Summum Bonum - Chambers, Oswald
In speaking of the highest good as the theme of ethics, aristotle observes: every art and every kind of inquiry, and likewise every act and purpose, seems to aim at some good; and, since there are many kinds of actions, and many arts and sciences, it follows that there are many ends also. . . . And, if in what we do there be some end which we wish for on its own account, choosing all the others as means to this, this will evidently be the best of all things. And surely from a practical point of view it much more concerns us to know this good; for then, like archers shooting at a definite mark, we shall be more likely to attain what we want.
The ethic of Jesus according to the synoptic
Gospels stalker16
All books on ethics talk about the summum bonum, i. E. The greatest good is the highest end. In practical life we do not begin by thinking, we begin as common-sense beings without thinking; we live first, and do things right and wrong and mixed up anyhow. The first practical thing we have to face in life is duty, and the bible begins where common sense begins, viz. , in the practical domain. We have to get at what Jesus christ taught was the highest good, then we can understand why he did not accept the standard of life that we accept, and why he plays havoc with all our lesser goods until we get to the supreme good he had in mind.
When we are born again we see things from a totally new perspective and we think we see all, then we go on a bit further, and when we get to the top of that peak there are regions beyond we never dreamed of, and so on. When we have got exhausted with the vistas before us we are prepared to hear Jesus say, this is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true god ( john 17:3 rv ).
Evolution is simply a working way of explaining the growth and development of anything. When evolution is made a fetish and taken to mean god, then call it bosh; but evolution in a species, in an idea, in teaching, is exactly what our lord taught: born of the spirit and going on till we all attain . . . Unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of christ (rv ). To understand means we can reconstruct a thing mentally and leave no element out. When we come to try and understand the highest good of our lord, we must take it in his language, and it will take all time and eternity to understand what that good is. Whether we live for the highest good does not depend on our understanding, but on whether we have the life of the highest good in us.
1. The greatest good is the highest end (Matthew 7:414; 18:89; 19:16; 25:46)
When aristotle and the ancient thinkers spoke of the highest good, their meaning was that, in this earthly life of ours, there is for everyone a single supreme attainment, which if missed, will render life a failure, but, if gained, will render it a success. Stalker the shorter catechism states, in answer to the question, what is mans chief end? That mans chief end is to glorify god and enjoy him for ever. It is not what man puts into his body or on his body, but what he brings out of his body (cf. Matthew 15:17 20), and what he brings out of what he puts on his body, viz. , his money, that reveals what he considers his chief end. A great many people imagine they have glorified god when they have given two halfpennies for a penny, or have saved a halfpenny. The highest good to them is to keep economic relations right, the highest good from Jesus christs standpoint never dawns on them. The craze to-day is that the highest good is what a man has to live on: feed him, keep his body healthy, and his moral and religious life will be all right. That is the highest good according to the standard of many. As Christians it is more important to know how to live than what to live on. The attitude of the christian is not, im but a stranger here, heaven is my home, but rather i am not a stranger here. A stranger is exonerated from many things for which god holds us responsible. Jesus asked his father to treat his disciples not as strangers but as inmates 17 of the world and to keep them from the evil ( john 17:15). We have to live in the heavenly places while here on earth.
2. The greatest good is the highest evangel (Matthew 4:23; 9:35; 11:5; 24:14; 26:13)
In the teaching of Jesus the term the greatest good is embodied in its most comprehensive sense in his use of the word gospel. Our lord in no way means what we commonly mean when we say gospel, viz. , salvation by faith in jesus. The bible never gives definitions, the bible states facts, and the gospel that jesus brought of good news about god is the most astounding thing the world ever heard, but it must be the gospel that jesus brought. Whenever the gospel of jesus loses the note of unutterable gladness, it is like salt that has lost its savour. We are apt to think of the gospel on the lines of spring-cleaning. We have conceived of the kingdom of god in the time of the millennium only, consequently when we come to the parables we are confused. The kingdom of god in this dispensation is the rule of god discerned by individuals alone (see john 3:3). Unless you are born from above [rv mg], jesus says, you will never see the rule of god. It is not seen by the intellect. The rule of god which individual saints see and recognise is without observation in this dispensation. There is another dispensation coming when the whole world will see it as individuals have seen it.
The kingdom of god is within you (luke 17:21). The blessedness of the gospel of the kingdom of god in this dispensation is that a man is born from above (rv mg) while he is below, and he actually sees with the eyes of his spirit the rule of god in the devils territory. You will see how far we have got away from jesus christs teaching. We bring in all kinds of things, we talk about salvation and sanctification and forgiveness of sins; jesus did not mention these things to Nicodemus (he mentioned them later to the disciples), he said, be born from above and you will see the rule of god. It is an attitude of essential simplicity all through. Preaching what we call the gospel, i. E. Salvation from hell does not appeal to men; but once get Jesus christ to preach his own gospel and the spirit of god to expound it, then men are hauled up at once.
Consideration of several beatitudes the drift of the beatitudes has often been misunder- stood. They have been supposed to describe the charac- teristics of true christians, pronouncing those blessed who possess such-and-such qualities. But the structure is much more complex. . . . For example, one of the beatitudes says, blessed are they that mourn: and, if we stop there, the statement is almost equivalent to the absurd saying, happy are the unhappy. The addition, however, of the words, for they shall be comforted, makes all the difference. . . . And the same principle applies to all the beatitudes. . . . Thus, mourning, hungering, persecution are not in them- selves and by themselves, desirable, but the reverse; yet, taken along with what is given by Jesus to those thus circumstanced, they are blessedness itself.
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Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. The gift here is the heritage of the earth by being fool enough to let other people have it at present. Jesus christ taught that any one who possesses prop- erty of any nature has got to go through a baptism of bereavement in connection with it before he can be his disciple. The rich young ruler is a good specimen of possession (see luke 18:2223). The craze nowadays for those of us who have no property is to take the liberty of hauling to pieces those who have; but Jesus christ turns it round the other way do you possess anything, any property of pride, any sense of goodness, any virtue, any gift? Then you will have to go through intolerable bereavement before you can ever be my disciple. Intellectually that is inconceivable; spiritually it is clear to everyone who is rightly related to the lord. This is where the obstinacy is revealed all through in us as disciples; we come up against this stone wall, and it produces obstinacy. The one great enemy of discipleship to Jesus christ is spiritual obstinacy, the emphatic i wont which runs all through. Jesus says, if you are to be my disciple this and that must go; we are at liberty to say, no, thank you, and to go away, like the rich young ruler, with fallen countenances and sorrowful because we have great possessions, we are somebodies, we have opinions of our own, we know exactly what we intend to do.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. As soon as we get right with god we are going to meet things that are contrary, we are going to meet un-merciful good people and un-merciful bad peo- ple, un-merciful institutions, un-merciful organisa- tions, and we shall have to go through the discipline of being merciful to the merciless. It is much easier to say, i wont bother my head with them; then we shall never know the blessedness of obtaining gods mercy. Over and over again we will come up against things, and in order to get the eternal blessedness jesus christ refers to we shall have to go through the unhappiness of doing something that the standards of men will be contemptuous over.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see god. How are we going to be pure in heart? We shall have to go through the humiliation of knowing we are impure. If you want to know what a pure heart is, read the life of the lord Jesus christ as recorded in the new testament. His is a pure heart, anything less is not. Do you know the real panging misery of repentance? Think of the times (they are rare) when you have been in conscious touch with god the moments when the simplicity of your heart- relationship to god, not your head, was undeterred by a sense of property or possession on your part that was the time and place to see god.
3. The greatest good is the healthiest equity (Luke 6:2023)
when we try to understand Jesus christs teaching with our heads we get into a fog. What Jesus christ taught is only explainable to the personality of the mind in relation to the personality of Jesus christ. It is a relationship of life, not of intellect. That is why jesus said, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Our conception of things has to be torn to shreds until we realise that what makes a man a christian is a simple heart-relationship to jesus christ, not intellectual conceptions.
This conception enlarges our horizon and enables us to understand why it took gods son to preach the gospel, and why jesus said, the poor have the gospel [mg] preached unto them (matthew 11:5 rv ). Why not the rich? The rich did not want it. But if our gospel be hid, says Paul, it is hid from the publicans? No; it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. That is the class for whom the gospel of jesus has no meaning. A healthy-hided moral man does not want jesus christ; a ritualist does not want jesus christ; a rationalist does not want jesus christ. It is along this line we begin to understand why jesus said, i am not come to call the righteous, i. E. The whole and the healthy, but sinners to repentance. I am come to those who mourn, to those who are afflicted, to those who are in a condition of insatiable thirst. Nothing will ever satisfy a man who is awakened but the supreme good, viz. , the gospel of god. The social worker who goes into work without this supreme good ends in heartbreak and disaster because all he succeeds in doing even while he satisfies lesser cravings is to ren- der more intense the craving for something other, viz. , the one supreme good. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad. That is the mark of a christian from our lords standpoint.
Many of us are persecuted because we have crotchety notions of our own, but the mark of a disciple is suffering for my sake. Have you ever suffered anything for his sake? If we are foolish enough in the eyes of the world to order our life according to the rule of the kingdom of heaven, the only virtue will be, says Jesus, that men will hate you as they hated me. Try and work your home life or your business life according to the rule of jesus christ and you will find that what he said is true, you will be put out of court as a fool, and we dont like to be thought fools. That is the persecution that many a man and woman has to go through if they are true to jesus christ, a continual semi-cultured sneering ridi- cule; nothing can stand that but absolute devotion to jesus christ, a creed will never stand it. Christianity is other-worldiness in the midst of this-worldliness. To apply the rule of the kingdom of god to our daily life is done not by our heads but by the obedience of our hearts. If you are ever going to get the true blessedness, says jesus, it must be by living your life according to the rule of god. How are we going to discern the rule of god? Jesus told nicodemus: if you are born from above [rv mg] you will see the kingdom of god, and enter into it ( john 3:3, 5). Then after we have entered into the kingdom of god, are we going to apply its rule to our bodily life, our mental life, our spiritual life? We are at liberty to stop short at any point, and our lord will never cast it up at us; but think what we shall feel like when we see him if all the thank you we gave him for his unspeakable salvation was an obstinate determination to serve him in our own way, not his.