CALLED TO BE HOLY AND ETHICAL ACTION

MARILURDES BRACHT SPT501 PASTORAL ETHICS FAITH THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AND CHRISTIAN COLLEGE 01/28/2014

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION SANCTIFICATION THE LAW ETHICS VIEWPOINTS CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION

Ethical Holiness is not mere moral righteousness, and sanctification is never mere moral improvement. A man can boast of a great moral improvement, and yet have no experience of sanctification. The Bible insists on moral progress pure and simple, in the moral progress in relation to God in mind and with a view to serving God. Many non christian may have a exemplar ethical morals, but not yet the experience of be santify by the Holy Ghost.Sanctification is a process resulting from the knowledge of salvation, only accept the process of sanctification those who recognize themselves as saved in Christ. The sanctification process of separating, Sanctification involve attitudes that result in spirituality. Leviticus 19:2 " Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am Holy. The doctrine of imputed righteousness undergirds all ethical action as well. The illustration of how justification and sanctification undergird all ethical action is found in the Old Testament, the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:2-17). Gods redemptive acts back in Egypt (which are an illustration of his liberating acts in Christ and justification by faith alone) made the new life of obedience a right as well as a responsibility for the redeemed people. Appeals to live the good life that are not based on the truth of justification by faith alone can only lead to moralism and legalism. But justification makes the of sanctification easy and the burden of holiness light. Sanctification can be consider an Ethical Action, choose to act as Christ acted, and

follow Him as the pattern for our behavior.

SANCTIFICATION

The basis of Sanctification and Justification rely on God's power . For man is impossible to self regenerated , because of human nature are weak and need of divine grace. All thing that offends God must be rejected , then we walk in the way to be , a vessel unto honor , sanctified for the Master so we can be instrumens in His hands . The Believers are also exorted present a genuine worship through Jesus , it transforms our hearts and brings us into intimate union with God . John 4:23 says, " But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him". The Holy Spirit is our helper in our walking to sanctification,when we submit to His direction, He has the power to help us resist sin and make a wonderfull change in our lifes . " This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." Galatians 5:16 . The spiritual growth and maturation comes with the constant search for the presence of God in sanctification ,we are sanctified because Jesus Christ has saved us and God continues to work within us to transform us into the image of Christ . Sanctification is the responsibility of every believer in Christ,when we choose to pursue sanctification in our lives, we will to be leading by the Holy Spirit, it takes time, and is a process, and can be harder, because of self denial, leaving all old nature , to have a new conduct.

To live on Holy requires Ethics that means have good atitudes, follow God Word, love and fear of God,build a daily relationship with God , asking for wisdom and grace.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sanctification is essential to have communion with God , because He is holy and hates sin and repels it, seems impossible to human eyes that man can be sanctified , but God in His mercy gives us a perfect outlet through his plan of salvation , we receive Jesus , then we can have access the to the presence of God , when we receive Jesus, the veil that separated us from God is torn, we can go where was before impossible for the man , be in His presence ,we can live in communion with Him ,but this communion can be broken if we live in sin . In this process of sanctification , the Lord warns that the door that leads to salvation is narrow and few are those who pass through it , and broad is the road that leads to destruction . The Lord calls the church to remain in constant vigil over the way they live,

should put off the old man and the ordinances of the world, that do not fall into the wrath of God because of disobedience. He exemplifies and encourages us to imitate Him in his perfection, we are called to be Holy because He is Holy.

THE LAW

The law can not cleanse us from one sin,but the Son of God Jesus , He knew we could not obey the law of God in all its fullness , so he came into the world to free us from sin by the power of His Holy Name . God's law can be summed up in a single word : Love. Can be also expanded in two commandments : love God with all our heart, all our soul, and with all our mind , and love our neighbor as ourselves . Can also be expanded in the Ten Commandments . We received this love when we surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ and are justified by faith . Then the Holy Spirit enters this divine love in our hearts, so that make us able to obey God's law . Belief and repentance go together, because people who believe also change their attitudes toward God, and this results in changes in the way they live." Love is the fulfilling of the law "True Love does no wrong to a neighbor , therefore, leads us to live all the commandments of God , and does not exclude any , Besides not do any harm , that love leads us to fulfill all the good that the next need, a love that respects the dignity human and Christian . So fulfilling the law of God , which is no longer seen as a burden, and a conscience that is the love and care God to us , and through the Law brings us deliverance . Hebrews 10:16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them. We understand the law of God as fulfilled in Christ, completely fulfilled the

requirements of the law in our place, so when he took the penalty our sins deserved, we could receive the blessing that his righteousness deserved . Hebrew 4:16 " Let us therefore boldly unto

the throne of grace , that we may receive mercy and find grace in order to be rescued at the appropriate time. We are under grace, but that doesn't stop us from keeping the law of God found in the Bible ten commandments ,One of the most popular verses being in Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. and we can not ignore the very next verse which says : What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Paul confirmed that being under grace does not give us licence to carry on living a sinful life and ignore the law of God. The law is ultimately a gracious thing. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus expounds the Ten Commandments in this comprehensive way. He shows us the attitude we should have to the world, being salt and light, investing ourselves in the needs of our communities. He shows us that if we even disdain and ignore our neighbors, calling them fools, we are attacking their creator, in whose image they are made. JESUS calls us to be pure, He insists we should speak with as much honesty in all our daily interactions as if we were testifying in court under oath. We are told to forgive and love our enemies, turning the other cheek rather than seeking revenge, give to the poor without expecting any thanks or acclaim. , and carry on a dynamic, inner prayer life, never to be judgmental or condemning of others, and we are to live a life free from worry because if we live in worry that show we dont trust God the way we must trust. Paul puts it this way. Though we are not under the law, I am not free from Gods law, but I am under Christs law 1 Corinthians 9:21. Free to see the beauties of Gods law as fulfilled in Christ, and submits to it as way of loving his Savior. Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth

in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

ETHICAL VIEWPOINTS

Ethics, sometimes known as philosophical ethics, ethical theory, moral theory, and moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct, often addressing disputes of moral diversity. The term comes from the Greek word ethos, which means "characteror custom. Deontological Ethics or "obligation, duty, is an approach to ethics that determines goodness or rightness from examining acts, or the rules and duties that the person doing the act strove to fulfill. This is in contrast to consequentialism, in which rightness is based on the consequences of an act, and not the act by itself. In deontology, an act may be considered right even if the act produces a bad consequence, if it follows the rule that "one should do unto others as they would have done unto them", and even if the person who does the act lacks virtue and had a bad intention in doing the act. According to deontology, we have a duty to act in a way that does those things that are inherently good as acts "truth-telling" for example, or follow an objectively obligatory rule as in rule utilitarianism. Immanuel Kant's theory of ethics is considered deontological for several different reasons. First, Kant argues that to act in the morally right way, people must act from duty. Second, Kant argued that it was not the consequences of actions that make them right or wrong but the motives of the person who carries out the action.

Kant's argument that to act in the morally right way, one must act from duty begins with an argument that the highest good must be both good in itself, and good without qualification. Something is good in itself, when it is intrinsically good, and good without qualification, when the addition of that thing never makes a situation ethically worse. Kant then argues that those things that are usually thought to be good, such as intelligence, perseverance and pleasure, fail to be either intrinsically good or good without qualification. Pleasure, for example, appears to not

be good without qualification, because when people take pleasure in watching someone suffering; this seems to make the situation ethically worse. He concludes that there is only one thing that is truly good: Nothing in the world indeed nothing even beyond the world can possibly be conceived which could be called good without qualification except a good will. article: Deontological ethics, wikipedia.org. Christian ethics : is a branch of Christian theology that defines concepts of right and wrong behavior from a Christian perspective. The source for the Christian Ethic is the Bible and the Christian tradition, According to D. Stephen Long, "The Bible is the universal and fundamental source of specifically Christian ethics", as "Christian ethics finds its source in diverse means, but it primarily emerges from the biblical narrative." Norman L . Geisler autor of Christian Ethics ,show many point of view and issues of been ethical and the application of principles, presents thorough arguments that views all angles, and shows the strengths and weaknesses of ethical viewpoints of war, divorce, and concern for the ecology. He mentions that in general utilitarianism does affirm the need for a norm or standard and provides a way to deal with conflicting norms. However, he does state that its weakness falls in Main

the need for "good" to have an objective standard . The responsibility is on the individual making the decision. Ethical decision making requires more than a belief in the importance of ethics. It also requires ethical sensitivity to implications of choices, the ability to evaluate complex, ambiguous and incomplete facts, and the skill to implement ethical decisions effectively.

He explains that when such a conflict arises the duty is to choose the "less evil". Unfortunately, even though there was really was no option to not commit a sin, the person will still be held accountable for sinning. Geisler points out that many of the good things about Unqualified Absolutism follow into Conflicting Absolutism. However, he did mention a couple negatives. Geisler points out that the duty to do the "lesser sin" is actually a duty to sin. He shows how an ethical dilemma would turn the duty "to do the right thing" into the duty to do "the wrong thing" since there is no alternative. But, Geisler's main argument against Conflicting Absolutism is that if this is true then it follows that any time Jesus had an ethic dilemma, He sinned. However Scripture states that Jesus never sinned. Because of this, Geisler holds that Conflicting Absolutism is not a viable option for the Christian. Dennis P. Hollinger's book Choosing the Good,Christian Ethics in a Complex World, Hollinger ,develop a perspective for understanding and working in Christian ethics, without a major portion of the book given to a reflection on social issues. A traditional, practically expected, approach is to develop foundational ideas then work through issues of human sexuality, race relations, economics, public policy, and so forth. Thus, he reflects on the application of Christian ethics in what he calls the "complex world" of contemporary pluralism and postmodernism. Examines the complexities of secular society and how those complexities

affect Christian ethics and the need for beginning genuinely Christian ethical reflection and practice.

As Friedrich Nietzsche put it, "Necessity is an interpretation, not a fact." We tend to fall into the false necessity trap, because we overestimate the cost of doing the right thing and underestimate the cost of failing to do so. Dr. Martin Luther King makes the following statements: "At the center of the Christian faith is the affirmation that there is a God in the universe who is the ground and essence of all reality. A being of infinite love and boundless power, God is the creator, sustainer, and conserver of values....In contrast to the ethical relativism of totalitarianism, Christianity sets forth a system of absolute moral values and affirms that God has placed within the very structure of this universe certain moral principles that are fixed and immutable." Dr. King did not speak in terms of tolerance. His ideal was love. Tolerance brings with it an implicit moral relativism. Who is to say what is right and what is wrong? Moral relativism suggests that there are no absolutes to which we can all be held accountable. Such a thing was far from the thinking of Martin Luther King.

The jorney of life, in a point or another take us to a path were, we have to learn how to deal, between doing what is right and choose doing the right thing. As Christians, what are we called to do? "What would Jesus do, could translate the question into: "What would God want me to do?"Jesus is the perfect role model, to ethical live style!

We see the people around us and tend to copy them for good or for evil. The blessing of God-honoring role models to imitate is of great eternal value because it is a highly potent means of passing on Gods truth and ways from generation to generation. Jesus alone is the ultimate role model because He alone is perfect, never making a mistake, never veering off course, never changing, and never erring. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever Hebrews 13:8. No human can make this claim, for even believers are undergoing the process of sanctification as God gradually works within us over the span of our lifetimes to continue to teach us His Word and conform our desires to His. We are all works in progress, 1 Corinthians 3:8 Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

CONCLUSION

God gave us free will to choose the path of sanctification through the Holy Spirit who leads us to recognize the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins , leads us to repentance , but we are flawed and the Lord knows our nature better than anyone, and give us the grace to be close to Him through your beloved Son Jesus. As a newborn baby who gradually matures into adulthood, so is the work of sanctification in our life, when we think we can win Gods approval through our moral performance and obedience, it becomes a burden, then we are under law only, but when we learn JESUS CHRIST has fulfilled the law , gives Christians guidance not only in personal relationships, but helps us make our society a more just and merciful one. As Jesus taught , to be irrepreencivel , focusing on doing the will of GOD, that maintains life in the right direction. Justification is the legal basis of sanctification. It makes holiness possible by removing sins lawful right to rule us and by establishing our lawful right to walk in the way of holiness. That sanctification does consist in such an inward moral transformation , but is more

than that, the Holy Spirit does not just help us grow in character, also we grow in intimate communion and knowledge, understanding of God and Scripture .

BIBLIOGRAFHY

Geisler Norman L. Christian Ethics,Published By Baker Academic,2nd Ed.2010 Dennis P. Hollinge, Choosing The Good .MI, Grand Rapids,2002. http://www.openbible.info/topics/sanctification http://www.biblegateway.com/_version=KJV http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics