Ethics....continued
OLD TESTAMENT ETHICS
Christian ethics do not ignore Old Testament ethics. Within
the Old Testament are found the foundation stones of Christian ethics. It needs
to be remembered that there is both continuity and discontinuity between what
we find in the OT and the NT. Some principles of behaviour from the OT persist
while others do not. The basic matters regarding relationships between man and
God and man and man do not change.
The Decalogue (Ten Commandments, cf. Exodus 20) lays down
basic rules which are meant to deal with both attitudes and conduct. It is only
in the NT that these are developed further in terms of motivation and the basic
thoughts behind outward acts (cf. The Sermon on the Mount, Matt. 5- 7).
We should see the OT teaching on behaviour as introductory
and as establishing lasting principles. In order not to get confused, any study
of the Old Testament should recognise the difference between ritual, ceremonial
and absolute unchanging principles. In other words, rules about ritual
washings, planting of various kinds of plants in the same field, etc., should
never be considered on the same level as rules regarding man's obligations to
his God and man's obligations to his fellow man. (Exodus 20:3, 13-16)
The difficult sayings of the OT which have to do with the
command to destroy rebellious peoples should be seen in the light of God' s
purity and his willingness to take what we perceive as extreme measures to keep
his 'chosen people' from being compromised by their association with evil (Deut
7:2-6). Intermarriage and agreements with the godless nations would have
resulted in the loss of a national identity as 'the people of God' (Exodus 23:
32,33). There are lessons to be learned here for the Christian. Often he has
become so identified with the world in which he lives that he is swallowed up
by its way of thinking and its behaviour, to the extent that there is no longer
any apparent difference between the Christian and the non-Christian.
Much of what we understand (or misunderstand) as
sanctification/separation should be viewed in the light of the calls upon
Israel to be different. Not just for the sake of being different, but so that
it would not be confused with the ways of the ungodly who did not know Jehovah
(Yahweh).
This is at the heart of what we should understand by
holiness (Lev 19: 2, 20-26) Separation in the OT ethic is separation from a
whole way of life, but at the same time separation to God and his service of
God. Yet it is also separation to the service of mankind. Judaism insists on
the vital link between religion and ethical conduct. It was not possible to be
a good Jew unless you were a good person. This meant loving God and being good
to your fellow man.
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