Chapter XXV: Christian Morality

A. The Reign, or Kingdom of God

1. The Kingdom (or Reign) of God was at the core of Jesus’ proclamation
and ministry.
2. Moral existence is always a response to a divine call, neither do we
find an existence devoid of obligation nor a faith divorced from action
3. Jesus’ preaching of the reign of God was often couched in parables in
which he often inverted his listeners’ whole worldview
4. The parable challenges the listener to conceive the inconceivable. The
listener is required to reexamine his or her most basic attitudes and
values.
5. God insisted to his disciples that their commitment to the Kingdom
would make strong demands upon them
6. According to Matthew 13:44–46, everyone must be prepared to give up
everything else in order to possess the Kingdom

B. The Call to Conversion and Repentance

1. Metanoia, or conversion and repentance, is not just sorrow for sin but a
fundamental reorientation of one’s whole life.
2. Those who set themselves proudly above others, Jesus declared that
publicans and harlots would enter the Kingdom before they would.
3. Each must pray that God forgives his or her trespasses. The major
requirement of Christian existence is to repent to his/her sind
4. Jesus demanded that his listeners not only repent but also believe the
Gospel of forgiveness that he preached.
5. According to Acts of the Apostles 2:38, “Repent, and be baptized”

C. The Demand for Faith

1. According to Mark 1:15, Jesus also demanded faith, which is the
positive side of conversion
2. We shall not fear but rather believe in God’s plan for us
3. All things are possible for those people who believe in His name
4. Jesus encountered an obstinate lack of faith, he was not able to
manifest the signs of salvation
5. It was the faith of the lame man’s friends which called forth from Jesus
the forgiveness of his sins and physical healing

D. The Call to Discipleship

1. Jesus also gathered disciples around him, a point that is not unrelated
to the question of Jesus’ intentions regarding the “founding” of the
Church
2. The call to discipleship is a call to the imitation of Christ
 3. The disciple was to act as Jesus himself: with compassion, humility,
generosity, and suffering service of others.
4. The disciple was always to be marked by love (John 13:34–35), in
particular love for one another.
5. According to John 12:26, Jesus said “Where I am, there will my servant
be”

E. The Law
1. Every part of the Law was of equal importance and that external
observance is what finally counted.
2. For Jesus it is the inner disposition that determines an act’s moral
value
3. Admonition and mercy are found together.
4. We will not only listen to Jesus’ words but to put them into action. It
must really be done, in deed and not only in word.
5. Words and actions of God’s law are to be interpreted always in light of
the coming Kingdom.

F. The Commandment of Love

1. All of Jesus’ moral teaching is concentrated in the one commandment
of love: the love of God and the love of neighbor.
2. We should not offer sacrifice to God unless and until we have been
reconciled with our brother or sister.
3. We cannot ask forgiveness for our sins unless we are also ready to
forgive those who sin against us.
4. We are to avoid judging and condemning others and to be careful not
to dwell on the speck in our neighbor’s eye while missing the plank in
our own
5. “And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of
these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13)

G. Discipleship in the World

1. The values he proclaimed would surely transform the world of those
who shared them.
2. In Luke’s version of the Beatitudes, Jesus first blesses the poor, for the
reign of God is theirs, not just the “poor” in the sense of the “poor in
spirit” or the “just,” but the economically poor.
3. Religious and moral attitude of those who are called blessed and to
whom the Kingdom of God is promised, whereas Luke stresses their
social and economic position
4. He sent his disciples into the world and prayed, not that the Father
would take his disciples out of the world, but that he would keep them
safe in the world
 5. We can change the world through the values that we learn and adapt in
His teachings.

H. Women, Marriage, and the Family

1. His injunction “What God has joined together, let no one separate”
where women and men are assigned equal dignity, coming as they do
from the same creative hand of God.
2. Of special importance was Jesus’ insistence that marriage is
permanent. Women are not to be cast aside at will, as was the custom.
3. Jesus became indignant and said, “Let the children come to me…. For
it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs”
4. What emerges from these assorted sayings is the principle that when
Jesus gathers his eschatological family around him, blood ties are of
less importance than fidelity to the will of God and readiness for the
Kingdom.
5. The fourth commandment says, “Honor your father and mother,” and
we shall follow this as we live in Christian life and our relationship to
God, our family and other people.

I. Reward and Punishment

1. Jesus also speaks of both rewards and punishments, and they serve
perhaps as secondary motives for Christian fidelity
2. The reward He promises to His people is always the future Kingdom or
one of its blessings, such as eternal life.
3. The parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard in Matthew 20:1-16 is
especially important, it shows that God’s criteria and ours are not the
same.
4. The principal motive for living according to the Gospel is, of course, the
Kingdom of God and its blessings.
5. We are called to imitate Jesus. To follow his example and to love one
another as he has loved us which is his first and greatest
commandment.
 Reflection

The Moral Message of Jesus in Chapter 24 Part 6 in the book of Introduction

to Religion gives us the opportunity to understand better and follow Jesus Christ to
allow us to redirect our hearts and minds for the eternal life that He promised to us.
Jesus gives us a message everyday so that we can feel His presence and to choose
the right thing through His teachings and parables and that allows us to give
meaning to our life and spread His words with faith and compassion.

In this world, those who leave divinity upon the existence of heaven, God did
not create this in vain but He created this world for us to learn and choose His
kingdom. His Kingdom preaching was a call to conversion, repentance, faith, and
discipleship as well as a good news message. Jesus' declaration and ministry were
centered on God's Kingdom, as it was and must be in the Church's entire mission.
Everything else, including our understanding of Christian morality, follows from it.

According to the book, God made no differences and treated us all equally.
He didn't care what other people had done in the past, and he was willing to forgive
everyone. Because he was so determined to redeem sins in God's name, Jesus
made friends with outcasts. Regardless of who they are or what faults they have
committed, God always forgives them. God shows us an example by offering Himself
to other people.

Faith is the same as trust. You must have complete faith that God is on your
side and that he will assist and protect you. He knows what is best for you, but you
must fully trust him in order to fully embrace what he has planned for you. Because
our God is both faithful and good, our faith is not naïve. We need to have more faith
in God and a stronger belief in Him. God is well aware of everything we are going
through right now and in the next few years. He understands how to solve every
situation to the best of his abilities, and we must put our faith in him. We must follow
in his footsteps and have faith that, because he knows what is best for us, he knows
what is best for us. If we trust in God's plan, he will guide us through life.

According to the Bible, forgiveness is defined as the decision to forgive

someone for an offense and to love them through the lens of our transformed spirit.
When we're having trouble forgiving and want to know what the Bible says about
forgiveness, it's helpful to remember that we're supposed to forgive everyone and
forgive often, just like Jesus does. We can't ask for forgiveness until we're willing to
forgive those who have wronged us. This teaches us not to carry grudges against
individuals who have harmed us and to forgive them if we want to be happy. We
must forgive others so that God can forgive ourselves.
 Passing judgment on others might raise emotions of isolation and empathy, it
can also lessen feelings of connection. We also don't want Jesus to think he doesn't
want us to strengthen our bonds with our neighbors and love them. As Matthew 7
said “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others,
you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you”. We
should spread kindness and love to others rather than hate them because it is in
God’s commandment to love your neighbors as God loves you.

By using Jesus' own life as an example of God's methods, Jesus emphasized

God's activities and teachings. He was a perfect depiction of God, making him God
himself. In his teachings, Jesus alluded to God's past. Every person seeks love,
acceptance, and security, which are the three most basic desires of the human soul
but we cannot receive and appreciate those things if we are not contented in life and
we do not believe and trust His plan for us and with this, we should always put in
mind that sometimes our plans in life might not align to His plan for us but His plan is
always for our good and for a better life. This teaching enables us to see and see the
good in the real world, as well as to choose the good even when tempted to select
the wrong.