Many Christians assume morality starts with duty to commands. We search the Bible looking for commands to obey. Yet swiftly we invent new rules, and eventually accidental legalism is born. Even healthy churches struggle with this subtle moralism that breeds Pharisaism, with honesty sacrificed for appearances, or compassion for authoritarianism. How can we reform our view of duty?

In this lecture, Tim Jacobs will show how biblical commands point us to the more fundamental source of ethics: the natural law based in human nature, which is itself founded on God’s nature. Attendees will learn the sources and dangers of duty-based ethics, the case for New Testament virtue ethics, and how the Reformed tradition has understood virtue. This talk will make use of Aristotle, Aquinas, John Calvin, Peter Martyr Vermigli, and Jonathan Edwards.