{"id":90746,"date":"2021-03-12T05:49:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-12T10:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/morality\/"},"modified":"2023-10-07T22:44:58","modified_gmt":"2023-10-08T02:44:58","slug":"morality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/morality\/","title":{"rendered":"Morality"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">1\nPeter 1:16: Because it is written, \u2018Be ye holy; for I am holy\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Every question asked of the Lord fell into one of four fundamental categories: origin, meaning, morality or destiny.&nbsp; From these four categories, all of the essentials of the faith may be addressed.&nbsp; So while people may be asking very diverse questions, the answers are actually found in one (or more) of these four basic categories.&nbsp; Morality is a code of conduct by which one lives his life.&nbsp; But who decides what is moral \u2013 what is right or wrong?&nbsp; For the Scriptural answer, we examine:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\n<li>Historical Context: 1 Peter 1:1 identifies the author of the book as the\nApostle Peter, likely written between 60 and 65 A.D.&nbsp; Peter understood persecution.&nbsp;He was\nbeaten, threatened, punished and jailed for preaching the Word of God.&nbsp;He\nknew what it took to stand strong.&nbsp;This knowledge of living hope in Jesus\nwas the message and Christ&#8217;s example was the one to follow.&nbsp;Peter handed down\nrules for wives, husbands, slaves, elders and people in general.&nbsp; Peter is in the midst of persecution which is\na result of standing firm upon Christ\u2019s teaching which, summarized, are the\nconvictions derived from the Lord\u2019s definitive declaration of right and\nwrong.&nbsp; These are not debatable,\namendable, subject to dispute or time-sensitive even in the midst of intense\npersecution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\n<li>Grammatical Usage:&nbsp; Peter is\nquoting from Leviticus 11:44 and Leviticus 19:2.&nbsp; \u201cHoly\u201d or \u201cqadosh\u201d in the Hebrew means,\n\u201cdistinct from the common or profane\u2026intrinsic to God, free of character\nimperfection, absolute separation between sacred and profane.\u201d&nbsp; [Anything less than\nfaithfulness to Biblical absolutes constitutes a rationalization which,\ndefined, is the lowering of a standard.&nbsp;\nThose who practice situation ethics, including believers, are guilty of\nrationalization.&nbsp; Those who challenge the\nconcept of moral absolutes should be asked if the absolutely believe that.&nbsp; The paradox of the question is that, no\nmatter how they answer, they must confirm the concept if not reality of moral\nabsolutes.] Consequently in 1 Peter 1:15, 16 the term means, \u201cfundamental\nseparation, devoted to God involving Divine demands upon the conduct of\nbelievers which is characteristically defined as \u2018godlikeness\u2019.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\n<li>Literal Application: chief implication being <strong>that which is \u201choly\u201d is not only distinct from the profane, but in\nopposition to it; definitive positioning without recourse; i.e., a conviction.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\n<li>Contextual\nInterpretation: &nbsp;&nbsp;<strong>What does it\nmean that God is holy?<\/strong> Passages like\n1 Samuel 2:2 and Isaiah 6:3 are just two of many examples of passages about\nGod\u2019s holiness. Another way to say it is absolute perfection. God is unlike any\nother (see Hosea 11:9), and His holiness is the essence of that \u201cotherness.\u201d\nHis very being is completely absent of even a trace of sin (James 1:13; Hebrews\n6:18). He is high above any other, and no one can compare to Him (Psalm 40:5).\nGod\u2019s holiness pervades His entire being and shapes all His attributes. His\nlove is a holy love, His mercy is holy mercy, and even His anger and wrath are\nholy anger and holy wrath. These concepts are difficult for humans to grasp,\njust as God is difficult for us to understand in His entirety.&nbsp; <strong>Next,\nwhat does it mean for us to be holy?<\/strong> When God told Israel to be\nholy in Leviticus 11 and 19, He was instructing them to be distinct from the\nother nations by giving them specific regulations to govern their lives. Israel is God&#8217;s\nchosen nation and God has set them apart from all other people groups. They\nare His special people, and consequently they were given standards that God\nwanted them to live by so the world would know they belonged to Him. For\nexample, the Ten Commandments are ten laws in the Bible that God gave to the\nnation of Israel shortly\nafter the exodus from Egypt.\nThe Ten Commandments are essentially a summary of the 600+ commandments\ncontained in the Old Testament Law. The first four commandments deal with our\nrelationship with God. The second six commandments deal with our relationships\nwith one another. When Peter repeats the\nLord&#8217;s words in 1 Peter 1:16, he is talking specifically to believers. As\nbelievers, we need to be &#8220;set apart&#8221; from the world unto the Lord,\nminding our relationship with Him as well as the world. We need to be living by\nGod&#8217;s standards, not the world&#8217;s. God isn&#8217;t calling us to be perfect, but to be\ndistinct from the world. First Peter 2:9 describes believers as &#8220;a holy\nnation.&#8221; It is a fact! We are separated from the world; we need to live\nout that reality in our day-to-day lives, which Peter tells us how to do in 1\nPeter 1:13-16.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\n<li>Scriptural Comparison: When we read of the &#8220;world&#8221; in the New\nTestament, we are reading the Greek word <em>cosmos<\/em>. <em>Cosmos<\/em> most\noften refers to the inhabited earth and the people who live on the earth, which\nfunctions apart from God. Satan is the ruler of this &#8220;cosmos&#8221; (John\n12:31; 16:11; 1 John 5:19). By the simple definition that the word <em>world<\/em>\nrefers to a world system ruled by Satan, we can more readily appreciate 1. Christ&#8217;s claims that believers are no longer of\nthe world\u2014we are no longer ruled by sin, nor are we bound by the principles of\nthe world. In addition, 2. we are being\nchanged into the image of Christ, causing our interest in the things of the\nworld to become less and less as we mature in Christ. &nbsp;Believers in Jesus Christ are simply in the\nworld\u2014physically present\u2014but not of it, <strong>not\npart nor a participant of its values<\/strong> (John 17:14-15). <strong>As believers, we should be set apart from the world. This is the\nmeaning of being holy and living a holy, righteous life\u2014to be set apart, but\nset apart according to the indisputable standards of right and wrong as\nestablished by God.<\/strong> We are not to engage in the sinful activities the\nworld promotes, nor are we to retain the insipid, corrupt mind that the world\ncreates. Rather, we are to conform ourselves, and our minds, to that of Jesus\nChrist (Romans 12:1-2). This is a daily activity and commitment.&nbsp; <strong>We\nmust also understand that being in the world, but not of it, is necessary if we\nare to be a light to those who are in spiritual darkness.<\/strong> We are to live\nin such a way that those outside the faith see our good deeds and our manner\nand know that there is something \u201cdifferent\u201d about us. Christians, who make\nevery effort to live, think and act like those who do not know Christ do Him a\ngreat disservice. Even the heathen knows that \u201cby their fruits you shall know\nthem,\u201d and as Christians, we should exhibit the fruit of the Spirit within us.&nbsp; Colossians 3:1-6 specifically instructs to,\n\u201c\u2026set our hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of\nthe Father.\u201d&nbsp; While more than just a list\nof \u201cdo\u2019s\u201d and \u201cdon\u2019ts,\u201d the Bible does give us detailed instructions on how to\nlive as a Christian should. The Bible is all we need to know about how to live\nthe Christian life. However, the Bible does not explicitly cover every single\nsituation we will face in our lives. How then is it sufficient?&nbsp; While God\u2019s Word may not cover each and every\nsituation we face throughout our lives, its convictions give us the standards\nby which we must carry ourselves in those situations where there are no\nexplicit instructions.&nbsp; <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Conclusion: Being \u201cin\u201d the\nworld also means we can enjoy the things of the world, such as the beautiful\ncreation God has given us, but we are not to immerse ourselves in what the\nworld values, nor are we to chase after worldly pleasures. Pleasure is no\nlonger our calling in life, as it once was, but rather the worship of God which\nis our \u201cdelight\u201d.&nbsp; It is important to\nremember that a worldview is comprehensive. It affects every area of life, from\nmoney to morality, from politics to art. True Christianity is more than a set\nof ideas to use at church. Christianity as taught in the Bible is itself a\nworldview \u2013 a complete way of life. The Bible never distinguishes between a\n\u201creligious\u201d and a \u201csecular\u201d life; the Christian life is the only life there is.\nJesus proclaimed Himself \u201cthe way, the truth, and the life\u201d (John 14:6) and, in\ndoing so, proclaimed that \u201c<strong>hodos<\/strong>\u201d or\nHe, Christ, is personified as the exclusive means of access to the Father; that\n\u201c<strong>aletheia<\/strong>\u201d or, He, Christ, is beyond\n\u201cethics\u201d but truth in fullness and scope perfectly expressed in word and deed;\nand that \u201c<strong>zoe<\/strong>\u201d is life intensive:\nlife in the absolute sense, eternal in the present actual possession\ninseparable from holiness and righteousness.&nbsp;\nHence, Christ is exclusive, perfect and absolute \u2013 in other words,\n\u201cHoly.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1 Peter 1:16: Because it is written, \u2018Be ye holy; for I am holy\u2019. Every question asked of the Lord fell into one of four fundamental categories: origin, meaning, morality or destiny.&nbsp; From these four categories, all of the essentials of the faith may be addressed.&nbsp; So while people may be asking very diverse questions, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[526,534],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Morality - Grace Evangelical Free Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Morality - Grace Evangelical Free Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"1 Peter 1:16: Because it is written, \u2018Be ye holy; for I am holy\u2019. Every question asked of the Lord fell into one of four fundamental categories: origin, meaning, morality or destiny.&nbsp; From these four categories, all of the essentials of the faith may be addressed.&nbsp; So while people may be asking very diverse questions, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/morality\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Grace Evangelical Free Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-12T10:49:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-08T02:44:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tony Raker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tony Raker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/morality\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/morality\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tony Raker\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#\/schema\/person\/6785bcea471ae92fb3660d811c5c74ef\"},\"headline\":\"Morality\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-12T10:49:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-08T02:44:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/morality\/\"},\"wordCount\":1489,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Issues &amp; Answers\",\"Life\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/morality\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/morality\/\",\"name\":\"Morality - Grace Evangelical Free Church\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-12T10:49:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-08T02:44:58+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/morality\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/\",\"name\":\"Grace Evangelical Free Church\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Grace Evangelical Free Church\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/gefc-logo-full-color-rgb.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/gefc-logo-full-color-rgb.svg\",\"width\":514,\"height\":259,\"caption\":\"Grace Evangelical Free Church\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#\/schema\/person\/6785bcea471ae92fb3660d811c5c74ef\",\"name\":\"Tony Raker\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/author\/pastor_admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Morality - Grace Evangelical Free Church","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Morality - Grace Evangelical Free Church","og_description":"1 Peter 1:16: Because it is written, \u2018Be ye holy; for I am holy\u2019. 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