PART ONE
Christian life is a journey, that is made under the God’s law, in the world that God created, and the presence of the God himself. The faith in God is the milestone of Christianity. But what does God mean for the faithful? How is he perceived? And what role does he play in the ethical deliberation of every Christian?
God, or, as found in the Bible, Lord, is proclaimed by the Christian reality as a supreme being, but not an impersonal force like those of nature (Woodhead 45). He is supremely a holy person. The personality of God shows us that we have many common features, but at the same time the holiness of God, his transcendence shows separation and difference from us. He is the head of everything existing, the universal King (Christian Ethics 23). Also, God is a head of a covenant relationship. He declares blessings for people as they obey, and curses as they disobey.
Control. In the holy Scripture, God and his will is revealed to Moses. He regularly connects his Lordship with the ultimate sovereign power and shows that he is controlling all things. “He is gracious to whom he will be gracious, and he shows mercy to whom he will show mercy” (Ex. 33:19)
Authority. God’s authority is revealed in his right to tell the living creatures what they must do, and the fact that the creatures should obey his will. God has an absolute authority. That means that a Christian should not question or doubt it. Also, it means that the lordship of God must transcend all other loyalties: loyalty to our parents, friends and nation. Finally, God’s authority is absolute because it fully covers all the areas of human life and activity. Paul says, “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God,” 1 Cor. 10:31.
Covenant presence. The third feature of God’s lordship is the most important. God is committed to us and therefore present with us. The essence of the covenant is God’s word that “I will be your God, and you will be my people,” Gen. 17:7. This is what God has said to Abraham, and this is told many times in the Scripture. After the resurrection of God, he has sent his Spirit to dwell in people, as in a temple.
Control, authority and presence are the main biblical concepts that are all features of God’s lordship.
These three lordship principles also function as explanations for every Christian to understand the structure of the ethics of Christianity. In some way they suggest the Christians how they should make their ethical decisions. By his control, God rules and plans the history and nature of human existence. By his authority he speaks to all the people clearly and shows them his will. By his covenant presence, God supports us on our life path and helps to make ethically right decisions. God is powerful enough to set us from the power of sin.
True Christians are expected to trust God and his decisions, and obey.
Man has the ability to create good or evil, and he is programmed in such a way that he cannot make either only one or the other only. Man is a moral being: it has the ability to distinguish between good and evil, he is free to make a choice - to make decisions based on his moral sense, which also holds him responsible for his choice (“The Global Religious Landscape: Christianity”). So what choice we make in life depends on our personal education, resulting in the family and in society, and from our own spiritual preparation. All this also defines our goals in life.
God in His dealings with man enables him to reach a spiritual victory, and if a person has a sincere desire for God, this goal will be achieved by them. The Gospel Principles are based on doing good to others. Crucifixion of Christ is a voluntary sacrifice. It was done under good will that for each person that puts him in front of a moral choice: to accept this blessing, goodness, manifested on the cross, or reject it. Repentance is a consequential reaction to what happened at Calvary. For society as a whole, for the person who perceives himself first and foremost a member of a certain social group, it is truly a revolutionary idea - to be transformed from within, bringing to the world of good. No one should multiply the amount of evil, responding to evil with evil. If we are Christians, we should do good even to his enemies - this is not possible without our personal and social growth (Virkler & Henry 98).
God is not impersonal; he is a moral person and seeks to communicate, to create a variety of relationships with their creations. The basic principle of biblical ethics is clear: God loves and appreciates all the people, he enters into a relationship with the people, and he is merciful to the man. Every human person is born with five properties inherent to God: 1) thinking (including beliefs), 2) feelings (emotions), 3) will (freedom of choice of man: he makes decisions in accordance with its objectives), 4) conscience (it condemns or approves the beliefs and behavior of the person), 5) hesed (desire to do good for others, or other). Man is responsible to God for their decisions, "although they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations " (Romans 1:21.). The will of God - to people in their decisions fulfilled the law of Christ, as written in Galatians: "Carry each other's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6: 2.).
Some of our motives and actions are always similar motives and actions of Jesus (eg, genuine concern for widows, orphans, the poor, etc), and others - never (murder, slander etc. ). But no external action is not in itself good or bad - it is neutral. The correctness or goodness or that of the external action depends on two factors: 1) the good (worthy) motives or goals, 2) good fruits (because impure, unrighteous motives rarely produce good fruit). Since we do not always know the motives of the person, and since we do not know where it will lead in the end, we should not judge one another only in appearance. The conversation (about the shortcomings of others) - this action, but the slander - it is a call motive. Do we use the word to support others (caring, learning), or our words serve to insult them and hurt them (slander, gossip)? Any moral action should grow from the foundation of the Christ and His commandments (this excludes the principle of "the end justifies the means"). We will not argue about the opinions on the issues, which God did not say anything. But among of what God specifically tells us is the need for assurance that all our actions we do with a clear conscience. Stumble, we can re-purify our conscience confessing our mistake before God. God created Adam to man, sooner or later, become like Christ. God gave the Law to Moses to his people wanted to become like Christ. God is waiting for every person, so I did as Jesus would have done (“The Significance of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus for the Christian”).
Sin is the destruction of God's creation.One or another behavior or motivation is a sin, not because it is entered in the "black list", but because they are humiliating. When damage is caused to us or to anyone else, it offends God. We exist, and for this reason deserve respectful treatment. If we do not recognize or treat us without respect, a conflict arises. Any behavior that could undermine the creation of God, is a sin.
Self-destruction is our main problem in the face of God. If God really punish a person (who usually thinks that deserves such a punishment), He would have only aggravated his despair. Many people hate others because they hate themselves.
Internal (hidden) anger is also a sin that many of the people may not recognize as one. It can be manifested through depression. Often the cause is unforgiveness. Depression is caused by despair, which a person feels, understands and implements.
This world is the world of God's man: a creature of God, even rebellious, sinful, fallen. Salvation was accomplished not outside of our world, God came from heaven to a real event to urge a person to communicate with him. Everything in the universe is built around the problem of choice. We consider that our choices, our decisions play no role, will be the biggest mistake. Take, for example, the religions of the world: all pray, and many make sacrifices, which are not enough for the believer, but these actions are not, by themselves, or in themselves, the essence of morality or religion. What or who do you trust? After all, the trust without the existence of a certain norm (standard) as meaningless as prayer or sacrifice. In many areas of life of people every day showing their loyalty, ethics and religion but are not limited to only one loyalty. God defines faithfulness in using the relationship that he has established himself with humanity. True morality and religion has always meant, according to the Bible, loyalty to our relationship with God. We must allow God to show us what is good, and to accept His standards, His standards, His unchanging "reference points". Otherwise, we cannot know what is true morality and religion. In the Old Testament a "reference point" is the Law, the Torah (the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy), in the New Testament - Jesus himself.
Works Cited
Christian Ethics. Living Under God’s Law. Web. 27 Apr. 2016
"The Global Religious Landscape: Christianity". Pew Research Center. Web. 27 Apr. 2016
The Significance of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus for the Christian. Australian Catholic University National. Web. 27 Apr. 2016
Virkler, Henry A. Ayayo, Karelynne Gerber, ed.Hermeneutics: Principles and Processes of Biblical Interpretation (2nd ed.). Grand Rapids, USA: Baker Academic. p. 21. Print.
Woodhead, Linda. Christianity: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. n.p. Print.
