accepts the idea that ethics are by definition objective and universal in nature, then in a sense nontheistic ethics are really not ethics at all. Indeed, while secular ethics serve to promote order, oftentimes they are merely a means by which people further their own self-interests and ideas under the guise of morality, “call[ing] evil good and good evil” (Isa 5:20). A second distinctive of biblical ethics is that it is not a means of earning favor with God but rather is the natural result of righteousness