In a recent post, I argued that society needs an objective moral/ethical framework that doesn’t float with the whims of the mob in order to function. Lacking that, society begins to fray at the seams.

A lot of people reject any type of objective morality. Instead, they embrace moral relativism – the notion that the truth or falseness of moral judgments depends on their place and time – i.e. culture or historical period. Ultimately, moral principles evolve and change based on majority consensus reached within a given society. Morals shift with time and place.

This creates problems when followed to its logical conclusion. As I pointed out in the previous article, if moral/ethical principles truly rest on majority opinion, slavery was moral for most of human history. Indeed, honest moral relativists will grudgingly admit this. But they bristle at the notion that slavery could once again become moral, if only enough people in society agree. This prospect suddenly turns moral relativists into moral absolutists.

As I Christian, I believe in moral absolutes. God wove moral principles into the spiritual world the same way he built the laws of physics into the physical universe. Moral principles are set by the character of God.

But the honest reading of the bible seems to contradict this conclusion. After all, the Word of God appears to endorse, or at least accept, slavery. And while Jesus tells us to “love our enemies,” we don’t see a lot of love in David’s interaction with his foes.

If God created and sustains a subjective, absolute moral structure, how do we explain apparent biblical discrepancies and contradictions?

There are really only two possible explanations.

1. God changes.
2. Our understanding changes.

No. 1 would completely unravel the orthodox conception of the Christian God. God is unchanging. James asserts that in God there exists no “variation or shifting shadow.” If this is true, we have to go with No. 2.

In simplest terms, an objective moral framework exists; we just don’t completely understand it. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:12 “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.”

God reveals himself to humankind progressively over time. We see this progressive revelation throughout scripture. Pastor Ryan Burgett did a fantastic job of explaining this hermeneutic.

“Adam and Eve didn’t know anything. The whole Old Testament is God slowly teaching people about who he is and about who we are. We needed to learn some very hard lessons, like how violence won’t fix the human heart. But, as soon as we were ready, he came down to give us the full revelation of his heart and character. You see bits and pieces of God’s true character in the Old Testament, but it is never the full picture. For example, you see David passionately praying for violent justice on his enemies. He thought that justice was God’s highest ideal. That was what he understood about God at that time and God blessed him for being faithful with what he knew. But, now we know from Jesus that God’s greatest ideal is redemption, not justice. So, you can look at David and learn about how God is a God of justice, you can learn how God will bless us for being faithful to what we know, and you can see what a heart given to God looks like. But, what you can’t do is see him praying for violent retribution on his enemies and say that we should do the same. We shouldn’t do that because we have a better understanding of God’s will now.”

Logic also has a role to play. God gave humankind the ability to reason. It helps us make sense of the world around us. We can apply reason to scripture and to things we observe in the world around us to help us develop and refine our moral/ethical framework. Our reasoning skills also aid the progression of revelation. In fact, if we start with self-ownership as an a priori truth, we can develop a cogent moral/ethical framework purely based on logic that meshes well with a Christian worldview.

As our understanding of God grows, our moral framework appears to shift. But it’s not that God’s moral principles changed. It’s just that they become clearer as God reveals himself through history. Our job is to seek God, study his word, apply our reason and struggle to understand His objective moreal/ethical standards. We’re not going to get it all right, but we can certainly strive in that direction.