Why the Christian ethic isn’t simply about rules

Often when Christians (and even non-Christians) speak about biblical ethics, we tend to focus on the rules that Scripture gives us. For example, we think of the Ten Commandments in which the second half begins with “you shall not _______.” Whether it’s about murder, adultery, stealing, bearing false witness, or covetousness, we tend to relegate the Christian ethic to a set of moral rules by which we are to live. This type of ethical system is known as deontology, where ethics is merely a set of ...