
Isaiah writes
In one Gospel Jesus invites hearers to accept a set o his teachings many
o which address moral behavior
When disturbed that believers in Corinth are not distinguishing rightrom wrong that churchrsquos ounder Paul says
In a totally independent writing when disturbed at the immaturity dis-
played by his readersrsquo willingness to wander away rom the aith the writer
o the epistle to the Hebrews identifies spiritually mature as
Biblical writings clearly advocate that people distinguish moral right
rom moral wrongTat said letrsquos note once more how ocusing on ethics to the exclusion o
other issues is potentially misleading We will see that immediately in ex-
ploring the first part o the Bible the orah In Deuteronomy or example we
Ah you who call evil good
and good evil
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter Is 520
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads
to destruction and there are many who take it For the gate is narrow and the road
is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it Mt 713-14
Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one be-
liever and another but a believer goes to court against a believermdashand before
unbelievers at that 1 Cor 65-6
those whose faculties have been trained by
practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 514
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852019
will find activities identified as evil that our working definition o ethics would
call immoral alse witness adultery kidnapping (Deut 10486258520251048625852025 1048626104862610486261048626 10486261048628852023) But
that same writing identifies alse prophets and idolaters with the same labelmdashevil (Deut 1048625852019852021 1048625852023852023) Are idolaters and alse prophets immoral or something
else Elsewhere in the Bible we will see ethical activity such as loving enemies
(Mt 85202110486281048628-1048628852022) placed on the same reward level as acilitating the work o those
who spread the message o the kingdom (Mt 1048625104862410486281048624-10486281048626) Is supporting the
spread o the kingdomrsquos message moral or something else Biblical writings
ofen portray a more integrated view about lie than our strict definitions allow
We might like to put certain decisions into an ethics box Living in relationship
with the Biblersquos God is all encompassing not easily separable into box-like
categoriesmdasha worship box a sacrifice box a religion box an ethics box
So why are we doing this Because the list o statements we have just
looked at is one piece o evidence among many we will see that encourages
us to think ethically as a natural way o living in relationship with God
Failure to live in ways that emerge out o our definition o ethics is regularly
condemned in biblical writings (eg Is 104862510486251048624-1048625852023 Mt 10486268520191048626852019-10486261048628) But living in
relationship with God involves much more than ethics Our study o ethicsshould not keep us rom realizing that
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155 T983141983150983140983155 983156983151 983138983141 M983145983139983154983151983141983156983144983145983139983137983148
Ethicists generally do not use the expression microethical or its noun micro-
ethics Tose terms are unique to our discussions here Tey appeal to con-
cepts rom the world o economics Economists speak o microeconomics
and macroeconomics Te ormer reers to how people interact in day-to-
day business transactions Whenever people buy or sell items rom a store
they are engaging in microeconomics Te latter reers to larger national
and global issues that determine economic policies set by governments
Whenever people announce state or national employment figures or
whenever people are concerned about the prime rate being set by the Federal
Reserve Bank they are dealing with macroeconomics
Similar concepts are being applied here Microethics reers to what people
do when they interact directly with someone else ldquoShould I be kind or rudeto that woman who wonrsquot give me the time o dayrdquo ldquoShould I get angry at that
man who just cut me off in traffic or should I simply smile pleasantlyrdquo
ldquoShould I join in the conversation about our riend who is not present or
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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8520191048628 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2829
What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2929
852019852022 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2129
10486261048632 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
must be trained in the right way o living to be able to become good It does
receive major support rom the Biblersquos writings themselves which encourage
a liestyle that is always growing in its awareness o God and Godrsquos desiresor humans Still the ethics o the parts o the Bible we will explore here will
also provide more than material or character ormation Tey will also
provide guidelines that help people make reasoned decisions about the
rightness and wrongness o certain activities as they ponder them
Te Bible ethical egoism and utilitarianism Some biblical writings promote
appraising harmul or beneficial outcomes o behaviors in ways that may seem
to resemble the ethical egoist or the utilitarian Tey tend to do so to show the
wisdom or olly o certain activities or to speak approvingly o advancing the
goodness or well-being o onersquos neighbor Tey do not make the avoidance o
personal pain or the acquisition o personal pleasure the ultimate goal Rather
they measure consequences observed rom the activities o others and offer
advice based on what is observed to have worked and what genuinely does not
ounded on how one studies the world as God created it Other writings talk
about growing in character rom enduring hardships such as persecution Again
the point is not to ocus on the personal gain rom such growth but on the ul-timate goal the remade hardship-ree creation one is destined to
Te Bible and duty Various biblical writings urge their readers to treat
others as people rather than objects but they do so in a manner that takes
into consideration the railties o the environment people live in and the
realities o human existence and weakness encouraging readers to be aware
o their own Tough obedience itsel in some contexts may be perceived
as a duty urther probing o those contexts ofen discloses that obedience
flows more out o a sincere relationship with God and a high regard or
others than rom a sense o resolute duty-bound obligation
Te Bible and divine command theory Te Bible is also ull o com-
mands But many o those commands come in specifically defined contexts
that are not meant to apply directly to people in most contemporaneous
settings And outside o those contexts much o what is ofen regarded as
command is really instructional advice which is quite a different orm o
expressionmdashordering someone to ldquoSlow downrdquo is not the same as advisingsomeone to ldquoake your timerdquo yet both communicate what grammarians call
imperatives Further much o the Biblersquos advice appears in contexts that
point to clear supporting reasons behind it Focusing on the advice without
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2229
What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852025
dealing with its supporting rationale misses the actual ethics being advanced
Finally there are many ethical topics about which the Bible does not issue
any direct command or instruction leaving readers with no guidance orworse as we have already seen leading people to twist the Biblersquos words into
making points not really there Discovering Godrsquos will emerges as a major
concern in some o the writings we will explore or their ethics But we will
see how doing that leads a person beyond a search or direct statements or
interpretive moral rulings
When people probe the Bible to learn what it might say about a certain
moral topic they are really acting under a basic assumption o divine
command theory an act is right or wrong because God says so852017852018 And yet
without ever having read the Bible people all over the world have views
similar to biblical writingsrsquo views about the morality o certain acts A sense
o right and wrong can exist independent o the Bible In this book we will
proceed under the assumption that an act is not right or wrong just because
the Bible says so Te Bible says so ofen because the act is right or wrong Why
is an act right or wrong Answering that rom the Biblersquos writings will put
readers in touch with the ethics those writings advanceTe observations rom the previous paragraphs should not lessen any
respect that a reader gives to biblical texts Tey should in act increase it
Te writings o the Bible encourage more than they ofen receive credit or
Troughout the variety o ethical approaches we will examine in this book
we will see attitudes expressed by biblical texts that expect their words to be
taken seriously precisely because they are connected to God who is trust-
worthy who has made the world with purpose and who is in the process o
moving its events to an ultimate restorative climax Doing something be-
cause one is prompted by a saying in a biblical text is an attitude encouraged
directly by the words o the Biblersquos writings But studying biblical ethics
means much more than searching or and then obeying divinely established
commands or discovering what the Bible says about a topic Tat may some-
times be a good starting point but the Biblersquos words ofen lead its readers to
think about how to do even more than they say directly People who care
about the Bible should let their ethical vision be shaped by that
A V983137983154983145983141983156983161 983151983142 E983156983144983145983139983155 983137983150983140 983137 C983151983150983155983145983155983156983141983150983156 M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161
Te Bible is not a book written by a single author with a collection o chapters
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2329
8520191048624 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
reflecting a beginning a middle and an end It is a collection o writings
emerging over a large time span and produced by a wide variety o authors
nearly one third o whom are not identified It alls into two unequal por-tions (1048625) the much larger Hebrew Bible (or to Christians the Old estament)
the product o hundreds o years o activity ocusing on the people o Israel
and their covenant with God and (1048626) the New estament produced within
the second hal o the first century 983139983141 or 983137983140 the writings o which all
reflect issues and events related to the person named Jesus the Christ Many
o the writings o both estaments disclose threads o an unolding story to
which they persistently connect divulging an emerging divine plan Some
writings connect to that plan with more detail than others And not all o
the writings try to advance that unolding story
In this book we are probing only our broad sections o biblical ethics (1048625)
Te orah (minus Numbers) and (1048626) proverbial wisdom rom the Old es-
tament (852019) two o the Gospels (Luke and Matthew) and (1048628) two o Paulrsquos
letters (1048625 Corinthians and Romans) rom the New estament8520171048627 Prophetic
thought rom Isaiah in the Old estament will be addressed briefly as well
not or separate ethical inquiry as much as to bridge the ethical worlds oorah and the Gospels Immediately some may ault this listing as incom-
plete and too limiting852017852020 Yes it is But these our basic sections each have
broad unique identifiable eatures that disclose significant depth o ethical
thought What orah communicates ethically is quite distinct rom what
Proverbs conveys And though the Gospels o Luke and Matthew each display
their own special ethical approaches their similarities offer a significantly
different slant rom what Paul advances We will be looking at our distinct
emphases covenant consequences kingdom and transormation Te Bible
does not portray a single unitary ethical vision We see multiple visions each
connecting people with God who has made the world and will remake it
Evidence within the biblical writings suggests that all our o the ap-
proaches we are exploring can interact not only with each other but with
those biblical approaches that we are not exploring in this book8520171048629 We are
looking at a useul basic starting point Tose wanting to pursue a uller
range o approaches and thought orms can then build rom hereRecognizing that there are different complementary ways o thinking ad-
vocated by biblical texts should give Bible readers a greater appreciation or
the richness o thought the writings encourage It should also caution them
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2429
What Is Biblical Ethics 8520191048625
about the shallowness o approaches that disregard that variety in avor o
coming up with a ldquobiblicalrdquo position about a moral topic Tough one might
be able to discern common moral perspectives on some issues one would bemissing out on the ethical reasoning individual sets o writings advance
S983151983149983141 L983145983149983145983156983137983156983145983151983150983155 983151983142 T983144983145983155 A983152983152983154983151983137983139983144
Many biblical writings invite their readers to distinguish right rom wrong
Tough the Bible does not speak univocally (ie with one voice) its writings
display a remarkably consistent concern or distinguishing right rom wrong
even within the diversity o their expressions Consider the ollowing state-
ments rom a wide range o biblical books all but one o which we will
eventually survey
Moses the leader o Godrsquos people in the orah instructs them concerning
Godrsquos commands
In Proverbs a ather instructs his son
You must observe them diligently for this will show your wisdom and discernment
to the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say ldquoSurely this great
nation is a wise and discerning peoplerdquo For what other great nation has a god sonear to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him And what other great
nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before
you today Deut 46-8
Do not enter the path of the wicked
and do not walk in the way of evildoers
Avoid it do not go on it
turn away from it and pass on
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble
For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn
which shines brighter and brighter until full day
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness
they do not know what they stumble over Prov 414-19
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2529
8520191048626 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
When accusing Israelite people o a series o wrongdoings the prophet
Isaiah writes
In one Gospel Jesus invites hearers to accept a set o his teachings many
o which address moral behavior
When disturbed that believers in Corinth are not distinguishing rightrom wrong that churchrsquos ounder Paul says
In a totally independent writing when disturbed at the immaturity dis-
played by his readersrsquo willingness to wander away rom the aith the writer
o the epistle to the Hebrews identifies spiritually mature as
Biblical writings clearly advocate that people distinguish moral right
rom moral wrongTat said letrsquos note once more how ocusing on ethics to the exclusion o
other issues is potentially misleading We will see that immediately in ex-
ploring the first part o the Bible the orah In Deuteronomy or example we
Ah you who call evil good
and good evil
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter Is 520
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads
to destruction and there are many who take it For the gate is narrow and the road
is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it Mt 713-14
Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one be-
liever and another but a believer goes to court against a believermdashand before
unbelievers at that 1 Cor 65-6
those whose faculties have been trained by
practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 514
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8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852019
will find activities identified as evil that our working definition o ethics would
call immoral alse witness adultery kidnapping (Deut 10486258520251048625852025 1048626104862610486261048626 10486261048628852023) But
that same writing identifies alse prophets and idolaters with the same labelmdashevil (Deut 1048625852019852021 1048625852023852023) Are idolaters and alse prophets immoral or something
else Elsewhere in the Bible we will see ethical activity such as loving enemies
(Mt 85202110486281048628-1048628852022) placed on the same reward level as acilitating the work o those
who spread the message o the kingdom (Mt 1048625104862410486281048624-10486281048626) Is supporting the
spread o the kingdomrsquos message moral or something else Biblical writings
ofen portray a more integrated view about lie than our strict definitions allow
We might like to put certain decisions into an ethics box Living in relationship
with the Biblersquos God is all encompassing not easily separable into box-like
categoriesmdasha worship box a sacrifice box a religion box an ethics box
So why are we doing this Because the list o statements we have just
looked at is one piece o evidence among many we will see that encourages
us to think ethically as a natural way o living in relationship with God
Failure to live in ways that emerge out o our definition o ethics is regularly
condemned in biblical writings (eg Is 104862510486251048624-1048625852023 Mt 10486268520191048626852019-10486261048628) But living in
relationship with God involves much more than ethics Our study o ethicsshould not keep us rom realizing that
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155 T983141983150983140983155 983156983151 983138983141 M983145983139983154983151983141983156983144983145983139983137983148
Ethicists generally do not use the expression microethical or its noun micro-
ethics Tose terms are unique to our discussions here Tey appeal to con-
cepts rom the world o economics Economists speak o microeconomics
and macroeconomics Te ormer reers to how people interact in day-to-
day business transactions Whenever people buy or sell items rom a store
they are engaging in microeconomics Te latter reers to larger national
and global issues that determine economic policies set by governments
Whenever people announce state or national employment figures or
whenever people are concerned about the prime rate being set by the Federal
Reserve Bank they are dealing with macroeconomics
Similar concepts are being applied here Microethics reers to what people
do when they interact directly with someone else ldquoShould I be kind or rudeto that woman who wonrsquot give me the time o dayrdquo ldquoShould I get angry at that
man who just cut me off in traffic or should I simply smile pleasantlyrdquo
ldquoShould I join in the conversation about our riend who is not present or
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
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8520191048628 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2829
What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2929
852019852022 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2229
What Is Biblical Ethics 1048626852025
dealing with its supporting rationale misses the actual ethics being advanced
Finally there are many ethical topics about which the Bible does not issue
any direct command or instruction leaving readers with no guidance orworse as we have already seen leading people to twist the Biblersquos words into
making points not really there Discovering Godrsquos will emerges as a major
concern in some o the writings we will explore or their ethics But we will
see how doing that leads a person beyond a search or direct statements or
interpretive moral rulings
When people probe the Bible to learn what it might say about a certain
moral topic they are really acting under a basic assumption o divine
command theory an act is right or wrong because God says so852017852018 And yet
without ever having read the Bible people all over the world have views
similar to biblical writingsrsquo views about the morality o certain acts A sense
o right and wrong can exist independent o the Bible In this book we will
proceed under the assumption that an act is not right or wrong just because
the Bible says so Te Bible says so ofen because the act is right or wrong Why
is an act right or wrong Answering that rom the Biblersquos writings will put
readers in touch with the ethics those writings advanceTe observations rom the previous paragraphs should not lessen any
respect that a reader gives to biblical texts Tey should in act increase it
Te writings o the Bible encourage more than they ofen receive credit or
Troughout the variety o ethical approaches we will examine in this book
we will see attitudes expressed by biblical texts that expect their words to be
taken seriously precisely because they are connected to God who is trust-
worthy who has made the world with purpose and who is in the process o
moving its events to an ultimate restorative climax Doing something be-
cause one is prompted by a saying in a biblical text is an attitude encouraged
directly by the words o the Biblersquos writings But studying biblical ethics
means much more than searching or and then obeying divinely established
commands or discovering what the Bible says about a topic Tat may some-
times be a good starting point but the Biblersquos words ofen lead its readers to
think about how to do even more than they say directly People who care
about the Bible should let their ethical vision be shaped by that
A V983137983154983145983141983156983161 983151983142 E983156983144983145983139983155 983137983150983140 983137 C983151983150983155983145983155983156983141983150983156 M983151983154983137983148983145983156983161
Te Bible is not a book written by a single author with a collection o chapters
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2329
8520191048624 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
reflecting a beginning a middle and an end It is a collection o writings
emerging over a large time span and produced by a wide variety o authors
nearly one third o whom are not identified It alls into two unequal por-tions (1048625) the much larger Hebrew Bible (or to Christians the Old estament)
the product o hundreds o years o activity ocusing on the people o Israel
and their covenant with God and (1048626) the New estament produced within
the second hal o the first century 983139983141 or 983137983140 the writings o which all
reflect issues and events related to the person named Jesus the Christ Many
o the writings o both estaments disclose threads o an unolding story to
which they persistently connect divulging an emerging divine plan Some
writings connect to that plan with more detail than others And not all o
the writings try to advance that unolding story
In this book we are probing only our broad sections o biblical ethics (1048625)
Te orah (minus Numbers) and (1048626) proverbial wisdom rom the Old es-
tament (852019) two o the Gospels (Luke and Matthew) and (1048628) two o Paulrsquos
letters (1048625 Corinthians and Romans) rom the New estament8520171048627 Prophetic
thought rom Isaiah in the Old estament will be addressed briefly as well
not or separate ethical inquiry as much as to bridge the ethical worlds oorah and the Gospels Immediately some may ault this listing as incom-
plete and too limiting852017852020 Yes it is But these our basic sections each have
broad unique identifiable eatures that disclose significant depth o ethical
thought What orah communicates ethically is quite distinct rom what
Proverbs conveys And though the Gospels o Luke and Matthew each display
their own special ethical approaches their similarities offer a significantly
different slant rom what Paul advances We will be looking at our distinct
emphases covenant consequences kingdom and transormation Te Bible
does not portray a single unitary ethical vision We see multiple visions each
connecting people with God who has made the world and will remake it
Evidence within the biblical writings suggests that all our o the ap-
proaches we are exploring can interact not only with each other but with
those biblical approaches that we are not exploring in this book8520171048629 We are
looking at a useul basic starting point Tose wanting to pursue a uller
range o approaches and thought orms can then build rom hereRecognizing that there are different complementary ways o thinking ad-
vocated by biblical texts should give Bible readers a greater appreciation or
the richness o thought the writings encourage It should also caution them
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2429
What Is Biblical Ethics 8520191048625
about the shallowness o approaches that disregard that variety in avor o
coming up with a ldquobiblicalrdquo position about a moral topic Tough one might
be able to discern common moral perspectives on some issues one would bemissing out on the ethical reasoning individual sets o writings advance
S983151983149983141 L983145983149983145983156983137983156983145983151983150983155 983151983142 T983144983145983155 A983152983152983154983151983137983139983144
Many biblical writings invite their readers to distinguish right rom wrong
Tough the Bible does not speak univocally (ie with one voice) its writings
display a remarkably consistent concern or distinguishing right rom wrong
even within the diversity o their expressions Consider the ollowing state-
ments rom a wide range o biblical books all but one o which we will
eventually survey
Moses the leader o Godrsquos people in the orah instructs them concerning
Godrsquos commands
In Proverbs a ather instructs his son
You must observe them diligently for this will show your wisdom and discernment
to the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say ldquoSurely this great
nation is a wise and discerning peoplerdquo For what other great nation has a god sonear to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him And what other great
nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before
you today Deut 46-8
Do not enter the path of the wicked
and do not walk in the way of evildoers
Avoid it do not go on it
turn away from it and pass on
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble
For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn
which shines brighter and brighter until full day
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness
they do not know what they stumble over Prov 414-19
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2529
8520191048626 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
When accusing Israelite people o a series o wrongdoings the prophet
Isaiah writes
In one Gospel Jesus invites hearers to accept a set o his teachings many
o which address moral behavior
When disturbed that believers in Corinth are not distinguishing rightrom wrong that churchrsquos ounder Paul says
In a totally independent writing when disturbed at the immaturity dis-
played by his readersrsquo willingness to wander away rom the aith the writer
o the epistle to the Hebrews identifies spiritually mature as
Biblical writings clearly advocate that people distinguish moral right
rom moral wrongTat said letrsquos note once more how ocusing on ethics to the exclusion o
other issues is potentially misleading We will see that immediately in ex-
ploring the first part o the Bible the orah In Deuteronomy or example we
Ah you who call evil good
and good evil
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter Is 520
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads
to destruction and there are many who take it For the gate is narrow and the road
is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it Mt 713-14
Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one be-
liever and another but a believer goes to court against a believermdashand before
unbelievers at that 1 Cor 65-6
those whose faculties have been trained by
practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 514
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2629
What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852019
will find activities identified as evil that our working definition o ethics would
call immoral alse witness adultery kidnapping (Deut 10486258520251048625852025 1048626104862610486261048626 10486261048628852023) But
that same writing identifies alse prophets and idolaters with the same labelmdashevil (Deut 1048625852019852021 1048625852023852023) Are idolaters and alse prophets immoral or something
else Elsewhere in the Bible we will see ethical activity such as loving enemies
(Mt 85202110486281048628-1048628852022) placed on the same reward level as acilitating the work o those
who spread the message o the kingdom (Mt 1048625104862410486281048624-10486281048626) Is supporting the
spread o the kingdomrsquos message moral or something else Biblical writings
ofen portray a more integrated view about lie than our strict definitions allow
We might like to put certain decisions into an ethics box Living in relationship
with the Biblersquos God is all encompassing not easily separable into box-like
categoriesmdasha worship box a sacrifice box a religion box an ethics box
So why are we doing this Because the list o statements we have just
looked at is one piece o evidence among many we will see that encourages
us to think ethically as a natural way o living in relationship with God
Failure to live in ways that emerge out o our definition o ethics is regularly
condemned in biblical writings (eg Is 104862510486251048624-1048625852023 Mt 10486268520191048626852019-10486261048628) But living in
relationship with God involves much more than ethics Our study o ethicsshould not keep us rom realizing that
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155 T983141983150983140983155 983156983151 983138983141 M983145983139983154983151983141983156983144983145983139983137983148
Ethicists generally do not use the expression microethical or its noun micro-
ethics Tose terms are unique to our discussions here Tey appeal to con-
cepts rom the world o economics Economists speak o microeconomics
and macroeconomics Te ormer reers to how people interact in day-to-
day business transactions Whenever people buy or sell items rom a store
they are engaging in microeconomics Te latter reers to larger national
and global issues that determine economic policies set by governments
Whenever people announce state or national employment figures or
whenever people are concerned about the prime rate being set by the Federal
Reserve Bank they are dealing with macroeconomics
Similar concepts are being applied here Microethics reers to what people
do when they interact directly with someone else ldquoShould I be kind or rudeto that woman who wonrsquot give me the time o dayrdquo ldquoShould I get angry at that
man who just cut me off in traffic or should I simply smile pleasantlyrdquo
ldquoShould I join in the conversation about our riend who is not present or
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2729
8520191048628 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2829
What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2929
852019852022 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2329
8520191048624 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
reflecting a beginning a middle and an end It is a collection o writings
emerging over a large time span and produced by a wide variety o authors
nearly one third o whom are not identified It alls into two unequal por-tions (1048625) the much larger Hebrew Bible (or to Christians the Old estament)
the product o hundreds o years o activity ocusing on the people o Israel
and their covenant with God and (1048626) the New estament produced within
the second hal o the first century 983139983141 or 983137983140 the writings o which all
reflect issues and events related to the person named Jesus the Christ Many
o the writings o both estaments disclose threads o an unolding story to
which they persistently connect divulging an emerging divine plan Some
writings connect to that plan with more detail than others And not all o
the writings try to advance that unolding story
In this book we are probing only our broad sections o biblical ethics (1048625)
Te orah (minus Numbers) and (1048626) proverbial wisdom rom the Old es-
tament (852019) two o the Gospels (Luke and Matthew) and (1048628) two o Paulrsquos
letters (1048625 Corinthians and Romans) rom the New estament8520171048627 Prophetic
thought rom Isaiah in the Old estament will be addressed briefly as well
not or separate ethical inquiry as much as to bridge the ethical worlds oorah and the Gospels Immediately some may ault this listing as incom-
plete and too limiting852017852020 Yes it is But these our basic sections each have
broad unique identifiable eatures that disclose significant depth o ethical
thought What orah communicates ethically is quite distinct rom what
Proverbs conveys And though the Gospels o Luke and Matthew each display
their own special ethical approaches their similarities offer a significantly
different slant rom what Paul advances We will be looking at our distinct
emphases covenant consequences kingdom and transormation Te Bible
does not portray a single unitary ethical vision We see multiple visions each
connecting people with God who has made the world and will remake it
Evidence within the biblical writings suggests that all our o the ap-
proaches we are exploring can interact not only with each other but with
those biblical approaches that we are not exploring in this book8520171048629 We are
looking at a useul basic starting point Tose wanting to pursue a uller
range o approaches and thought orms can then build rom hereRecognizing that there are different complementary ways o thinking ad-
vocated by biblical texts should give Bible readers a greater appreciation or
the richness o thought the writings encourage It should also caution them
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2429
What Is Biblical Ethics 8520191048625
about the shallowness o approaches that disregard that variety in avor o
coming up with a ldquobiblicalrdquo position about a moral topic Tough one might
be able to discern common moral perspectives on some issues one would bemissing out on the ethical reasoning individual sets o writings advance
S983151983149983141 L983145983149983145983156983137983156983145983151983150983155 983151983142 T983144983145983155 A983152983152983154983151983137983139983144
Many biblical writings invite their readers to distinguish right rom wrong
Tough the Bible does not speak univocally (ie with one voice) its writings
display a remarkably consistent concern or distinguishing right rom wrong
even within the diversity o their expressions Consider the ollowing state-
ments rom a wide range o biblical books all but one o which we will
eventually survey
Moses the leader o Godrsquos people in the orah instructs them concerning
Godrsquos commands
In Proverbs a ather instructs his son
You must observe them diligently for this will show your wisdom and discernment
to the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say ldquoSurely this great
nation is a wise and discerning peoplerdquo For what other great nation has a god sonear to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him And what other great
nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before
you today Deut 46-8
Do not enter the path of the wicked
and do not walk in the way of evildoers
Avoid it do not go on it
turn away from it and pass on
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble
For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn
which shines brighter and brighter until full day
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness
they do not know what they stumble over Prov 414-19
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2529
8520191048626 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
When accusing Israelite people o a series o wrongdoings the prophet
Isaiah writes
In one Gospel Jesus invites hearers to accept a set o his teachings many
o which address moral behavior
When disturbed that believers in Corinth are not distinguishing rightrom wrong that churchrsquos ounder Paul says
In a totally independent writing when disturbed at the immaturity dis-
played by his readersrsquo willingness to wander away rom the aith the writer
o the epistle to the Hebrews identifies spiritually mature as
Biblical writings clearly advocate that people distinguish moral right
rom moral wrongTat said letrsquos note once more how ocusing on ethics to the exclusion o
other issues is potentially misleading We will see that immediately in ex-
ploring the first part o the Bible the orah In Deuteronomy or example we
Ah you who call evil good
and good evil
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter Is 520
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads
to destruction and there are many who take it For the gate is narrow and the road
is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it Mt 713-14
Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one be-
liever and another but a believer goes to court against a believermdashand before
unbelievers at that 1 Cor 65-6
those whose faculties have been trained by
practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 514
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2629
What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852019
will find activities identified as evil that our working definition o ethics would
call immoral alse witness adultery kidnapping (Deut 10486258520251048625852025 1048626104862610486261048626 10486261048628852023) But
that same writing identifies alse prophets and idolaters with the same labelmdashevil (Deut 1048625852019852021 1048625852023852023) Are idolaters and alse prophets immoral or something
else Elsewhere in the Bible we will see ethical activity such as loving enemies
(Mt 85202110486281048628-1048628852022) placed on the same reward level as acilitating the work o those
who spread the message o the kingdom (Mt 1048625104862410486281048624-10486281048626) Is supporting the
spread o the kingdomrsquos message moral or something else Biblical writings
ofen portray a more integrated view about lie than our strict definitions allow
We might like to put certain decisions into an ethics box Living in relationship
with the Biblersquos God is all encompassing not easily separable into box-like
categoriesmdasha worship box a sacrifice box a religion box an ethics box
So why are we doing this Because the list o statements we have just
looked at is one piece o evidence among many we will see that encourages
us to think ethically as a natural way o living in relationship with God
Failure to live in ways that emerge out o our definition o ethics is regularly
condemned in biblical writings (eg Is 104862510486251048624-1048625852023 Mt 10486268520191048626852019-10486261048628) But living in
relationship with God involves much more than ethics Our study o ethicsshould not keep us rom realizing that
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155 T983141983150983140983155 983156983151 983138983141 M983145983139983154983151983141983156983144983145983139983137983148
Ethicists generally do not use the expression microethical or its noun micro-
ethics Tose terms are unique to our discussions here Tey appeal to con-
cepts rom the world o economics Economists speak o microeconomics
and macroeconomics Te ormer reers to how people interact in day-to-
day business transactions Whenever people buy or sell items rom a store
they are engaging in microeconomics Te latter reers to larger national
and global issues that determine economic policies set by governments
Whenever people announce state or national employment figures or
whenever people are concerned about the prime rate being set by the Federal
Reserve Bank they are dealing with macroeconomics
Similar concepts are being applied here Microethics reers to what people
do when they interact directly with someone else ldquoShould I be kind or rudeto that woman who wonrsquot give me the time o dayrdquo ldquoShould I get angry at that
man who just cut me off in traffic or should I simply smile pleasantlyrdquo
ldquoShould I join in the conversation about our riend who is not present or
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2729
8520191048628 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2829
What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2929
852019852022 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2429
What Is Biblical Ethics 8520191048625
about the shallowness o approaches that disregard that variety in avor o
coming up with a ldquobiblicalrdquo position about a moral topic Tough one might
be able to discern common moral perspectives on some issues one would bemissing out on the ethical reasoning individual sets o writings advance
S983151983149983141 L983145983149983145983156983137983156983145983151983150983155 983151983142 T983144983145983155 A983152983152983154983151983137983139983144
Many biblical writings invite their readers to distinguish right rom wrong
Tough the Bible does not speak univocally (ie with one voice) its writings
display a remarkably consistent concern or distinguishing right rom wrong
even within the diversity o their expressions Consider the ollowing state-
ments rom a wide range o biblical books all but one o which we will
eventually survey
Moses the leader o Godrsquos people in the orah instructs them concerning
Godrsquos commands
In Proverbs a ather instructs his son
You must observe them diligently for this will show your wisdom and discernment
to the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say ldquoSurely this great
nation is a wise and discerning peoplerdquo For what other great nation has a god sonear to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him And what other great
nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before
you today Deut 46-8
Do not enter the path of the wicked
and do not walk in the way of evildoers
Avoid it do not go on it
turn away from it and pass on
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble
For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn
which shines brighter and brighter until full day
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness
they do not know what they stumble over Prov 414-19
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2529
8520191048626 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
When accusing Israelite people o a series o wrongdoings the prophet
Isaiah writes
In one Gospel Jesus invites hearers to accept a set o his teachings many
o which address moral behavior
When disturbed that believers in Corinth are not distinguishing rightrom wrong that churchrsquos ounder Paul says
In a totally independent writing when disturbed at the immaturity dis-
played by his readersrsquo willingness to wander away rom the aith the writer
o the epistle to the Hebrews identifies spiritually mature as
Biblical writings clearly advocate that people distinguish moral right
rom moral wrongTat said letrsquos note once more how ocusing on ethics to the exclusion o
other issues is potentially misleading We will see that immediately in ex-
ploring the first part o the Bible the orah In Deuteronomy or example we
Ah you who call evil good
and good evil
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter Is 520
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads
to destruction and there are many who take it For the gate is narrow and the road
is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it Mt 713-14
Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one be-
liever and another but a believer goes to court against a believermdashand before
unbelievers at that 1 Cor 65-6
those whose faculties have been trained by
practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 514
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2629
What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852019
will find activities identified as evil that our working definition o ethics would
call immoral alse witness adultery kidnapping (Deut 10486258520251048625852025 1048626104862610486261048626 10486261048628852023) But
that same writing identifies alse prophets and idolaters with the same labelmdashevil (Deut 1048625852019852021 1048625852023852023) Are idolaters and alse prophets immoral or something
else Elsewhere in the Bible we will see ethical activity such as loving enemies
(Mt 85202110486281048628-1048628852022) placed on the same reward level as acilitating the work o those
who spread the message o the kingdom (Mt 1048625104862410486281048624-10486281048626) Is supporting the
spread o the kingdomrsquos message moral or something else Biblical writings
ofen portray a more integrated view about lie than our strict definitions allow
We might like to put certain decisions into an ethics box Living in relationship
with the Biblersquos God is all encompassing not easily separable into box-like
categoriesmdasha worship box a sacrifice box a religion box an ethics box
So why are we doing this Because the list o statements we have just
looked at is one piece o evidence among many we will see that encourages
us to think ethically as a natural way o living in relationship with God
Failure to live in ways that emerge out o our definition o ethics is regularly
condemned in biblical writings (eg Is 104862510486251048624-1048625852023 Mt 10486268520191048626852019-10486261048628) But living in
relationship with God involves much more than ethics Our study o ethicsshould not keep us rom realizing that
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155 T983141983150983140983155 983156983151 983138983141 M983145983139983154983151983141983156983144983145983139983137983148
Ethicists generally do not use the expression microethical or its noun micro-
ethics Tose terms are unique to our discussions here Tey appeal to con-
cepts rom the world o economics Economists speak o microeconomics
and macroeconomics Te ormer reers to how people interact in day-to-
day business transactions Whenever people buy or sell items rom a store
they are engaging in microeconomics Te latter reers to larger national
and global issues that determine economic policies set by governments
Whenever people announce state or national employment figures or
whenever people are concerned about the prime rate being set by the Federal
Reserve Bank they are dealing with macroeconomics
Similar concepts are being applied here Microethics reers to what people
do when they interact directly with someone else ldquoShould I be kind or rudeto that woman who wonrsquot give me the time o dayrdquo ldquoShould I get angry at that
man who just cut me off in traffic or should I simply smile pleasantlyrdquo
ldquoShould I join in the conversation about our riend who is not present or
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2729
8520191048628 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2829
What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2929
852019852022 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2529
8520191048626 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
When accusing Israelite people o a series o wrongdoings the prophet
Isaiah writes
In one Gospel Jesus invites hearers to accept a set o his teachings many
o which address moral behavior
When disturbed that believers in Corinth are not distinguishing rightrom wrong that churchrsquos ounder Paul says
In a totally independent writing when disturbed at the immaturity dis-
played by his readersrsquo willingness to wander away rom the aith the writer
o the epistle to the Hebrews identifies spiritually mature as
Biblical writings clearly advocate that people distinguish moral right
rom moral wrongTat said letrsquos note once more how ocusing on ethics to the exclusion o
other issues is potentially misleading We will see that immediately in ex-
ploring the first part o the Bible the orah In Deuteronomy or example we
Ah you who call evil good
and good evil
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter Is 520
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads
to destruction and there are many who take it For the gate is narrow and the road
is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it Mt 713-14
Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one be-
liever and another but a believer goes to court against a believermdashand before
unbelievers at that 1 Cor 65-6
those whose faculties have been trained by
practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 514
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2629
What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852019
will find activities identified as evil that our working definition o ethics would
call immoral alse witness adultery kidnapping (Deut 10486258520251048625852025 1048626104862610486261048626 10486261048628852023) But
that same writing identifies alse prophets and idolaters with the same labelmdashevil (Deut 1048625852019852021 1048625852023852023) Are idolaters and alse prophets immoral or something
else Elsewhere in the Bible we will see ethical activity such as loving enemies
(Mt 85202110486281048628-1048628852022) placed on the same reward level as acilitating the work o those
who spread the message o the kingdom (Mt 1048625104862410486281048624-10486281048626) Is supporting the
spread o the kingdomrsquos message moral or something else Biblical writings
ofen portray a more integrated view about lie than our strict definitions allow
We might like to put certain decisions into an ethics box Living in relationship
with the Biblersquos God is all encompassing not easily separable into box-like
categoriesmdasha worship box a sacrifice box a religion box an ethics box
So why are we doing this Because the list o statements we have just
looked at is one piece o evidence among many we will see that encourages
us to think ethically as a natural way o living in relationship with God
Failure to live in ways that emerge out o our definition o ethics is regularly
condemned in biblical writings (eg Is 104862510486251048624-1048625852023 Mt 10486268520191048626852019-10486261048628) But living in
relationship with God involves much more than ethics Our study o ethicsshould not keep us rom realizing that
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155 T983141983150983140983155 983156983151 983138983141 M983145983139983154983151983141983156983144983145983139983137983148
Ethicists generally do not use the expression microethical or its noun micro-
ethics Tose terms are unique to our discussions here Tey appeal to con-
cepts rom the world o economics Economists speak o microeconomics
and macroeconomics Te ormer reers to how people interact in day-to-
day business transactions Whenever people buy or sell items rom a store
they are engaging in microeconomics Te latter reers to larger national
and global issues that determine economic policies set by governments
Whenever people announce state or national employment figures or
whenever people are concerned about the prime rate being set by the Federal
Reserve Bank they are dealing with macroeconomics
Similar concepts are being applied here Microethics reers to what people
do when they interact directly with someone else ldquoShould I be kind or rudeto that woman who wonrsquot give me the time o dayrdquo ldquoShould I get angry at that
man who just cut me off in traffic or should I simply smile pleasantlyrdquo
ldquoShould I join in the conversation about our riend who is not present or
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2729
8520191048628 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2829
What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2929
852019852022 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2629
What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852019
will find activities identified as evil that our working definition o ethics would
call immoral alse witness adultery kidnapping (Deut 10486258520251048625852025 1048626104862610486261048626 10486261048628852023) But
that same writing identifies alse prophets and idolaters with the same labelmdashevil (Deut 1048625852019852021 1048625852023852023) Are idolaters and alse prophets immoral or something
else Elsewhere in the Bible we will see ethical activity such as loving enemies
(Mt 85202110486281048628-1048628852022) placed on the same reward level as acilitating the work o those
who spread the message o the kingdom (Mt 1048625104862410486281048624-10486281048626) Is supporting the
spread o the kingdomrsquos message moral or something else Biblical writings
ofen portray a more integrated view about lie than our strict definitions allow
We might like to put certain decisions into an ethics box Living in relationship
with the Biblersquos God is all encompassing not easily separable into box-like
categoriesmdasha worship box a sacrifice box a religion box an ethics box
So why are we doing this Because the list o statements we have just
looked at is one piece o evidence among many we will see that encourages
us to think ethically as a natural way o living in relationship with God
Failure to live in ways that emerge out o our definition o ethics is regularly
condemned in biblical writings (eg Is 104862510486251048624-1048625852023 Mt 10486268520191048626852019-10486261048628) But living in
relationship with God involves much more than ethics Our study o ethicsshould not keep us rom realizing that
B983145983138983148983145983139983137983148 E983156983144983145983139983155 T983141983150983140983155 983156983151 983138983141 M983145983139983154983151983141983156983144983145983139983137983148
Ethicists generally do not use the expression microethical or its noun micro-
ethics Tose terms are unique to our discussions here Tey appeal to con-
cepts rom the world o economics Economists speak o microeconomics
and macroeconomics Te ormer reers to how people interact in day-to-
day business transactions Whenever people buy or sell items rom a store
they are engaging in microeconomics Te latter reers to larger national
and global issues that determine economic policies set by governments
Whenever people announce state or national employment figures or
whenever people are concerned about the prime rate being set by the Federal
Reserve Bank they are dealing with macroeconomics
Similar concepts are being applied here Microethics reers to what people
do when they interact directly with someone else ldquoShould I be kind or rudeto that woman who wonrsquot give me the time o dayrdquo ldquoShould I get angry at that
man who just cut me off in traffic or should I simply smile pleasantlyrdquo
ldquoShould I join in the conversation about our riend who is not present or
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2729
8520191048628 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2829
What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2929
852019852022 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2729
8520191048628 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
should I change the topicrdquo ldquoShould I step in and help protect someone whom
I see being mistreated or should I just walk awayrdquo8520171048630 By contrast macroethics
appeals to larger matters concerning policy and programs ldquoShould I be inavor o policies that penalize the rich and champion the poorrdquo ldquoAre programs
that advocate abortion correctrdquo ldquoShould I join a protest against a government
policy that I think is a bad idea or societyrdquo ldquoShould I support the warrdquo
When we observe popular media especially television and movies we tend
to see a macroethical emphasis We see more concern or policies and programs
than or individuals themselves being good people doing good things Tus a
person who advocates the ldquorightrdquo causes champions the ldquorightrdquo policies or sup-
ports the ldquorightrdquo programs is considered by many to be more ethical than
someone who may see differently about such policies but who is always ready
to lend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises who regularly gives
away money to individuals in need and who as a nonmarried person remains
sexually celibate In the meantime the activist who champions the ldquorightrdquo causes
but who is not the nicest person to be around or who may even be loose sexually
can be celebrated in the media or being good in spite o the act that people are
being harmed in their interpersonal interactions What people do in private issaid to be their own business Hence one can be heralded or speaking well in
ront o the camera while being a person who does not get along well with others
when the cameras are off Te world is filled with such people Tey would not
be considered moral within the worlds reflected in biblical writings
Describing the macroethical and the microethical in this way tends toward
a simplistic generalization But the purpose o introducing these two cate-
gories is to point out that the various approaches to biblical ethics that we
will examine tend to emphasize microethical responses No matter where a
person is reading in the Bible one will see texts that rown on people who
reuse to get personally involved in doing what is right to the people im-
mediately in ront o them It is useless to be a public advocate or the poor
while never actually giving anything to the poor nearby or worse never
talking to or beriending people who are poor Te rich politician who ad-
vocates taxing the rich but who maintains an affluent liestyle while do-
nating minimal amounts o money to poor people would not be treated wellin the world o biblical ethics Neither would the sexually loose-living ac-
tivist who shouts angry words at political opponents or the sake o the cause
no matter how worthy the cause Biblical texts avor interpersonally enacted
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2829
What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2929
852019852022 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2829
What Is Biblical Ethics 852019852021
concern or people as the starting point or policies and programs Te in-
dividuals one interacts with are always more important than the causes one
advocates no matter how valid those causes may beTe terminology o micro- and macroethics should not undermine an
important subcategory or many discussing the Bible and ethics namely that
o social ethics Social ethics emphasizes how various groups o weak people
in societies are easily marginalized and mistreated rather than helped Such
social concerns will appear in all our approaches to ethics we will explore
here For example early on we will discover texts that talk about caring or
poor people or widows or atherless (or unprotected) children and or
oreigners or aliens8520171048631 Tough neglect o such weak people can and does
become part o wider social issues needing to be addressed by biblical texts
the words we first see about such issues will be aimed at people in local in-
terpersonal situations Te care or the weak neighbor is portrayed as the
responsibility o the person who crosses that neighborrsquos path not some im-
personal outside source Te person ignoring the weaker neighbor whom he
or she could help would be acting immorally A concern or living properly
within onersquos own community is first and oremost a microethical concern
SUMMING IT UP WHAT WE SHOULD
983080AND SHOULDNT983081 EXPECT FROM BIBLICAL ETHICS
o Biblical writings have points in common with other
ethical systems outside o the Bible but they display
their own unique approaches to ethics o Te attempt to discover what ldquothe Bible saysrdquo about a
topic does not reflect biblical ethics It reflects some
other system o ethics being imposed on the Bible
o Te Bible contains a variety o approaches to ethics not
a single unitary ethical vision
o Te pursuit o biblical ethics should not hinder our at-
tention to other biblical concerns
o Biblical ethics avors people over policies and pro-
gramsmdashit is more microethical than macroethical
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2929
852019852022 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021
8122019 The Ethical Vision of the Bible by Peter W Gosnell
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-ethical-vision-of-the-bible-by-peter-w-gosnell 2929
852019852022 983144983141 E983156983144983145983139983137983148 V983145983155983145983151983150 983151983142 983156983144983141 B983145983138983148983141
Since biblical texts ocus on interpersonal interactions rather than broad
policies expect to eel pinched Te various approaches to biblical ethics that
we will observe do not let people get away with bad interpersonal behavior
Reflection Questions
1 What is the relationship between morals and ethics
2 How does biblical morality differ from biblical ethics
3 Consider the list of ethical approaches under this chapterrsquos subhead
ldquoAlternative Ethical Systemsrdquo virtue ethics ethical egoism utilitarianismduty divine command theory What aspects of any of these have you
ever observed at least partially in practice
4 What are the problems of assuming that divine command theory is all
that the Bible advocates
5 How is microethical activity different from macroethical activity Toward
which do you nd yourself most often tending in your own thinking
F983151983154 F983157983154983156983144983141983154 R983141983137983140983145983150983143
Wilkens Stephen Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics Downers Grove IL InterVarsity
Press 1048625852025852025852021