Who Determines What's Right And Wrong?

Folks who reject absolute standards of right and wrong are often inconsistent. When they think they are being treated unfairly, they appeal to a standard of justice that they expect everyone to adhere to.

The story is told of a philosophy professor who began each new term by asking his class, “Do you believe it can be shown that there are absolute values like justice?” The modern free-thinking students all argued that everything is relative and no single law can be applied universally.

Before the end of the semester, the professor devoted one class period to debate the issue. At the end, he concluded, “Regardless of what you think, I want you to know that absolute values can be demonstrated. And if you don’t accept what I say, I will flunk you!” One angry student got up and insisted, “That’s not fair!”

“You’ve just proved my point,” replied the professor. “You’ve appealed to a higher standard of fairness.”

God has given everyone a conscience to tell right from wrong (Romans 2:14-15; cf. Acts 23:1; Acts 24:16; Acts 26:9). God’s moral standards are all recorded in the Bible (i.e., Exodus 20:15; Ephesians 4:28).

In fact, every time we use the words “good” and “bad,” we imply a "standard" by which we make such judgments (cf. Isaiah 5:20). Biblical values are true for any age, because they originate with eternal principles (i.e., Gal. 6:7) from an eternal, unchanging God (Malachi 3:6; cf. Numbers 23:19; James 1:17 ESV).

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets