Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
only possible to humble faith, Micah 6.8 | ethics, pt. 3

only possible to humble faith, Micah 6.8 | ethics, pt. 3

Last updated on: June 18, 2022 at 10:21 am by Rev. Jared V. Ingle

only possible to humble faith, Micah 6.8 | ethics, pt. 3 2022-06-18T10:21:56-04:00 Rev. Jared V. Ingle

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

“Now, that it is our business to live virtuously, and that God asks this of us, as not being dependent on Him nor on any other, nor, as some think, upon fate, but as being our own doing, the prophet Micah will prove when he says:”[1]

He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
But to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God? Micah vi.8, NRSV

Micah vi.8 shows how Scripture and our relationship with God influences us. In the middle of an extended prophecy, verse 8 is God’s answer to verses 6-7 where Micah asks the Lord what sacrifice is best for Israel’s sin.

“In the words of this prophet, these two things are distinguished and set forth with sufficient explicitness, that God does not require these sacrifices for their own sakes, and that He does require the sacrifices which they symbolize.”[2]

Instead of the sin sacrifice for repentance:

God seeks the humble sacrifice of a changed life

He has told you. The language states He has declared. He has made it obvious. The telling has been completed.

O mortal (or “Thee, o, man” KJV). This is the same word used for Adam. This is usually indicative of all mankind, not directly indicative of only Israel. The basic, following commandment of the Lord, is expected of all. God has declared or made it obvious. By Micah’s time, Scripture has instructed Israel how to live righteously.

What does the Lord require of you. Require is the same word used when someone enquires of God. The verb is also an active participle meaning that it is a continual action. What is the Lord requiring, enquiring, or seeking of you all?

Do justice. The word denotes the verb form of justice. But it is beyond living justly, or lawfully. Justice guides our relationships with others and with our community. It is active. We are commanded to do justly, to treat others fairly, to judge rightly, to execute justice, etc. At some points in some translations, it is not far from related communal concepts like righteousness and shalom. If you have an older translation with the word righteousness at times instead of justice, then you probably have a respected translation. Living justly or lawfully in the community is different than personal righteousness, as a command to engage our community. Being a law-abiding citizen is not enough. We must engage our communities.

Love kindness (“love mercy” KJV). Again it appears our affection for mercy isn’t based just on receiving mercy, but on sharing or giving mercy to others. Engage community.

justice and mercy dichotomy

Oddly enough, we are commanded to execute justice and to love kindness in the same sentence. There must be balance in our treatment of others.

We love receiving mercy, but do we love giving mercy to others too?

Walk humbly. Walk is a manner of life, symbolizing our entire way of life.

In our humble faith, the possibilities of this whole verse become open as we walk through it.

Humbly. This could mean submissively or modestly. When we walk humbly, it affects our ways of thinking, reacting, and interacting with others.

to be humble is not to be self-defacing

Humble does not mean meekness – a term along the lines of controlled strength (without being too trite with the definitions).

“The command of justice, mercy, and a humble walk with God is only possible to humble faith.”[3]

Justice, mercy, and a worshipful-humble posture are lived out in community and, “with your God.”

These are values God smiles upon.

As we walk them out in our lives, He walks with us.

This Scripture makes it clear. God and His revelation influence our way of life, so I don’t care what anyone says. You need to know, no one can say, “I’m just driving down the road” (or The Way because it was man-mankind, in general).

In fact, many Christian ethicists hold to this line of reasoning. There is a connection between the creative or innate movements found specifically in Judeo-Christian Scripture and the mores, values, and ethics found even out into international waters. There is natural law, but there is also a modified form of divine command ethics.

“The divine-command theory or voluntarism, which sees moral oughts rooted in God’s will, emphasizes special revelation of God’s will. This approach often connects with a stress on the uniqueness of Christian and biblical ethics.”[4]

However, there are other opinions about voluntarism.

“It sounds like soft-determinism”[5]

Daniel-Eliashevsky-Aerial-View-Bridge-River-Kyiv-Ukraine-pexels

Daniel Eliashevsky | Aerial View of a Bridge over the River | 07.06.21 | Kyiv, Ukraine | pexels

For instance, I have always questioned whether God gives you the desires of your heart, or if He gives your desires to you (see Ps xxxvii.4)

This is one way divine command theory may play out in community:

Naturally we share the desires of our heart at times. Within community and among neighbors, together we often seek out the closest, best option/s.

However, if the greater community is spoon feeding everybody an option/s and we’ve already grown up, even though we’ve grown up in other ways, then divine command ethics sounds like soft determinism.

“ethics, group norms, & tattoos” CLICK HERE

“Clement & Augustine on Psalm xix, ethics pt. 2” CLICK HERE

notes:

[1] Origen, De Principiis III.I-part 2.6
[2] Augustine, City of God X.V
[3] Jerome, Against the Pelagians II
[4] Oliver O’Donovan, “Grounding Moral Norms,” Readings in Christian Ethics, vol. 1: Theory and Method, eds. David K. Clark and Robert V. Rakestraw (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House), p. 69.
[5] An undisclosed Philosophy Professor at UK and Asbury explained soft determinism. He was fielding questions in class. Of course, I’m applying and paraphrasing some of his reply. You all would have to pay a lot for my notes, because I’m not so sure I believe completely in volunteerism 🙂

Ethics & Society

Word Study

Augustine

Driving down the road

Previous Post

June 8, 2022

click bait vs. developing the why

Next Post

June 19, 2022 a quick historical note on Juneteenth

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Communion Cruz Ingle Crystal Ingle Early Church Engaging Culture Ethics & Society Family Formation History In Dialogue Jared & Crystal Kingdom of God Majority World Church Mateo Ingle Messenger College Mission Narrative Pentecostal Church of God Prayer Shepherding The Sermon The Writings Theology Theology & Psychology Traverse City Uncategorized Vernell Ingle Word Study

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 May 2017 March 2017 March 2014 February 2013 January 2013 October 2012 July 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 August 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Genesis" mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Origin or Beginning Wisdom Law Poetry