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Romans 13:1-7: “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.”
We are all ethicists. We can’t help it. We face ethical questions daily. Most of them are so small and mundane we would hardly recognize them as the sort of thing philosophy and theology would come to bear on, but they are. More importantly, they are the kinds of questions the Gospel comes to bear on. See James 1:3-4: “Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”
The gospel changes our core identity, shifting our values to align with our beliefs. These changes will be reflected in our behaviors and actions. However, the chain of cause and effect can be broken by our failure to think through the implications of God’s grace. This is what the New Testament writers meant when they talked about moving from milk to meat (see 1 Corinthians 3 for one example), it is not that we move from the gospel to some other subject, but we move the gospel into every subject. You never outgrow the good news of God’s gracious offer of pardon, restoration, and adoption in Christ; it grows along with you.
Let’s Get Ethical
The good news is that ethical behavior does not earn us God’s favor; Christ alone has earned that favor, and in Him it is freely and forever given to us. We act ethically not to earn favor, but because we have already received it. We have been adopted into the royal family and granted every privilege of the son and heir; in response, we want to act in a way that honors our Father and our Brother.
The bad news is that ethics is not always simple. Consider a scenario wherein an expedition has become stranded in remote mountains. The party has run out of food and is near death from starvation. One member of the party is dying from lack of nourishment; if the others eat his remains, they might survive. However, eating human flesh is seen as a devaluing of the image of God. Eating the remains would also deny the family the closure of properly disposing of the physical form.
This is a rather extreme example, but it does present some of the issues we regularly encounter. We do not know everything. In our scenario, we do not know how far rescue is or if rescue is even coming. We do not know what impact the death or life of any member of the party might have. This is why the cold calculation of pure pragmatism breaks down; too many variables remain unknown.
We also see that there is no apparent perfect ending in the scenario. The much-desired third option, in which our desperate party finds an uncompromising source of nutrition, is not offered. The closest option might be that the survivors refuse to eat human flesh, trusting that God will supply their needs, or that if they too perish, it was God’s will. That is certainly a viable choice. Would we think it if we were starving, though? And what if we were married, or had children? Then we would have a biblical warrant to cling to life…
The point is not to allow for cannibalism, or shame those who might admit to resorting to such distasteful acts in a life-or-death situation. The point is to help all of us see that life is not always cut-and-dried and clean. The greater of two goods might also be the lesser of two evils. We might not be able to save the lives of Jewish refugees from the Holocaust without lying under oath. I know of no clear scripture that permits lying, but I do not see several that offer grace to cover such a sin. I would compromise my ethical standards by lying, but I would be more compromised if I let another die needlessly. The circumstances do not excuse my actions, even if they explain them, but God’s grace will cover those who were less than perfect.
This then is what I really want my readers to grasp: ethics is messy, and this drives us continually to the cross where the only man who lived a perfect and ethically sound life took the full penalty for all of our transgressions. Our attempts to follow in His steps will be imperfect; we will get messy along the way, but He will wash us clean again. This guarantee makes it possible for us to engage each ethical dilemma we face with confidence, not in our own abilities of reasoning, but in the faithfulness of God.
What I mean is that we do not have to be paralyzed by fear of missing the mark. We can take our best shot and trust God with the results. Of course, we should take our best shot, and that does require some work on our part. Our ethical training too often consists of memorizing a list of dos and don’ts, which does not help when we face something beyond those rules. We need to learn how to think through the rules and the reasoning behind them, to weigh the costs of options, etc. We can do this by playing out scenarios like those referenced above. We can do this by reviewing decisions we have made. We can study the systems of thought proposed by humanity and see how they play out in the real world. We can do all these in the company of brothers and sisters in our local church who provide each other with perspective. We can do all of this with consistent prayer. We can do it all with an open Bible.
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