Divine Command Theory

• Divine Command Theory is a religious theory of ethics that suggests moral commands came from God
• Two examples of moral commands from God:

  • The 10 commandments
  • Jesus's Sermon on the Mount
• Roman Catholics take their morality from the Church and the Pope
• Evangelists take their morality specifically from the Bible
• Pentecostals believe morality comes from the Holy Spirit
• Secular means not connected with religious or spiritual matters
• Secular ethics is not religious, it is based upon moral intuition
• Secular ethics follows general rules and values which people live by
• Secular ethics uses reason and aims to appeal to everyone
• In most cases, moral conclusions are shared by religious and secular people
• Many secular values are in line with those of one or more religions
• Moral commands in scripture are examples of God's will
• Obedience to the will of God is key in deciding right and wrong for religious believers
• Belief in God + scripture references = moral answers
• Whatever God commands must be good, because God is the sources of all goodness, and what he forbids must be evil
• Issues with looking to scripture for morality:

  • Roman Catholics look to the Pope whereas Evangelists look specifically at the Bible 
  • Different interpretations 
  • Conflict with modern belief and the Bible’s teachings: divorce 
• Protestant Divine Command Theory believes God is the Creator of everything
• Protestant Divine Command Theory believes there must be an organic link between Creator and created (in the image of God, humans have rational and moral character like God)
• Protestant Divine Command Theory follows that human moral behaviour should follow God's commands
• Protestant Divine Command Theory believes in sola scriptura (by scripture alone)
• The Ten commandments and Sermon on the Mount are at the heart of Protestant Divine Command Theory 
• John Calvin (1509-1564)
• Calvin published The Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536) which was a defining book of the Reformation and is a pillar of Protestant Theology
• Calvin argues for the majesty of God and for justification by faith alone (sola fida)
• Calvin argued that God cannot be 'caused' to do anything as this would imply that there is a force external to God
• "Divine command Theory is the result of absolute power and sovereignty of God"- John Calvin
• "Christians should listen to and seek to understand secular ethical principles but the Christian approach is critical and not one of compromise"- Karl Barth
• Karl Barth (1886-1968)
• Barth wrote Church Dogmatics, a four volume Theologica Summa
• Barth was a Swiss protestant theologian
• “The doctrine of God must be expressly defined and developed and interpreted as that which it also is at every point that is to say ethics”- Karl Barth