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<\/a><\/p>\nGiven that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, why should Christians bother with good works or try to avoid sin? \u00a0This question is as old as Romans 6:1, but it continues to bedevil many Christians, from naive teenagers who think that their baptism or \u201cdecision for Christ\u201d means that they can now sin with impunity to sophisticated theologians who flirt with antinomianism.<\/p>\n
I came across an article that I am finding very helpful in thinking about\u00a0moral issues in light of the Gospel: \u00a0Jeff Mallinson\u2019s\u00a0\u201cVirtue Ethics and Its Application Within Lutheran Congregations,\u201d in Issues in Christian Education<\/a>.<\/p>\n There are many facets to ethics\u2013understanding the nature of goodness and evil, determining whether something is right or wrong, applying ethical principles to particular issues. \u00a0Virtue ethics focuses on\u00a0the\u00a0character<\/em> of the person who acts ethically or non-ethically. \u00a0Virtue ethics asks questions like these: \u00a0What kind of person commits adultery? \u00a0How can someone become the kind of person who does not<\/em> commit adultery?<\/p>\n Virtue ethics was pioneered by Aristotle, who emphasized the cultivation of good habits, and \u201ccharacter formation\u201d has become a staple of Roman Catholicism and Christian schools. \u00a0But many Lutherans, leery of Aristotelianism and salvation by \u201cmerit,\u2019 have reacted against virtue ethics. \u00a0How can human beings who are, in the words of the rite of confession, \u201cby nature sinful and unclean\u201d ever attain \u201cvirtue\u201d? \u00a0And yet, advocates of virtue ethics have included Lutherans, such as Joel Bierman<\/a>, the great ethicist Gilbert Meilaender<\/a>, and Philip Melanchthon<\/a>.<\/p>\n As Prof. Mallinson explains it, Luther sets forth an approach to virtue ethics. \u00a0But it is nothing like Aristotle\u2019s.<\/p>\n For Luther, the Gospel makes\u00a0us into a different kind of person: a Christian, who acts differently because he or she has a new nature. \u00a0The Gospel also gives us freedom, liberating us from the bondage of our wills to sin and thus also liberating us from the overscrupulous parsing\u00a0of rules or calculating how much we can or cannot get away with. \u00a0We come before God clothed in Christ, who has borne the punishment for our sins and imputed to us His righteousness. \u00a0Whereupon God calls\u00a0us into the world to love and serve our neighbors, vocation being the realm of good works.<\/p>\n But those good works come not from efforts to acquire merit, nor even from forming good habits. \u00a0Rather, they come as we grow in faith by means of Word and Sacrament. \u00a0That is, as Christ transforms us. \u00a0Christians are continually confronted by the Law and forgiven through\u00a0the Gospel. \u00a0By continual\u00a0confession and absolution, hearing God\u2019s Word and receiving Christ\u2019s Body and Blood\u2013all of which happen in the Divine Service\u2013Christians are transformed into different kinds of people, receptive to God\u2019s Will and sensitive to their neighbors, hating sin especially in themselves and yearning to please God, which they learn through the third use of the law.<\/p>\n Yes, we\u00a0are still sinners, but we\u00a0are also saints. \u00a0It isn\u2019t that we\u00a0oscillate between one and the other, as is often assumed. Prof. Mallinson quotes\u00a0Mark Mattes, \u201cDiscipleship in Lutheran Perspective,\u201d\u00a0Lutheran Quarterly\u00a0<\/em>26 (2012), 149<\/a>:<\/p>\n The Christian life is no perpetually reoccurring oscillation between law and Gospel, accusation and liberation. Not oscillation but simultaneity\u2014simul\u00a0iustus et peccator\u2014\u00a0<\/em>characterizes Christians, even when they flee from God as wrath to God as mercy. Nevertheless, it is precisely God\u2019s Word defining this\u00a0simul\u00a0<\/em>that opens another dimension\u2014the horizon of living\u00a0outside\u00a0<\/em>oneself, first of all in honoring God, the source of goodness, and second, in serving the neighbor. As new beings, we are not trapped in the oscillation because the Gospel\u2019s goal is to effectuate trust in God\u2019s promise which allows us to live outside ourselves in God and the neighbor.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Prof. Mallinson says that virtue ethics\u2013that is, the formation of Christian character in the Christian life\u2013is not just cultivated in the Divine Service, the primary function of which is to proclaim\u00a0the Gospel. \u00a0Since virtue, in this sense, has to do with our life in the world, it should be cultivated in the world: \u00a0in church activities, to be sure,\u2013in Christian education and in interactions with other Christians\u2013but also in the family and in Christian schools. \u00a0And, I would add, as we face trials and tribulations in faith, and as we struggle in our vocations.<\/p>\n Notice how St. Paul ties together the Gospel, the experiences of life, and \u201ccharacter,\u201d which in turn circles back to the Gospel:<\/p>\n Therefore, since we have been justified by faith,\u00a0we[a<\/a>]<\/sup>\u00a0have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.<\/span>\u00a02\u00a0<\/sup>Through him we have also\u00a0obtained access by faith[b<\/a>]<\/sup>\u00a0into this grace\u00a0in which we stand, and\u00a0we[c<\/a>]<\/sup>\u00a0rejoice[d<\/a>]<\/sup>\u00a0in hope of the glory of God.<\/span>\u00a03\u00a0<\/sup>Not only that, but we\u00a0rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering\u00a0produces endurance,<\/span>\u00a04\u00a0<\/sup>and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,<\/span>\u00a05\u00a0<\/sup>and\u00a0hope does not put us to shame, because God\u2019s love\u00a0has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Photo by John Snyder (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 Given that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, why should Christians bother with good works or try to avoid sin? \u00a0This question is as old as Romans 6:1, but it continues to bedevil many Christians, from naive teenagers who think that their baptism or \u201cdecision for Christ\u201d means […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,47,48],"tags":[2826,446,1263,2530,5747,4003],"class_list":["post-29237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ethics","category-theology","category-vocation","tag-antinomianism","tag-christian-life","tag-law-gospel","tag-sanctification","tag-virtue-ethics","tag-vocation-and-sanctification"],"yoast_head":"\n\n