‘ ETHICS OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
CHS 3 - Christopher Burgos
CHRISTIAN ETHICS AS A DISCIPLINE
● In the study of Christian Ethics these two sided must
be present:
○ the clarification of the fundamental principles of
the Christian life
○ the interpretation of how the Christian
community needs to make ethical judgment and
to act in the light of its faith and convictions.
● In other words, the study of Christian Ethics as an
academic discipline has two general aspects:
○ Theoretical
○ Practical
● THEORETICAL ASPECT
- deals with the definition of the discipline, its
nature, its criteria, its methods, and its problems
and prospects.
- it deals with the clarification of the foundations
and basic principles of Christian Ethics.
● PRACTICAL ASPECT
- deals with how the Christian community ought to
decide and act in the face of an obligation or
responsibility.
- stresses how the Christian ought to decide and
act in the light of his own Christian faith and
convictions to fully develop himself as a human
being.
Definition of Christian Ethics
The term “ethics” and “moral” are closely related.
● “ethics”
- is derived from the Greek word “ethos” which
originally meant customs, habitual conduct,
usages, and much later, character.
● “moral”
- Is derived from the Latin word “mores”, which
signifies customs and habits.
But customs, habits and practices evoke approval,
hence ethics and moral have reference to the things
which people approve as good, right, desirable,
obligatory, worthy, and so forth.
“Christian Ethics” may be used in four different senses
depending on the emphasis a user is making. These
four senses are:
TERM
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1. As a moral code.
- A moral code is a specific standard of human
behavior designed to meet the need of a
particular group of people.
- The best example of this is the professional
code of ethics. Hence, we have
➔ “Medical Ethics”
➔ “Business Ethics”
➔ “Teacher’s Ethics”, etc
- A code specifies how a member of a group
relates himself to
(a) profession or work,
(b) his fellow workers,
(c) his community or the general public.
- Take the case of “Medical Ethics”.
- In a Christian context this code spells out how a
Christian doctor ought to regard his own
profession, how he ought to relate himself to his
fellow doctors and how he ought to relate
himself to the patients. In this case, Christian
Ethics means medical ethics as a moral code.
2. As a metaethics.
- This is a branch of philosophy which is primarily
concerned with the discussions of the
meanings or uses of moral terms and
utterances about the nature of moral concepts.
- it is “a study of the words and concepts that we
use for making decisions, advising, warning, and
appraising conduct”.
- The direct object of this study is not practice but
knowledge: knowledge of the distinctive uses or
roles of moral language or knowledge of the
meanings of moral concepts.
- Metaethical statements are about the uses or
meanings of normative ethical statements,
utterances, or terms about the logical status of
moral claim, about the nature of moral
arguments, or about what constitutes a morality.
- Two examples of metaethical statements:
➔ “Moral utterances are neither
autobiographical statements nor
statements of non-natural fact but
expressions of emotion”.
➔ “Good” is the name of a simple,
unanalyzable, non-natural quality.
- Metaethics has been referred to as an
analytical ethics, critical ethics, theoretical
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 ethics, the epistemology of ethics, the logic
of ethics, or semantics of ethics.
- Christian Ethics may be used in this sense.
3. As a way of life.
- it is “way of life” exemplified by Jesus Christ.
- As such, it is both general and particular.
- General because it embraces the whole of life.
Particular because it is a “way of life”
specifically seen and patterned after the life of
Jesus. It is the Christian way of life.
- An ethicist puts it this way: “Christian Ethics is
a systematic study of a way of life exemplified
by Jesus and applied to the demands and
decisions of personal and social existence”.
- In this sense, Christian Ethics is not a study of
rules and regulations of life itself as conceived
by the Christian.
- In the same way one can speak of “Buddhist
Ethics” if one means a way of life exemplified by
Buddha, or of “Muslim Ethics” if one means a
way of life patterned after the life of Muhammad.
In brief, Christian Ethics in this sense is a
particular ethical system.
4. As a disciplined study.
- This is the academic sense of Christian Ethics.
- As a discipline it organizes itself; it has its own
field of concerns, its methodology, its criteria,
and its practitioners.
- As one practitioner puts it: “It is a disciplines
study of obligation, its nature, its justifications,
its consequences, and its strategies”.
- In this context Christian Ethics is a disciplined
study of what a Christian ought to do in the
face of responsibility and how he ought to do it.
- In brief, Christian Ethics is a systematic
reflection on Christian duty.
● Primarily the last two definitions combined together
constitute the sense in which Christian Ethics is
used in this study.
● Thus, Christian Ethics is a systematic and
disciplined study of the style of life and obligation
of the Christian in particular, and all humankind and
the entire creation in general.
Its Nature as a Discipline
1. It is a normative discipline.
- It is primarily concerned with the establishing
of norms or standards of conduct to be
followed by a group.
- Ethical discourse involves at least three levels:
★ Descriptive Level
- where we find the sciences which
primarily deal with the description of
what “is”;
★ Normative Level
- where we find ethics which deals
primarily with what ought to be.
★ Justification Level
- where we find theology which gives the
justification for doing what we ought
to do.
- Thus, when we speak of norms in this case we
do not mean “operating norms” (descriptive
ethics) but we mean “ideal norms” (normative
ethics) which serve as our moral beacon.
- In short, it is normative in the sense that it is a
search for ought.
2. It is inclusive.
- it includes all of man’s moral experiences for
its data.
- It includes the experience of telling a lie or being
lied to, of stealing or being stolen from, of
cheating or being cheated, etc.
- It includes also the experience of being forced
to do something which one does not want to
do either by the authority of the state or the
church or the family.
- It includes all aspects of human life.
- In short, it includes the whole moral ethos.
- The moral ethos is a “subtle web of values,
meanings, purposes, expectations, and
legitimations that constitutes the operating
norms of a culture in a relationship to a social
entity”.
3. It is interdisciplinary.
- it “commits practitioners to undertake joint,
supplementary, or complementary theoretical
and empirical studies” in theology, Bible,
philosophy, and the sciences.
- Christian Ethics cannot stand alone as a
discipline.
- It needs the secular wisdom coming from the
sciences and the religious wisdom coming
from the theological, philosophical, and Biblical
studies.
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 - In turn it gives the practitioners of the sciences
the moral guidance and insights needed in the
use and application of the scientific findings.
- Ethics and theology are interrelated both in
terms of content and methods. As one writer
puts it, “Ethics is theology sent on an errand”.
4. It is reflective/critical/open.
- It is reflective because it seeks to set forth a
system or standard of human conduct.
- It tries to show how that system of human
conduct and certain fundamental normative
statements can be rationally pursued and
supported.
- It is critical and open because it takes into
consideration all available data needed to
make a decision.
- It critically looks into all standards of human
conduct and chooses the most appropriate
one to achieve its goals.
- The difference between “being moral” and
“being ethical” lies in the fact of “being
reflective and critical”.
- The moral person obeys the laws before
thinking or even without thinking, but the ethical
person thinks critically before obeying.
- In brief, Christian Ethics is a rational, critical,
and open-ended search for an emergent
coherence (unity).
Its Criteria of Obligation (Ought)
1. Criterion of right (or wrong).
- The assumption of this criterion is that there are
universal and fixed moral imperatives or laws
which are binding upon all persons.
- The fundamental question is: “What is the chief
duty of a person?” the chief duty of the person
is to obey the laws.
- To do right is to follow the law, but to do
wrong is to violate it.
- In other words, whatever is said or done in
obedience to the law is right; whatever is said
or done in disobedience to the law is wrong.
- The law provides precise moral guidance.
- So, this criterion is used by many Christians
because of its preciseness.
● CRITICISMS
- First, this tends to be legalistic, giving very little
freedom to those who use it.
- There is a tendency to follow what is written
only in the law and oftentimes the spirit of the
law is forgotten.
- Second, there are laws which are unjust and
obsolete, and so, they must not be followed. If
we do become unjust or become irrelevant.
- A third criticism is that sometimes what is just
or good is prohibited by an established law.
Jesus found himself in this situation in his time
with regard to the laws of Judaism so that He
was prompted to remark and said: “The
Sabbath is made for man and not man for the
Sabbath”. Because of these weaknesses of the
criterion of right some Christians prefer to use
another criterion, that of good.
2. Criterion of Good (or bad/evil).
- This criterion assumes that there is the “highest
good or purpose” in life.
- Thus the fundamental question is: “What is the
chief end (telos) of life?” The answer to this
question depends upon one’s philosophical
and religious orientation.
- For Greek philosophers, happiness is the
highest good in the life.
- For Christians, to love God, to worship Him,
and to serve Him is the highest purpose in life.
- Still for others, life itself is the highest good.
- Therefore, one has to know one’s highest
good or purpose in life in order that one can
achieve it.
- To achieve one’s highest goof a person has to
employ virtues, or maxims, or principles.
- A principle is a statement of general truth
which has to be interpreted in the light of needs
and situations. Thus, a principle gives more
freedom to those who use it than a law does.
- Given a principle, everything that a person does
which helps fulfill his highest purpose in life is
good; whatever he does that hinder its
achievement is bad or evil.
● CRITICISMS
- A basic criticism against the criterion is that the
definition or location of the highest good or
purpose is controversial.
- Now, where does one find the highest good?
Some find it within themselves. Others find it in
the world outside themselves. Still others find
it in the Eternal God.
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 - Still many others claim that it is indefinable. In
short, there is no agreement as to what or
where is the highest good located.
- This criterion is vague and confusing, so many
Christians prefer to use another one that of
criterion is fit.
3. Criterion of fit (or unfit).
- This criterion assumes that there is a most
fitting situation in which to perform an act.
- This further assumes that there are no fixed
universal laws. There is only one principle,
that of love.
- So, the fundamental question is “What is the
most loving thing or act a person can do in
this particular situation?”
- To answer this question most appropriately the
person must know the situation very well and
must take into consideration the wisdom of the
community.
- But he makes the final decision himself as to
what and how he ought to decide in a moral
situation given the principle of love.
1. Divergent perspectives
● CRITICISMS
- Many criticism are leveled against the criterion.
- This is your subjective and gives too much
freedom to the individual
- Anyone can and may decide to do an act which
appears to him most loving when in reality it is
most selfish.
- Maturity and wisdom are required on the part
of the individual or in order for him to evaluate
most correctly the most loving act in a most
fitting situation given the principle of love alone.
- This is too concrete and situated and cannot
be employed in a national or international
decision-making where a more complicated
situation is involved.
- this will lead to chaos because different persons
will interpret differently the principle of love
even if given the same situation.
- Therefore, many Christian not satisfied with
any of the three criteria above, prefer another
criterion, that of meaning.
2. Contextual or situational differences
4. Criterion of meaning (or meaningless).
- The assumption is life is meaningful.
- Whatever one says or does has or should have
meaning. But what is the basis of meaning?
- Meaning is based on authentic existence
which in turn requires freedom.
- In other words, a person must have a freedom
to say, to do, and to live in a way that makes
sense to him or her.
- Thus, whatever contributes to a meaningful,
coherent life is what really counts.
- One may follow a law, or a wise counsel, or use
a principle or maxim, or depend upon a situation
or on God’s revelation, to achieve a meaningful
and coherent existence.
- The point is one must to be free to make and
act on one’s decision effecting one’s life.
● CRITICISMS
- this is too broad and gives a person too much
freedom to interpret the meaning of life.
- This will certainly lead to conflicting decisions,
actions, and style of life.
- this can be sustained only in a pluralistic
society, not in totalitarian or an authoritarian
(martial law) society.
Problems/Prospects/Challenges
- People, including teachers and students have
different assumptions or estimates of life and
reality.
- There are those who look at life and reality from
the religious perspective and there are those
who look at the same from the scientific
perspective.
- The first one emphasizes the activity of God in
human affairs and dependence upon God;
while the second one emphasizes the activity
of man in shaping his own destiny and his
dependence upon himself for his own welfare
and salvation.
- When a person is strongly influenced by either
one to the exclusion of the other, the problem
of understanding Christian Ethics emerges.
- In short, we have our own “filters” or “lens”
through which we look at life which may either
help or hinder our understanding of what is
right, good, fit, or meaningful.
- this means differences in the context or
situation of those who study Christian Ethics.
- This also means the difference between the
context in which the Bible (our basic source for
Christian Ethics) was written and the context in
which it is now being taught.
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 - The first case spells out the difficulty in
teaching a class of people who come from
different situations in life both in terms of
culture and of social status.
- Some have upper class values: others have
middle class values; still others have lower
class values.
- Thus, there arise a conflict of values and it is
difficult, if not impossible, to arrive at a
standard of human behavior acceptable to all.
- The second case brings to us the fact that the
Bible is silent on many ethical issues that are
urgent and important to us today.
- For example, the Bible, in general and Jesus in
particular, is silent on the issue of pollution
and population explosion, to cite two cases.
- This is so because there were not pressing
social issues in Jesus’ time and world.
- If these were, Jesus would have said
something about these matters and we would
have a clearer guide on how to handle such
problems.
- What Jesus left us is a style of life centered
on love for God and love for neighbors.
- So we have to do the best we can to reinterpret
Jesus’ teachings for our day and time. This is
both a problem and a challenge to us.
3. Knowledge explosion
- The explosion of knowledge owing to scientific
discoveries complicates the teaching-learning
process of Christian Ethics.
- The more we discover scientific knowledge
about reality the more the traditional Christian
teachings are threatened and challenged.
- For example, the Darwinian anthropology,
which emphasizes the evolutionary origin of
man, has challenged our traditional view of the
creation of man as told by the Bible.
- Modern anthropology has also declared that
man is by nature polygamous.
- The Freudian psychology has challenged our
basic Christian affirmation that God is our
creator because it has declared that the
emergence of God was due to man’s
psychological needs.
- Modern psychology has also affirmed that man
has tremendous inner mental powers that are
not yet fully discovered and developed.
- Although modern science does not deny the
existence of an Eternal Reality (God), there are
certain scientific discoveries that bring to
mankind grave ethical difficulties.
- For example, the discovery of the atomic
power poses a moral dilemma for man. What
ought man to do in the face of such a power
available to him? In medical science, to cite
another example, the discovery, and practice of
transplanting human organs (i.e., heart) poses
the ethical question whether man is or is not
playing God while doing this thing.
- Indeed, knowledge explosion in science is
accompanied by the explosion of ethical
issues.
- Thus, Christian Ethics can only suggest at best
a tentative ethical standard of human
behavior.
- Its task is an ever ongoing (continuous)
process. Its field of main concern is
open-ended.
4. Advent of movement
- A movement such as nationalism or patriotism
can either enhance or hinder the
teaching-learning process of ethical
standards.
★ Narrow-minded nationalism or patriotism
- contradicts the Christian teaching of universal
concerns.
- It creates in people a feeling of (anti-ism), not
only against foreigners but even against our
people who do not subscribe to the brand of
nationalism or patriotism we hold.
- Such bigoted nationalistic spirit would hinder
our search for a common standard of
national discipline and conduct.
- Such a spirit needs a corrective that is
allowance for some degree of liberality and
tolerance for others who differ from us for
mutual enrichment and enlightenment.
★ Ecumenism
- could be destructive, if it’s the only kind within
the church.
➢ exclusivist
- characterized by rigidity and intolerance,
disrespect and denial of God’s revealing
unobtrusive approaches in his love for
others of other living faiths.
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➢ inclusivist
- for it preempts Jesus Christ’s finality and
uniqueness, and affirms a priori the
superiority of Christianity over all other
religious, evaluates other religious traditions
“not in themselves but in relation to
Christianity,” which is religious arrogance,
triumphalism, and imperialism.
➢ relativist
- a kind of “strategy of playing down
differences”.
- It believes that each religion is equally true
in its own way and essence, and that
religious ‘peace’ is achieved by ignoring
differences and contradictions. But this is
artificial, shallow, and dishonest. Thus, it is
not a solution, rather, it only ignores the
problems that it claims to have solved.
➢ pluralist model
- And yet, ecumenism, if it goes beyond the
church, could be creative.
- It upholds a theology of religious dialogue
and pluralism, which “holds that God has
manifested and revealed himself in
various ways to different people in their
perspective situations”.
- The Biblical message insists on the
“previousness” of grace: God’s acceptance
of us before our acceptance of Him.
- In this sense, the “people we meet of
whatever religion, race, or age, are all
God’s people”.
- It means the other person is as much of a
child of God as I am and you, which should
be the basis of our relationship with our
neighbors.
- That attitude is at the heart of being in
dialogue --- which is also at the very heart
of the cross --- the consequences of Jesus’
teaching on love.
- The message which Jesus gave was good
news: that God loves us first and that this
is unchanging, unfailing, and always
available.
- Hence, the incarnation is “God’s dialogue
with the world – an expression of how
God always stands with the human
community”.
- The central message of the Bible is deeply
incarnational and dialogical.
- It implies that people of other faiths are
not outside the saving activity, initiative,
and loving concern of God.
- For the God of the Bible whom Jesus
revealed to us and called Father, rules
overall and is in all.
- His love embraces all humanity and the
entire creation.
- This pluralist paradigm affirms the most
striking fact in the Synoptics: that Jesus’
own life is entirely God-centered,
God-dependent, and God-ward.
- It is a telling argument that the center of
God’s saving design for humankind
belongs to God alone, having manifested
and revealed himself in various ways to
different peoples in different cultures, also
embodied each in their own way, such as
divine self-revelation.
- This model sets Christianity in a new and
alarming light where there can no longer be
any a priori assumption of overall
superiority; rather, the Christian tradition is
now seen as one of a plurality of contexts
of salvation --- contexts, . . . “within which
the transformation of human existence
from self-centeredness to God is
occurring”.
- This is the most human and humble way, to
set aside, the unity we are seeking, and
give a chance for the unity which is seeking
us from God.
- And this could be the birth of the new
Ecumenical Movement --- the answer to
Jesus’ prayer “that they may all be one”
(Jn. 17:21)”.
★ “ecumenical” or “ecumenics”
- comes from the Greek original “OIKOUMENE”
which means “household” or “the whole
inhabited earth”.
★ Ecumenism
- creates an atmosphere of universal
understanding and unity.
- It emphasizes that human beings are all
members of the same household of God.
- As members of the same household they should
treat each other with respect and
understanding.
- It creates among people the desire for unity in
diversity.
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 - It encourages open and frank discussion of - It is theoretical task; reflection on the ways in
differences and conflicts. which moral action occurs, the assumptions
- It is characterized by the spirit which allows and presuppositions of moral life.
themselves to differ but resolves to love.
● CHRISTIAN ETHICS
CONCLUSION - is the science of human conduct as it is
- In concluding this unit of study it is fitting to determined by Divine conduct. (Brunner, Emil).
underscore the importance of the discipline of - Is a systematic study of a way of life
Christian Ethics. exemplified and taught by Jesus, applied to the
- What is said above stresses the fact that Christian daily demand and decisions of personal and
Ethics is an academic discipline comparable to social existence. (Harkness, Georgia).
other disciplines in the sense that it has its own - is a history, statistics, and politic of the
nature, its field of concerns, its criteria, its methods, Kingdom of God (Rothe).
a unique academic discipline because its primary - is the science of living well with one another
aim is to criticize standards of moral decision, according to Christ.” (Rom. 15:5)
actions, and behavior with the end in view of -
finding one which is most acceptable to the
Christian community and most helpful in its ● MORAL
thinking, decision-making, and practicing its own - is often used to refer to the actual conduct of
faith in this present complex world. men.
- The importance of Christian Ethics cannot be - It is a practical task: giving directions to
overemphasized. human behavior in the light of what one
- Man is a social and ethical being and as such he believes to be right, or good.
needs a guide --- an ethical system and a - At the level of morals one is asking, “What
Person. Jesus, as the Christ. ought I do in this place of responsibility?” or this,
“Is what I am interested in really good?”
DIGEST OF DEFINITIONS OF ETHICS AND - At the level of ethics one is asking, “What
CHRISTIAN ETHICS fundamental principles are involved in
● ETHICS determining an answer to the moral questions?”
- is the study and evaluation of standards of “What is the nature of the goof?” (Gustafson,
human conduct (Moral Philosophy) James).
- may be defined as a study of a particular system -
or ethical standards (i.e., Hindu ethics, Muslim
- ethics, Christian Ethics, etc.).
- disciplined study of obligation, its nature, its
justifications, its consequences, its strategies.
- It is in simplest terms, reflection on ought
(Stackhouse, Max).
- may be defined as critical study of morality.
- It consists of a systematic analysis of the nature
of the moral life of man, including both the
standards of right and wrong by which his
conduct may be guided and the goals toward
which it may be directed.
- concerned with practical moral choices and with
the ideal goals and principles
- The study of ethics rests upon the assumption
that man is both free and responsible. (Garner,
E. Clinton).
- is often used to refer to the task of careful
reflection several steps removed from the actual
conduct of men.
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