The Importance of Theological Ethics

The Necessity of Theological Ethics

Theological ethics is the branch of Christian theology that engages in a reasoned analysis of ethical issues from the standpoint of Christian theology. Many Christians might question whether it is necessary to engage in such a task. Some would argue that our conscience and our intuitions are sufficient to tell us what is right and wrong. Others would argue that the Holy Spirit, who dwells within each Christian believer, will tell them what is right and wrong.  Others would argue that the ethical commands contained in the Bible are a sufficient guide for determining what is right and wrong, so we do not need to engage in further theological speculation in order to have a correct understanding of Christian ethics.  I will answer each of these objections in turn.  

In response to the first objection, people’s consciences and intuitions often tell them very different things about what is right and wrong.  Different cultures and societies sometimes have very different sets of ethical codes, such that certain things other societies have morally approved of for thousands of years are regarded as morally wrong by our society, and vice versa.  Not only that, but the consciences of different people even within the same society often tell them very different things about moral issues, as is evidenced by the controversial status of many important moral issues in our society today. Evidently, our consciences are not a reliable guide for telling us what is right and wrong.

In response to the second objection, it sounds plausible in theory that the Holy Spirit would always tell each Christian what is right and wrong.  But if this were the case, there would be no need for the many moral directives God has given us in Scripture, since these would be redundant. Additionally, there would be no need for Jesus’s command that we rebuke our fellow Christian if we see them sinning, and that the Christian community discipline them if they refuse to repent (Matt 18;15-18).  An honest assessment of the moral beliefs that exist among Christians will show that even genuine Christians sometimes disagree about significant moral issues. And many Christians who have changed their minds about important moral issues can attest that, prior to changing their minds, the Holy Spirit did not tell them that they were wrong. It is apparent that the Holy Spirit does not typically act independently of God’s Word to tell Christians what is right and wrong.

In response to the third objection, yes, the Bible does give us many ethical commands that can give guidance for our lives.  But these Biblical commands by themselves are not a sufficient guide for Christians’ ethical beliefs, for two reasons. First, there are many moral issues which the Bible does not directly address.  For example, what should be the Christian position on stem cell research? human cloning? birth control? abortion? global warming? voting in an election? transgenderism? The Bible does not directly answer these questions.  Secondly, even if the Bible seems to directly address a particular moral issue, we might need to be cautious about assuming that all of its statements directly apply to our contemporary situation. For example, we can’t necessarily assume that everything the New Testament says about how Christians should relate to the government of the Roman Empire directly applies to how we today should relate to the government of the United States, a pluralistic democracy.  In order to faithfully address all the moral issues of our contemporary situation, we need to go beyond what the Bible explicitly says, and that is the task of Christian theology.

How to Do Theological Ethics

Biblical ethical directives are never simply lists of ethical commands God has decided to give us.  Rather, they themselves are examples of theological ethics, that is, ethics that is grounded in theological concepts.  For example, consider this teaching of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matt 5:44-45).  Jesus’s astounding demand that his disciples love their enemies is not based in what seems reasonable or effective from a human perspective. Nor is it an arbitrary command from a capricious deity. Rather, Jesus’ command to his disciples that they love their enemies is grounded in: 1) who God is, and 2) the identity that Christians have been given as children of God.  In the same way, the ethical directives the apostle Paul gives in his epistles are never an abstract list of dos and dont’s for Christians to follow. Rather, the typical pattern of Paul’s epistles is to move from the theology of who God is, what He has done for us in Christ, and the identity He has given us in Christ, to the way of life that is entailed by this theology.  For example, in Colossians, Paul first talks about who Jesus is and how, through Him, God has made us alive with Christ; then, he says, “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven” (3:1), immediately going on to detail how this plays out ethically at the practical level.

Christian ethics, if it is to be faithful, must always be grounded in Scripture.  But if Christians are to faithfully address ethical questions that Scripture does not directly address, we need to use a theologically formed wisdom that can draw out the implications of the teachings of Scripture in order to bring it to bear on the particular ethical issue we are considering.  One example of an issue regarding which the church has done this with a great deal of consistency is the issue of abortion. Scripture does not directly address the issue of abortion,^[1]Exodus 21:22-25 possibly addresses a case in which someone (accidentally) causes a woman to have a miscarriage, but the meaning of the Hebrew is too ambiguous to provide any clear direction even in … Continue reading yet, from the first century to the present day, the strong consensus of the church has been that abortion is morally wrong.  Why? For several good theological reasons. First, human beings are created in the image of God (Gen 1:26-27), and thus all human life is intrinsically sacred and valuable, regardless of the presence or absence of any certain qualities, such as reason or consciousness. Second, the Christian gospel demands that, as individuals and communities, we live lives of radical hospitality towards others, especially towards the weak and the unwanted, just as God has shown radical hospitality by welcoming all people, though they are undeserving, into His family.  Thirdly, following Jesus on the way of the cross as His disciples requires that, like Him, we choose to show love to all human beings, even if it means we will have to suffer. All of this points to rejecting the moral legitimacy of abortion in practically all cases. The church continues to face, and will continue to face, ethical questions which Scripture does not directly address, and regarding which (unlike the issue of abortion) we do not have we do not have a strong consensus in the Christian tradition to guide us. If we are going to faithfully address the new ethical questions that arise in our contemporary situation, we need to engage in a carefully reasoned theological reflection on the implications of the teachings of God’s Word as it relates to these issues.

If Christians do not base their ethical beliefs in careful theological reflection, the alternatives are either to uncritically borrow our ethical ideas from the surrounding culture, or to base our ethical beliefs in our intuitions and then search for Scriptural “proof texts” taken out of context to support them after the fact.  The problem with the first alternative is that it frequently leads, and has often lead, to results that are disastrous, even demonic.^[2]Consider the widespread acceptance of anti-Semitism, and, later racial slavery, by Christians of past generations. The problem with the second alternative is that, even if our moral intuitions are correct (often, they are not), this approach is intellectually dishonest, and it undercuts our ability to make a case for our ethical beliefs that will be convincing to other Christians with different intuitions. Thus, all Christians, as part of their calling to be faithful disciples, are called to the task of theological ethics: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom 12:2).