Are Moral Truths Universal or Personal?
Today we’re starting a new 4 week teaching series called Kingdom Thinking. In this series we’re providing biblical responses to the following four relevant questions: (1st) Are Moral Truths Universal or Personal? (2nd) Are Christianity and Science Friends or Foes? (3rd) Is Artificial Intelligence Helpful or Harmful? (4th) Is Social Media Connecting or Changing Humanity? Over the next 4 weeks we’re providing biblical responses to these relevant questions, and it’s a great opportunity to invite some of your friends, including your skeptical friends. So who’s at least one person you can invite next week?...Who’s at least one friend, family member, co-worker, teammate, neighbor you can invite next week?...Remember it’s invitations that leads to transformations, so let’s invite, and let’s pray for those we invite.
But this is the 1st week in our Kingdom Thinking series, and today we’re addressing the question Are Moral Truths Universal or Personal? Are moral truths, moral laws universal for everyone in every generation, or is morality a personal decision, and each person should decide what’s right and wrong for themselves? It’s a relevant question, because we live in a culture where the trending belief is, “You do you...You do whatever you want to do! You believe whatever you want to believe! If it makes you feel good and happy, then go for it! You do you...” But is that really a good belief to live by?...Is that really a good belief for you, me, people in our society to live by?...What do you think would happen to our marriages, our families, our society, if everyone decided their own moral standards?...The you do you mentality believes morality isn’t universal, it’s personal. It’s up to each person, and so you do you...But the question we’re addressing today is whether that belief is true, and if it’s a good belief to live by? We’re addressing the question Are Moral Truths Universal or Personal, and which is the better moral standard for us and our society to live by? Let’s turn to Romans 2 and get into it. If you’re new to the bible you can find Romans in the last quarter of the bible, and we’ll be in Romans 2:1-15. The title of today’s message is Are Moral Truths Universal or Personal, and the big idea of the message is moral truths are written in us, before they’re written by us...Moral truths are written in us, before they’re written by us...
Here’s your context. We know historically that Romans was written by the Apostle Paul, who was a highly educated man and an enemy of Christianity. But in 35 A.D. he had an interaction with Jesus that transformed his life forever, and he became a Christian. He wrote Romans to teach Christians in Rome about Jesus and the gospel that transformed his life. In ch. 2 he teaches them that both skeptics and believers, are guilty of breaking God’s moral laws. So let’s check it out.
Romans 2:1-15 states, “Therefore, everyone who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another person, you condemn yourself, since you do the same things.” Paul’s specifically talking about self-righteous religious people, who think they’re morally superior over others. He ends ch. 1 by addressing the sins of skeptics and irreligious people, but here he’s addressing the sins of believers and self-righteous religious people. He’s saying, “Don’t think you’re morally superior over others just because you’re a Christian, because the truth is you do the same things! The truth is you sin and break God’s moral laws too!” He's making it clear that both skeptics and believers are without excuse, because everybody sins and breaks God’s moral laws.
In fact he says in vs. 1 that everyone who judges is without excuse! That includes both skeptics and believers, because we all sometimes act like judges. We all sometimes act like we’re morally superior over others, declaring verdicts that we’re right and others are wrong. We all sometimes declare guilty verdicts over our spouse, parents, children, siblings, people in society, and everybody else except ourselves. But Paul’s saying you need to look in the mirror because you do the same things! You can’t claim you’re morally superior over others when you’re just as guilty of breaking God’s laws as everyone else. This is the hypocrisy of the you do you mentality and believing morality’s a personal decision. It’s hypocritical because people like to claim you do you, but it’s only until somebody crosses their moral standards. As soon as somebody crosses their moral standards, they stop believing morality’s a personal decision, and start becoming universal moral judges with a gavel. Whenever you declare something is wrong, you’re declaring that there’s a universal moral standard you expect others to follow. Paul agrees that there’s a universal moral standard to follow, but he disagrees with us being the judges who determine what those universal moral standards are. It’s because nobody’s morally superior enough, to determine those standards.
Again vs. 1, “Therefore, every one of you who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another person, you condemn yourself, since you do the same things. 2 Now we know God’s judgment on those who do such things is based on the truth. 3 Do you think anyone of you who judges those who do such things, will escape God’s judgment? 4 Do you despise the riches of God’s kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing his kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? 5 Because of your hardened and unrepentant heart, you’re storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed.” Notice Paul says God’s judgment is always based on the truth, and it’s always a righteous judgment. That’s different than human judgment which sometimes twists the truth, and sometimes makes unrighteous judgments. Paul’s saying God’s judgment is always based on the truth, it’s always a righteous judgment, and so God’s the only true Judge, who has the moral superiority to determine what our universal moral standards should be. Former Yale Law Professor Arthur Leff states, “In the absence of God, who among us ought to be able to declare a law that should be obeyed?...Either God exists, or he doesn’t. But if he doesn’t, then nobody can take his place.” In other words if God doesn’t exist, then who gets to play judge? Who gets to determine what’s morally right and wrong? The answer is nobody, because we aren’t morally superior like God. We’re all sinful people who don’t always make true and righteous judgments like God, so we aren’t the best ones for determining what’s morally right and wrong. Paul’s saying God’s the only true Judge, who has the moral superiority, the true and righteous judgment, to determine what our universal moral standards should be.
But he’s also saying God will judge everyone based on how we’re living out those universal moral standards, which he’s already said we’re all failing at. He’s making a case for why we all need Jesus, and it’s because we’ve all sinned, we’ve all broken God’s universal moral standards. He’s making a case for why Jesus needed to come to die for our sins on the cross, and it was to save us from the judgment we deserve for breaking God’s universal moral standards. So from a biblical perspective, we believe there’s a universal Judge, a universal moral standard, a universal judgment, and a universal need for Jesus to save us from that judgment. Now from a cultural perspective, we agree there needs to be judges, moral standards, and judgments against people who break those moral standards. It’s why we have a legal system and prisons. But if morality is just a personal decision, then why do we need judges?...Why do we need a legal system and prisons?... We don’t need any of that if each person gets to decide their own morality. But the reason we have those things, is because there’s a universal moral conviction in our hearts telling us there’s a right and wrong way to live. There’s a universal moral conviction in our hearts telling us we need to have universal moral standards. Paul’s mention this universal moral conviction in our hearts next.
Vs. 12, “For all who sin without the law will also perish without the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For the hearers of the law are not righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified. 14 So when Gentiles who don’t by nature have the law, do what the law demands, they are a law to themselves even though they don’t have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their consciences confirm this.”This is where we get the big idea of the message from. It’s that moral truths are written in us, before they’re written by us. In vs. 15 Paul says they’re written on our hearts. He says they’re written on the hearts of even those who are skeptics, and their conscience confirms this! His point is if there’s no God, no universal moral law that God’s written on your heart, then why does your conscience care so much?...Why does your conscience accuse you and cause you to feel guilty over doing certain things?...I mean in the natural world a lion doesn’t care or feel guilty over eating a Zebra. It’s because in the Darwinian natural world animals don’t care about morality, they care about survival. If we’re just evolved creatures like lions, then we shouldn’t care either! We shouldn’t care about being moral animals; we should care about being the fittest animals. We shouldn’t care about right or wrong; we should care about doing whatever’s needed for survival. But the reason that isn’t the case with humans, is because we’ve been given a moral conscience, a universal moral law written on our hearts by God. Our conscience confirms this, but so does the fact that moral standards exist in every culture! Former Professor at George Washington University Calvin Linton states, “There’s a basic pattern among ethical codes. Things like murder, lying, and adultery are almost always condemned. The universality of ethical senses, the oughtness of conduct, and the similarities within the codes of diverse cultures, indicates there’s a common moral heritage for all mankind that materialism or naturalism can’t explain.” But the bible explains what materialism and naturalism can’t explain. It explains there’s a universal Judge who’s written his universal moral standard on our hearts. So are moral truths universal or personal? The biblical response is they’re universal, because God’s written his moral law in our hearts, and our conscience confirms this. But that being said, there are three questions I think we need to consider regarding this topic.
1st Are there some situations where moral laws aren’t universal? = The answer is no, because God’s moral character doesn’t change. While cultures shift and new situations arise, the moral laws rooted in God's character remain constant. But what does change is how we live out those laws in different contexts. For example, today we face challenges like internet pornography, which is something people in biblical times didn’t have. But God’s moral standards regarding adultery, sexual ethics, and idolatry still apply. So the context is different, and the way we live out those moral standards is different, but the principle behind those moral standards remains the same. God’s moral laws don’t change; but how we apply those moral laws does change.
2nd How do we handle situations where there’s a moral dilemma? = It’s true that we’ll sometimes face situations that create moral dilemmas. A moral dilemma is when there’s no clear “right” answer for something, or when there are two moral laws in conflict with each other. For example, people faced this during WWII when they were hiding Jews from the Nazis. They had to decide between lying or saving lives, and many people lied to the Nazis to save Jewish lives. We faced a moral dilemma with the COVID vaccine, where some people felt it was a moral responsibility to get the vaccine while others didn’t. When we’re facing moral dilemmas and there isn’t a clear “right” biblical answer, the best thing to do is to pray and follow the moral conviction God puts on our hearts. We need to pray and follow our moral conscience, like Paul says.
3rd Is believing that morality is a personal decision good for society? = The answer is no, it isn’t good for society. The reason is because it means there can’t be any standard of morality. Why? Because you can’t tell anyone what they’re doing is right or wrong, since it’s based on each person’s moral opinions. You can’t tell someone like Hitler what he’s doing is wrong, because Hitler believed what he was doing was right. He believed killing the Jews was a good thing, and you can’t say it’s wrong since it’s his moral opinion. In fact we couldn’t even have a legal system, because people on trial could say, “You say I’m guilty, but that’s just your opinion judge. You do you and I’ll do me. Since there isn’t any universal moral standard, you need to let me go free.” If there’s no moral law, then people are free to do whatever they want without moral accountability. We’re seeing this in our culture with the my body my choice issue, and the decision to let biological males play in female sports. We’re seeing this even in the Western American Church with some Pastors and Christians teaching selective morality instead of biblical morality. They’re selecting to believe and follow only the biblical moral laws that are aligned with their personal opinions. It’s because if there’s no universal moral laws, then it’s all just personal opinions, and people are free to do whatever they want. It’s like G.K. Chesterton states, “If there’s no moral law, then there’s no moral obligation to be tolerant, honest, or even kind.” If there’s no universal moral laws, then human cruelty can’t be determined as any worse than human kindness. But if morality is universal, if it’s written in the bible and on the fabric of our hearts like Paul says, then it means there’s a right and wrong way to live. It’s to live by the universal moral standards God’s given us.
Author Kelly Monroe Kullberg states, “Truth yields life. If we’re sailors lost at sea, we need true north. If we’re branches on a tree hoping to bear fruit, we need connection to a true vine. Truth tells us where we are, who we are, to whom we belong, and the real story in which we can fully live. It seems to me that our American culture in its present condition, is politics, marketing schemes, and politically correct slogans of professors, politicians, and media that often lead to the death of the soul and the body. Lies lead to death and a culture of death, but the truth sets people free for life.” Jesus said in John 14, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” It’s Jesus who’s the true north to our souls! It’s Jesus who came to set us free from the wrath of God’s judgment we deserve for our sins, for breaking God’s universal moral standards. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son, and whoever believes in him will not perish, but shall have eternal life.” That’s a universal invitation for salvation to whoever believes. It’s a universal invitation for salvation to whoever puts their faith in Jesus and trusts him as their Savior. To whoever trusts him as the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is the true north of our souls! He’s good news for everyone, in every culture, in every generation!
The big idea of the message is that moral truths are written in us, before they’re written by us...Moral truths are written in us, before they’re written by us...Paul says God’s moral laws are written in our hearts, before they’re written by us. Our moral conscience, comes from God. Our belief that there’s a right and wrong way to live, comes from God. Our desire for justice when somebody does something morally wrong, comes from God. It all comes from God, because God’s moral truths are written in us, before they’re written by us. If you’re a skeptic, let the moral law written in your heart point you to Jesus who wrote it in your heart. Let it point you to put your faith and trust in Jesus not just as a good moral teacher, but as your perfect judge and merciful Savior.
If you’re a believer, be willing to speak moral truths to people. But do it in humble and loving ways, not self-righteous and morally superior ways. Follow the voice of the Holy Spirit working through your conscience, telling you to walk away from whatever sins are poisoning your life. Repent of those sins, but then thank Jesus for dying for those sins. Have an attitude of gratitude for Jesus taking the wrath of God’s judgment you deserved for breaking his moral laws. Take what Jesus did for you on the cross seriously enough to want to live out his moral laws as an expression of your love. Take what he did for you on the cross seriously enough to want to live out your faith not just on a Sunday, but on a Monday-Sunday. Don’t just have a Sunday morning faith, have a Monday through Sunday faith. Give your heart to the one, who wrote his moral laws on your heart.