Religious Moralism v. A Changed Heart

By:  Dale Weckbacher

John 12:40

“He has blinded their eyes
    and hardened their heart,
lest they see with their eyes,
    and understand with their heart, and turn,
    and I would heal them.”

(ESV)

Just as today, Jesus had to deal with religious moralism.  Moralism is defined as “the habit or practice of moralizing or a conventional moral attitude of saying.”  In politics, it is an exaggerated emphasis on morality.  (1)  Religious moralism is an overemphasis on morality in the name of religion with that particular religion believing it has the corner on what constitutes morality.  As a Christian I do believe in morality based on what is in scripture but that does not exclude others from having morals that may not necessarily adhere to my devout belief in Jesus Christ as my savior.  

While adherence to morals does help maintain civility in any society, I believe when we as Christians only spout our moral code and how we live according to that code without sharing the love of Christ, we do the Gospel a disservice.  This is because the Gospel is not about works of aligning one’s life to some strict moral code but about accepting what Jesus did on the Cross when he shed His blood for sinful humanity (Ephesians 2:8).  In other words, the Gospel is not about religious moralism but changing hearts.

The religious leaders of Jesus time were religious moralists and as such were threatened by the message of God’s grace delivered by Jesus Christ.  An example of this conflict is seen early in the ministry of Jesus Christ when he was rejected in his home town as recorded in Luke 4:16-30.  Let us take a moment to analyze this passage.

1)      Jesus declares who he is (Luke 4:16-21) – Jesus stands up in the synagogue, something he customarily did, and reads a Messianic prophecy from Isaiah 61:1.  Simply reading this scripture in the synagogue does not in itself constitute anything controversial, but when Jesus sat down and declared that the prophecy had just been fulfilled, they knew Jesus was declaring he was the prophesized Messiah. 

2)      Initial shock at Jesus words (Luke 4:22) – Initially those hearing Jesus’ words appeared to accept them.  However, they were not accepting his declaration as Messiah but were instead marveling that a lowly carpenter’s son from Nazareth could possess such wisdom.  They were marveling at the messenger instead of accepting Jesus as their Messiah.

3)      Rejection of the message (Luke 4:23-30) – After the initial shock of the words of Jesus, the religious leaders of the synagogue in Nazareth reject the message and attempt to silence the messenger, their Messiah, Jesus Christ. 

The religious leaders of Jesus’ time were so caught up in religious moralism that they failed to see the simplicity of the Gospel.  They failed to see the fact that it is impossible for any person to achieve God’s standard by themselves for all humanity has sinned and fallen short of God’s standard (Romans 3:23).  They failed to see that salvation was not just for some group of religious moralist elites like themselves but was available to everyone, even people like Zarepath, a widow from the land of Sidon and Naaman the Syrian (Luke 4:25-27). 

Religious moralism even blinds some in the church today, and prevents the spreading of the Gospel.  Many in the church today spend their time speaking out against the moral depravity of society instead of pointing people to Jesus Christ who has the power to change the hearts of individuals and thus change the moral direction of their lives.  In essence, many in the church today have placed themselves on a high pedestal of moral supremacy and speak down at those not adhering to their moral superiority instead of pointing them to Jesus Christ, the only one that can save them from their sins (John8:12, John 14:6). 

I therefore call on my fellow Christians to not allow religious moralism be their message but to instead take the simplistic message of the Gospel to a lost world by sharing what Jesus has done in our lives.  While some of us have colorful pasts, and can share how Jesus miraculously transformed our hearts and lives, what about those of us who were raised in godly homes and do not have a glitzy or colorful story?  While our story may not be glitzy, we all encounter struggles and challenges in our lives and have a story to tell about how our faith in God helped us find strength in these times.  

No one likes to have someone preach at them from some platform of moral superiority.  Instead, people with struggles and challenges in their lives are seeking answers, answers that can only be found in Jesus Christ.  Therefore, let us not be religious moralists but instead become traffic directors pointing people to the path of salvation, Jesus Christ. 

1. Merriam-Webster. Moralism. merriam-webster.com. [Online] Merriam-Webster. [Cited: February 19, 2017.] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moralism.