| Building a Christian System of Right and Wrong |
| Recently, I have been inspired to think more about right and wrong from a Biblical perspective. Therefore, I’m going to lay out here my personal view that I’m beginning to form regarding right and wrong as portrayed in Scripture.
It seems to me that there are three overlapping categories of right and wrong, as stated below. Sin – sin is any violation of the perfect will of God. The slightest move from the narrow path that is God’s will for our lives is sin. If I join the clergy when God intends me to become a mechanic, I have sinned. Because of this, sin can be very personal. However, sin also includes gross violations of God’s will also. Murder, rape, theft, for example. All of these are sins, and therefore “wrong”. Morality – morality is a subset of sin. These are rules against actions that are wrong universally. That is, they are wrong when committed by any person at any time. Believers, nonbelievers, Christian, Jew, and so on. Covenant provisions – another subset of sin. These are rules given by God to a particular people. This people may be the priests, the Israelites, the disciples, Christians, etc. Distinct from “personal” sin, covenant provisions have a community character and apply to all members of the community. These are the three categories of right and wrong that I have found in the Bible that are clearly distinct. So, when we encounter a command in Scripture, what are we to do with it? First, we need to determine what type of command it is. Is it one of personal command? An example of this would be the command to Jonah to go to Ninevah. This clearly was a command intended for Jonah and no one else. The command to Noah to build the ark was similar. Is it one of morality? These are harder to pin down, to be honest. And, in fact, I have a hard time thinking of any that are clearly applicable to all people at all times with a single exception. Faith and repentance. For it is God’s will that all should come to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9b), therefore, any refusal to do so is in violation of God’s will universally, and is a violation also of the rules of morality. Or is it a covenant provision? If so, we must check who the party of the covenant is. Specifically, does it include us? Now, this view will be distasteful to many. Lots of Christians love the idea of universal moral codes. Lots of Christians also like to see God as a divine giver of eternal laws. They say things like “same God, same sins”. But, this isn’t accurate to Scripture. Scripture forbids lying in some places but praises Rahab for protecting the Jewish spies. (This included lying about their whereabouts.) How is this not a blatant self-contradiction? The answer is: as long as we have a universal rule based mentality toward Scripture precepts, it IS a blatant self-contradiction. But, when we realize that the relevant covenant for Rahab was the Abrahamic covenant (that anyone who helps the sons of Abraham, God will help), it is not problematic at all. Rahab was (apparently) under no obligation not to lie. After all, if she were, she would have sinned in doing so, and she would not have been praised for that action. Of course, there are many further applications of this approach (one being the command for Christian pacifism). I pray that you will take it and use it to enhance your understanding of Scripture and our Lord. |
| Home Philosophy Theology Economics and Finance Politics The Arts Costa Rica 2004 Fun Stuff Links My Blog E-mail Me |
 |