Christian Ethics and the Old Testament - Lesson 22

What happens when Christian ethics goes wrong — on either side of the road? Lesson 22 of the Christian Ethics series covers the final rigorist errors and opens the antinomian ones.

Dave Rich finishes the fundamentalist ethic from the previous lesson, drawing a clear line between biblical separation and the error of letting the world define the church's ethic in opposition to it. He then addresses scrupulosity — moralism with an emotional edge. For those prone to a hypervigilant conscience, Rich offers a grounding corrective from 1 John, Psalm 103, and Hebrews: God is greater than your heart, your guilt is addressed in Christ, and you have an advocate when you sin.

From there, the lesson crosses to the other ditch. Christian universalism, traced through James Rellie and its modern expressions, removes any ethical stakes entirely. Licentiousness treats the gospel as a license to sin — a position Rich addresses plainly: if that is your view of salvation, you are not saved. The lesson closes with the opening of Christian pragmatism and the seeker-friendly movement's "end justifies the means" approach to church ministry.

A clarifying lesson for anyone thinking carefully about where Christian ethics goes off course.

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