Why Christian Ethics Matters

On the significance of ethics for our soul and for society

At some level, most of us know that character matters. But we also feel a bit hopeless. We find it hard to believe that things can be different than they are, that we can be different than we are, better than we are. We certainly want to avoid a misguided zeal about ethics and character. We are right to be concerned about this. Yet in my experience there is also a significant and perhaps growing antipathy toward ethics among some that I find alarming. For example, former Christianity Today editor Mark Galli addressed the seriousness of ethics in a column entitled “Mastering the Golf Swing of Life.”^[1]

From the title, you might think that an ethic of imitation, of practice, and of sustained, grace-fueled effort will be the focus. But the subtitle points in a different direction: “We tend to think of ethics as real serious business. It is not.” Galli points out that PGA golfers will tell you that in a round of golf where they hit two under par, there are maybe two out of seventy shots that were hit “exactly as they intended them.” This is the nature of golf. According to Galli, it is the nature of life as well. As he puts it, “the sooner you come to grips with incessant failure, the more you can enjoy the game.”

There are several issues here to consider. First, must we accept incessant failure in the Christian life? Second, should we accept incessant failure in the Christian life? Third, how is enjoying life related to failure and to having good character?

Galli is right that growth requires grace and that we are unable to attain perfection both on the golf course and in the spiritual life. Yet he’s mistaken about some pretty important things.

First, he’s pessimistic about our potential to be radically transformed in this life. Galli thinks most of the language about such transformation in the New Testament is anticipatory. That is, he believes it has more to do with our life in Christ at the end of the age, when all is ultimately redeemed and transformed. Until then, “we muddle along mired in sin, but not without hope.” The good news is that this does not define us. Forgiveness, grace, and God’s love define us.

Thankfully we are defined in the deepest ways by divine forgiveness, grace, and love. But there is great potential for deep moral and spiritual transformation in the here and now. Our hope is not just for transformation in the next phase of life. Our hope includes deep change in this life. That is also part of the good news of God’s kingdom. I encourage you to explore several key passages in the New Testament to determine whether or not Galli is correct. I’m convinced that a careful reading of Romans 12, 2 Peter 1, Galatians 5, Ephesians 4–6, Colossians 3, and the Sermon on the Mount tells us that there is hope for deep transformation in this life.

Second, Galli states that “we are in the bad habit of thinking that ethics is REAL SERIOUS BUSINESS, that our welfare and the welfare of the world depend on its proper execution. Not quite. The gospel is the end of ethics in this sense. . . . The welfare of the world is a settled issue.” In one sense, Galli is right. The ultimate welfare of the world is a settled issue, but the welfare of the world between now and the redemption of all things is not settled, and this is why ethics is very serious business. To put it another way, I’m glad that individuals such as William Wilberforce, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Sojourner Truth took ethics seriously. We ought to do the same.

Our welfare in this life ultimately depends upon God. But we have also been given the freedom and the power to impact it for better or worse. If I am open to the fullness of God’s Spirit and growing in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, my life will be better for it. We cannot make ourselves better. Yet we can and must work in partnership with God, becoming more like Christ in this life, sometimes in radically transformative ways. It is also clear that this sort of life is better and more enjoyable for us than a life of hate, sadness, anxiety, impatience, cruelty, badness, unfaithfulness, arrogance, rudeness, and a lack of self-control.

Not only will our lives be better as we grow in virtue; we can help make the world better, too. We can have an effect on the welfare of the world, in a variety of ways. If we are cultivating and practicing compassion, then there will be less suffering in the world. Surely we fall short, but the regrettable state of the world should move us to seek to grow in this and other Christian virtues. Followers of Jesus have played and continue to play important roles in expanding literacy, providing health care, abolishing slavery, fighting human trafficking, battling racism and misogyny, serving women in crisis pregnancies, and countering many other injustices. Christians have failed in many ways, too, and we could contribute more, much more, to the common good. Nevertheless, the welfare of the world does depend in many ways on ethics, which makes it very serious business indeed. Ethics, and in particular good character, must be given the place it deserves in the life of the follower of Christ and in Christ’s body, the church. It is a vital component of partnering with God to bring the prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ to bear in the world – “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

The above is adapted from my recent book, Humility: Rediscovering the Way of Love and Life in Christ (Eerdmans, 2024).

The painting is Van Gogh’s “The Good Samaritan, after Delacroix” at https://www.wikiart.org/en/vincent-van-gogh/the-good-samaritan-after-delacroix-1890

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[1]. Mark Galli, “Mastering the Golf Swing of Life,” Christianity Today, June 28, 2012, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/juneweb-only/golf-and-christian-ethics.html.