Bernard Ramm on Ethics

Bernard Ramm makes an excellent observation in his book on Christian ethics The Right, The Good and The Happy. It is an observation that I make over and over. Christianity is a life system, a whole way of living, that involves the whole person. Just listen,

"Christian ethics is interested in virtue and character because being a Christian is a total way of life. A total way of life for the Christian means the acquisition of many virtues. It is the life of a man of character, a man of God. In biblical language these virtues are called fruits of the Spirit of God (Gal. 5:22) and constitute the functioning principles of a man of character."

There are some very interesting arguments from Ramm all over this book. One thing I have always heard when it comes to doing good and doing right, making the correct moral decision, is that "ethics can be developed from reason, or intuition, or experience, or analysis [and] there is no need for recourse to religion for the foundations, principles, or sanctions of ethics." I well remember Richard Dawkins, and many others, saying that things are intrinsically good in and of themselves and that it is possible to live morally and make "good" decisions based simply on intrinsic good. Ramm makes an incredible observation to refute this though. Listen to this,

"From the standpoint of the Christian doctrine of God, God is good. God's commands are good commands. To speak as if good were intrinsic and needed no reference to God is to deny that God is a good God. It is to create a false and contradictory problem. A good God reveals to man those ethical principles that are good. The good is good because it comes from a good God, and a good God orders and decrees only the good. From this standpoint Christian ethics grows out of the goodness in God and therefore ethics cannot be separated from theology."

I think even if you don't believe in God, if your standpoint is not that of the Christian doctrine of God, you must give some answer as to where morality stems from and, thus, from whence come your ethical mores. One final unrelated but excellent quote is as follows,

"A Christological ethic must be built from the Christ of the total witness of the New Testament. A Jesus cut down to our likings and our presuppositions and our sentimentalities is not the Jesus of the New Testament."

We need to look carefully at our foundation for ethics, because, as Ramm says, "Biblical religion without ethics is a contradiction." Christ is God. God is sovereign. God is good. That is a pretty solid basis for ethics! Praise the Lord!

R. D. Thompson