The Reason It’s Right or Wrong

The Reason It’s Right or Wrong                    October 20, 2024

          Is something right (or wrong) because God said so, or did He say so because it’s right (or wrong)?  It isn’t just a philosophical question; it goes to the nature of God and of people made in His image.

          Some actions are either right or wrong based on the moral nature of God.  For example, when Cain murdered Abel, he sinned.  To our knowledge God had neither spoken nor written a law against murder.  Having been made in God’s image with a moral nature, Cain knew murder was wrong.  After the flood and later in the Ten Commandments and other places, God specifically legislated against murder; but murder was sinful even in the absence of oral or written law.  The same can be said for stealing, fornication, and numerous other immoral acts.  This may be termed “moral law.”

          By contrast, Cain’s failure to offer the right sacrifice was an act of unfaithfulness and disobedience, but it was not immoral.  Some have called this “positive law.”  Cain could not know by his moral by his moral nature that God required sacrifice at all, much less what that sacrifice should be.  We know God told the brothers what to offer because Abel did so by faith (Hebrews 11:4), which comes by hearing God’s word (Romans 10:17).  Abel’s sacrifice was right because God said so, not because it was inherently moral.

          Building the ark was right because God said so; by faith, Noah trusted and obeyed.  Marching around Jericho was right because God said so, not because it was inherently moral.  Joshua obeyed by faith.

          God’s “positive “law” is to be obeyed even when we may not understand why or we “don’t see what good it will do.”  This applies to baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and any number of other matters that are not of a moral nature.

          By Joe Slater  (I am indebted to brother Jerry Brewer for the seed thoughts in this article)

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Things

“God isn’t opposed to you having things;

He is opposed to things having you.”

By Voddie Bauchman (via Facebook)