While not necessarily using the phrase “moral law” or the word “morality”, it is from God and through His revelation to us in the Bible that we understand moral law and morality.
By morality, I mean our pattern of conduct. We can also add character and the intentions behind our actions. By moral law, I mean a particular set of expectations for conduct.
We can begin with a few verses from the Bible to help us set the foundation for moral law.
Deuteronomy 32:5 They have acted corruptly toward Him, They are not His children, because of their defect; But are a perverse and crooked generation.
Proverbs 10:9 He who walks in integrity walks securely, But he who perverts his ways will be found out.
Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?
Matthew 15:8,18 THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME… But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.
Luke 6:45 The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
That which is opposed to moral law and morality is described as corrupt, perverse, crooked, defile, and evil. That which aligns with and adheres to moral law is described as integrity, good, true, honorable, right, pure, and lovely. In the Bible, the origin of morality is God, and goodness or righteousness does not exist apart from God.
Every culture follows a set of expectations for conduct, and a primary purpose of government is to enforce adherence to those expectations. Ecclesiastes 3:11, Romans 1:18-24, and Romans 2:14-16 help us understand that God has written eternity and His law on our hearts. From this, we understand that our conscience condemns us when we commit an immoral act. The conscience is a work of the Holy Spirit convicting us of immoral acts.
Through God we know moral law, and through moral law we understand sin. Sin simply stated is immoral action and a breaking of God’s moral law. We can summarize God’s moral law by simply stating that it is what ought to be done and ought not to be done.
Why should we or do we follow God’s moral law? Charles G. Finney in Systematic Theology writes that we follow moral law because we perceive it to be intrinsically valuable. “Before I can affirm my obligation to will, I must perceive something in that which I am required to will as an ultimate end, that renders it worthy of being chosen. I must have an object of choice. That object must possess, in itself, that which commends itself to my intelligence as worthy of being chosen. All choice must respect means or ends. That is, everything must be willed either as an end or a means. I cannot be under obligation to will the means until I know the end. I cannot know an end, or that which can possibly be chosen as an ultimate end, until I know that something is intrinsically valuable. I cannot know that it is right or wrong to choose or refuse a certain end, until I know whether the proposed object of choice is intrinsically valuable or not. It is impossible for me to choose it, as an ultimate end, unless I perceive it to be intrinsically valuable. This is self-evident; for choosing it as an end is nothing else than choosing it for its intrinsic value. Moral obligation, therefore, always and necessarily implies the knowledge that the well-being of God and of the universe is valuable in itself, and the affirmation that it ought to be chosen for its own sake, that is, impartially and on account of its intrinsic value.”
At first glance, it may appear that Finney makes the claim that God’s intrinsic value originates within ourselves. However, that is not at all what he writes. He clearly states that the object of our devotion and obedience must possess within itself intrinsic worth or value. In other words, God and God’s moral law represent intrinsic value apart from anything or anyone else. Whether we choose to accept or refuse God has no impact on His intrinsic value.
Rather, Finney’s argument is that we make choices based upon the intrinsic value of the object of our choices. Therefore, the reason that we do not arrange our conduct to adhere to God’s moral law is that we disagree that God possesses any intrinsic value in and of Himself. The opposite is also true, in that, we arrange our conduct to adhere to God’s moral law because we do agree that there is intrinsic value within God.
There have been many perversions of this notion of intrinsic value. For example, humanity has ascribed intrinsic value to knowledge (Gnosticism); objects, statues, animals, or idols; nature; emptying self; poverty; wealth; astrological objects; ethics or a particular set of conduct apart from any belief in God; and goodness itself apart from God.
It is quite interesting that some accept the intrinsic value of goodness, while claiming that goodness originates within ourselves apart from any notion of God’s existence. If some part of humanity chooses evil and some chooses good, what distinguishes one from the other? This leads directly to a works-based ideology, in that I can become good enough on my own merit to achieve goodness or a “heavenly state.” All of these ideologies begin to collapse when we ask who gets to define “knowledge” or what is “good” and what intention is behind that definition?
Value is also assigned to evil ends, which is why evil continues to be practiced. Examples include amassing power purely for the ability to control, slavery, gaining large sums of wealth at the expense of others or the environment, sex trafficking, and theft.
The extent to which we arrange our conduct to be righteous, Godly, and moral is the extent to which we accept the intrinsic value of God Himself and God’s moral law.
Like this post? Subscribe to stay up to date on new posts.