★★★★★ 5
Very Extensive Overview of Major Ethical Issues
Format: Hardcover
Anyone familiar with Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology knows how extensive his work tends to be. At 1,328 pages, Christian Ethics: An Introduction to Biblical Moral Reasoning follows that same comprehensive approach, offering a systematic guide to Christian moral reasoning.
Grudem’s goal is to help Christians live lives pleasing to God by obeying Scripture and making wise moral choices. His ethical framework is rooted in God’s character and the authority of Scripture, with careful attention to the relationship between Old and New Testament ethics. While many ethical themes are drawn from the Ten Commandments, Grudem argues that the moral law remains applicable today, while the ceremonial and civic laws have passed away with the coming of Christ.
Readers will notice that his chapter on civil government is adapted from his earlier work, Politics—According to the Bible: A Comprehensive Resource for Understanding Modern Political Issues in Light of Scripture.
Grudem argues that moral right and wrong are grounded in who God is—not in human consensus. God’s attributes (holiness, love, justice, and truthfulness) define what is good. As such, Grudem holds to a form of Divine Command Theory: God’s commands flow from God’s nature. God does not command arbitrarily, because his moral will reflects his unchanging, holy, loving, and just character. God’s nature is the ultimate standard of goodness, and the Good is not external to God (contra Plato). Therefore, Grudem stands within the theological voluntarist tradition associated with Augustine, Calvin, and Reformed orthodoxy.
For Grudem, ethics is ultimately about imitating God (Eph. 5:1), which stands in direct opposition to moral relativism and situation ethics. He devotes chapters to honoring God through avoiding idolatry, truthfulness in speech, and faithfulness in Sabbath observance and devotion.
Grudem also addresses the moral obligation to protect life, engaging debated issues such as abortion, euthanasia, suicide, war and self-defense, racial discrimination, and substance use and health decisions. He presents arguments alongside counterarguments, seeking to ground his conclusions biblically.
Regarding authority, Grudem argues that God exercises authority through parents, societal structures, civil government, and the local church. Christians are called to obey civil authorities, though civil disobedience is justified when the state commands what God forbids. Grudem defends a just war position, arguing that war can be morally justified under certain conditions and that governments are authorized by God to use force to restrain evil. In his view, failing to stop evil can itself become immoral. As a result, he rejects Christian pacifism as an absolute position. Jesus’ commands regarding non-retaliation (e.g., “turn the other cheek”) apply to individual Christians, not to the state’s responsibility to uphold justice.
The book also addresses marriage and related ethical questions, including marriage and divorce, birth control, IVF and reproductive technologies, pornography, and contemporary debates surrounding homosexuality and transgenderism—all discussed within a biblical framework. Grudem affirms that divorce is permitted in limited biblical cases (sexual immorality and abandonment), though never ideal. I would add that abuse should also be considered legitimate grounds for divorce. He rejects divorce based on incompatibility, unhappiness, or a “loss of love.”
Additional topics include private property, work and rest, wealth and poverty, personal stewardship, debt, business ethics, and environmental care. As in his previous writings, Grudem maintains a complementarian view of gender roles, arguing that God designed men and women for distinct but complementary roles, particularly in the home and the church.
Throughout the book, Grudem emphasizes human responsibility, freedom, and moral accountability. Our choices carry real moral weight and real consequences. One of the book’s strengths is its emphasis on the heart in ethical reasoning, serving as a corrective to purely external, rule-based moral frameworks. For Grudem, genuinely Christian ethics begins internally and works outward—a point with which I agree. Drawing from Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5–7), he argues that ethics without heart transformation inevitably becomes legalism.
Overall, readers will likely find Grudem’s positions conservative. While he does not dismiss natural law arguments, he clearly adopts a “Scripture-first” approach. This book is especially well suited for pastors, as congregants regularly wrestle with complex ethical questions and need biblically grounded guidance.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2026
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