On Making Moral Decisions

Some say “That’s what the Bible says and that’s what we are to do” (except, eating pork is fine). Others dismiss the Bible as an ancient text that was, true enough, at the foundation of modern morality but is a long way from it. Others develop more sophisticated approaches, and this often revolves around what (1) what is central and living from that central idea/ethic [love, justice] or (2) what is normative vs. what is cultural. William Webb’s redemptive movement hermeneutic is well-known here in his book Women, Slaves, and Homosexuals.

A new book along this line, one that takes on less of a hermeneutical approach as is found in Webb, is by David Instone-Brewer, Moral Questions of the Bible: Timeless Truth in a Changing World.

This book should be on the shelf of every youth pastor and pastor since he takes on nearly all topics that ordinary folks ask about, and his approach is contextualizing the text, then probing what is timeless and what is more cultural. Here are some of the topics: does God’s law change? topics about children, including abortion, sex and marriage of all sorts, female leaders, racism, gluttony, crude language, hospitality, slavery… and on and on. Short, brief, readable, accessible prose.

How about method?

Timeless commands are therefore:

1. Counter-cultural commands, by which believers are told to stand out and live differently from the culture around them

2. Universal, culture-reflecting commands, by which believers are told to emulate the universal moral rules found in all cultures

Other commandments are not timeless, although the purposes of God that they attempt to promote are timeless:

1. Non-universal, culture-reflecting commands, by which believers are told to emulate some aspects of the culture they live in that aren’t found universally in all cultures

2. Changeable commands, by which the Bible’s teaching changes from one time or place to another.

THE TWO TESTS FOR TIMELESSNESS

1. Is this command expressed or implied in the same way throughout the Bible?

2. Is this command countercultural in at least one situation?