Ethical Issues In The Bible

The Bible is not just a bunch of stories to give you something to feel better and cope with life. It’s God’s story. The Bible is God’s plan; “There are no random personalities, events, or circumstances. There are no unexpected situations. None of the actions recorded in the Bible caught God by surprise. Each word of Scripture is designed to move the plan forward in a way that glorifies God and points to Christ” (Hulshof, p. 4, ¶ 5). God’s plan is to rescue, redeem, and restore humanity. He will rescue us because “We are desperately and hopelessly lost because of the actions of our first parents—Adam and Eve—and our own willful sin. This lost-ness means that we are incapable of rescuing or saving ourselves. In fact, the more we attempt to save

It’s a book that tells us the path God chose to redeem humanity. The Bible is not a book of rules and regulations. By viewing the Bible as a rulebook, three key issues are being overlooked. They are anthropological, Christological, and redemptive. Anthropological is at stake because we as humans cannot follow instructions. “The rules and instructions of the Bible serve to show us how desperate our human condition is. We are actually unable to follow the instructions and keep the rules. No matter how hard we try, we will blow it at numerous times and in numerous ways throughout the day. We simply cannot be good enough long enough” (Hulshof, p. 30, ¶ 7). Christological is at stake because God lived a life that we could never live, a perfect one. “Christ’s perfect life is the antidote for the weight of the law and commands of God. When we take up God’s Word and read it as a book of instructions, rules, and commands that we need to follow in order to be accepted or loved by God, we are asserting that, as great as Christ’s work was, we are capable of keeping the directives of God in a satisfactory manner. This will never be the case” (Hulshof, p. 31, ¶ 8). Lastly, redemption is at stake. Many believe that, “In the end, God could have simply left us with a book and a mandate to follow the instructions as best we can. We could give it our best effort and hope that, at the conclusion of our lives, our obedience and desire to obey would outweigh all the times we failed. Then perhaps God might grant us an eternity with him” (Hulshof, p. 31, ¶ 10). However, this is a poor scenario because if this were true then Christ would be completely unnecessary. “He is necessary because we are incapable of the kind of obedience God requires. Our hearts are too deceitful and wicked (Jer 17:9) for a book of instructions to be the remedy for our hopeless human condition” (Hulshof, p. 31, ¶