Anytime one says they want a "biblical" anything, it is a pursuit wrought with complexity. The bible of the Protestant is not the bible of the Roman Catholic, or of the Orthodox church. The bible of the Southern Baptist is not the bible of the United Church of Christ. While Protestant Christians have the same collection of books in their bibles, they have different approaches to translation. Some say the King James Version is the only true bible. Some say the best bibles are the ones that are easily read by contemporary culture. The grand English of King James is inaccessible, they argue, to most of our increasingly illiterate society in American.
And that is just the written complexity. Then there are traditions of interpretation and application that differ from church to church, person to person. Some read the bible accepting each word on the page to be straight from God's mouth. Indeed, scripture itself witnesses to this view.
Jesus in a debate with priests and teachers of the law said,
"Isn't it written in your law, I said, you are gods ? If He called those whom the word of God came to 'gods'—and the Scripture cannot be broken— do you say, 'You are blaspheming' to the One the Father set apart and sent into the world, because I said: I am the Son of God? (Jn. 10:34-36)
In this case He is reasoning that scripture is solidly authoritative and never changes. It is revered as such by the Jews and the early church.
Paul instructs his protege Timothy that "All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17)."
Peter says of the prophets' writings,
"you should know this: no prophecy of Scripture comes from one's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, moved by the Holy Spirit, men spoke from God (2 Pet. 1:20-21)."
Others read the scripture as a collection of writings by limited and fallible humans that wrote according to their faith. While their writings are inspired and good for instruction, they are not writing in stone so as to enslave the church under the tyranny of an unchangeable law.
Paul wrote how in Jesus Christ the old "everlasting" covenant had given way to a new covenant through Jesus Christ. Old customs and restrictions of the former covenant did not apply to Gentile converts. His most striking example of this is in Galatians. God established with Abram an everlasting sign of the covenant through circumcision (Gen. 17: 13b-14). But Paul states, in light of what God is doing in Jesus Christ, "in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision accomplishes anything; what matters is faith working through love (Gal. 5:6)."
So we see with in scripture itself a departure. Where some would keep the church under the strict literal interpretation of each word and verse recorded in our canon, our measuring rod, others would appeal to what God is doing as the greater authority.
"He (God) has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit produces life (2 Cor. 3:6)."
As I step forward toward a "biblical understanding" of morality, I have to decide which bible, of which interpretative camp do I stand. For myself I tend to gravitate toward the view that scripture has one singular purpose...to put readers in a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
Jesus told his religious opponents, "You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, yet they testify about Me. And you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life (Jn. 5:39-30)."
The United Methodist Church's doctrine of scripture says that the bible "containeth all things necessary unto salvation (UMC Articles of Religion; Article V)." In that I understand that the bible is less about rule and letter of the law and more about an unfolding revelation of God's work of redemption through Israel and Israel's promised Messiah, Jesus Christ. Once the heart understands what God has done, is doing and will do through Christ, a decision must be made. Belief or unbelief in this biblical narrative is essential to receiving the gift of eternal life, the saving knowledge of God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ through the indwelling Holy Spirit.
In summary, a biblical understanding is to accept the scriptural revelation that God so loves the world that He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die an atoning death and to rise from the grave conquering it's power. Through faith humanity shares Christ's victory over sin and death. And God builds His holy community who reflect His goodness.
Next let's us tackle what me mean by "morality."
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