January 19, 2012
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The Bible and Morality
My Bible professor said something today that struck me.
“The core of the Bible is not so much about ‘morality’ as it is about ‘identity’.”
I’ve never thought of it like that before, but it’s true, specifically regarding the Old Testament.
The heroes of the Hebrew Bible are often wicked people who do wicked things to get ahead. Only few actually repent of the evil they had done, but nevertheless, they are the victors and patriarchs of the Christian and Jewish faiths. One could only ask why. If the Bible, at its core, is about morality, then why is it that the wicked are prospering?
Two different times in scripture (Genesis 12:10-20 & Genesis 20:1-18), we see Abraham “lying” about Sara being his sister rather than his wife (although, it could be said that she is both) in order that, if she be ‘stolen’ from him, they would spare him his life. When Sara was ‘taken’ (as opposed to ‘stolen’), the king eventually found out what was going on; that Sara was not simply Abraham’s sister, but his wife. This led the king to scold Abraham for potentially putting the entire nation under God’s judgment.
Note that difference between ‘taken’ and ‘stolen’. These words were used because in the cultural context of this passage, women were regarded as possessions rather than people worthy of dignity. Abraham was not so concerned with the well-being of his wife. He didn’t care what happened to her as long as his life was spared by the king. But when the king found out that Abraham had lied to him, he still spared Abraham his life, though, it would have been completely rational in that time for the king to kill him.
In turn, Abraham, though he was supposed to be cursed, was actually blessed by God. In the first story, the king (or pharaoh) was cursed for supposedly being fooled, resulting in him sleeping with Abraham’s wife. The second story showed the king as innocent, and nothing happened.
We see this same story happen a third time with Abraham’s son, Isaac (Genesis 26:1-14).
And these stories are just a few examples of the people doing terrible things with a result of becoming blessed.
Now, none of this is to say that the Bible does not support morality. It does, but morality is not the chief concern of scripture. What is at hand here, is a story being told of how the Israel became a nation- through the wicked and the good. And this is what we see in the Law as well. The point of the Law of Moses isn’t to show what is moral and ethical, but how the Hebrews are to be identified. That’s why we see laws regarding circumcision and beard growth. That’s why the law teaches not to mix two different types of fabric together. Most of us can look at the Law now and know that it isn’t immoral to be uncircumcised, to shave, or to wear polyester and cotton together. It is strictly about identity, granted, the roots of these laws go much deeper.
The same can be said when we move into the New Testament. Our sacraments replace such laws. We take communion because it defines who we are–that we are partakers in the body of Christ and washed in His blood. Baptism symbolizes the washing away of our sins, and being birthed anew in Christ. The Bible’s purpose isn’t to give a universal law of morality. If so, everyone, Christian or not, would be required to take part in the sacraments. Instead, our scirptures tell the story of how salvation came to be. In other words, it gives the Christian a history that we can be identified with. Along with a history, it gives a moral code so one could determine whether or not he or she is living in a way that brings glory to the name of God. It’s less about “this is how you must live” and more about “this is how a Christian is to live.” There is a big difference there, as it is the Christian that is to be representing God on earth.
Though morality is certainly a virtue worth finding in the Bible, it is more important to find your identity in Christ first. With study, prayer, participation in the sacraments and being discipled, the morality that comes with it should then, almost naturally, but more, miraculously fall into place.
Comments (13)
Our God-given morality is how we identify ourselves as his people. Anyone can claim to be anything. But words are cheap. Action is what counts.
Judeo-Christian morality is what identifies and distinguishes Western Civilization from all the rest.
@sometimestheycomebackanyway - I agree somewhat, particularly when you say that talk is cheap and action is what counts. Though I hold back simply because it doesn’t end there. Christ is a giant agent of change, and by sincerely accepting Christ, a person can be certain that a change in morality is bound to come.
@jmallory - Identity is unchanging. Whatever changes Christ brings about are outside the realm of our identity for our identity is already in Christ.
It always comes back to identity.
I like this post. In the OT God had no choice, but to work through broken sinful people. Even Job was flawed and Satan was able to touch him, because Job could never be without sin. In the NT the situation is vastly different. God makes us born again or born of his own Spirit. God isn’t renaming or reclaiming out old human nature, but giving us a new spirit/nature which comes directly from him, and is “bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh, kind after his kind”. Our sin nature is nailed with Christ on his cross. We are dead to sin and alive to Christ, and we add nothing at all to the work of Christ. Morality is simply an attribute of the new nature. It isn’t something we have to work at, though many believe, erroneously, that God expects them to produce in themselves morality. Apple trees don’t stand around saying, “EEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRR MAKE AN APPLE! Apple trees make apples for the same reason you and I breathe, it is the nature of the thing. Apple trees make apples and we keep breathing, and neither the apple tree or us have to even think about the process.
The problem is when born again people keep thinking they have to live like their old nature, that their new nature is foreign to them, rather than having faith in God’s ability to make us new. If God has made us born again then we put off the old, and put on the new, which is created in the image of Christ to serve and please God. We’re saints not sinners, and not because of anything we do or don’t do, but because it is God who makes us born again.
Grace and peace
@sometimestheycomebackanyway - Saying identity doesn’t change is saying the people don’t change. Is that an assumption you want to make?
@TheGreatBout - That’s the way it seems
@Such_are_you - That’s the key- It’s nothing that we do on our own, but what God does in us that makes us moral.
@jmallory - You were jmallory the day you were born. And you will be jmallory the day you die. Everything that happens in between does not change your identity. God knew you before you were knit in the womb.
@sometimestheycomebackanyway - Wouldn’t you agree that your identity is more than just your name? There are plenty of variables in one’s identity that change. Identity changes constantly.
@jmallory - Our identity is given to us by God. We can change our name anytime. My use of “jmallory” was metaphor for the identity that God gave you when he created you. “Know thyself” is a way of understanding the identity God gave. Each one of us has a human nature and each one of us also has a unique, personal nature that were created by God.
@sometimestheycomebackanyway - You and I must have different understandings of what it means to be born again- to be a new creation. That’s ok. I understand that. I’m not Catholic. This is the very reason we can’t see eye to eye on this issue.
As Martin Luther explained, we are not ordered to be good, moral people by God…but instead, we have the freedom to be good, moral people. It’s a totally different understanding at play…and I think it’s beautiful.
It’s not about what you do, it’s about Christ giving you the freedom to do it. That’s all about identity.
This is excellent!
I like what you had to say about this, time to time I reflect on how the Bible needs to be read in context as well as from the stance that it is equally as much the story of God and the story of us. It is through him we read (hopefully) for understanding and it aids to the central message of the Bible; Jesus and his ministry, how he lived and how we ourselves should live