How do we do the right thing at work? (Part 1 of a series)

Is this a question you’ve ever asked yourself? You may want to do the right thing, but how do you figure out what it is? How do you know what God wants you to do? How do you know what the Bible says?

TOW Project has a lot of resources on our site to address these questions–the fancy theological word for studying these problems is “ethics”–and we’re going to start working through some of them in this space.

We’ll start, like Maria in the Sound of Music, at the “very beginning” with defining what ethics are, how thinkers and believers through the ages have historically decided what was the right thing to do, and what the Bible says about the topic.  Then we’ll get into some “tough cases” from actual workplaces.

As always, you can read the full articles these excerpts are drawn from–with more case studies, Bible verses, and testimonies– and other articles like them at our website.   More articles on ethics besides the one we’ll highlight in this blogspace can be found here, including some from our newly online Romans commentary!

Today we’ll start by talking about what ethics is:

The word “ethics” comes from the Greek word ethos, which has two meanings in common Greek usage: habit or custom, and ordinance or law. Usage in the New Testament includes both of these dimensions. For example, in Acts 25:16 it is usually translated “custom” (“it was not the custom of the Romans to hand over anyone”), whereas in 1 Cor. 15:33 it is translated as “morals”or “character” (“Bad company ruins good morals,” NIV).  The two words — ethics and morals — are often used interchangeably.

But what does it mean to have Christian ethics? Here’s what one author says about it:

“Christian ethics is the attempt to provide a framework and method for making decisions, that seeks to honor God as revealed in Scripture, follow the example of Jesus and be responsive to the Spirit, to achieve outcomes that further God’s purposes in the world.”

People often distinguish three different kinds of approaches to deciding what is right and wrong: command (is an action right or wrong according to “the rules”?), consequences (will the action bring good or bad results?), and character (is the person doing the action a good person with good motives?)  We’ll start unpacking these in subsequent posts. Stay tuned!