I was listening to a sermon the other day, in which the preacher said, “Christianity is not about morality. It’s not about right and wrong. It’s about a relationship.” It’s not the first time I’ve heard that phrase, or something like it, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. In fact, I’m sure that I’ve used it myself in the past. I know what it’s trying to say. I just can’t help feeling that we’ve got the right argument for the wrong moment in history.
There was a time when we lived in a much more monocultural place. There was also a time when most people went to church. There was a day when the rituals of religious observance were part of everyday life, and most people thought of themselves as Christian because they were basically upright and good. In that context, it makes sense to talk about relationship, not morality. But I can’t help feeling that the statement now miscommunicates.
In the face of rampant secularism, the issue is precisely whether God is moral or not. That is one of the constant attacks against Christianity. The doctrine of atonement is ‘cosmic child abuse’. God’s call in the Old Testament to punish some sins by death displays God’s meanness, or so the story goes. Christian morality is being held up to ridicule as compassionless—for example, why do Christians oppose euthanasia, abortion and embryonic stem cell research when these all make for a less painful world?
I know that the word ‘morality’ is fraught with unhelpful associations, and we must not turn the Christian faith into a list of rules and regulations. But is not the greater problem in today’s world that the validity of Jesus’ lordship is in question? When we say that Christianity is not about morality, are we suggesting that a relationship with Jesus isn’t about obedience?
My feeling is that the question of ethics is one of the places where the lordship of Jesus clearly has something to offer our world. The Christian vision of the good life—the life of love defined by the character of God and his word—is the genuinely good life. Rather than saying that Christianity isn’t about morality, should we be saying that Jesus’ lordship, and submission to him as our ruler, is the only hope for the future of our world? Do we concede too much when we say that Christianity is not about morality?
