Biblical Authority in Christian Ethics
Justin Collett
Christian Ethics
What does it mean for the Bible to have authority in Christian ethics?
Sitting comfortably and dying on a cross are not concepts often joined together. Yet our culture conditions individuals to pursue fulfillment and comfort. Martin Luther King, Jr. remarked that our preachers like to preach “nice little soothing sermons on how to relax and how to be happy” or “go ye into all the world and keep your blood pressure down and I will make you a well-adjusted personality.” However, “My Bible tells me that Good Friday comes before Easter,”1 and the cross is not a piece of jewelry you wear but something you die on. But when I am honest, the idea of lowering my blood pressure often captures the depth of my Christian longing. These words capture my casual faith against Christ’s explicit call to the Christian—a sacrificial call that shatters my fragile delusion, namely that I am a wonderful Christian who actually grants real authority to the Bible in shaping my life. In light of this indictment, how should the Bible shape my life and ethics? What authoritative Biblical teachings should guide my Christian formation? Should I grow a beard like Jesus? Or give away all my possessions? Or should I stone my future daughters if they offend me? I will explore the areas of authority-as-such, the Bible and its rightful authority, Biblical interpretation and a normative hermeneutic, Christian ethics, and the conclusion of my analysis in an endeavor to answer the following question: What does it mean for the Bible to have authority in Christian ethics?
Points of Trajectory
I would like to clarify this argument by providing several points of trajectory, more detail pertaining to the areas of interest, and a clearer picture of the overall shape this paper will take. A question such as, What does it mean for the Bible to have authority in Christian ethics? can take hundreds of different directions, each of which build a cogent argument and
Christian Ethics
What does it mean for the Bible to have authority in Christian ethics?
Sitting comfortably and dying on a cross are not concepts often joined together. Yet our culture conditions individuals to pursue fulfillment and comfort. Martin Luther King, Jr. remarked that our preachers like to preach “nice little soothing sermons on how to relax and how to be happy” or “go ye into all the world and keep your blood pressure down and I will make you a well-adjusted personality.” However, “My Bible tells me that Good Friday comes before Easter,”1 and the cross is not a piece of jewelry you wear but something you die on. But when I am honest, the idea of lowering my blood pressure often captures the depth of my Christian longing. These words capture my casual faith against Christ’s explicit call to the Christian—a sacrificial call that shatters my fragile delusion, namely that I am a wonderful Christian who actually grants real authority to the Bible in shaping my life. In light of this indictment, how should the Bible shape my life and ethics? What authoritative Biblical teachings should guide my Christian formation? Should I grow a beard like Jesus? Or give away all my possessions? Or should I stone my future daughters if they offend me? I will explore the areas of authority-as-such, the Bible and its rightful authority, Biblical interpretation and a normative hermeneutic, Christian ethics, and the conclusion of my analysis in an endeavor to answer the following question: What does it mean for the Bible to have authority in Christian ethics?
Points of Trajectory
I would like to clarify this argument by providing several points of trajectory, more detail pertaining to the areas of interest, and a clearer picture of the overall shape this paper will take. A question such as, What does it mean for the Bible to have authority in Christian ethics? can take hundreds of different directions, each of which build a cogent argument and
Cited: Richard B. Hays. The Moral Vision of the New Testament: Community, Cross, New Creation. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1996. Martin Luther King Jr. “Non-violence: The Only Road to Freedom.” Sermon: May 4, 1966.