Program / Course 25: Theological Synthesis / Lesson 4.2
What you will learn
- Describe three frameworks for Christian ethics: divine command, virtue and natural law.
- Explain the strengths and difficulties of each.
- Apply each framework to the same moral question.
- Say how the frameworks can complement one another.
The big idea
Christian ethics asks how to live, and Christians have answered in several ways. Divine command ethics says that right action is what God commands. Virtue ethics says that the heart of morality is becoming a certain kind of person, with qualities such as courage, justice and love. Natural law says that moral truths can be known from the nature of human beings, which God has made. These frameworks are not strict rivals. Most Christian thinkers draw on all three, with different emphasis.
Key terms
- Ethics
- The study of what is good and right and how people ought to live.
- Divine command theory
- The view that moral obligation depends on God’s commands. Versions differ on whether commands are arbitrary or flow from God’s good nature.
- Virtue
- A stable quality of character that disposes a person to act well, such as courage, justice, prudence or love.
- Theological virtues
- Faith, hope and love, listed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:13 and described in Christian tradition as gifts of grace.
- Cardinal virtues
- Prudence, justice, courage and temperance, taken from Greek philosophy and adopted by Christian writers.
- Natural law
- The idea that there is a moral order in the nature of human beings that reason can discover, apart from special revelation.
- Euthyphro question
- A question from Plato: is something good because the gods command it, or do the gods command it because it is good? It is used against divine command views.
Background
The Bible contains law, wisdom, prophecy, story and teaching, and all of it bears on conduct. The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) are commands. Proverbs describes the shape of a wise life. The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 to 7) speaks to the heart as well as to action. The prophets call for justice, and Micah 6:8 sums up what the Lord requires: to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.
Theologians have organized this material in different ways. This lesson describes three of the major ways. None of the three is an official position of every church, though the Catholic tradition has leaned toward natural law and virtue, and many Protestants toward command. Reading all three gives a fuller view.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: Divine command
On this view, what makes an act right is that God commands it, and what makes it wrong is that God forbids it. Its strength is clarity and a firm basis for obligation. Many Christians feel this is the heart of biblical ethics, with obedience as a response to love (John 14:15).
Its difficulty is the Euthyphro question. If actions are right merely because God commands them, then God could have commanded cruelty and it would be right. If God commands them because they are right, then rightness exists independently of God. Most defenders reply that God’s commands flow from God’s good and loving nature, so that goodness is not outside God and the commands are not arbitrary. Critics reply that this moves the problem back a step.
Step 2: Virtue
Virtue ethics begins with the question of what kind of person to be. Aristotle described virtues as the habits of a flourishing life, and Christian writers such as Augustine and Aquinas adopted them and added the theological virtues of faith, hope and love. The New Testament speaks of the fruit of the Spirit, which includes love, joy, peace and patience (Galatians 5:22 and 23).
Its strength is that it deals with the whole life and with motives, not just with acts. Its difficulty is that it can seem vague about what to do in a particular case, and critics ask how to decide what counts as a virtue. Defenders answer that practical wisdom, formed in a community, handles particular cases.
Step 3: Natural law
Natural law holds that God made human beings with a nature, and that the good for humans can be discerned by reflecting on it. Paul says that Gentiles who do not have the law show the work of the law written in their hearts (Romans 2:14 and 15). Aquinas gave the classic account: the eternal law in God’s mind is partly accessible to human reason as natural law, and human laws should be derived from it.
Its strength is that it explains why moral truths can be shared by those who do not share Christian faith. Its difficulty is that people disagree about what nature requires, and critics, including many Protestants, doubt that sin leaves reason able to read nature reliably. Defenders reply that disagreement does not show that there is no truth.
Step 4: Apply them to one case
Take a business owner who learns that telling a small lie would protect a client’s feelings. The command view asks what God has forbidden, and points to commands against bearing false witness. The virtue view asks what honesty and compassion require together and what kind of person the owner is becoming. The natural law view asks what the purpose of speech is and what harms deception does to human community.
The three often give the same answer, as here. Where they differ, the difference exposes a deeper question, such as whether any lie is permitted.
Step 5: Combine them
Many Christian thinkers do not choose one. Aquinas treats the commandments as an expression of natural law and of the virtue of justice. Protestants such as Calvin spoke of three uses of the law, and Orthodox writers speak of the commandments as a path toward becoming like God. A good synthesis says which framework it treats as primary and how the others fit.
- Which framework do I naturally use when I think about right and wrong?
- How would I answer the Euthyphro question?
- Which virtues do I most need, and how are they formed?
- Can people who do not share my faith know moral truths? How?
- Where do the three frameworks give different answers?
- Which one fits the way Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount?
Examples
Keeping a promise
A man promised to help a friend move, then received a better offer. A command view points to the duty of keeping one’s word. A virtue view points to faithfulness. A natural law view points to the social good of trust. All three agree that he should keep the promise. (A constructed example.)
The command to love
Jesus names two great commandments: love God and love your neighbor (Matthew 22:37 to 39). This is a command, and love is also a virtue to be cultivated, and many see it as the fulfillment of the law written in human nature. The text supports all three frameworks.
Where they diverge
A question arises about an act that natural law reasoning says is wrong in itself, while a person’s character and circumstances make it understandable. The frameworks weigh the question differently. A virtue approach may stress mercy, a natural law approach stress the nature of the act, and a command approach stress what Scripture says. Thoughtful Christians land in different places.
Different perspectives
Catholic
Catholic moral teaching draws on Scripture, the Ten Commandments, natural law and the virtues together. The Catechism’s section on life in Christ is built on the commandments, the virtues and the natural moral law, and it holds that reason can know moral truths that revelation confirms.
Orthodox
Orthodox ethics is usually framed as the life of repentance, the practice of the virtues and growth toward union with God, with the commandments serving as guides. Orthodox writers are cautious about legal systems of morality and stress the whole person in the life of the church.
Protestant
Protestant approaches vary. Lutheran and Reformed ethics stress the law’s several functions and the response of gratitude to grace. Many evangelicals emphasize obedience to the commands of Scripture. A revival of virtue ethics among Protestant writers has also occurred in recent decades, and some Protestants, such as Barth, were wary of natural law.
Philosophical and secular views
Secular ethics includes utilitarianism, which judges acts by their consequences, Kantian ethics, which stresses duty, and virtue ethics, which has Greek roots. Christians and non-Christians often agree on many moral conclusions and differ in their grounds. Some philosophers argue that morality needs a divine ground, and others hold that it does not.
Why it matters
Doctrine and conduct belong together, and every student must have some account of how to decide what is right. Naming the framework one uses makes it possible to examine it and to understand why others reach different conclusions. The final synthesis must include ethics, and a framework is the means of connecting the doctrines to concrete choices.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: Christian ethics is just following a list of rules.
Correction: Rules have a place, but the New Testament also stresses character, love and the guidance of the Spirit. The Sermon on the Mount is concerned with the heart.
Misunderstanding: Natural law is a way of imposing Catholic doctrine on everyone.
Correction: Its supporters say it offers moral arguments that do not depend on faith. Whether the arguments succeed is open to debate.
Misunderstanding: Divine command means God’s will is arbitrary.
Correction: Most defenders hold that God’s commands express God’s good nature. Critics question whether that fully answers the problem.
Misunderstanding: Virtue ethics gives no guidance for hard cases.
Correction: It guides through the formation of practical wisdom and through the example of good people, though critics say it can be vague.
Knowledge check
What is the Euthyphro question, and how do divine command theorists reply?
It asks whether something is good because God commands it or whether God commands it because it is good. Defenders reply that God’s commands come from God’s good and loving nature, so goodness is neither arbitrary nor outside God. Critics say this moves the problem back, and the debate continues.
What does virtue ethics emphasize?
It emphasizes the kind of person one becomes, through habits and practices that form qualities such as courage, justice, prudence and love. Christian versions add faith, hope and love as gifts of grace. It is concerned with motives and the whole of life, and not only with individual acts.
What is natural law?
It is the idea that God made human beings with a nature, and that reason can discover what is good for them, apart from special revelation. Aquinas gave the classic account. Its supporters say it explains shared moral knowledge, and critics question whether sin and disagreement make it unreliable.
Why do many thinkers combine the frameworks?
Because each captures part of the picture. Commands give clarity and a firm ground, virtue gives attention to character and motive, and natural law gives a link to reason and shared human nature. Aquinas, for example, treats commandments as expressions of natural law and of the virtue of justice.
Think it through
- Which framework do you think best fits the New Testament, and why?
- Think of a moral decision you faced. What would each framework have said?
- What would you say to someone who claims that morality does not need God?
Independent assignment
One question, three frameworks
In your own notebook, write 500 to 700 words. Choose a moral question that matters to you (for example honesty in business, care for aging parents or the use of money). Describe how a divine command approach, a virtue approach and a natural law approach would each handle it, using at least one Scripture passage. Say which you find most persuasive and where you think the others add something.
Further study
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, The Natural Law Tradition in Ethics An overview of natural law.
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Virtue Ethics An overview of virtue ethics.
- Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae The treatises on law and on the virtues.
- Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church Part Three on life in Christ.
- C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity Book 1 argues from a shared sense of right and wrong.
- John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion On the law and its uses.
- Micah 6:8 Do justly, love mercy and walk humbly.
- Romans 2:15 The law written in the heart.
- Galatians 5:22 The fruit of the Spirit.
- Matthew 22:37 The great commandment.