Biblical Morality?

One of the most bizarre ideas in a political season full of the bizarre is how Trump supporters admire both him and Vladimir Putin for standing for “biblical morality”.

This, despite the fact that one has been divorced multiple times and has been successfully accused of rape and the other is a murderous tyrant.

Let me explain…

To American evangelicals “biblical morality” means opposing homosexuality and transgender people.

Period.

If you’ve been divorced over and over, been guilty of adultery, abused authority and the trust of other people…even if your enemies mysteriously always fall out of a  skyscraper window…you’re good.

Similarly, while American evangelicals prop up Trump, the Russian Orthodox Church does the same for Putin.

By narrowing biblical morality to a small subset of sexual ethics people like Trump and Putin (and countless clergy) can be baptized in biblical approval.

I would argue that there is much more involved in “biblical morality” than sexual ethics.

Even if you choose to limit morality to sexual ethics using Scripture, you better stick with the New Testament.

The Old Testament sexual ethic is…often unethical. That’s another story for another time…

Without writing a book…the New Testament sexual ethic centers on covenant relationships…sex inside of marriage, marriage between a man and a woman.

Again, without writing a book…there is simply no way to coax support for gay marriage out of Scripture or tradition.

One thing both testaments agree on…

““For I hate divorce!” says the LORD, the God of Israel. “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. “So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife.””

(Malachi 2:16 NLT-SE)

I would suggest that we have normalized something God hates because it’s an option many in the church choose. If we were to be truly “moral” we would be as active in protecting covenant relationships as we are in opposing other sexual expressions.

(For the record, I believe abuse in a covenant relationship is a violation of the covenant and thus is being “unfaithful”)

Again I ask, is that all that biblical morality entails?

““No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people.

Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.”

(Isaiah 58:6-7 NLT-SE)

““But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

“Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’

“Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’

“Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’

“And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’”

(Matthew 25:31-45 NLT-SE)

“Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.””

(Matthew 22:37-40 NLT-SE)

It seems to me that these verses (and dozens more that repeat the same ethics) are as much a part of biblical morality as sexual ethics.

Yet, if I give a message advocating for the poor, the stranger, the homeless, or the oppressed…I’m “woke.”

Considering the words of Jesus…I’d rather be woke than on the wrong side of His line.

True biblical morality embraces the Scriptures sexual ethic…without neglecting all the other biblical ethics in the Scriptures.

The church lives to demonstrate these ethics by how we act in society…politically, we speak truth to power when any of these ethics are twisted or neglected.

No political party does better than the other as a whole…so our fidelity is always to the Lord and to His church as we seek to live biblically moral lives.