Part IV: The Basis of Morality

* Universality of truth allows us to cover Christ's redemption and tie it in with our world view question: What is the basis of morality?

This week: 3. What is the basis of morality?

* God created the world and set into force a in which all things are governed. He creates by use of commands.

Thus he gives his ten words of creation:

* God then gives his commands to his vice-regent, Man:

28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." 29 And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. 30 "Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so. Ge 1:28-30

* After man's fall, God, again, gives ten words for man to be re- :

Liberty

* Many view God's law as bondage, but the Bible views His law differently:

Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law; Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, For I delight in it. Ps 119:34-35

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. I John 5:3

* John Stuart Mill, a 19th century philosopher, defined liberty as the absence of law. James Fitzjames Stephen, a contemporary of Mill, refuted this obnoxious idea of liberty = chaos in his Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, and insisted that for there to be liberty, law must be established.

And I will walk at liberty, For I seek Your precepts. Ps 119:45

Mill's idea of liberty declares that the sinner who seeks to be free from all restraint (including God's) is free.

Stephen's idea of liberty resembles the psalmist's and God's.

* The Apostle Paul understood that no matter which definition you gave to liberty, there will always be a slave.

Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? Ro 6:16

* God created a cosmos of order, not chaos, thus restraints are . This makes man inescapably under God's law, whether they accept it or not.

Blessing and Curse * Two aspects of law, blessing and curse.

And Moses commanded the people on the same day, saying, 12 "These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you have crossed over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin; 13 "and these shall stand on Mount Ebal to curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. Deuteronomy 27:11-13

God had created Adam under a law, this was not an elaborate system that we find Him giving to the nation of Israel, the reason being that Adam, in perfect fellowship with God, under the blessing of the law:

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; Ge 2:16

But was still given warning of falling into the curse aspect of the libertarian law God had given man:

"but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Ge 2:17

* The law given to Adam was not burdensome.

* The law given to the nation of Israel on Mt. Sinai was only burdensome to those who are, there are many curses listed in this law, but to those who live, the blessings are manifold, the liberty great.

Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. II Co 3:17

The Old Testament law was designed to show Israel that there was nothing they could do to make themselves clean, there was no way that they could present themselves blameless to God, they had to adhere to an elaborate system of law that God had given. It was not never the law that saved, but only faith in God's commands that set them free. The elaborate system also gave license for God showing mercy to His people when they fell short. This law would not have seemed so burdensome and impossible if man had not fallen.

* As we had seen from the last lesson, now that man has fallen and truly dead, he is incapable of obeying the law, thus he remains under the curse of the law.

Redemption

* Law presupposes a law giver. There are different ideas of the origin of law, but as we hold to a Christian worldview and thus to the Word of God, we believe that God is the originator of all.

* Man, therefore could only be redeemed from the law from the one who has condemned us as law breakers.

Man's redeemer had to be man's lawgiver, no one else can legally acquit him.

Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another -- to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. Ro 7:4

* Redeemed man is then free from the curse of the law, but still under God's commands:

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree") Ga 3:13

" Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. Mt 5:17

not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ I Co 9:20

* Christ did not remove the law, but rather fulfilled it. We have now, under the gospel dispensation a more blessed law. But even this gospel law, so-to-speak, contains a curse for those who do not adhere:

"He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." Jo 3:36

* Salvation must be progressive, we are redeemed from our sins, past, present, and future, this frees us from the , but not from the law as Christ did. Our law becomes more abbreviated and not burdensome as we are free under Christ, but it becomes burdensome to those under the curse:

Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' "This is the first and great commandment. "And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." Mt 22:37-40

Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Ro 13:10

* Christ's redemption is so far reaching and so broad, it is in the process of removing the curse as far as it is found (like a two edged sword, those who are dashed against the rock and those who are crushed by it.

"And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder." Mt 21:42)

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Ro 8:20-22

Christ redeems the whole man

* The whole man was created in the image of God, the whole man fell, it follows then that the whole man needs redemption.

* Mustn't forget our biblical definition of death: separation from lifegiver, and life: fellowship with lifegiver.

* Christ came to bring life and conquer death.

so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Ro 5:21

For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. I Co 15:25,26

If Christ redeems the whole man, and we are free from the curse of the law, why does the redeemed man still die?

Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, Ro 6:3-5

Therefore the redeemed die after , but the unredeemed die . Both have their physical bodies resurrected, but only the redeemed get eternal life, the unredeemed get eternal death. It is not our departure from this world that we look forward to, but rather the redemption of our bodies:

Not only that, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. Ro 8:23

The separation of the spirit from the body, although we do not suffer as the unredeemed, we are still dead. Only till our physical bodies are resurrected do we have life eternal. Our hope is not heaven bound, but a a new heavens and a new earth, both earned for us in Christ Jesus.

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful." And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. "He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." Re 21:1-8

* Christ conquering death in His resurrection and being the first fruits of those fallen asleep gave many men who gave their lives for the testimony of the gospel assurance that no matter what their persecutors did to their physical bodies, their bodies would be resurrected and restored.

A very strong proof of this destruction of death and its conquest by the cross is supplied by a present fact, namely this. All disciples of Christ despise death; they take the offensive against it and, instead of fearing it, by the sign of the cross and by faith in Christ trample on it as on something dead. Before the divine sojourn of the Savior, even the holiest of men were afraid of death, and mourned the dead as those who perish. But now that the Savior has raised His body, death is no longer terrible, but all those who believe in Christ tread it underfoot as nothing, and prefer to die rather than to deny their faith in Christ, knowing full well that when they die they do not perish, but live indeed, and become incorruptible through the resurrection. . . . . So week has death become that even women, who used to be taken in by it, mock at it now as a dead thing robbed of all its strength. Death has become like a tyrant who has been completely conquered by the legitimate monarch; bound hand and foot as he now is, the passers-by jeer at him, hitting him and abusing him, no longer afraid of his cruelty and rage, because of the king who has conquered him. So has death been conquered and branded for what it is by the Savior on the cross. It is bound hand and foot, all who are in Christ trample it as they pass and as witnesses to Him deride it, scoffing and saying, "O Death, where is thy victory? O Grave, where is thy sting?" On the Incarnation, St. Athanasius (27)