the spiritual question, gets back to the essence of the revelation in
Christ, and from this derives some models of conduct that are
consistent with faith and love. The church did not do this. It set
itself on the same level as the world and treated moral matters on
the moral plane. When a political question is treated merely as a
political question, and a social question merely as a social
question...the gospel becomes morality with a whitewash of
theological terms." 21Contemporary issues where this same process continues
to happen might include civil rights, abortion, euthanasia,
etc.
The present situation in Christian ecclesiasticism is but
a perpetuation of the ignorance and defiant independence
that fails to differentiate between Christian behavior and
morality. There is an almost wholesale failure to recognize
the radical newness of new covenant Christianity and the
dynamic of the life of Jesus Christ. Instead, religion reverts
back to old covenant legalism and moralism. Repeatedly
religion wants to construct a so-called "Christian Ethic" on
the regulatory concept of the Ten Commandments. What an
absurdity! What an abominable misrepresentation of
Christianity! What an idolatrous substitution of law and
moral code for grace, of formula and technique for
freedom, of principles of goodness for God.
Christianity – Christian living – is the life of Jesus
Christ lived out through us. Such is antithetical to all