Ethics, Morality and Love

The other night my brother, David, was talking about the difference between ethics and morality. He recently heard someone argue that the difference between them is that the ethical person knows what not to do, but the moral person simply refuses to do it. The implication is that there is a difference between knowledge in terms of abstract classification and knowledge in terms of practical application. The ethical person, while knowing what he should or should not do, nonetheless often goes to great lengths to find ways to justify such action or to bend the rules legally. The moral person, on the other hand, will accept the fact that the action should or should not be done and will work to do it or to avoid doing it. He knows as he ought to know and avoids what he ought to avoid and does what he ought to do.

The ethical person has abstract knowledge about what is right and wrong and has an intellectual understanding. His thinking is effected by his moral values. His morality determines the way in which he thinks about a thing. Whereas the moral person has concrete or visceral knowledge about what is right and wrong and has a behavioral understanding. His behavior is affected by his morality. His morality determines the way in which he behaves toward a thing. One modifies thought, the other modifies behavior.

Paul says that knowledge puffs a person up. It inflates the ego. It makes people feel smart, even superior -- which makes people want to tell others about what they know. For instance, if I can tell you something you don't know, something new, then I can feel superior to you. It strokes the ego to be a dispenser of knowledge. This is the dynamic that drives gossip. Gossip often masquerades as news. So, when we pass "news" about this or that person along, we often do so because it reinforces our sense of superiority. Those who pass the "news" on are in the superior position. News too often flies on the wings of pride.

In contrast to this, Paul tells us that love builds up, love -- charity -- edifies. The Greek is oikodomeo, which literally means to be a house builder. Love is constructive. The word edify does not mean what many Christians think it means. Many people think that Christian edification means spiritual or emotional encouragement, being nice, kind, supportive. The popular Christian radio station, K-love, understands itself to be involved in a ministry of edification. And, though I like some of the music they play, their format is sentimentalism in the name of Christian edification. It's goal is to make people feel good, not to impart biblical truth. They think that they are edifying by being positive, by making people feel good about themselves.

But biblical edification is not always positive, nor does the word mean to encourage. It can sometimes suggest encouragement, but the central meaning of the word is not encourage, but instruct. The word edify is from a Latin root that means to instruct or improve spiritually. One dictionary defines edify as "to make understand." So, edification is not merely encouragement. It is spiritual instruction -- discipline -- that perseveres in spiritual improvement and understanding. Edification is the effort to make people understand something correctly. Growth in grace and sanctification is not a magic pill. It requires discipline and effort.

In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 Paul describes his own sanctification with racing language.

Paul turns our common understanding of love on its head in verse 8, "But if anyone loves God, he is known by God." It is not that we must understand God before we can love Him, but that our love for God is dependent upon His knowledge of us. John said it this way, "We love because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). Our love of God is a response to God's love for us. It is dependent upon God's love for us. Our love of God is a reflected image of God's love for us. God's love for us is not sentimental. It is real. It is covenantal. It is not based upon God's feelings for us, but upon God's commitment to His own mercy, truth and righteousness -- His covenant.

Because God's love for His people is not based upon His feelings, but upon His covenant commitment, our love for God must not be based upon our feelings, but upon our covenant commitment, as well. And here is true love, true worship. True love of God -- covenantal love -- leads to worship.

Of course, worship includes what happens when Christians gather on Sunday mornings, but it is much more than that. Genuine worship of God is the activity of covenant faithfulness every day. To worship God is to respond to God's covenant faithfulness, it is to reflect God's covenant faithfulness back to Him through covenant faithfulness of our own. To worship God is to grow in grace and sanctification, to grow in our knowledge of God, to grow in our faithful obedience to God, to grow in Christian responsibility and maturity.