Lesson 4 - Christian Ethics (Existential and Situational)

Question 1

What biblical texts support the idea of natural law?

Answer 1

1. ) Romans 1:18-32 & Amos 1:3-2:3 - Believers known enough about God through nature to condemn them as sinners
2. ) Acts 24:16, Romans 2:14-15, 2 Cor. 4:2 - Scripture affirms the existence and ethical relevance of the human conscience.
3. ) Natural law arguments don’t appeal to scripture, but can be consistent with Scripture. We should also be aware of the limitations of such appeals and not be reluctant to appeal to Scripture.

Question 2

Discuss whether or not our fallen environment, whether “nature” or “nurture”, mitigates our responsibility for our sins.

Answer 2

The situation for ethical decision making always involves our natural environment

1. External – nurture
2. Internal – nature

• • We all share culpability for the falleness of the world bc we all have sinned in Adam (Romans 5:12)
• • Our environment may mitigate our culpability, but it will never fully excuse our sin
• • We are never compelled to sin by our circumstances (1 Cor. 10:13)
• • All fallen humans are bent toward sin in general, but how that sinful nature works its way out in particular sins will depend upon our own individual points of weakness (dispositions, temptations, sins)

Question 3

To what extent can we read off moral lessons from history?

Answer 3

1. ) Illustration
2. ) Exhortation
3. ) Motivation
4. ) Adaptation

Question 4

What are the ways in which our faculty of imagination contributes to ethical decision-making?

Answer 4

1. ) Envisioning Consequences
2. ) Formulating Hypothetical Scenarios and counter-examples
3. ) Developing analogies and parables (Ex. David and Nathan)
4. ) Empathizing with others

**Imaginations should be trained, restrained, informed, and inspired by God’s word

Question 5

Should we always obey our consciences?

Answer 5

All else being equal, we ought not to act against conscience since that would require us to act against what we believe is objectively good (Romans 14:14, 23). It is wrong to encourage others to violate their consciences

We should as much as our conscience is captive to the word of God

• • Our conscience is fallen and fallible
• • Yet, conscience is one of the means in which we discern what is good