Analysis Of The Relationship Of Gushee And Stassen’s Kingdom Ethics With Martin Luther’s Ideas

In this essay, I will be discussing the connections and variances Gushee and Stassen share with Martin Luther and their discussion of Christian ethics. I will take a closer look at reform ethics, but more specifically the emphases of dualism. In the discussion about reformed ethics and the Kingdom of God I will determine the stance each takes, that of God or that of man. I side with Gushee and Stassen. Before looking specifically at dualism it will help to look at the Kingdom of God and some key points Gushee and Stassen discuss as well as some key points of Christian Ethics in general.

Gushee and Stassen start Kingdom Ethics stating that the Bible is not flat and should be read from a Christ-centered hermeneutic. Next, the discussion of teleological reasoning, actions based on consequences, and deontological reasoning, actions that are inherently right or wrong. The focus on principles in moral reasoning directs one away from situationism and legalism in moral decision making. They point out that it is not enough to teach someone right from wrong but one needs the character that can lead them to decide to do the right and resist the wrong. The kingdom of God is a way of life that should reverse human worldly values. The salvation that comes from the Kingdom of God includes “deliverance from oppression and injustice, from guilt and death, from war and slavery and imprisonment and exile. ” Gushee and Stassen portray us as co-workers with God. To relate back to the fundamental teaching of the sermon on the mount, the key to righteousness in the kingdom is obeying the commandments of the law as interpreted by Jesus.

To elaborate more on Gushee and Stassens argument for Kingdom Ethics it is important to understand the expectations of Christians. Jesus asks that his followers depend on God. Those who choose to follow God should be humble, turn the other cheek, rely on Him, and strive to please Him in all areas. Gushee and Stassen emphasize that we are to engage in the qualities of beatitudes but to focus on those qualities is not enough. To focus on “being rather than doing” is a vital error. The key to Kingdom Ethics is instead following Jesus and his interpretations. One of the hot topics Gushee and Stassen discuss is dualism, two opposing elements. In this case, the dualism is between God and the world. Gushee and Stassen root their argument in the Sermon on the Mount. They refer to Justin Martyr, specifically pointing out his creation of a divide between the authority of God and the authority of the Emperor. He states that only worship should be guided by God while everything else is controlled by worldly leaders. Justin Martyr is not alone though, Gushee and Stassen also point out Martin Luther’s own adoption of dualism. To Luther, God through his omnipotence created thought and everything within it. He believed nothing existed without God. His belief in God’s omnipotence was so solid that he ditched the belief of free will. He believed God was in charge of all things, good and evil. The devil and God may will the same things but the purpose is never the same. God is ultimately compassionate while the devil’s purpose is to destroy.

A look through history shows that life, as designed by God, will be attempted to be altered to reach the desires of the world. The idea of allowing this to happen is that the Sermon on the Mount is out of reach or, defined as “lovely sentiments but impossible for an ethically realistic practical living. ” This being thought allows Christians to search for some other ethic. Gushee and Stassen rebuke this idea stating that the teaching of the sermon is meant to be followed and the sermon states that as well. Following is a three-fold structure to challenge us, as humans, in interpreting the sermon. The first teaching is on righteousness which is then followed by an example of cycles that lead to unjust outcomes (ex. Being angry), but the highlight of the three-fold structure is the grace-based guidance (ex. Make friends). This transforms a situation or relationship from negative to positive. To dig even deeper, Jesus was sent to make peace between humans. Grace is the ultimate kingdom ethic as told by Gushee and Stassen. Taking a look at Gushee and Stassen’s approach compared with that of reform ethics, they are quite easy to contrast. Reform ethics has 3 main points which are that of faith alone, distrust in reason, and two spheres.

In this essay I will be focusing specifically on the two spheres because I find that the most intriguing. As stated above, Martin Luther, was a huge advocate for the two spheres. Martin Luther, an ethicist, known for his writing of Temporal Authority argued for the division between God and the world. His teachings basically state believers belong to God and non-believers belong to the world. His thoughts are that believers need no worldly ruling because they can do no wrong. However, non believers need worldly rules because otherwise, they would run wild. Martin Luther speaks of the two spheres as principal practices. Luther’s belief in Temporal Authority does not pin Christian Kingdom vs. the wordly Kingdom but instead divides them into different categories of power so that Christians can be ruled by the Word and those of the world can be ruled by Gods legislators, those he picked. One Kingdom can not overtake another due to the separate jobs they fulfill. One produce decency and the other to prevent evil actions. Gushee and Stassen believe that we should look to God for the principles in all areas of our life and not just religious areas. Therefore, they believe that there should not be a division. Reform ethics, specifically dualism, stress the division of two worlds’. Believers are ruled over directly by God, whereas nonbelievers are ruled over by messengers.

Luther defines this as “true believers, Christians who do not commit sin and are lead by the Holy Spirit, incapable of doing wrong. ” Kingdom Ethics and Reform ethics refute each other here. Gushee and Stassen tell how many people tend to stray away from Christ’s teachings for fear that they will let him down and not be able to follow his commandments as those on the Sermon. To them, we are to look at scripture as a threefold transformative initiative to break the barrier between God and the world. Looking at the four dimensions along with Kingdom Ethics and Reform Ethics it can get quite messy. If we follow Luther’s logic, we fail to obey some of the basic convictions such as Christlikeness. On the other hand, only taking into account the worldly needs would be impractical, failing to obey the embodied context square. A good example of a difference the two views would have would be in the way of reasoning square. In this square, people with Luther’s logic may make particular decisions based off if they are of the world or of God but looking at the Kingdom Ethics logic people should strive to make the right decisions regardless, to aspire to be more Christ-like.

As you can see both Luther as well as Gushee and Stassen’s views are necessary to have a uniform ethic. To conclude, I believe Gushee and Stassen “doing’s not dualism” is more effective than Luther’s belief that we, as humans can’t live up to God’s standards. Kingdom Ethics is more proper.