The Pulpit and the Podium: Part 2

Part 2 of our “Pulpit and the Podium” series looks at the difference between Christian Standards and Biblically based ethics. Begin with Part 1 here or continue reading…

What is the Difference?

Christian Standards of Conduct: Christian standards of conduct are applicable only to the Christian and therefore have no place in the public policy of a liberal democracy. They are rules for life of a supernatural nature applied to Christians by Christ and cannot be upheld without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit; thus cannot be logically imposed on unregenerate man through political means. Based on the Christian’s faith in Christ and made possible through the Holy Spirit, these standards of living are the spiritually empowered morality that sets the Church apart from the world and were never intended to be used as a political system. Representative of a spiritual law these standards could only be intended for the Christian because of their supernatural character. Christians cannot expect the unsaved to abide legally by a standard of living made possible only through salvation. Christian standards of conduct signify the life Christians are empowered to live – a life of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Christian standards acknowledge the transcendent character of Jesus’ demands and recognize the impossibility of these ethical demands for unregenerate man in his current situation. As Jesus spoke to a culture in possession of a detailed system of laws he called his disciples to a virtue beyond the requirements of the law. Where the law forbids murder and adultery, Jesus calls for the renunciation of anger and lust. Where the law poses regulative limitations on divorce and revenge, Jesus calls his followers to renounce these options all together. Where the law instructs one to love his neighbor Jesus calls for the love of enemies. Christians are not just to forgive but to be infinitely forgiving as is God.[1] In short, Jesus tells his disciples to “be perfect– as your heavenly Father is perfect.”[2]

The teachings of Jesus are well above any level of virtue mankind has achieved. Jesus constantly made demands of the human spirit that no fallen creature could fulfill. This ethic of Christ is of such a supernatural character that it presents a radical ideal of personal purity that could never be realized by any human community. Instead the Christian ethic is distinctive of the regenerate nature of the Christian who has become a new creation in Christ.[3] Thus, these standards are only applicable to Christians and are intelligible only in light of scripture and by the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Christians are no longer to live as the surrounding culture lives but are to embody the qualities they have learned by their new life in Christ.[4] The fundamental norm of Christian standards of conduct is the imitation of Christ in ultimate obedience, surrendering one’s own prerogatives and interests. Thus, a distinctively Christian ethic cannot be sufficiently guided by civil law or any form of institutional rules, but instead by a Spirit-empowered conformity to Christ.[5]

The New Testament exemplifies that the teachings for the Church are intended for the formation of Christian communities unified through faith in Christ and the work of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit, virtues and vices, and calls for unity are only understood within the bounds of the Christian community – no Spirit, no fruit. [6] Nowhere are these teachings addressed to the human community as a whole, but rather are always for the particular community of the Church. Scripture articulates no basis for a general ethic applicable to those outside the Church. Instead, the New Testament is in a sense the training manual to be a part of the new community (or body) of Christ.

The Church is designed to be a community of Christians who live by very different standards as set forth in scripture.[7] Such a life, when lived with integrity, inevitably has a transforming effect in the surrounding culture. Steadfast adherence by Christians to the conduct expected of them can truly affect society in ways as supernatural as salvation.[8] Beginning with the believer acting in the community or sphere of their influence through lifestyle evangelism, Christian standards of conduct are what guide the Christian in social involvement expressing God’s love through their obedience empowered by the grace of God. Certainly the world has known Christians by their love and the social change that love has motivated.

The Church’s influence comes by way of being true to itself as an alternative witness-bearing community. In this respect Christians are not instructed to reform anyone or any government, but to save them and once saved they will have the ability to reform.[9] The ultimate goal then of Christian life and practice is to add daily to the number of those who have chosen a new life in Christ, thus continuing to build the community of believers and instruct them according to the Christians standards set forth in Scripture. The Christian community is based on a distinctive volunteerism, meaning that to be a Christian is completely a matter of personal choice and no institutional structure can force the decision of faith in Christ. No culture, law, upbringing, or pressure can make or define an individual as Christian. This reality alone should make it obvious that Christianity and the resulting Christian community is an entity entirely apart from any form of institutional allegiance.

Biblical Social Ethics: Biblically based social ethics can be defined as the ethics derived from the whole of the Bible – from natural law to the Ten Commandments to the Sermon on the Mount to the teachings for the Church, and everything in between – as combined with the social and cultural structures of human civilization and perpetuated by the various Bible based religious sects within them. Whether or not modern man acknowledges the source, biblical principles gave the western world shared values upon which it could build a civilization. These teachings frame an ethic that has spawned the governments and religious sects that have defined western society, and it is within these ethics that American liberal democracy is grounded. Biblical ethics are the root of what would be America’s civil ethic, and regardless of any religious differences, America’s founding fathers shared the biblical values of freedom, justice, and human worth. Undoubtedly, the authors of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution assumed biblical ethics to be self-evident in the governing of the American people. They could not have foreseen a day when the nation would search for a way to maintain democratic principles while rejecting a biblical worldview.

Biblically based ethics remain a valid, effective, and enforceable worldview that demands attention in the public square of a liberal democracy. Insisting that the nation continue to adhere legally and politically to the values it was founded on is not unreasonable because those values are historically proven and arguably necessary for American democracy to survive. A civil society requires the agreed upon standards that biblical ethics provide. These are the ethics that the Christian’s political efforts are to ally with and defend.

Biblically based social ethics are the best standards for morality unregenerate man can hope to achieve, yet one need not be Christian or even religious to learn and benefit from the morality inherent to the whole of the Bible. These ethics are universal, making them fundamental for a moral and virtuous life, and define a set of values that all men can be held accountable to. Mankind needs a shared set of values by which to govern society and biblical ethics have always provided them. Biblical social ethics may take on different names and faces in the public arena, and may be defended by people of all backgrounds, but that does not negate their divine origins. Although most people ignore Godward commands, democracy and individual dignity derive from the transcendent reality of a creator. We can debate in circles for eternity whether America is or was a “Christian nation,” however, the certainty is this: America was not founded on an Islamic, Hindu, or Buddhist worldview, however valuable their precepts might be. If we do not recognize this, we betray the fundamental ideals that shaped the ethos of the American people.

Even though current trends claim that morality cannot be legislated, by definition the law is the legislation of morality and has always been so. It is not a question of if morality can be legally corralled, but a question of which morality is to be used. Biblically based social ethics have been and must remain the ethics for a civil society. Promoting biblically based ethics is not as much a matter of religious responsibility as it is a matter of responsible Christian citizenship in American democracy. What better way to be a faithful citizen than to promote a shared value system that has holds the best solution to a civil and prosperous nation?

Continue to Part 3…Â

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[1] See Mathew 18:21-35
[2] See Mathew 5
[3] See 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
[4] See Ephesians 4:17-32
[5] See Romans 12:1-2
[6] See Galatians 5:16-26
[7] Even a cursory reading of Acts and Romans should result in the clear impression that the early church practiced and preached a life radically contrasted to the existing cultures.
[8] Examples such as higher education, the abolition of slavery, the civil rights movement, etc, all serve as a powerful witness to the Christian’s positive influence in culture.
[9] It should not be overlooked that there is no scriptural evidence of the apostles seeking to reform political structure outside the Church, either through protest of by seizing power.