"Who Are We to BE"

Ahhhhh… Finally I (Randy) can breath a sigh of relief. Midterms are over and I have a couple of weeks before things ramp up again for finals. That allows me time to catch up on a few neglected tasks, including our discussion on the distinctives of a biblical understanding of justice.

Justice falls under the broader topic of Christian ethics, and if biblical justice is unique, it’s because the broader topic of Christian ethics is also.

2. Christian ethics, of which biblical justice is one aspect, is primarily concerned with the question, “who are we?”

Unless you are an ethicist, you won’t catch the strangeness of this at first glance. It is odd in that since the enlightenment, all western secular ethics have instead wrestled with the question, “what do I do?” For those who follow Christ, this is to be a secondary question that flows from dealing with the first.

The idea is clearly seen in the New Testament teaching that we are to be citizens of a heavenly kingdom, a royal priesthood, children of the kingdom, and children of God. In each case, this identity is to give us a sense of what kinds of actions we take. Again, we could look to several texts, but let’s keep it limited:

1 John 3:1-3,7,8,10

¹ See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! …² Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. ³ All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

⁷ Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. ⁸ The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. ¹⁰ This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.

Here John clearly explains the importance of finding our identity as children of God

Because of this understanding, there should be a result in our actions. These actions reveal the underlying identity that gives rise to them. John goes on to point to Cain as an example who, committing a blatant example if unethical, unjust act murdered his brother. He did not do what is right, and revealed his identity by this. Moreover, it’s interesting to note that Cain was more concerned about actions (what to do) than being. He was angry that his actions, in this case what seems to be a twisted worship of God, were found to be evil and that his brother’s actions, which flowed from a right understanding of who God would have him be, were pleasing to God.

If this seems like a lot to work out, a more familiar example would be the Pharisees. They were highly concerned with what to do and made long lists of dos and don’ts, but Jesus made it clear they missed the point in not being the right kind of people. It’s easy to do the right things for all the wrong reasons. God wants us to be his children, and allow that identity to shape our lives, including what we do.

If you are wondering what difference this really makes in our everyday lives, think about the example of the commonly wrestled with issue of giving money to the homeless. It's easy to fling Bible verses at this from both a give and don't give position, but that would be approaching it from a, "what do I do?" angle. Instead asking, "who are we to BE to the homeless?" puts a very different spin on the issue. What does it mean to BE children of God to the homeless? Sure, that might result in gifts of some sort, but I think it runs much deeper than that. We'll come back to this in future posts.

Spend some time asking the Holy Spirit to help you in finding your identity in Christ, and then in letting your actions flow from that identity.