Skip to main content

Christian Ethics 101

Theologian John Frame in his excellent large book The Doctrine of the Christian Life presents an approach to ethics that has been very useful to me in how I analyse difficult moral questions. Frame says that "ethical judgement involves the application of a norm to a situation by a person".  When we have a problem there are three pieces of information we need to reach an informed ethical judgement : the situation, the Word of God, and person with the problem. These are summarised in the triangle of ethics below
The situational perspective examines the situation or problems. It asks, "what are the best means of means of accomplishing God's purposes?". That is, how can we take the present situation and change it so that more of God's purposes are achieved? Here we explore the consequences of our actions. We ask, "if we do this, will it enhance the glory of God?". Will it please God in the end?

The normative perspective  focuses on the Word of God (the Bible). It is the standard for our decisions. Our purpose is to determine our duty, our ethical norm or our obligation. So we bring our problem to the Bible and ask, "what does Scripture say about this situation?". 

The existential perspective focuses on the ethical agent, the person(s) who iss trying to find out what to do. From this perspective, the ethical question becomes, "How must I change if I am to do God's will?". Here the focus is inward, examining our heart's relationship to God. It deals with our holiness and inner character. 

These three perspectives are interdependent. We can't understand the situation fully until we know what the Bible teaches and until we know understand our own role in the situation. We can't understand ourselves fully, apart from the Bible or apart from the situation that is our environment. And we don't understand the Bible unless we can apply it to situations and to ourselves. Hence these are "perspectives" not "parts". 

To illustrate. Suppose someone comes and asks us - is it okay for Christians to go on strike? The first question we must ask is, "what is meant by striking?". We also want to know why do these people want to strike? Who are the players involved? What is driving them? What is their motive? How much information do they posses about their decisions?  

The second question is what does Scripture say about situation? As we move to look at the Bible we may find aspects of our situation also clarified. We may find our "motive" perhaps is wrong. Scripture may throw up other dimensions to striking we have not considered - for example we may conclude that it is us who are responsible due to our sins for the situation. 

The third question is what should be our response? Depending on the interplay between our situation and the Scripture study, we may reach various conclusions - convicting us to respond to God accordingly. 


Copyright © Chola Mukanga 2013

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I am what I am by Gloria Gaynor

Beverly Knight closed the opening ceremony of the Paralympics with what has been dubbed the signature tune of the Paralympics. I had no idea Ms Knight is still in the singing business. And clearly going by the raving reviews she will continue to be around. One media source says her performance was so electric that "there wasn’t a dry eye to be seen as she sang the lyrics to the song and people even watching at home felt the passion in her words" . The song was Gloria Gaynor's I am what I am . Clearly not written by Gloria Gaynor but certainly musically owned and popularized by her. It opens triumphantly: I am what I am / I am my own special creation / So come take a look / Give me the hook or the ovation / It's my world that I want to have a little pride in / My world and it's not a place I have to hide in / Life's not worth a damn till you can say I am what I am The words “I am what I am” echo over ten times in the song. A bold declaration that she

The Price of Obedience

If we obey God it is going to cost other people more than it costs us, and that is where the sting comes in. If we are in love with our Lord, obedience does not cost us anything, it is a delight, but it costs those who do not love Him a good deal. If we obey God it will mean that other people’s plans are upset, and they will gibe us with it—“You call this Christianity?” We can prevent the suffering; but if we are going to obey God, we must not prevent it, we must let the cost be. - OSWALD CHAMBERS This is by far the hardest thing we are likely to struggle with as we seek to live lives that are totally surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ. What if obeying God meant that your family members lost a well-known or well-loved circle of acquaintances? Had to move to a smaller house? Drove uglier cars? Wore older clothes? Lived by a weekly rather monthly budget?Accepting this part of obeying God is especially difficult for men or women who are the breadwinners for their families. The c

Workers for Your Joy (A Review)

Workers for your Joy (WFYJ) is about what Christ calls leaders in his church to be and do, particularly the teaching office in the church (i.e. pastor or elder).  It presents a biblical vision of leadership by going through the fifteen qualifications of elders listed 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. The central question Mathis is basically asking is – how should we pastor or lead the church in light of these qualifications? The target audience of the book seems to be those who are in the early stages of pastoral ministry. The book was part of the seminary syllabus at Bethlehem. However, the author does explicitly state that the book is also meant to be of use to church members in considering what Christ expects of leadership in the local church.   Mathis has written this book because he believes leadership has fallen on hard times. The church in the west and the society around us has become increasingly discontent with being led due to the high-profile cases that have sprung about leadership.