The New Humanity . . .

THE NEW MORALITY

It is a mistake to think of Jesus having an ethic, or to conceive of Christianity as a moral philosophy. Any rules or principles gleaned from Christian teaching are not likely to be substantially different from any of the great moral systems, including the ethical imperatives of the prophets of Israel. Jesus did not come to introduce a new ethical system. He laid down no rules that would differ radically from what other great teachers of Israel had already said. Jesus did not come to enrich life by means of a new ethic, for he came to give life itself.

This is what we mean by the new morality: it is life in the Son. The moral standard is the Christ himself. He is the way, the truth, and the light. We are not made righteous by following any rules he laid down, nor do we achieve any moral goodness by obeying his commands. He is our righteousness, and it is only as we are in him that we can lay any claim to purity. Moral worth is imputed to us only by God’s grace through Christ, not by rule-keeping on our part. He does nor provide us with a pattern for goodness. He is that pattern and that goodness. Our own goodness, as the prophet says, is as filthy rags, and it matters not what moral rules we may use in trying to be good, those of the New Covenant scriptures or those of Confucius.

The apostle points to the new morality when he writes in Col. 2:

“Since Jesus was delivered to you as Christ and Lord, live your lives in union with him. Be rooted in him; be built in him; be consolidated in the faith you were taught:’

There is a big difference between being rooted in rules, even Jesus’ rules, and “rooted in him.” Living in union with Christ is to live the abundant life. And it is the new morality, one based on the life that is life indeed. So the new morality is part and parcel of the new humanity. Being a Christian adds nothing to life. It is life itself. It does not enrich one’s morals. It is the new morality itself. Jesus gives us no philosophy that makes life less difficult. He gave us himself. He is the pattern and that pattern is the new ethic.

Paul says more about the new morality in Col. 3:

“You died and now your life lies hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is manifested, then you too will be manifested with him in glory.”

Christ is our life! Never in all history could a sage, prophet, or moral philosopher point to such a frame of reference. Your life lies hidden with Christ in God! is a morality that could not be realized even by the prophets of Israel, who were the greatest moralists of history.

But Peter, a man in Christ, realized the meaning of this new life, for he wrote: “So come to him, our living Stone—the stone rejected by men but choice and precious in the sight of God. Come, and let yourselves be built, as living stones, into a spiritual temple” (1 Pet. 2:4-5).

The great moral systems have not lacked for principles. It is the Person, that Peter had, that they lacked. The Stoics pointed to self-discipline, while Aristotle pointed to self-realization. Socrates and Plato insisted that knowledge is virtue and that through understanding the moral life can be achieved. Buddhism, which has the highest morality of the Eastern religions, looks to suffering and self-abnegation as the basis of goodness.

But all these are but humanistic systems, which means they are limited to human ingenuity and power for their strength. To trust in them is like trusting in a broken tooth, and to rely on them is but to rely on one’s own powers.

The prophets of the Old Covenant were different in that their moral directives were of God and they looked to God for the strength to appropriate them. Psalms 1 is a good example of this, for it is a moral proverb as well as a song; it is an ethic as well as poetry. The man who avoids evil and makes the law of the Lord his delight shall prosper like a fruitful tree. The Lord shall make it so.

Moral teaching reached its apex in prophets like Isaiah, Amos, and Micah. They cried out for social justice: “Cease to do evil and learn to do right, pursue justice and champion the oppressed: give the orphan his rights, plead the widow’s cause” (Isa. 1:18). They taught that justice is love distributed: “God has told you what is good; and what is it that the Lord asks of you? Only to act justly, to love loyally, to walk wisely before your God” (Micah 6:8). They condemned the life of ease and the comfortable conscience: “You who loll on beds inlaid with ivory and sprawl over your couches, feasting on lambs from the flock and fatted calves, you who pluck the strings of the lute and invent musical instruments like David, you who drink wine by the bowlful and lard yourselves with the richest of oils, but are not grieved at the ruin of Joseph” (Amos 6).

One could not expect to find a higher, more relevant, and more practical ethic anywhere. And if it is principles one is looking for, whether in terms of the brotherhood of man or the fatherhood of God, they are richly infused in Old Testament literature.

The new morality, of course, has all of this and far more, for it shows us the difference Christ makes. The one thing that the prophets could not give to Israel is what God has given to us: life in the Son. The new humanity is the new life in Christ.

And what a difference it made in Paul’s moral thinking! What prophet, not to mention the philosophers, could say as Paul did: “The life I now live is not my life, but the life which Christ lives in me; and my present bodily life is lived by faith in the Son of God” (Gal. 2:20).

Moral issues center in a man’s relationship with his fellows. The way a man treats his neighbor depends largely on his beliefs and values. William James, the Harvard psychologist-philosopher, contended that a land-lady should know more about a prospective tenant than his financial condition. She should know his views on the universe! The same could be said for the girl who is considering marriage. Her suitor’s sense of values may be more important than his ability to make a living.

When this approach is taken in reference to Paul and some of his problems with the congregations, the new morality shines in all its beauty. On the matter of eating meats he says: “Do not by your eating bring disaster to a man for whom Christ died!” In Christ a man sees another as his brother, as one for whom Christ died. This is the new morality. A brother is not a liberal or a conservative, strong or weak, or even right or wrong. He is one for whom Christ died. How many of our problems would that one solve!

Paul talks the same way in 1 Cor. 8: “This ‘knowledge’ of yours is utter disaster to the weak, the brother for whom Christ died. In thus sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience, you sin against Christ.” Paul goes on to show the real import of brotherhood: “If food be the downfall of my brother, I will never eat meat any more, for I will not be the cause of my brother’s downfall.”

What a morality this is! The brother for whom Christ died. Actually there are no moral rules here. It is rather the expression of life itself, life in Christ. Since a man has the same relationship with Christ that I have, I am to forego all personal consideration for his peace and security.

In the new morality men are not black and white, rich and poor, influential and uninfluential. They are the new humanity. They are men for whom Christ died. This transcends the best of all ethical systems, for it causes men to act, not so much out of rules, but out of brotherhood.—the Editor

Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they ought to be.—William Hazlitt

If it is dangerous to entertain great moral ideals without attempting to realize them in life, it is even more perilous to proclaim them in abstract terms without bringing them into juxtaposition with the specific social and moral issues of the day.—Rheinhold Niebuhr