There are different categories of ethical actions:

• Forbidden – clear commands; no ethical difficulties
• Dubious – not explicitly condemned but appear problematic; require ethical investigation and analysis
• Obligatory – opposite of forbidden; morally right and good
• Permissible – acts that are morally neutral (most of your daily decisions)
• Supererogatos – virtuous acts above and beyond; heroic

Ethics are essential because Orthopraxy (right conduct) determines Orthodoxy (right belief.) Your ethical behavior will have tremendous impact on your theology. We shape our theology to justify our behavior. Bad ethics will ultimately manifest in bad theology.

Your worldview is foundational to your ethical understanding. Your Worldview determines your ethics. What you believe determines how you live. The test of any worldview is if it produces flourishing. Your Ethics reveals your worldview.

In Ethics, there is a tension between Revelation and Reason. How do we deal with a culture that rejects Revelation and is often jettisoning Reason?

Remember that God gives us freedom in many (most?) ethical decisions that we face in life. Areas that Scripture is silent on qualify as areas that God graciously allows us freedom. There are multiple influences for quick Ethical decisions:

• Worldview
• Conscience
• Your moral foundation to date
• Holy Spirit (enabling or quenching)
• Experience
• Culture
• Wisdom (God wants us to be able to have wisdom to make right decisions)
• Heart’s desire

Here is the Impossible Moral Conflict – do we sometimes have to commit a lesser evil to prevent a greater evil? Evangelical Theologians disagree. It’s important to understand that ethical dilemmas are the exception, not the norm!

Ethical decisions can be quick or drawn out. For quick decisions where there is no time for analysis, what influences your decision? In fact, the decision is already made by the moral foundation you have laid. There are multiple influences for quick ethical decisions: Worldview, Conscience, your moral foundation to date, Holy Spirit (enabling or quenching), Experience, Culture, Wisdom and Heart’s desire. Don’t overthink it! As Grudem wisely says, ““I do not think that God wants this decision-making process to seem impossible for Christians to follow regularly or so complicated that they are discouraged by it. God wants us to be able to have wisdom to make right decisions.”

In summary, moral wisdom is a skill that must be cultivated (time, experience and effort), originates in God (Col 2:3), and accessed through Scripture with faith (James 1:5-8.) Ethical dilemmas are the exception, not the norm! God gives us tremendous freedom of conscience in many (most) areas where Scripture is silent.

What about the Old Testament? OT law is seen in 3 separate categories:
(1) Civil (judicial laws governing the theocracy of Israel before the monarchy)
(2) Ceremonial (laws pertaining to worship, priesthood, sacrificial system, and temple ceremony)
(3) Moral (laws originating in the moral character of God)

The OT law belongs to Israel but moral law precedes back to creation and is fulfilled in Christ. There is a moral grain to the Cosmos inscribed in Natural Law, which the adherence to enables flourishing. We are not under the OT law as a covenant, but it still functions for us as moral law instituted at creation and points forward to a greater covenant and consummated at Christ’s return. The OT should be understood as love for God and neighbor. Prohibitions imply corresponding affirmations.