Much of the NT addresses the excessive focus of the Israelites on following the details of the Law, referred to as legalism. This often involves Jesus addressing a legalistic Jewish sect called the Pharisees. Jesus criticizes them for focusing on outward actions and appearances rather than on the important parts of the Law that relate to loving God and loving others. Mathew describes one of these encounters as follows:
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the Law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may also become clean. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you too, outwardly appear righteous to people, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. (Mt 23:23-28)
Jesus makes it clear that ethics should be based on your internal moral self, not what is outwardly presented. Jesus states, “Take care not to practice your righteousness in the sight of people, to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven” (Mt 6:1). According to Jesus, it is what is inside your heart that counts. Immoral behavior and bad moral choices are the consequences of a broken moral self. Immoral behavior is fixed by addressing the immoral heart. Jesus explains it this way:
That which comes out of the person, that is what defiles the person. For from within, out of the hearts of people, come the evil thoughts, acts of sexual immorality, thefts, murders, acts of adultery, deeds of greed, wickedness, deceit, indecent behavior, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile the person. (Mk 7:20-23)
In Christianity, moral thinking is more than just a pragmatic aid to help in making good moral choices. Your thoughts are an indication of who you are as opposed to what you do. Christianity wants you to be a good person, not just act like a good person. This includes focusing on good thoughts just as much as avoiding bad behavior. In Philippians, Paul addresses the positive side of good thoughts as follows:
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things. As for the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (Phil 4:8-9)
Within the general theme of the internal moral self, the NT re-emphasizes the OT message about the danger of pride and the need for humility before God. A few of these verses are:
- So whoever will humble himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Mt 18:4);
- For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted (Lk 14:11); and
- God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble (Jas 4:6).
Recall that the OT summarizes its rules for morality by loving God and loving others, which emphasizes altruism and internal morality instead of legalism and external morality. In the Gospels, Jesus confirms that these two commandments are the foundation of Christian morality:
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And [Jesus] said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Upon these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets. (Mt 22:35-40)
This teaching of Jesus appears in the Gospels of Mark and Luke as well (Mk 12:29-31; Lk 10:26-27). Paul states the same thing: “For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Gal 5:14). James agrees: “If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well” (Jas 2:8). Christian morality is primarily about loving God and loving others. On this point there is no room for debate.
Loving God and loving others are Christian requirements that differs from many other religions. Consider the philosophy of karma as it relates to rebirth, which is associated with Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Loving God and loving others are not relevant to karma. Good acts increase your karma and bad acts reduce it. When you die, these religions believe that you are reincarnated into something better or worse based on your karma. According to these religions, good moral choices result in a better future life. In contrast, Christianity teaches us to make good moral choices because we love God, not because of future personal gain. Paul makes this clear: “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others” (Phil 2:3-4).
Christian morality requires us to love our neighbor. This is sometimes easy and sometimes hard. Loving those who love us is usually easy. Loving those who have wronged us is very hard for most of us. Nevertheless, Christianity makes it clear that you should love everyone no matter what. In Matthew, Jesus says the following: [i]
You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may prove yourselves to be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors, do they not do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Even the Gentiles, do they not do the same? Therefore you shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Mt 5:43-48)
Loving your neighbor requires you to avoid doing mean things to them. Christian morality also requires that you proactively do good for others when possible. James writes, “So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, for him it is sin” (Jas 4:17). It is not sufficient to refrain from doing the wrong thing. Christian morality requires us to do the right thing when we know it is the right thing to do.
Is the requirement to love people, even if they hate you and intentionally do horrible things to you, fair and just? From an earthly perspective it does not seem like these people deserve our love. Why would we reward someone with our love when they are horrible? On this question we can learn something from God. We sin against God and yet the Bible insists that He loves us unconditionally. God expect the same from us towards others. Sometimes God’s love is “tough love,” and sometimes “tough love” is appropriate for us as well. But Christianity is clear on the issue of love versus hate. Hate is an internal cancer that eats away at your moral soul. Love is associated with godliness to such a high degree that the Bible sometimes equates the two. “Beloved, let’s love one another; for love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 Jn 4:7-8).
[i] The tax collectors were strongly disliked by most Jews. They were Jews who worked for the Roman Government to collect taxes from fellow Jews. They would often over-collect in order to enrich themselves.
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