Moral Questions of the Bible
Timeless Truth in a Changing World
David Instone-Brewer
Moral Questions of the Bible: Timeless Truth in a Changing World
Scripture in Context Series
Copyright 2019 David Instone-Brewer
Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225
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Unless otherwise noted, Bible quotations are from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Scripture quotations marked (esv) are from ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (kjv) are from the King James Version. Public domain.
Earlier versions of some chapters in this book appeared as articles in Premier Christianity magazine (www.premierchristianity.com). Used by permission.
Print ISBN 978-1-68-359295-2
Digital ISBN 978-1-68-359296-9
Lexham Editorial Team: Elliot Ritzema, Danielle Thevenaz
Cover Design: Owen Craft
How do we use the Bible as a foundation for Christian morality? Answering this question is tough, because the world has changed a lot since Bible times, and even the New and Old Testaments are clearly different. So how can we decide which rules were for them and which ones still apply to us?
Section 1: Taking the Moral Questions of the Bible Seriously
God doesn’t change his mind, but he sometimes has to change his methods to achieve the same purpose. Laws that worked in the Old Testament world can have a detrimental effect today.
2. Finding Fixed Morals for a Changing World
New Testament Christians act differently from Old Testament saints, so how can we know what is right for modern-day Christians? We can work it out, case by case, from the historical and biblical context.
3. Focusing on the Purposes behind the Laws
The psalmist loves God’s commands, but they can become a burden when applied wrongly. Jesus criticized Pharisaic stringency, but the church soon started down similar paths.
In Bible times, babies were killed just after birth instead of just before. Newly converted Gentile Christians were given only four absolute moral prohibitions—including a condemnation of this practice.
Paul disqualified church leaders whose children were disorderly. Unlike Roman parents, we are no longer responsible for legally punishing crimes by those in our household. So what is our role when children rebel?
The Bible appears to be full of miraculous babies, but there is also childlessness. Unlike other literature of the time, the ...
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About Moral Questions of the Bible: Timeless Truth in a Changing WorldAre all the moral commands of the Bible meant to be obeyed exactly for all time, or are there some that need to be adapted for our modern world? Scripture contains lots of guidance on ethical issues, including statements about polygamy, slavery, divorce, sex, and other things that sound strange to our modern ears. Even Christians, who believe the Bible is God’s word, disagree on whether women should wear head coverings, whether Christians can ever lie, whether women should preach, and whether Christians should drink alcohol. How can we resolve these issues and figure out how to apply the Bible to our lives? David Instone-Brewer helps answer this question by showing how the Bible’s moral commands were understood in their ancient cultural context. The more we understand what God and the biblical authors intended to communicate to the original audience, the better we will be able to make sense of how to apply those commands today. In brief chapters that address a wide variety of moral issues, Instone-Brewer equips Bible readers with a paradigm they can use to discern matters for themselves: Is a biblical command timeless or time-bound? If the command itself is time-bound, what is the timeless purpose behind it? And how do we remain faithful to the Bible’s commands today even when handling subjects the Bible does not address? |
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