The Jesus Ethic
The year 2020 was a tempest of tragedy that has revealed that Christians today are in the midst of a significant ethical dilemma. By ethical dilemma, I do not mean whether or not to take the vaccine or which candidate deservers our vote. Those specific ethical questions and many more are very important of course. Unfortunately, the ethical dilemma of the church today is much deeper than any single issue. At our core, Christians have forgotten and ignored the ethics of Jesus.
Many books on Christian ethics exist and I highly recommend any Christian serious about following of Jesus in a complex world read one of them. Regardless of whether you have time to read a full book, there is one simple question we can ask that will helps us recover the ethics of Jesus. I call it the Jesus ethic.
How can I/we give from what I have or want so that someone else can experience life and goodness?
Without a firm grasp on this foundational component how Jesus taught and lived, Christians will be unable to answer the specific challenges of our time. Fear of the cost of the Jesus ethic—which is very real—has cost Christians our Christlikeness. It turns out that it is incredibly easy to let other value systems (e.g. political party, financial philosophy, personal preference, etc.) influence our approach to ethics.
Jesus’ life and teachings repeatedly and consistently reveal that the way down is the way up. We cannot ascend without descending first. We cannot gain without giving. We cannot live without dying. Jesus’ new kingdom is an upside-down kingdom and He consistently challenges His followers to radically reorient their perspective from what is best for themselves to what is best for others.
When we ask questions like who to vote for, a Christian response will always be rooted in the Jesus ethic of self-sacrifice for the sake of others. While the Jesus Ethic is not always sufficient to nuance every ethical situation we face, it remains a necessary prerequisite to every ethical situation we face. In other words, if a Christian response fails meet the Jesus Ethic, it cannot be rightly called a Christian ethic no matter what other merits it may have.
Over the next few posts, we will build the case for the Jesus ethic from Scripture, starting with His arrival as a helpless infant and culminating with the Cross of Jesus. I will confess I begin this series with a sense of fear and trepidation. A close look at the Jesus Ethic will, undoubtably, expose my own failings.
Fortunately, Jesus does not lead where He has not gone already. We can face our own shortcomings because Jesus has already given Himself for our life and good.