A Common Sense of Morality

 

One of the interesting things about this world is how there is a common sense of morality amongst the various peoples of this world. No one would claim that every culture sees morality exactly the same way. But there is a lot of agreement, a lot of overlap, and I think this points to our common source as all being stamped with the image of God, even if this is more diminished in those who reject Jesus Christ.

Here is an excerpt from something else I am writing on the subject: 

“Have you ever read the law of Hammurabi, the famous law code of the Amorite ruler of the first Babylonian empire? Many scholars have remarked on how similar it is in points to the Old Testament law, even down to laws which talk about ‘an eye for an eye’. Of course, they are not exactly the same, the Hammurabi law code has a much larger emphasis on punishing the common man much more harshly than the nobleman, but still the striking similarity of some of the laws, some of the modes of punishments, and even more so the fact that a human emperor would engage in such a practice so similar to those many people associate with religion is itself remarkable. Hammurabi, to paraphrase George, understood that for people to live in a society there needed to be guidelines and rules about what was ok and what was not. This is a consistent across humanity. 

And it is remarkable how consistent these laws can be across vastly disparate cultures. You can find a culture in ancient Briton and one in ancient China where adultery, murder and theft were punished. These were not always defined precisely as we would define them today. For instance a nobleman taking a commoner’s wife was not as guilty as a commoner taking a nobleman’s daughter behind the woodshed. But in some way the culture recognized the immorality of adultery. 

A really good example of this common sense of morality comes from the earlier chapters of the Bible before the law was given. This is a famous account where Abram gives his wife to another man, this is the first time it happens. In the passage Abram journey’s to Egypt because there was a famine in the land, a foreshadowing of future events. But while there he creates a lie, well, a half-truth, that Sarai is his sister. The reason he does this is because he just assumes that the Egyptians have nothing but a base morality and that they will kill him if they think he has such a beautiful wife, 

“11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake” (Gen. 12:11-13). 

Abram’s assumption is wrong. When Pharoah finds out why his household is being struck by plagues he confronts Abram, 

“18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.” 20 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had” (Gen. 12:18-20). 

“Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?” Pharoah is furious when he finds out that Sarai was Abram’s wife. This common sense of disgust at adultery was prevalent among even the pagan nations at the time. This story is here to serve two purposes. Firstly, it serves the purpose of showing how those who do bad things to Abram will suffer curses and those who do good things will be blessed, as God has promised the man (Gen. 12:1-3). But it is also their to show that there was sense of morality and recognition for God even amongst the very lost peoples of a nation like Egypt. This emphasis on the good amongst the Gentiles will come through again and again in the Bible. 

This is made even more clear a little later in Genesis when Abraham  gives his wife away a second time, this time to Abimelech. We read, 

“3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife.” 4 Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people? 5 Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” 6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. 7 Now then, return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.” 8 So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things. And the men were very much afraid” (Gen. 20:3-8). 

Notice here how offended Abimelech is at the idea that he would take another man’s wife. He even protests his innocence to God, and God affirms that his intentions towards this women were pure. In fact, because his intentions were pure God had warned this man so that he did not lay with another man’s wife and bring judgement on himself, especially considering Sarah was the wife of the prophet of God. This passage is a very clear indication of the common grace understanding among the peoples in Abraham’s day of the wickedness of adultery, which is really a form of covetousness and theft. The idea the adultery is a sin because of biblical teaching is just incorrect. It is an understanding common amongst the people of this world, whether they had access to the Bible or not. 

As we have noted so far this is as true for murders as it is adultery. Murder has been an abhorrent crime in many cultures. Though it has not been equally applied to all peoples. In some cultures a man had the right to kill his slave for indiscriminate reasons, in other cultures the law restrained the actions of a master over their slave, sometimes effectively, often ineffectively. The Servile Wars in pre-Augustan Rome forced the Romans to change the way they treated their slaves, if not for moral reasons, at least for practical reasons. Ongoing slave rebellions were bad for business and bad for the Roman brand. 

Some cultures even legally protected forms of murder. For instance, from ancient Carthage to ancient Israel there were kings who allowed the sacrifice of children in the fires to Baal or Molech, however, these cultures still saw other forms of murder as abhorrent. Technically speaking, Israel was supposed to see child sacrifice as worthy of the death penalty, but in practice in many generations they were as given to such crimes against nature as some of the worst pagan societies of the ancient world. The same can be said in our modern era with abortion. Even many pro-choice advocates will admit that a child is being killed. So, we can easily understand from our own society that a culture can find murder abhorrent, while at the same time accepting it with a class of human beings who have been legally dehumanized and therefore rendered vulnerable.”

God has stamped his morality in the hearts of all mankind (cf. Rom. 2). This common sense of morality points to there being in existence both a creator who is also a lawgiver. If there is one way you can describe human beings it is as lawgivers. We all like to “lay down the law” whether it be as magistrates of a nation, or a city, or simply in our everyday lives in our areas of influence and responsibility. We also all have a general sense that taking another man’s wife, or theft, or murder is wrong. Even if you have never been anywhere near a church. 

This is something interesting to think about. There are many things which point to the idea that we have a just creator, this inherent desire for fairness and justice in the heart of man is one of the most powerful lines of evidence. 

“11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man” (Gen. 3:11-13).