Christianity is not about moral behavior.
Friday, December 17, 2010 at 2:33PM
Jim Robbins in New Covenant, assumptions that shape us, morality, new heart

Parents often get their young families to go 'back to church' in order to give their children a proper moral upbringing.  Adults often look to Christianity to provide a higher moral compass.  But Jesus never intended that to be the thrust of the new way of life he was offering. 

To be clear, the new-hearted love he was offering does, in fact, produce a responsible, moral person who cares about how their actions affects others; but this was not of primary importance.  As N.T. Wright suggests:

Christians from quite early in the church's life have allowed themselves to see this [way of Jesus] as a new rule book, as though his intention was simply to offer a new code of morality ...  Jesus' contemporaries already had a standard of morality to rival any and to outstrip most."  [from The Challenge of Jesus, N.T. Wright]

If morality was the central point of Christianity, Jesus would have simply re-instituted the moral code the Jews already had in place.  Thankfully, Jesus' righteousness [goodness] surpassed the moral code of the day by being rooted in God's faithfullness, and his capacity to produce his righteousness within us.  The same faithful goodness Jesus possessed is now rooted within your new heart.

Article originally appeared on author jim robbins (http://www.robbinswritings.com/).
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