Biblical Readings and Moral Decision Making

Renee P

5 April 2013

This week I had to read several excerpts from the Bible that relate to the issue of moral

decision making.  What does the Bible support?  I learned that scholars have found that it 

can support all three areas of normative ethics: virtue ethics, duty-based ethics, and 

consequentialist ethics.  I will take a look at where virtue ethics is believed to be found in 

the Bible.

In Matthew 5:17-48 Jesus gives his Sermon on the Mount.  He states that we won’t even 

consider following the law until we look within ourselves and at what we believe in.  For 

example, if someone is against texting while driving because they lost someone who did so, 

then they won’t even need a law to tell them that it is illegal.  Jesus uses the example of 

murder and the fact that it is illegal isn’t the only reason someone shouldn’t commit this 

act.  Your inner moral compass should tell you that it is not okay to kill someone else.

However, as I learned in Romans 7:14-25, it isn’t always as easy as doing what your moral 

character is telling you.  Paul confesses that his desires are sometimes to strong for him to 

control and he does things he doesn’t understand.  He knows what he is doing isn’t right 

but he does it anyways.  I take from this that although we try to do good, sometimes it just 

isn’t that easy.  We are human and we will sin but thankfully, God will forgive us.

The New Interpreter's Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha.  Walter J. Harrelson, general editor.  Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003. Print.