A Biblical View of Ethics

First, let's discuss what makes ethics different from morality.  The Bible has much to say on both topics.  Morality is defined as things that you "shall" or "shall not" do, usually under threat of punishment or a promise of blessings for obedience.  Ethics on the other hand or what you "should" or "should not" do or "ought" or "ought not" do.  It is more an issue of character and reputation and it is shameful to act unethically.  The two ideas often overlap, though we have many situations in which we must decide to act ethically where there is no explicit moral commandment to tell us what we should or should not do--only guiding principles for what we ought to do and what kind of conduct is considered shameful by God or by our culture.

Let's talk about some guiding principles when it comes to biblical ethics.  First, we always ought to do what is morally right and avoid doing what is morally wrong when there are explicit commandments.  Though we see cases where people lied to do what they thought was ethical in the Bible, these stories are descriptive and not prescriptive, and we should not look at the LORD blessing the midwives in the book of Exodus for Egypt who lied about the Hebrew women giving birth so quickly that they did not have time to kill the babies as they were giving birth so that the women would think they were giving birth to stillborn children as either moral or ethical.  We should not walk away from that story thinking that it teaches "it's okay to lie in order to protect life" (though that is exactly the way many teach that passage).  Obey God, and trust Him with the consequences is something we see throughout the Bible.  We don't have this ethical dilemma of putting our own ethics and convictions above the Law of God if we start from a place which says that we always ought to be obedient to God's Law first.

Next, at every opportunity where man's law is not in direct conflict with God's law, we ought to be obedient to every earthly authority that has been put over us, whether that is in the home, at school, the workplace, or at church.  All earthly authority is derivative and rebellion against these earthly authorities is seen as rebellion against God who put them in authority over you.  The Bible has several passages (especially in the book of Daniel and the book of Acts) that help us understand what to do when the law of God and law of man are in conflict, and it comes back to our guiding principle--obey God, and trust Him with the consequences.

Next, we need to understand our biblical role as ambassadors.  We are always representing our King and His Kingdom in everything we do, therefore, we are called to act with dignity, integrity, and in a way that does not besmirch or bring shame to the name of the Lord or His Kingdom in everything we do.  People will revile us without cause and there is little we can do about that other than live a life that is above reproach so that no one will believe the accusations that are levied against us, but remember that you not only bring shame on yourself when you act shamefully, but on the Church as a whole and on the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

We can focus our ethics first and foremost around the two greatest commandments--Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and the second is like this, you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself.  Immediately the one questioning Jesus trying to justify Himself said, "And who is my neighbor?"  We then have a great teaching on biblical ethics in the Parable of the Good Samaritan.  There wasn't a law compelling the priest or the Levite to render aid (in fact, it probably would have made them ceremonially unclean and unable to perform their duties), but Jesus gives the principle that it is always right to do good to others, especially those who we count as the outcasts and undeserving of grace or mercy--the widows, orphans, strangers, and those in prison.  Jesus speaks specifically of thee groups of people in Matthew 7  when He rewards some people for how they treated Him and they do not realize they did these for Him (though that passage may indicate that Jesus is specifically talking about "the least of these my brothers" because Jesus lives inside of all those who are his "brothers.")  How do we treat people who can offer us nothing in return?  That is often a question of ethics.  We should see that all men and women are made in the image of God and therefore have inherent dignity and value and their lives should be protected from conception to natural death.

Note that I'm only speaking of us in our personal relationships with each other here.  There should be no instance in personal interactions other than to protect your life or the life of others where violence of any kind should be appropriate.  The ethical dilemmas for those in authority for things like just wars and capital punishment are outside the scope of what I want to cover in this article as I think I should start first with how we ought to act in our everyday relationships.

Another overarching principle that goes along with us being an ambassador is that we should always be working to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom, and, along with that, we should always be acting in such a way to bring even more glory to God.  We are also to act as priests who mediate between God and man.  We see the effects of sin in the world and we seek for God and Man to be reconciled.  We should be willing to let ourselves be taken advantage of and mistreated (give up our rights) so that this may be accomplished.  We hold our pastors and priests to a higher standard, but we should not do that, for the same word is used for all of us--we are all ministers (priests) in the New Covenant, and all of us are called to the same lifestyle to live above reproach.

As far as biblical ethics go, think about how your words and actions not only impact you, but also the name of God, the name of all Christians, your family, your co-workers, you local congregation, your friends, and your community you live in.  Do your actions help bring glory to God and make His name great throughout the earth and cause people to want to worship Him?  Do your words and actions promote the work of the Great Commission to take the gospel to all peoples and make disciples of all nations so that there will be citizens of God's Kingdom from every tribe, tongue and language gathered around His throne worshiping Him?  Do you do what is good to those who can give you nothing in return?  Do you do what is right even when you think no one is looking?  Do you live above reproach in both your public and private life or do you act shamefully and think "this doesn't hurt anyone" when there are usually plenty of other people that are being hurt or can potentially be hurt by your unethical actions? Do you submit to earthly authority or rebel against it?  These are just the start of some ethical questions that you can find guiding principles for in the Bible.  As I said, there is much overlap between what we "must" and "must not" do and what we "should" and "should not" do, but they are different topics and some people have worldviews where they try to come up with rules of ethics that trump the laws of morality.  The world will want to push the limits of your morals and ethics and try to get you to compromise, especially if they can put you in what appear to be no-win situations.  Again, obey God and act in the way that is most concerned with His reputation and character, then is concerned about the reputation of your brothers and sisters in Christ, and trust Him to take care of you.  He will have the final word on your reputation when day when everyone will hear whether you acted in way that brought much honor to your God and King or whether you were a wicked servant who acted shamefully and dishonored yourself and your king by your words and conduct.