Transcript HOLY SPIRIT - Erskine College

Christian
Ethics
THE ETHICAL TRIANGLE
• The “situation” includes Scripture and the self.
You don’t truly understand the situation until you
see it in light of the Scriptures and until you see
its bearing on yourself.
• The “norm” must be applied to the situation and
to the self or else it is not adequately understood.
Scripture is rightly seen only when it is properly
related to the world and the self.
• The “self” cannot be rightly understood until
seen in the context of its situation and rightly
interpreted by the word of God.
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THE ETHICAL TRIANGLE
• Each perspective, then, necessitates
consideration of the others. None of the
perspectives can be treated adequately unless the
others also are considered.
• Thus, each perspective includes the other.
• The faithfulness and sovereignty of God insure
that the three foci will be consistent with one
another. A right interpretation of the situation will
be consistent with a right interpretation of the law
and of the self, etc.
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THE ETHICAL TRIANGLE
• The perspectives are ultimately
identical, although they provide us
with a view from different angles.
This provides a system of checks and
balances, since a wrong
interpretation of one perspective can
be corrected by the other
perspectives.
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THE ETHICAL TRIANGLE
• And Non-Christian Ethical Systems:
– Non-Christian systems lose the “balance” of the three
perspectives
– Teleological Ethics (Utilitarianism; SITUATION)
absolutizes a wrongly conceived situational
perspective. It ignores Norms and Functions.
– Deontological Ethics (e.g., Kant; NORM) denies the
situational perspective in the interest of a wrongly
conceived normative (and existential) perspective. It
ignores Data and Functions.
– Existential Ethics (Relativism; PERSONAL) absolutizes
a misconceived existential perspective and, in effect,
denies Norms and Data.
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JESUS CHRIST AND THE TRIANGLE
• As Prophet, he proclaims the will of God
– John 1:18, “No one has ever seen God, but
God the One and Only, who is at the Father's
side, has made him known.”
– I Peter 1:10,11, “Concerning this salvation,
the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was
to come to you, searched intently and with the
greatest care, trying to find out the time and
circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in
them was pointing when he predicted the
sufferings of Christ and the glories that would
follow.”
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JESUS CHRIST AND THE TRIANGLE
– Heb. 1:1,2, “In the past God spoke to
our forefathers through the prophets at
many times and in various ways, but in
these last days he has spoken to us by
his Son, whom he appointed heir of all
things, and through whom he made the
universe.” (L.C. Q. 43)
• NORMS
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JESUS CHRIST AND THE TRIANGLE
• As Priest, he experiences all of our
circumstances and is with us in all of them
– Heb. 4:15-6, “For we do not have a high
priest who is unable to sympathize with our
weaknesses, but we have one who has been
tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was
without sin. Let us then approach the throne
of grace with confidence, so that we may
receive mercy and find grace to help us in our
time of need.”
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JESUS CHRIST AND THE TRIANGLE
– Hebrews 5:8, “Although he was a son, he
learned obedience from what he suffered.”
– Hebrews 7:25, “Therefore he is able to save
completely those who come to God through
him, because he always lives to intercede for
them.”
– I John 2:1, “My dear children, I write this to
you so that you will not sin. But if anybody
does sin, we have one who speaks to the
Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the
Righteous One.” (L.C. Q. 44)
• PERSONAL
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JESUS CHRIST AND THE TRIANGLE
• As King, he rules over us and is the
sovereign Lord of all circumstances
– Matt. 28:18, “Then Jesus came to
them and said, ‘All authority in heaven
and on earth has been given to me.’”
– Acts 5:31, “God exalted him to his own
right hand as Prince and Savior that he
might give repentance and forgiveness
of sins to Israel.”
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JESUS CHRIST AND THE TRIANGLE
– Rom. 8:28, “And we know that in
all things God works for the good of
those who love him, who have been
called according to his purpose.”
– (L.C. Q. 45)
• SITUATIONAL
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CHRISTIANITY VS SECULARISM
• Is there an Absolute?
– For the Christian, God and his revealed word
are absolutes. This is the fundamental
premise of covenantal life.
– For the secularist, the absolute is not found
in God, but within the created horizon, in:
• The Self (Existential Systems- Human
Subjectivity).
• The World (Teleological Systems- Empirical
Observation).
• The realm of Norms (Deontological SystemsLogic or Reason).
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CHRISTIANITY VS SECULARISM
• “On a theistic basis, God creates the
human self and the world to exist
together in harmony; and he reveals his
own law as the law by which self and
world will find fulfillment.” J. Frame,
Perspectives, 51.
• HOWEVER: If God doesn’t exist, “what
assurance do we have that self, world,
and law will tell us the same things?”
Frame, Perspectives, 51.
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CHRISTIANITY VS SECULARISM
• “On a nontheistic basis, there is no reason to suppose
that self, world, and law will peacefully coexist, or that
ethical judgments derived from one source will necessarily
cohere with ethical judgments derived from the other two.
Indeed, on such a basis, there is every reason to expect
that these supposed sources of ethical knowledge will not
be mutually consistent and that therefore one must
choose which of the three to accept unconditionally. Those
who reject God, in other words, must find an alternate
source of absolute truth, a substitute god, an idol. But
different people prefer different idols. Hence all the
confusion.” Frame, Perspectives, 51.
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• What is The Environment of Human
Activity?
– For Christianity, God is “the necessary
presupposition of all human activity.” C. Van
Til, Christian Theistic Ethics, 34
– The absolute will of God is the presupposition
of the will of man
– The conception of the absolutely sovereign
God is the foundation for human responsibility,
CTE, 35.
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• “This is not the same as
philosophical determinism.
Philosophical determinism
stands for an ultimate
impersonalism: consistent
Christianity stands for an
ultimate personalism.” Van Til,
CTE, 35.
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CHRISTIANITY VS SECULARISM
• For the secularist, chance is ultimate
– Yet, upon this sea of possibilities, many secular
ethicists seek absolutes
– This is a curious blend of rationalism and
irrationalism
– In a world founded upon chance, with no
objectively determined absolutes, what is the
basis for moral absolutes?
• For the secularist, humans act univocally
(upon the background of ultimate
impersonalism)
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• For the Christian, human beings act analogically. “If
man is a creature of God, he must, to think truly and to act
truly, think and act analogically. Man is created as an
analogue of God. Hence man has been created as a
character. . . . True freedom for man consists in self
conscious, analogical activity. If man freely recognizes the
fact that back of his created character lies the eternal
character and plan of God, if man freely recognizes that
his every moral act presupposes back of it this same
unlimited God, he will be free indeed. On the other hand, if
man tries to ‘liberate’ himself from the background of the
absolute plan of God, he has to start his moral activity in a
perfect blank, he has to continue to act as a moral blank
and he has to act in the direction of a moral blank.” Van Til,
CTE, 36-7.
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CHRISTIANITY VS SECULARISM
• “The non-Christian position
assumes that a personal act, to be
personal, must be unipersonal. It
takes for granted that if man is to be
responsible for his deeds he must be
wholly independent.” Van Til, CTE, 25.
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CHRISTIANITY VS SECULARISM
• Ultimately, on a non-Christian basis,
the Secularist is unable to provide a
rationale for ethical behavior
– If all that exists is the product of
chance, there is ultimate irrationality
back of the universe as we know it
– The attempt to argue for rational
behavior on the basis of such an
irrational foundation is itself irrational
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CHRISTIANITY VS SECULARISM
– There is no transcendent
justification for morals in a
universe based on mere chance.
– “For Christian ethics, the
revelation of the self-contained
God, the ontological Trinity, as found
in Scripture, is the ultimate
reference point in all ethical as
well as in all other questions.” Van
Til, CTE, 20
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CHRISTIANITY VS SECULARISM
– “Even in its original perfect condition the
moral consciousness of man was
derivative and not the ultimate source of
information as to what is good.” Van Til,
CTE, 21
– “Man found in his own makeup, in his
own moral nature, an understanding of
and a love for that which is good. His
own nature was revelational of the
will of God.
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CHRISTIANITY VS SECULARISM
– But while thus revelational of the will of
God, man’s nature, even in paradise, was
never meant to function by itself. It was at
once supplemented by the
supernatural, external and positive
expression of God’s will as its
correlative.” Van Til, CTE, 22
– “The regenerated consciousness
does not itself fabricate any answers
to the moral questions. It receives them
and reworks them.” Van Til, CTE, 24
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CHRISTIANITY VS SECULARISM
• “For non-Christian ethics the
autonomous moral
consciousness of man is the
ultimate reference point in all
ethical as well as in all other
questions.” Van Til, CTE, 20
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CHRISTIANITY VS SECULARISM
• The Christian and non-Christian
conception of moral consciousness
– For the Christian, “there was once a moral
consciousness that was perfect and could
act as a source, but only as a proximate
source, of information on moral questions.”
– “There are now two types of moral
consciousness which ultimately agree on no
ethical answer and no ethical question, namely,
the non-regenerate and the regenerate
consciousness.”
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CHRISTIANITY VS SECULARISM
– The non-regenerate consciousness denies
while the regenerate consciousness affirms
that the moral verdict of any man must be
tested by Scripture because of the sin of
man.” Van Til, CTE, 24
– For the Christian, “the Bible does say
something about every problem that
we face if only we learn the art of fitting to
our situation that which Scripture offers
either in principle or example.” Van Til,
CTE, 26
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CHRISTIANITY VS SECULARISM
Thus, for the Christian, there
is a continual reliance upon
the Word of God as
indispensable to any ethical
deliberation.
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Christian
Ethics