The Gospel and Morality

Between and among my posts on the book, Simply Jesus, I may post quotes here and there that I believe are helpful in the journey of knowing and understanding God in Christ Jesus. Today I'm sharing a wonderful word from Jacques Ellul, a French sociologist and theologian. This comes from his book, The Subversion of Christianity:

"The revelation of God in Jesus Christ is against morality. Not only is it honestly impossible to derive a moral system from the Gospels and the Epistles, but further, the main keys in the gospel – the proclamation of grace, the declaration of pardon, and the opening up of life to freedom – are the direct opposite of morality. For they imply that all conduct, including that of the devout, or the most moral, is wholly engulfed in sin…As Genesis shows us, the origin of sin in the world is not knowledge…it is the knowledge of good and evil…

"In the Gospels Jesus…gives as his own commandment 'Follow me,' not a list of things to do or not to do. He shows us fully what it means to be a free person with no morality, but simply obeying the ever-new word of God as it flashes forth…We are as free as the Holy Spirit, who comes and goes as he wills. This freedom…is the freedom of love. Love, which cannot be regulated, categorized, or analyzed in principles or commands, takes the place of law. The relationship with others is not one of duty but of love."