People often make decisions on the basis of situation ethics—a belief that instead of accepting absolute, unchanging standards, decisions should be made according to the situation. Situation ethics claims loving people is more important than rules. Thus, rules can be broken as long as the motive is love.
Joseph Fletcher, an Anglican theologian, developed situation ethics in the 1960s after critiquing legalism and antinomianism. Legalism is the belief that there are fixed moral laws that must always be obeyed. (See the article What Is Legalism? in the previous issue of Bible Insights.) Antinomianism is the belief that there are no fixed moral principles and that ethics should be spontaneous.
Fletcher believed that neither legalism nor antinomianism provided a sound basis for ethics and advocated “situationism” as a compromise. His book, Situation Ethics, was the centerpiece of his critique and founded much of the modern situation ethics movement. According to Fletcher, decision-making should be based on the circumstances of a particular situation, and not on fixed law. He believed truth is relative and as long as love is the intention, the end justifies the means.
He claimed he founded his model on a biblical statement found in 1 John 4:8: “God is love.” Yet he apparently didn’t realize the same book says commandment keeping shows our love for God (1 John 5:3). God never approves of law breaking, and labels such conduct as sinful (1 John 3:4). Fletcher’s conclusion that God’s Word wasn’t enough to guide decision-making led him to become an avid supporter of euthanasia and abortion. He died in 1991 an atheist.
When it comes to God’s commandments, we need to be careful not to be influenced by situation ethics. The prophet, Daniel and King David both found themselves in situations where it would have been easier and safer for them to have given into temptation and ignore God’s commandments.
In Daniel 6 some men in the Persian ruler Darius’ administration influenced him to sign a decree forbidding people to worship anyone other than him for a short time. Daniel refused to compromise and was thrown in the lion’s den, where God miraculously saved him. 1 Samuel 24 describes how David, whom God had declared Israel’s next king, refused to harm the reigning king Saul when he had the chance—even though Saul was trying to kill him. David didn’t compromise God’s law forbidding murder in spite of the fact Saul was bent on murdering him.
Situation ethics can encourage people to pick and choose which of God’s laws to follow. For instance people may decide to lie to avoid hurting someone else’s feelings, or to break other laws of God if they think the result will produce an advantageous outcome. But God doesn’t let us decide what is right and wrong. We are commanded to keep all of God’s laws as Jesus Christ pointed out: “Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:19).
One of our greatest limitations we have, as human beings, is the inability to see the ultimate results of our actions. Although situation ethics claims to be based on love, it actually ignores God’s definition of love: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). God gave us His commandments as a guide to a happy, healthy life and when we break them we can face tough consequences. Proverbs 3:5 tells us to: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.”
