What is ethics?....continued
The Bible in Christian Ethics
The Apostle Paul when writing to Timothy confidently asserts
that scripture, that is the bible, is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting
and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly
equipped for every good work.
As a result it is fair to say that there is no Christian
ethic that would deny the authority of the bible, for apart from scripture the
church has no enduring inspiration or authority. However, it should be
recognised that even these claims about scripture are human claims and by human
interpretation.
With virtually one voice the Church has declared that the
bible is an authority for moral discernment and judgement. However, that single
voice becomes many voices when the bible is actually used. There is no
prescribed methodology dealing with how the bible is used.
Allen Verhey in A New Dictionary of Christian Ethics poses
the question, "What is the message of the Bible"?
Verhey makes the point that this is not a new question and
that discussion about interpretation of scripture and the methodology for its
use has a long history. He says "Augustine candidly insisted that any movement
from scripture to moral claims is licensed if and only if it is consistent with
the double love commandment, which he identified as the message of scripture".
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