Transcript An Introduction to Christian Ethics

An Introduction
to Christian
Ethics
I. What Is Ethics?
• The discipline dealing with what is good
and bad with moral duty and obligation;
• A set of moral principles or values;
• A theory or system of moral values;
• The principles of conduct governing an
individual or group
(Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate
Dictionary)
II. The Purpose of Our
Study.
• Our primary objective will be to
discover principles within God’s
word which will help us establish a
system whereby we may determine
whether an action is right or wrong.
II. The Purpose of Our
Study.
• Paul explained to the young preacher,
“For the grace of God that brings
salvation has appeared to all men,
teaching us that denying ungodliness
and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, righteously, and godly in the
present age” (Titus 2:11-12).
III. Some Different Views of
Ethics.
• Relativism—the doctrine that
knowledge or truth is relative and
dependant upon time, place and
individual experience (Webster’s)
III. Some Different Views of
Ethics.
• “We have reached the stage in pluralization
where choice is not just a state of affaires, it is
a state of mind. Choice has become a value
in itself even a priority. To be modern is to be
addicted to choice and change. Change
becomes the very essence of life.” (Os
Guinness, The Gravedigger File, p. 96, as
quoted in The Gagging of God by D. A.
Carson)
III. Some Different Views of
Ethics.
• “Philosophical pluralism has generated many
approaches in support of one stance: namely,
that any notion that a particular ideological or
religious claim is intrinsically superior to another
is necessarily wrong. The only absolute creed is
the creed of pluralism. No religion has the right
to pronounce itself right or true, and the others
false, or even (in the majority view) relatively
inferior.” (D. A. Carson, The Gagging of God, p.
19)
III. Some Different Views of
Ethics.
• “Hedonism, the broad ethical term for all
theories of philosophy in which the ultimate
criterion for conduct is pleasure….It is a
formidable moral philosophy, and its
perennial plausibility is forged from the
irresistible fact that pleasure is good; so good
that all normal people instinctively and
universally desire it.” (William S. Banowksy,
It’s a Playboy World, p. 34).
III. Some Different Views of
Ethics.
• In an interview, Ayn Rand said,
“Man exists for his own sake, the
pursuit of his own happiness is his
highest moral purpose, that he must
not sacrifice himself to others nor
sacrifice others to himself”
(Banowksy, p. 57).
III. Some Different Views of
Ethics.
• “Despite the emphasis that
postmodernism places upon tolerance
and diversity of opinions, it also says
that there are no absolute moral or
spiritual standards that are appropriate
for everyone and thus rejects aggressive
evangelistic efforts as an attempt to
‘impose’ one person’s view [on] others”
(Barna Research Online, July 28, 2003).
IV. Man Chose to Go His
Own Way.
• God gave man the right to choose—
Joshua 24:15 “And if it seems evil to you
to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves
this day whom you will serve, whether
the gods which your fathers served that
were on the other side of the River, or the
gods of the Amorites, in whose land you
dwell. But as for me and my house, we
will serve the Lord.”
IV. Man Chose to Go His
Own Way.
• Judges 17:6 “In those days there
was no king in Israel; everyone did
what was right in his own eyes.”
• Ecclesiastes 7:29 “Truly, this only I
have found; That God made man
upright, But they have sought out
many schemes.”
IV. Man Chose to Go His
Own Way.
• Isaiah 24:5 “The earth is also defiled under its
inhabitants, Because they have transgressed
the laws, Changed the ordinances, Broken the
everlasting covenant.”
• Jeremiah 10:23 “O Lord, I know the way of
man is not in himself; It is not in man who
walks to direct his own steps.”
IV. Man Chose to Go His
Own Way.
• Romans 1:22-25 “Professing to be wise, they
became fools, and changed the glory of the
incorruptible God into an image made like
corruptible man—and birds and four-footed
animals and creeping things. Therefore God
also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts
of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among
themselves, who exchanged the truth of God
for the lie, and worshiped and served the
creature rather than the Creator, who is
blessed forever. Amen.”
V. Ethical Choices Begin
With a Love for God
• Matthew 22:36-40 “‘Teacher, which is the
great commandment in the law?’ Jesus said to
him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with
all your heart, with all your soul, and with all
your mind. That is the first and great
commandment. And the second is like it: You
shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these
two commandments hang all the Law and the
Prophets.’”
V. Ethical Choices Begin
With a Love for God
• “This commandment is first, because it is the
foundation of the entire law of God. It is
greatest, because, in a sense, it includes all the
other laws. Polytheism, atheism, idolatry and
all sins against God are forbidden by it. All
sins against man are likewise, in a sense,
prohibited by it; for sin against man is sin
against God’s image, and against the objects of
God’s love” (McGarvey, The Fourfold Gospel,
p. 604).
V. Ethical Choices Begin
With a Love for God
• McGarvey went on to say, “ Those who truly
love God can not consistently sin against man
(I. John iv. 20).”
• 1 John 4:20-21 “If someone says, ‘I love God,’
and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who
does not love his brother whom he has seen,
how can he love God whom he has not seen?
And this commandment we have from Him;
that he who loves God must love his brother
also.”
V. Ethical Choices Begin
With a Love for God
• Romans 13:8-10 “Owe no one anything except
to love one another, for he who loves another
has fulfilled the law. For the commandments,
‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not
murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not
bear false witness,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and if
there is any other commandment, are all
summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall
love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no
harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the
fulfillment of the law.”
V. Ethical Choices Begin
With a Love for God
• Luke 10:25-37
• Notice the thieves, the priest and the
Levite all violated the command to love
your neighbor.
• The Samaritan carried that law through
to the fullest, recognizing that a neighbor
was anyone in need.