The natural starting point for learning about Christian ethics is the Decalogue. The book of Exodus tells of God revealing the Decalogue to Moses on top of Mount Sinai. The book of Deuteronomy tells of Moses summoning the people of Israel and telling them of these Decalogue. The Decalogue as revealed to Moses reads as follows:
Then God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other god before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them nor serve them; … You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. For six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; on it you shall not do any work, … Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be prolonged on the land which the Lord your God gives you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male slave, or his female slave, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” (Ex 20:2-17)
About half of the Decalogue specifically relates to God: don’t worship false Gods, respect the name of God, set aside specific times to worship and honor God. The next part is about behaving in a certain way: honor your parents. The third part is about not behaving in certain ways: do not murder, do not have sexual relations with another’s spouse, do not steal, do not commit perjury (bear false witness). The last part of tells us not to “covet,” which is about how we think rather than how we act. These four components of Ten Commandments ethics can be summarized as follows:
Ethical Components of the Decalogue
- Recognize God as the one true God;
- Certain behaviors are ethical; you should practice them (e.g., honor your parents);
- Certain things are not ethical; you should not practice them (e.g., murder); and
- Certain types of thinking are not ethical; you should try not to think in those ways (e.g., coveting other people’s possessions).
The first three of these components are standard fare in ethics. A system of ethics requires an extramundane source of moral standards. The Decalogue recognizes God as this source. Moral behavior also requires making good moral choices and avoiding poor moral choices. The Decalogue gives specifics in both areas. Morality also involves making moral choices for the right reasons: doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do. According to the Decalogue, you should do the right thing because God commanded you to do it; He alone decides what is moral and what is not moral.
The fourth ethical component listed above goes beyond what a minimal system of ethics requires. It instructs us to avoid thinking in certain ways. The Decalogue adds a touch of the “thought police” to its ethical system. Christians believes that your thoughts are part of your ethical self. Choosing to think immoral thoughts is wrong, just as choosing to perform immoral actions is wrong. One of the proverbs summarizes this point, “For as he thinks within himself, so he is” (Prv 23:7).
Recall that four of the seven deadly sins relate to thoughts rather than actions: lust, greed, envy, and pride. Pride has been called the “father of all sins” because it leads to all other sins. St. Augustine puts it this way, “It was Pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.”[i] From a Christian perspective, pride results in a person playing god rather than humbly submitting to God. When you play god, you set your own earthly moral standards and discard the divine moral standards. Pride leads to self-worship, which violates the first commandment of the Decalogue. The moral dangers of pride are so great and the moral importance of humility so vital that they are emphasized over and over throughout the Bible. Some OT examples are:
- He leads the humble in justice, and He teaches the humble His way (Ps 25:9);
- Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling. It is better to be humble in spirit with the needy than to divide the spoils with the proud (Prv 16:18-19);
- But when [Uzziah] became strong, his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly, and he was untrue to the Lord his God (2 Chr 26:16); and
- There they cry out, but He does not answer because of the pride of evil people (Job 35:12).
Nothing logically requires a system of ethics to include ways of thinking, but nothing logically precludes this either. From a practical perspective, having moral thoughts aids in making good moral choices and in resisting bad moral choices. Compare a man who fantasizes regularly about his neighbor’s attractive wife and a man who consciously tries to avoid these types of thoughts. Who is more likely to resist temptation if presented with the opportunity? Fantasizing about something sinful amounts to celebrating the sin in your mind rather than condemning it. We all have immoral thoughts just as we all make immoral choices. Christian ethics requires us to try to avoid immoral choices as well as to avoid immoral thoughts. That immoral thoughts occur to everyone is not a sin. But dwelling and indulging in these thoughts, for the Christian, is sinful just as carrying out the act would be sinful.
Although the OT address moral thinking, most of the OT centers around the detailed rules of the Law. Much of the Law relates to moral rules, but much of it relates to things like ritual purification, settling disputes, and so forth. Thankfully, the OT provides a summary of its moral code in two short verses. Deuteronomy commands us to love God with all your heart. Leviticus commands us to love your neighbor as yourself. The specific verses are (emphasis added):
- And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength (Dt 6:5); and
- You shall not take vengeance, nor hold any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord (Lv 19:18).
A logical moral system does not need to have a requirement to love everyone, only that people make good moral choices. However, if everyone treated everyone else with genuine love, detailed ethical rules would be unnecessary. The Bible simply states that you should love your neighbor because it is God’s wish. From a practical perspective, the requirement to love everyone seems like a good way to both improve people’s moral choices and improve their moral thinking at the same time.
The Christian emphasis is on our moral selves rather than our moral actions. Christian morality requires one to try and “be good” in addition to “doing good.” Good moral choices should result from a good moral nature, not the other way around.
The golden rule states that we should do unto others as we would have them do unto us. The Bible agrees in the sense that our actions towards others should be guided by sincere love in the same way that we should want other’s actions towards ourselves guided by sincere love. If we love others, we will act towards them in ways that we feel are best for them. If they love us, they will act towards us in ways that they feel are best for us.
Despite the Biblical commands to love God and to love others, the moral emphasis in the OT is on rules. This first appears in the Decalogue and is then greatly expanded into the Law. The OT recognizes the importance of avoiding immoral thoughts such as coveting and pride. It also summarizes the spirit of its ethical system as loving God and loving others. However, the focus of the Israelites was on following the Law. The Biblical moral emphasis takes a dramatic turn from legalism to altruism in the NT.
[Next: Ethics in the New Testament]
[i] Augustine wrote this in his book, City of God, which was written in the early fifth century.
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