Compare and contrast Martin Luthers notion of ethics
with Karl Barths notion of ethics. Christians have often struggled with the following question: Is it necessary to understand the revelation in Christ in order to make good ethical decisions about good and bad? Or is the human experience in general and the rational conclusions drawn from it enough? Different theologians come to different conclusions. Protestant theologians tend to stress the necessity of the revelation in Christ more than Roman Catholic theologians. They often are very dependent on the teachings of Thomas Aquinas and his Aristotelian views about nature and reason. Drawing on experiences of the Nazi terror under Hitler in Germany, which often pretended to justify its actions from human reason, Barth is very negative over attempts to base Christian ethics in any way in the natural law or in reason. According to Barth ethics is an essential part of the Christian teaching about God. An action is good only when it is in accordance with the will of God. In order to achieve knowledge about what is good and bad you must first know God. There is no other way. And knowledge about God is only possible through Gods revelation in Christ, in no way in other religions or in ones reason. There are two main reasons for this in Barths theology. His understanding of God is that God is the Totally Different One. God is for Barth far above all that is human. God is holy and almighty and cannot be grasped by human reason. On the other side Barths view of the human being is very negative. Man is a sinner, which also means that the reason as a way to reach true understanding is very limited. She cannot reach God through her reasoning. Knowledge comes only through Gods coming down to earth in Christ. There is no preconceived point of connection for God in human nature. Barth rejects the assumed superiority of a theological moral teaching that draws from a special source: Roman Catholic Church. For Barth, only through encountering Christ can a human being realize what action is good or bad. Christ shows what actions are truly human and what Gods demands are like. Gods demands can only be understood in the light of Jesus life, death and resurrection. Only here we can understand what is good and bad. Barth rejects non-theological ways of organizing ethics. Barth desires ethics to be driven by theology, rather than the other way around. In this kind of theology the gospel comes before the law! Martin Luther had also maintained that there is a basic difference between the law and the gospel. But for him the law comes first, then the saving gospel. For him one main function of the law is to show human beings that it cannot be followed entirely. This insight forces us instead to open the heart for Christ and his mercy and forgiveness, the gospel. Luther said, The law drives us to Christ.
Heinrich Schenker, John Rothgeb - Piano Sonata in Ab, Op. 110 - Beethoven's Last Piano Sonatas, An Edition With Elucidation, Volume 2-Oxford University Press (2015) PDF