bible as basis for ethical teaching

natural law

• Moral principles and values that are considered to be inherent by all humans. Humans are born with a sense of right and wrong
  Something is natural if it fulfils the purpose God has given. Thus, when something fulfils its purpose, it is good; when it does not fulfil its purpose, it is evil.

• - For example, one of the purposes God has given humans is to protect human life. Therefore, murder is wrong Humans have a sense of the natural law
  Natural law is known through reason

  - Reason tells us that the ultimate purpose of human life is fellowship with God. This means that we must follow the will of God

  Rules of natural law: preservation of life, procreation, living in an ordered society, worshipping God, education - Secondary principles are moral principles derived from the five rules of natural law

divine law

he ten commandments contain God’s specific codification of the main principles of the natural law. God revealed these commandments because Original Sin made it hard for human beings to discern good from evil
The ten commandments are practical expressions of God’s love for humanity, and will help humanity’s relationship with God to grow, since humans will come to love what God loves (Aquinas)

role of JC

The sermon on the Mount is the main teaching that Jesus gave regarding the way people should live
He references the Mosaic law (the ten commandments) and insists that he is not here to get rid of that law but instead to ensure that people live up to it

•  This accounts for the way he introduces many teachings with the words ‘you have heard it said’

•  He teaches how to follow the law correctly, and teaches a more mature approach to the law
  Jesus is essentially detailing a philosophy based on the ‘golden rule’ - do unto others as you would have them do unto you

• Jesus teaches that your thoughts and feelings matter equally to your actions. You are still sinful if you abstain from committing an immoral act but you still think about or desire it. Jesus thus creates a harder and more mature form of morality, he expects more of christians than the ten commandments.

STRENGTH: moral authority from divine revelation

One major strength of using the Bible as a basis for ethical teaching is its perceived status as divine revelation. For many believers, the moral instructions found in texts such as the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) or the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) are not merely suggestions, but commands from a transcendent moral source. This gives biblical ethics a unique kind of authority that is seen as objective and unchanging, unlike secular moral systems that may shift with social trends.

COUNTER to divine revelation: dawkins

• Philosopher Richard Dawkins, in The God Delusion (2006), criticizes the idea that the Bible provides a stable moral foundation, pointing to passages that condone genocide (e.g., 1 Samuel 15), slavery (Exodus 21), and the subordination of women (Ephesians 5:22–24).

• Dawkins argues that any attempt to selectively use the "good" parts of the Bible while ignoring the morally problematic ones involves subjective human judgment, thereby undermining the claim that the Bible itself is the ethical authority.

STRENGTH: rich narrative framework for moral formation

Another strength of biblical ethics is the narrative form of moral instruction. Unlike legalistic systems, the Bible teaches ethics through stories, parables, and the lives of moral exemplars such as Moses, Jesus, or Ruth. This aligns with virtue ethics, which focuses on character formation rather than rule-following. The Bible encourages ethical maturity through sustained engagement with its narratives, promoting virtues like compassion, humility, and justice.

N. T. Wright, in After You Believe (2010), argues that Christian ethics should be seen as part of a larger story in which humans are called to reflect God’s image in the world. The biblical narrative forms a moral drama in which believers learn their roles through repeated engagement with scripture. This makes the Bible especially effective for moral education, not just prescription.

COUNTER to wright

• While the narrative nature of the Bible may offer rich resources for moral formation, it also introduces significant ambiguities and interpretive challenges.

• One major issue is that biblical narratives often portray morally problematic behaviors without clear ethical commentary.

• For example, the story of Abraham nearly sacrificing Isaac (Genesis 22) or Lot offering his daughters to a mob (Genesis 19) raise serious ethical concerns if taken at face value or held up as moral exemplars.

• From a secular or philosophical perspective, the lack of a consistent moral framework within biblical narratives undermines their usefulness as ethical guides.

• Bernard Williams, a critic of narrative-based ethics, argues that stories can be morally instructive only if they are filtered through philosophical analysis and ethical critique.

• Without this, narratives risk reinforcing cultural norms or theological biases rather than offering objective ethical insight.

WEAKNESS: singer

secular philosophers like Peter Singer challenge the idea that religious texts are necessary for promoting moral values like altruism. In The Expanding Circle (1981), Singer argues that human reason and evolutionary empathy are sufficient to account for ethical concern beyond kin and tribe. The universality of values like compassion and justice can be explained without recourse to divine revelation or sacred texts.