by Jay Earheart-Brown
This invitation, this call, while fundamentally a call to covenant relationship with God, is at the same time all call to a particular way of life. Like God’s call to Israel, it is not a call to special favor. It is a call to righteousness, love and service. The ethical dimensions of God’s call are raised through considering the question, “What does it mean, in practical terms, to live in covenant relationship with God?” Paul’s ethical instructions to the early churches can be summarized in the counsel to “lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (Eph. 4:1). God’s call is a call to a specific way of life patterned after the life and ministry of Jesus. The ethical dimensions of God’s call flow from God’s grace in Jesus Christ, and are incumbent on all who would live as God’s people in the world.
The task of Christian ethics is to specify what it means to live in response to God’s call. This task is often difficult. While the general contours of a life lived in covenant relationship with God are clear from reading the Scriptures, Christians often disagree on how those contours inform specific decisions in specific circumstances. How should Christians respond to situations the Biblical writers could not have foreseen? Christians in good conscience may disagree on how God’s general calling to the life of faith may best be demonstrated in specific situations. But they cannot escape the imperative to live out the call to discipleship in every sphere of their lives.
A second type of difficulty arises through competing claims on one’s attention and energy. How does one manage the competing callings to be a faithful and loving husband or wife, son or daughter, father or mother, with the calling to be a responsible employee or employer, and the calling to responsible membership in the community of faith? Sometimes the deepest ethical conflicts arise over how we are to relate the overlapping callings and commitments that make up our lives.
The call to covenant relationship with God, then, is at the same time a call to covenant relationship with the people of God, in service to the world. It is not a call to privilege or status; it is not a call to individual salvation apart from the community of faith and the life of sacrificial service. The one call of God in Jesus Christ is a call to love God with our heart and soul and strength and our neighbors as ourselves.
This invitation, this call, while fundamentally a call to covenant relationship with God, is at the same time all call to a particular way of life. Like God’s call to Israel, it is not a call to special favor. It is a call to righteousness, love and service. The ethical dimensions of God’s call are raised through considering the question, “What does it mean, in practical terms, to live in covenant relationship with God?” Paul’s ethical instructions to the early churches can be summarized in the counsel to “lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (Eph. 4:1). God’s call is a call to a specific way of life patterned after the life and ministry of Jesus. The ethical dimensions of God’s call flow from God’s grace in Jesus Christ, and are incumbent on all who would live as God’s people in the world.
The task of Christian ethics is to specify what it means to live in response to God’s call. This task is often difficult. While the general contours of a life lived in covenant relationship with God are clear from reading the Scriptures, Christians often disagree on how those contours inform specific decisions in specific circumstances. How should Christians respond to situations the Biblical writers could not have foreseen? Christians in good conscience may disagree on how God’s general calling to the life of faith may best be demonstrated in specific situations. But they cannot escape the imperative to live out the call to discipleship in every sphere of their lives.
A second type of difficulty arises through competing claims on one’s attention and energy. How does one manage the competing callings to be a faithful and loving husband or wife, son or daughter, father or mother, with the calling to be a responsible employee or employer, and the calling to responsible membership in the community of faith? Sometimes the deepest ethical conflicts arise over how we are to relate the overlapping callings and commitments that make up our lives.
The call to covenant relationship with God, then, is at the same time a call to covenant relationship with the people of God, in service to the world. It is not a call to privilege or status; it is not a call to individual salvation apart from the community of faith and the life of sacrificial service. The one call of God in Jesus Christ is a call to love God with our heart and soul and strength and our neighbors as ourselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.