By Arthur Freeman and Fisher Humphreys
What is the difference between personal ethics and social ethics?
Personal ethics is concerned with the lives of individuals; for example, it is ethical for an individual to be kind to his or her friends. Social ethics is concerned with the life of societies; for example, it is ethical for a nation to be kind to persecuted people who apply for asylum.
How might we today think about personal ethics?
One form of personal ethics has been called “conundrum ethics.” The issue in conundrum ethics is: How can I know what is right and what is wrong? For example, is it ever right to tell a lie? Is it ever right to have an abortion? The assumption behind conundrum ethics is that, once I know right from wrong, I will be able to do what is right.
A second form of personal ethics is virtue ethics. The issue in virtue ethics is not how to know right from wrong. The issue is how to do what is right when I know what is right. I know it is right to forgive the people who hurt me and my family, but how can I do this when what I really want is to take revenge on them and make them pay dearly for what they have done? Where can I find the will and the commitment and the resources to forgive them instead?
We believe there is a place in lives of Christians for both conundrum ethics and virtue ethics. There are some ethical dilemmas (such as whether it is ever right to tell a lie), and it is well for us to think about those.
But most of the time in our daily lives — about 99% of the time, we suspect — the issue is not how to know what is right; it is where to find the resources to help us do what already we know is right.
We believe the ancient Christian tradition concerning virtues can help us with this. But, of course, Christians are not the only people with an ancient tradition concerning virtues.
What did the ancient Greek and Roman philosophers say about virtue?
Four centuries before Jesus lived, Plato was already writing about virtues. Along with other things, he referred to four which have become known as the cardinal virtues. They are wisdom, courage, justice and temperance. Jewish and Christian theologians agree that these are important virtues.
Wisdom is extremely difficult to attain. It doesn’t come because we are well-educated or have lived a long life. Christians may be helped in acquiring wisdom by reflecting on the life of Jesus and by associating with people whom they perceive as having Christian wisdom.
Courage is not bestowed upon us in abundance. It can be a wonderful thing to see a person stand up for moral goodness instead of doing the easy thing. Long years of practice and imitating courageous people may help. We may never learn physical courage in the face of lethal danger. We can, however, become more courageous in our moral beliefs about how to act bravely under many kinds of duress.
People appear to be born with a sense of justice. Little children often say, “That’s not fair,” or they intuitively sympathize with and protect people who are being bullied. As we mature, we may come to see, as Jesus did, the gross forms of systemic injustice. We become more supportive of the poor, the excluded, and other people who are treated badly in our society.
Temperance is concerned with our emotions in the same way that wisdom is concerned with our minds. Emotions are important to human flourishing but, left unchecked, can become destructive. Temperance is self-controlled moderation of the destructive effects of our emotions on our behavior.
The great missionary-doctor Albert Schweitzer once commented that the greatest question any religion faces is whether it is going to be life-affirming or life-negating. Christianity is emphatically life-affirming. Christ calls us not to withdraw from this present world, but to live in it as Christians. He does not call us to deny our emotions, drives and impulses, but to live with them as Christians. The way that we with our human impulses can live as Christians is to exercise temperance, impulse control.
In America, there is a tendency to think of temperance as abstinence from alcohol; but temperance is moderation, not abstinence. And alcohol is only one of many pleasures over which we must exercise self-control. We can be intemperate about athletics, food, shopping, music or almost any other pleasure. Temperance is the alternative to every form of addiction.
Temperance may be learned to a certain extent, but perhaps never fully achieved. We learn to recognize when intemperance appears, and then we must work to lessen it.
Of the main sources for the Christian way of moral life — the Old Testament, the classical world and Jesus’ life and preaching—which is the most important?
For Christians, Jesus is the most important source for moral understanding. He is divine but also fully human, which allows us to better understand Him. Jesus teaches with parables which convey deep meaning. His life is compelling as no other life we know.
Many followers of Jesus believe that they have a personal relationship with Him. This tightens the bond of understanding far more than do the two other sources. The personal ties to Jesus help us to imitate His thoughts and actions. Of course, these ties require thought and contemplation to reveal the full meaning of the Christian way of moral life.
Becoming a disciple of Jesus involves more than an intellectual knowledge about Jesus. We need to meditate upon His life and teachings, repeatedly mulling over them, internalizing them, and making them part of who we are. We must continue to do this throughout our entire lives.
Which did Jesus emphasize more, character or behavior?
Character and behavior are closely related but not identical. Each has a strong effect on the other. Our character influences our behavior; honest people tend to act honestly. Less noticed is the fact that our behavior influences our character; for example, people who repeatedly offer thanks to God eventually become thankful people.
Jesus expressed this memorably. He said that good trees are trees that bear good fruit, and bad trees are trees that bear bad fruit (Mt. 12:33-37). He called His followers to do good things out of good hearts. Character and behavior both matter.
It can be easier to assess behavior than to assess character. Most people are careful not to reveal much of their dark side which can leave uncertainty about their true character.
According to Jesus, what are some good behaviors arising from good character?
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught His followers the noblest way of life we know (see Matthew 5-7). Here are some of the things He said in that greatest of all sermons:
You should have a passionate desire for justice.
You should be merciful.
You should be pure in heart.
You should be peacemakers.
You should be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
You should live up to all of the moral teachings of the Law.
You should never hate anyone.
You should be faithful to your spouse in your mind as well as in your behavior.
You should let your word be your bond.
You should never take revenge on people who hurt you.
You should love your enemies and pray for them.
You should be generous to those who are poor or needy.
You should never display your generosity in public.
You should not pray to impress people, but rather pray only in private and with sincerity.
You should pray that God will extend the kingdom over the lives of more and more people.
You should forgive those who hurt you.
You should not be anxious about the future, but remember that God cares for you.
You should make the kingdom of God your priority in life.
You should not be judgmental of other people.
You should ask God to provide the things you need in your life.
You should treat others the way you want others to treat you.
You should evaluate would-be religious leaders by the way they live.
You should not just learn these instructions, but put them into practice.
What are the major Christian virtues?
Dozens of virtues are named in the New Testament. Here, for example, is a lovely verse from Paul’s letter to the Colossians: “You are the people of God. He loved you and chose you for his own. So then you must clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience” (Col. 3:12, TEV). That is a beautiful description of the kinds of persons Jesus wants His followers to be. It is also a beautiful description of the character of Jesus himself.
Very early on Christians began to emphasize three virtues above the others, namely, faith, hope and love. They are mentioned together in the opening words of what may be the earliest Christian writing we have, First Thessalonians (1 Th. 1:3).
Today, faith is frequently equated with beliefs. Beliefs are very important, and faith includes beliefs; but faith is something more than beliefs. It is trust. The faith of Christians is trust in God to be their Lord, their protector, their friend and their God. Christians do not just believe things about Jesus; they believe in Jesus as their Savior and as the One who can teach them how life should be lived.
Paul famously wrote: “By grace you have been saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8). Grace and faith fit together like hand and glove. Grace is God’s love for us. Faith is our trust that God loves and accepts us. We are saved when we trust in God to love and accept us.
Faith is the fundamental response that Christians make to God. Trust in God is part of the identity of Christians, part of who they are, part of their character. Their behavior is profoundly affected by the fact that they trust God and so are not terrified of God.
Hope is a special form of faith, that is, of trust in God. Hope is trust in God concerning the future. Christians have hope for this world and also for the world to come. They trust that in the future God’s kingdom is going to come and God’s will is going to be done on earth as it is in heaven (Mt. 6:10). They also trust that the ultimate enemy of human beings—death—cannot separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:38-39). The Christian hope is that God’s ultimate purposes will be carried out both here on earth and in heaven.
Christians give so much attention to faith and to love that it would be easy for them to neglect hope; but that would not be wise. Hope is indispensable to human flourishing. Without hope—without anything to look forward to—our spirits shrivel up and we begin to die. We must have hope in order to live, in order to flourish, and in order to function well in life. Paul wrote about people who have no hope and are without God (Eph. 2:12); in God, Christians find hope for this life and for the life to come.
As important as faith and hope are to Christians, love is even more important. “And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13). Paul learned the supremacy of love from Jesus. Jesus said that the two greatest commandments in the Law are to love God and to love your neighbor (Mt. 22:34-40). The meaning of all our lives is to become lovers: lovers of God and lovers of other people.
John had a gift for expressing the most profound truths in the simplest language. In a seven-word sentence, he summarized what is most important in Christian theology and in Christian ethics: “We love because God first loved us” (1 John 4:19). This is our theology: God first loved us. And this is our ethics: We love because God first loved us.
Christian character is character that has been formed in such a way that its dominant elements are faith, hope and love. But how is it possible for human character to be shaped and formed so that this is the case?
Does the Holy Spirit work to help us achieve a moral life?
Christians are not left alone to shape their own character. God helps them by a process known as sanctification. When Paul wrote that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal. 5:22), he was saying that the Spirit of the Lord works to form virtues such as these in the lives of Christians.
The Spirit of God who resides in our souls works with us at many levels: rationally, mysteriously or mystically, in dreams, in psychoanalysis by which we acquire greater self-awareness, and as we engage in self-examination, prayer and contemplation. We suspect that the Spirit is working in ways of which we have no awareness at all. We probably would be astonished if we were to discover all the ways in which the Spirit is working to sanctify us. In any case, it is important for us to trust in the Spirit of God to be working to help us become more virtuous people.
But we do not just trust the Spirit to work in us; we are called to be active rather than passive partners with the Holy Spirit in the formation of virtues in our souls. We must become co-creators with God of our character. Earlier we noted that not only does character influence behavior, but behavior influences character. We engage in certain practices until they form virtues in us.
What are some practices that shape our character and form virtues in us?
Though there is no comprehensive list of all the practices through which the Spirit works to form character, Christians know what some of the most important practices are. We will mention just three.
First among these is public worship. As we join with other Christians to offer our worship to God, we become more fully aware of our own true status, that we are not gods but creations of the true and living God. When that happens, the virtue of humility, respect for God as God, is thereby formed in us. As we praise God for God’s love for us, the virtue of love is formed in us. As we give thanks to God, the virtue of gratitude is formed in us.
A second practice is study, Christian education. Dialogue during Sunday school may be the most useful education many of us receive. To sit and discuss with other Christians who share our goal of moral education is a pleasure to many. We learn from our friends and colleagues even when we don’t agree with everything that is said. Finding out how someone came to different conclusions than our own can be enlightening. In a dialogue, our own dearly held beliefs may be challenged, providing learning moments for us. As we sincerely search for an understanding of God and of the Christian tradition, virtues such as awe and honesty and reverence are formed in us.
Another practice is Christian ministry. Our souls are shaped as we offer hospitality, as we listen to people talk about their problems, and as we give water to the thirsty and food to the hungry and housing to the homeless. We become generous people by giving generously, over and over again. We become compassionate by following the Golden Rule and treating those who are suffering as we would have them treat us when we suffer (Mt. 7:12). We become merciful by being merciful toward immigrants, accepting them even though they are different from us, and toward prison inmates, not insisting that they receive the maximum punishment for their crimes.
Can humans achieve moral perfection?
The founder of Methodism, John Wesley, famously taught a doctrine of Christian perfection. He used the word “perfect” because Jesus said, “Be ye perfect” (Mt. 5:48). What Wesley meant by perfection is that it is possible in this present life to love God so thoroughly that we never defy God or rebel against God. Those who reach this state of perfection may still commit sins out of ignorance or because they are tired or distracted or for some other reason, but they never sin out of rebellion against God.
Most Christians agree that Jesus alone achieved sinless, moral perfection. His followers are on the road to moral perfection and must never imagine that they have reached this lofty goal. They can live lives of ongoing moral improvement, and that is a worthy goal. And they can live that way confident that the Spirit will continue to work in their lives until in the life to come they become morally perfect. Paul affirmed this when he wrote that God “who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). John also affirmed it when he wrote: “When [Jesus] is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.” And then John added: “All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure” (1 John 3:2-3).
— Arthur Freeman is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Tulane University. He has been recognized by the International Association of Healthcare Professionals as a Leading Physician of the World and also as Top Adult Psychiatrist in Birmingham. He is a member of Canterbury United Methodist Church in Mountain Brook, AL. Fisher Humphreys is Professor of Divinity, Emeritus, of Samford University. Both men are retired and live in Birmingham.
