1.5 Christian Moral Principles

Question 1

what are the three approaches to Christian ethics?

Answer 1

1. Theonomous ethics: places God at the centre, God’s commandments lead to a moral life, humans are so sinful from the fall they must rely on the direct words of God found in the bible
2. Heteronomous ethics: there are a variety of sources available for morals, the bible is imporatnt but requires additional support to be understood such as the church, reason or both
3. Autonomous ethics: authority is placed on the individual, in this case the use of love as a guiding principle

Question 2

what is propositional revelation?

Answer 2

the idea that God reveals himself in truth statements. If the bible is an example of propositional revelation then the bible is a set of truth statements

Question 3

what is the argument that the bible is the only source of ethics (theonomous ethics)?

Answer 3

• the bible is still relevant and necessary for life today
• christians must embrace the whole text of the bible rather than choosing favourite passages
• as the bible is revealed by God, whether directly dictated or divinely inspired, it is all that is necessary for morality otherwise God would have provided more

Question 4

what biblical passages support theonomous ethics?

Answer 4

• ‘all scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching’ - Timothy
• Peter 1:20-21 suggests that no part of the Bible was the prophet’s own interpretation or will, all God

Question 5

what are three weaknesses of theonomous ethics?

Answer 5

1. it contains contradictions
2. it can easily be misinterpreted
3. it does not always apply to situations today, a text that it thousands of years old requires reason to apply to today that defeats the point

Question 6

what are strengths of theonomous ethics?

Answer 6

1. the variety of different writing styles make it more accessible
2. it prevents misinterpretation by humans

Question 7

what is a fundamental issue with theonomous ethics?

Answer 7

• the bible has not always existed in its current form
• in the second century christian leaders gathered to choose which of the many books had sufficient authority to make up the new testament
• the church identifying which books were God breathed undermines theonomous ethics as this demonstrates church authority

Question 8

what is a protestant approach to church authority?

Answer 8

• the bible comes first but the church still has a role to play
• it is a bridge between the first century and today
• prayer and worship are ways in which Christians use scripture

Question 9

what is a Catholic approach to the church?

Answer 9

• the church plays a bigger role than protestantism
• the authority of the church was given by Jesus to Peter and the apostles
• humans are weak and sinful and therefore cannot rely on themselves to make moral decisions properly, the bible and church are required

Question 10

what are two issues with church authority?

Answer 10

• the relationship between the people and the authority of the church has created problems in Christianity’s past and partly led to the Reformation
• corruption within churches is still common today

Question 11

what is a Catholic approach to using reason?

Answer 11

• reason is used to identify what God has revealed
• it is important in understanding natural law from the bible’s divine law and applying this to human law

Question 12

what is a Protestant approach to using reason

Answer 12

• reason is required to distinguish correct interpretations of the bible and what would be in the bible if it were written in todays context
• reason always points back to the bible which holds ultimate authority

Question 13

what bible quote supports the idea Jesus’ only command was to love

Answer 13

• Mark outlines that Christians must love God with all they are and their neighbour as themselves
• ‘all the law’ hangs on these two commands

Question 14

scholars on Jesus’ command to love?

Answer 14

Tillich
- the laws of the bible are wisdom from which we learn but ultimate fairness to all needs to be central to our ethical decision making
- he rejected non-autonomous approaches to ethics

Fletcher
- situation ethics
- legalistic versus antinomian ethics

J.A.T. Robinson
- the sermon on the mount was a set of illustrations of how to put love into practice
- C20 English

Alasdair MacIntyre
- used Aristotelian virtue ethics (that we should always be developing our characters) to apply the same to Jesus for Christians

JAFT

Question 15

two arguments that love is the only ethical command

Answer 15

1. it is adaptable unlike the bible and works over time
2. it also works over cultures (meta-ethics?)

Question 16

arguments that love is not sufficient?

Answer 16

• it is over simplistic to suggest that Jesus’ teachings were only about love
• difficult to actually apply: in the same situation different people might interpret live in different ways and requires predictions of the future