The Question of Morality: How Should I Live?

Let's be honest.  A lot of people's objection to God and the Bible is a moral objection.  Satan's first temptation to Adam and Eve was to attack God's moral law and at the same time attack the character and nature of God, since His Law is a reflection of His nature and character.  We want to be like God knowing (and choosing) good and evil for ourselves (see Genesis 3:5).  If God really is the Creator of all things (the question of Origins), then He is Sovreign and has the authority to tell His creatures (all of us, even those who don't want to be a part of His Kingdom) how we are to live, and He has the authority to enforce those laws and execute justice.  Yet, we don't want to be held accountable--though we want others to be held accountable for the wrong we perceive that they've done to us.  Yet, we don't even have an objective standard for "right" or "wrong," "good" or "bad," "righteous" or "wicked" unless we use the standard that God has given us in the Bible.  Why is it wrong to lie?  Because God is Truth and it a violation of His nature.  Why is it wrong to murder?  Because God is the giver of life and the only one with the authority to end it.  Why is it wrong to worship idols?  Because the LORD our God, the maker of heaven and earth is the only God--He is a Jealous God and He will not allow the worship that only deserves to go to Him to be given to any of His creatures (including angels, demons, or humans).  He will not share His glory with anyone.

So, much of our morality has to do with who we believe God to be, or better yet, do we believe we are to be made in God's image, or do we try to make gods for ourselves in our own image or make ourselves to be gods.  If we believe we are truly made in God's image and are to be His image-bearers, and the Law is also an image of His character and nature, then it follows that Law is way that an image-bearer of God should "naturally" behave if it weren't for our sin nature getting in the way.  Since we all fell and were broken and became sinners when Adam sinned, we do not desire the things of God or to be like God or do what pleases God.  We desire to obey and serve our own "fleshly" desires (our lusts and passions) and whatever we believe will make us happy in the moment or what we believe will help to acquire the power, glory, praise, and wealth that we may desire in the moment--none of these things will truly satisfy us, which is the key theme to the book of Ecclesiastes and I think we talked about this already in the article on Meaning and Purpose.

If we love God, we will obey Him.  That is made clear throughout Scripture and is stated quite clearly by Jesus in John 14:15, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments."  Which commandments are His though?  People try to play lots of games with this, but really there's no reason to believe that Jesus isn't talking about all of them.  There's some additional teaching later by the Apostles to the Church as to if a Gentile needs to become Jewish in order to be a Christian, and the answer to that was "No."  With that in mind there are some commandments to the Jewish people on what it means to be a Jew--a special, peculiar, covenant people living a special, peculiar, covenant Land, for a special, peculiar, covenant purpose.  Not all of us are called to be citizens of that physical kingdom in the physical Land, and those of us who live other places are called to obey the laws of our land that we live in as long as those laws do not ask us to violate the laws of God.  For instance--please don't hate me for saying this one--but we are to obey the speed limit signs and other traffic laws because we recognize that God has given authority to the government to be his representatives to make good laws for the people they govern and the government is within its right to impose fines, seize assets, imprison people and in the worst cases, put people to death for violations of the law.  The government leaders will need to answer to God for what they did with the authority that He gave to them, and it is up to God to place government leaders into power and to take their power away from them--He doesn't need the help of us rising up in revolution every time we disagree with the government on issues of things like taxation (in fact, the Bible clearly teaches us to pay our taxes and to pay them honestly, so that too is a moral issue).

I've been hitting on an issue that I want to deal with more directly now.  The other world religions often express themselves in the form of "Do good works, and you will be saved."  The problem then is defining what exactly is "good" and how much "good" is "good enough."  Jesus tells us quite plainly in the Gospels that only God is truly good and that unless our righteousness was to exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees, we have no chance of entering God's kingdom on our own merit (He was the only one whose righteousness exceeded that of the scribes and Pharisees because He was absolutely perfect, because He was God and was truly "good").  Christianity is structured altogether differently because it is not like the Tower of Babel where men are trying to by their own means build something that gets them back to heaven.  No, instead it is like Jacob's Ladder where God has made the way of salvation for us by building the Way to heaven for us--Jesus is that Way--the only Way.  Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No man comes to the Father except through Me."  So, it is not about what we can do to make God love us or get enough points in the "plus" column to get in on our own merit--we have much of the Bible that teaches us that we are spiritually bankrupt and could never pay off our sin debt on our own because even one sin condemns us of being as guilty as the worst sinner--we are Law-breakers at that point and guilty of eternal, spiritual death and damnation.  Separation from God and an eternity in the Lake of Fire that was created for the devil and his angels--since we choose to rebel against God just like they did.  Instead, we must depend on the finished work of Jesus and His righteousness to be sufficient for us when it is imputed (given to us without merit) by faith.  "He who knew no sin became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21). So, our morality cannot be in hopes to be saved or stay saved.  That is not why we keep His commandments.  We keep His commandments because we love Him for what He has done for us and because He has made us new--given us a new nature that is consistent with being the image-bearers that He originally created us to be.

As His ambassadors and representatives of His kingdom here on Earth, we are expected to conduct ourselves in a certain way.  We are to live in a way that identifies us as citizens of another kingdom.  It should be obvious to others that we are "in the world, but not of the world."  Pilate was not surprised when Jesus told him, "My kingdom is not of this world." (Jesus was not a political threat to Pilate like the Jews wanted Pilate to think--the gospel is not about political revolution).  The gospel is about transformation and making us citizens and ambassadors of a new kingdom, and we therefore walk in a way where we understand the rules our King makes are the best way for us to live--for our King wants the best for us, and we live in obedience to the King not only because we are his subjects and servants, but because this is the way in which we do homage to Him and bring Him much honor and glory.  Our obedience is one of our greatest acts of worship.  We cannot say that we love God and live in rebellion to His Law and it is disingenuous to go to "church" on Sunday and say we are worshiping the Lord there while we are living our lives in such a way that it is clear that He is not our Lord--for if He was our Lord, we would obey Him--that is a huge definition of what the Lord/Master-subject/servant relationship is.  We are but slaves to righteousness (the Bible is clear about this) and we love to do the will of our Master expecting no praise or honor of our own, but simply recognizing that we love to do it because we love Him and we want to please Him (and it is our duty to do so--we cannot call ourselves His servants if we are not willing to serve Him).

I hope I've addressed some of the main issues of how obedience is tied to life and blessing and disobedience is tied to death and cursing, that we are to be good citizens of the earthly kingdoms we belong to all while being citizens and ambassadors of a heavenly kingdom, and that our obedience is not in order to try to save ourselves by our own merit, but it is because of our love for the one who loved us supremely.  "Love so amazing, so divine--Demands my soul, my life, my all."


Galatians 5:13-26
English Standard Version
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

​25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.


1 Peter 1:13-25
English Standard Version
13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for

“All flesh is like grass
    and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
    and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.”

And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

Romans 6:15-23
English Standard Version
15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.