Top Ten Quotes on Christian Ethics

Theological Ethics

“A properly Christian ethic cannot hold to the notion of a general ethics and remain Christian.  To advocate this is to demand that Christians who are subject to the Word of God share that allegiance with something which is autonomous from God’s Word.  For Christians to resort to an autonomous general ethics, as a means of arbitrating their disputes with non-Christians, constitutes a denial of the authority Christians have as creatures of the Word of God.  To resort to a general ethics to justify Christian moral claims demonstrates a lack of faith in Christ.  It lacks faith because it is a failure to believe that Christ really does reveal the nature of reality and holds that there might be another source of knowledge about what is good and right apart from Christ.” – Luke Bretherton^[1]Hospitality as Holiness: Christian Witness Amid Moral Diversity (Burlington, VT: Ashgate Pub., 2006), pages 55-56.

“When he called his society together Jesus gave its members a new way of life to live.  He gave them a new way to deal with offenders–by forgiving them.  He gave them a new way to deal with violence–by suffering.  He gave them a new way to deal with money–by sharing it.  He gave them a new way to deal with a corrupt society–by building a new order, not smashing the old.  He gave them a new pattern of relationship between man and woman, between parent and child, between master and slave, in which was made concrete a radical new vision of what it means to be a human person.  He gave them a new attitude toward the state and toward the “enemy nation.”” – John Howard Yoder^[2]The Original Revolution: Essays on Christian Pacifism (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1972).

“If I had to summarize New Testament ethics in one sentence, here’s how I would put it: be who you are.  That may sound strange, almost heretical, given our culture’s emphasis on being true to yourself.  But like so many of the worst errors in the world, this one represents a truth powerfully perverted.  When people say, “Relax, you were born that way” or “Quit trying to be something you’re not and just be the real you,” they are stumbling upon something very biblical.  God does want you to be the real you.  He does want you to be true to yourself.  But the “you” he’s talking about is the “you” that you are by grace, not by nature.  You may want to read through that sentence again because the difference between living in sin and living in righteousness depends on getting that sentence right.  God doesn’t say, “Relax, you were born this way.”  But he does say, “Good news, you were reborn another way.”” – Kevin DeYoung^[3]The Hole in Our Holiness: Filling the Gap Between Gospel Passion and the Pursuit of Godliness (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), page 100.

“If one takes upon himself the name of Christ but does not practice the way of life associated with it, he falsely bears this name.  Such a person is like a soulless mask with human features superimposed on a monkey.  For just as Christ cannot be Christ if he is not justice, purity, the Truth, and the estrangement from all evil, so cannot he who does not demonstrate the characteristics associated with the name be a Christian.  Thus, if it were necessary for someone to express the meaning of the word “Christianity” in a definition, we would say that it is the imitation of the Divine Nature.” – St. Gregory of Nyssa^[4]“To Armenius.”

Costly Discipleship

“Do not marvel that a person can become an imitator of God.  It is possible, so long as he desires it.  For happiness is not a matter of oppressing your neighbors, or wishing to have more than those who are lowly, or being wealthy and coercing those who are in need.  Nor is anyone able to imitate God in these ways, for they form no part of his greatness.  For whoever takes up the burden of his neighbor, whoever wants to use his own abundance to help someone in need, whoever provides for the destitute from the possessions he has received from God–himself becoming a god to those who receive them–this one is an imitator of God.  Then even while you happen to be on earth, you will see that God is conducting the affairs of heaven.  Then you will begin to speak the mysteries of God.  Then you will both love and admire those who are punished for not wanting to deny God. Then you will condemn the deceit and error of the world, when you come to know the true life of heaven.” – The Epistle to Diognetus

“The unjust, and those who are ignorant of God, abound with riches, and power, and honors.  For all these things are the rewards of injustice, because they cannot be perpetual, and they are sought through lust and violence.  But the just and wise man, because he deems all these things as human. . . and his own goods as divine, neither desires anything which belongs to another, lest he should injure any one at all in violation of the law of humanity; nor does he long for any power or honor, that he may not do an injury to anyone.  For he knows that all are produced by the same God, and in the same condition, and are joined together by the right of brotherhood.  But being contented with his own, and that a little, because he is mindful of his frailty, he does not seek for anything beyond that which may support his life; and even from that which he has he bestows a share on the destitute, because he is pious; but piety is a very great virtue.  To this is added, that he despises frail and vicious pleasures, for the sake of which riches are desired; since he is temperate, and master of his passions.  He also, having no pride or insolence, does not raise himself too highly, nor lift up his head with arrogance; but he is calm and peaceful, lowly and courteous, because he knows his own condition.  Since, therefore, he does injury to none, nor desires the property of others, and does not even defend his own if it is taken from him by violence, since he knows how even to bear with moderation an injury inflicted upon him, because he is endued with virtue; it is necessary that the just man should be subject to the unjust, and that the wise should be insulted by the foolish, that the one may sin because he is unjust, and the other may have virtue in himself because he is just.” – Lactantius^[5]The Divine Institutes.

“Celebrate Jesus as Lord on the territory where other gods have been worshipped. When it comes to Mammon, we need to know how to use money, particularly how to give it away.  When it comes to Aphrodite, we need to know how to celebrate and sustain marriage, how to celebrate and sustain celibacy, and how to counsel and comfort those who in either state, find themselves overwhelmed with conflicting desires.  We are not, after all, defined by whatever longings and aspirations come out of our hearts, despite the remarkable rhetoric of our times.  In the area of human well-being, that is the road to radical instability. . . Jesus himself was quite clear, following in the prophetic tradition: the human heart is deceitful, and out of it come all kinds of things that defile people, that is, that make them unable to function as genuine human beings, as the royal priesthood they were called to be.  The gospel Jesus announced was not about getting in touch with your deepest feelings or accepting yourself as you really are.  It was about taking up your cross and following him.  That is tough, and it doesn’t stop being tough when you’ve done it for a year, or a decade, or a lifetime.  The victory won through suffering on the cross is implemented, here as elsewhere, through the sufferings of Jesus’s followers, most of whom will continue to be troubled from time to time by temptation in relation to money and sex and many other things beside.” – N.T. Wright^[6]The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus’s Crucifixion (SanFrancisco: HarperOne, 2016).

The Methods of God’s Kingdom

“In today’s world we tend to speak of justice and injustice almost exclusively in political, legal, social, or economic terms.  We tend to minimize personal moral responsibility in favor of collective guilt, a kind of political “original sin,” which in turn has created the “no fault” mentality.  This kind of thinking lets people off the hook concerning their individual actions, often putting the blame for our personal evil behavior on society. . . Holy Tradition tells us that Christ taught moral responsibility exclusively in personal, non-political terms.  His vision was one of people making the right or wrong moral choices for which they were personally accountable (Mt 12:35-37).  The Church teaches that those who wish to follow Christ are personally responsible to choose to do good to other people because they are to love them as Christ loved us (Mt 5:7).  This is not a sentimental concept.  Doing good and showing mercy often involves us in the arduous and unpleasant task of standing against evil, even rebuking sin and depravity, as we try to be the salt and light of the world.  Sometimes, the price for doing good is persecution.  Naturally, if many people do good, including being willing to rebuke evil behavior, this produces “social results.”  But the Church teaches us that seeking social change without first convincing people to alter their moral behavior is futile.  Our own history seems to teach the same lesson.” – Frank Schaeffer^[7]Dancing Alone: The Quest for Orthodox Faith in the Age of False Religion (Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 1994).

“The cross-resurrection event is thus God’s promise that, however much we may suffer, we who have chosen to walk in the way of Christ will eventually overcome and reign victorious with him.  Moreover, the cross-resurrection event is the promise that, however otherwise it may now appear, the Jesus way of responding to evil will win in the end.  Indeed, it’s the promise that God is using our Jesus way of fighting to advance his cause now.  However counterintuitive it may feel to our fallen common sense, we can be confident that God is using our decisions to love rather than hate, to serve rather than to kill to move the world closer to the time when God will fully reign on the earth.  So with our eyes fixed on the cross-resurrection event, we can trust, and we must trust, that God will win the day in the end by our refusal to try to win by relying on the typical coercive and violent ways of the world.” – Gregory Boyd^[8]Benefit of the Doubt: Breaking the Idol of Certainty (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2013).

“Brethren, do not fear the sins of people, love the person in his sin, for this is an imitation of the divine love and the summit of love on earth.  Love all of God’s creation, both the whole and every grain of sand.  Love every leaf and every ray of God.  Love the animals, plants, and all things.  If you love all things, you will understand the mystery of God in all things.  If you understand it once, you will begin to understand it more profoundly every day.  Finally, you will come to love the entire world with a total, universal love. . . You will be puzzled by any other thought, especially while seeing human sin, and you will ask yourself: “shall I conquer by force or by humble love?”  Always decide: “I will conquer through humble love.”  If you decide to do so once and for all, you can conquer the entire world.  Loving humility is a terrible force, the most powerful of all, which has no equals.” – Father Zosima, The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky