The Need for Positive Ethics

The current implosion of Western society reveals that we are great at criticizing cultures, but ill-equipped to present a positive vision of a good life. Philosophies like existentialism, Darwinism, postmodernism, Marxism, and critical theory can tear down ideas, but do not build anything in their place. They criticize the patriarchy and wonder where the fathers went. They criticize capitalists and wonder where the jobs went. They criticize the police and wonder why crime rises. They say there is no objective purpose to life and wonder why the youth commit suicide. They say humans are evolved animals and wonder why they rape and kill.

It may be objected that Marxism, for example, has a clear vision for the future. But Marxist eschatology is merely a daydream that Marxists have no power to actualize. Decades before Russia’s revolution, Dostoyevsky notes in The Brothers Karamazov that socialism isn’t just about labor, it’s an anti-God philosophy; they don’t believe that God will bring Heaven to Earth, so they try to do this by other means. But only God can bring about utopia by making people altruistic, and so Marxists attempt to do it by coersion. The twentieth century shows that this vision inspires more destruction than production.

The effects of these philosophies are beginning to catch up with us. My parents were divorced, their parents were divorced, my step-dad’s parents were divorced, and I never met either of my two step-moms’ parents. In environments like this, is it any wonder that millennials lack direction? I was told that I could be whatever I wanted to be, but I wasn’t told very clearly what a man should be. Public school taught me that I should go to college and get a good job, but it couldn’t possibly tell me why I should do this. When I began to ask these questions as a teenager, I was left with no foundation, and became depressed. I loved Ecclesiastes because of the ways it criticized things that other people cared about, but the only thought that positively gave me a sense of purpose was that the church and my relationship with God would last forever.

In hindsight I see three deficiencies in younger me’s view of Biblical ethics and purpose. First, I started with the end instead of the beginning. Faced with mortality and entropy, I only wanted to know what would last forever. I knew that God is the beginning as well as the end, but it didn’t cross my mind to build my life around a verse like Genesis 1:28. But if God has told us what to do, we don’t have to wonder how to live a meaningful life. When I realized that God doesn’t actually need my help to make disciples, I had to pivot from doing things because they will last forever to doing things because God told me to.

Second, my understanding of ethics was largely negative. I knew that I shouldn’t hate, covet, lie, be lazy, lust, and cheat. But what should I be doing instead? Sure I shouldn’t be lazy, but what should I be working toward? In a healthy culture, people would basically understand what humans are supposed to do, and these negative commands would keep them from going about it in the wrong way. But as the counter-culture becomes the mainstream culture, we need to build our system of ethics from the ground up, which requires a clear positive vision.

Third, my positive understanding of ethics was too vague. Modern Christians know that we should value the weighty things of the law like justice, mercy, and love. But what does this practically look like? Answering this question requires knowing what our neighbor needs, what God’s blessings look like, and the specific moral commands of God’s law. It requires a knowledge of what the good life is and the wisdom to achieve it.

When I started this ethics series, I didn’t realize how transformative it would be for me, and the reason is that I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the positive vision of Genesis 1:28. I’ve learned that a lot of my desires, both righteous and sinful, are explained by this verse, because it is a description of what man was made for. With a clear vision of what my life is supposed to look like, it is easier to turn down the counterfeits.

Today I meant to write on the positive vision of ethics taught in Malachi, and this post happened by accident. Maybe in a couple weeks.

The Command is a Blessing

When God made man, He did not leave them to guess what they were supposed to do. He did not tell them to follow their heart and find their purpose. Man does not exist before he is defined. The individual human is not autonomous.

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Genesis 1:28

In this one verse that I can’t seem to stop writing about, we have a summary of human purpose. It is a picture of the good life, and God commands us to make it happen. It is not a command for each individual to obey at the expense of his neighbor, but a command for mankind as a whole to flourish through work, families, and government.

In each of these three areas, there are counterfeit ways to “fill the earth and subdue it” as an individual while being counterproductive for mankind. A man might become powerful through theft, exploitation, and corruption; and he might have children through sexual immorality. A government might become powerful through unprovoked conquest and heavy taxation.

There are also counterfeit versions of Gen 1:28 that aren’t actually productive at all, but they make you feel like you’re being fruitful and powerful. Most kinds of sexual sin can’t produce children, but they make you feel like you’re doing what you were made to do. Completing all of the objectives in a videogame or cheering for a winning sports team might feel like accomplishments, but they aren’t productive. Expensive status symbols feel like wealth, but are often wasteful vanity.

God commands man to rule over the earth with justice and compassion, so all mankind can fill the earth and subdue it for the glory of God. This command isn’t a burden; it’s a blessing. The command is inseparable from “And God blessed them,” here and in Gen 9:1. God’s desire for man is that he receive the blessings of children, wealth, land, and power. He wishes for man the blessings he would promise to Abraham. He wills that man receive the blessings described in Deut 28:1-14. It is the blessing that Laban wishes for Rebekah (Gen 24:60). It is the blessing that Jacob lied to steal (Gen 27:28-29).

If the command is also a blessing, then it cannot be obeyed apart from the favor of God. Adam failed to fully obey Gen 1:28 precisely because he failed to obey Gen 2:17, “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Adam’s mission and blessing were thwarted by the curses that came through disobedience. His work produced thorns, and he and his family were destined to be subdued by six feet of earth.

And so we cannot hope to obey Gen 1:28 and enjoy its blessing apart from right worship of God. Even if it’s possible to live a productive and compassionate life without loving God, that life is a ticking time bomb, waiting to unleash the wrath of God that undoes every blessing. But if we start with right worship, and then learn from God how to work, raise children, and do justice, then we will be blessed, and will help mankind to flourish in this age and in the age to come.

Isaiah 49-55 Fulfills Genesis 1:28

This post should be the climax of this project of laying a foundation for Christian ethics. I’ve spent a lot of time talking about the centrality of Genesis 1:28 to a proper understanding of human purpose. Today I’ll look at a chunk of Isaiah that describes the fulfillment of God’s purposes for Adam, for Abraham, for Israel, and for David. It is a poetic celebration of how God’s chosen servant would do what man was always meant to do. This post will team up with a future post for The Prophets Fulfilled series on how Isaiah 49-55 is fulfilled by Jesus. I’ll start by looking at how this passage describes the obstacles for man fulfilling his mission, then I’ll describe the passage’s solution to this problem, and finally I’ll look at the accomplishment of the mission.

The Problem: Sin

You are in constant dread all day long because of the fury of the oppressor, who has set himself to destroy.

Isaiah 51:13, HCSB

Even in the context of this verse, it is clear that oppressors are not Israel’s ultimate problem; but I want to start by acknowledging that they are a real problem. Assyria (who will be followed by Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome) brings “devastation and destruction, famine and sword” (Isa 51:19). How can Israel fill the earth and subdue it if they are being killed, enslaved, and oppressed? This is an illustration of how human sin works against man’s mission. Assyria breaks up families, steals, kills, and destroys, leaving devastation instead of fruitfulness.

Stand up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk the cup of His fury from the hand of the Lord.

Isaiah 51:17

The sin Israel really needed to worry about was their own, and the fury they needed to fear was the Lord’s. There was no man in Zion to answer the Lord’s call (Isa 50:2), so the Lord divorced Zion (Isa 50:1). When the Lord led the Israelites into the land, he told them how to be blessed and fulfill their misison. If they obeyed Him, they would be blessed with children, animals, crops, and security, to eventually become the greatest nation of the earth (Deut 28:1-14). If they did not obey him, the opposite would happen: futility, death, disease, oppression, famine, slavery, and exile (Deut 28:15-68). Instead of subduing the earth, they would be subdued. Instead of ruling the animals, they would be ruled over by the beasts of Daniel 7.

The Solution: Obedience, Teaching, and Atonement

The Lord God has opened My ear, and I was not rebellious; I did not turn back. I gave My back to those who beat Me, and my cheeks to those who tore out my beard. I did not hide My face from scorn and spitting.

Isaiah 50:5-6

There was no man to answer the Lord’s call, until the Lord set apart his chosen servant from the womb (Isa 49:1). This servant would obey God in everything, even when it meant being beaten, mocked, and killed. His life may have looked futile, but because he obeyed God he would be vindicated in the end (Isa 49:4). Because he is the representative of all Israel (Isa 49:3), his obedience will bring blessings to all Israel.

Coastlands, listen to me; distant peoples, pay attention. The Lord called me before I was born. He named me while I was in my mother’s womb. He made my words like a sharp sword; He hid me in the shadow of His hand. He made me like a sharpened arrow; He hid me in His quiver.

Isaiah 49:1-2

The servant’s mission to bring Israel back from oppressive exile (Isa 49:5) isn’t accomplished with traditional weapons, but with words. He is instructed, so his words sustain the weary (Isa 50:4). He preaches good news, “saying to the prisoners: Come out, and to those who are in darkness: Show yourselves” (Isa 49:9). This gospel undoes the power of the oppressor to kill and enslave (Isa 51:13-14). The Lord’s words in the servant’s mouth plant a new heavens and earth, and establish a covenant (Isa 51:16).

But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds. We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished Him for the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 53:5-6

The Lord’s servant, as Israel’s representative, took Israel’s punishment. Just as Israel was oppressed because of God’s judgment, “He was taken away because of oppression and judgment” (Isa 53:8). It looks like futility, but it is wisdom (Isa 52:13) because it leads to the justification of many (Isa 53:11). The servant, after his death, is rewarded with children, long life (Isa 53:10), and power over rulers (53:12). In other words, he will fill the earth and subdue it, as man was always meant to do. This is the good news of the kingdom of God (Isa 52:7). Because of the servant’s atonement, God’s anger turns from Israel to her enemies:

“Look, I have removed the cup of staggering from your hand; that goblet, the cup of my fury. You will never drink it again. I will put it in the hands of your tormenters, who said to you: Lie down, so we can walk over you.”

Isaiah 51:22-23

Mission Accomplished: Fruitfulness and Dominion

“Rejoice, childless one, who did not give birth; burst into song and shout, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the forsaken one will be more than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord. “Enlarge the site of your tent, and let your tent curtains be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your ropes, and drive your tent pegs deep. For you will spread out to the right and to the left, and your descendents will dispossess nations and inhabit the desolate cities.

Isaiah 54:1-3

The result of the servant’s obedience, teaching, and atonement is that Zion is taken back to be the Lord’s wife again (Isa 54:5-8). This union produces so many children that they cannot fit in the old borders of Israel (Isa 49:18-21). The kings of the earth give up Zion’s children and bow to her (Isa 49:22-23). Her children are righteous, prosperous, and safe forever (Isa 54:11-17). They multiply like Abraham’s children (Isa 51:2), and the land is as fruitful as Eden, which leads to worship and gratitude to the Lord (Isa 51:3). The Lord’s word produces fruit according to His good plan (Isa 55:10-11). Blessings depicted as water, bread, wine, milk, and rich food are available for free in David’s kingdom (Isa 55:1-3).

The servant’s work causes the kingdom of God to spread throughout the world. The nations find the Lord’s instruction, justice, and salvation (Isa 49:6-7, 51:4-5). The servant receives the promises of David, and gathers the nations into his kingdom and instruction (Isa 55:3-5). “Your God reigns!… all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God” (Isa 52:7, 10). The curse is undone, and creation glorifies God as it was always meant to (Isa 55:12-13).

Significance for Ethics

I think the next post will be a better time to discuss the direct relevance of the Kingdom of God to modern ethics. For now, I just want to note what is involved in the blessed life that man was always intended to live. When the command of Genesis 1:28 was given, there was only one family in the world. Multiplication was in the context of this one family, and subduing the earth meant working the ground and ruling the animals. These responsibilities of man remain, but the world is more complicated now.

As seen in this Isaiah passage, the purpose of a kingdom is to provide security and justice to its people. This is necessary because there are sinners inside and outside of the kingdom. Sin works against man’s mission, and good government gives some protection against this. Another thing to consider in light of sin is that obedience to God may look fruitless in this life because of oppression and injustice, but it ultimately leads to the only lasting fruit. A brief message to expansionist empires trying to fill the earth and subdue it: you will be accountable to God if you do this by unlawfully killing, stealing, and destroying. Finally, in a world where morality is disputed, men need to be instructed by God.

Stay tuned to see how Isaiah’s prophecies are fulfilled in the New Testament, and what it all means for you.