Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good;

sing to his name, for it is pleasant!

Psalm 135:3

Do we really need religion to be good? Can’t a person be moral without appealing to an ancient book to tell them right from wrong? These questions are often asked of Christians who argue that we receive our ethics from God in Scripture, his revealed will. The short answer to these questions is, yes, of course unbelievers can and often do act in accordance with true moral principles to some extent. The apostle Paul says as much in Romans 2:14-15:

“For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.”

But there is an even deeper question that needs answering. Where does this sense of morality originate? Why do humans even have a moral awareness, a “conscience”, in the first place? To be sure, we all have some capacity for goodness and though we are not as bad as we could be, we are certainly not as good as we ought to be. But where does this ought come from? Why should we be good in the first place? The words ought and should speak of moral obligation. But unto whom are we obligated?

A solid case for the existence of God can be made from morality. First, there is such a thing as objective morality. Across cultures, time and space, there are universal principals of right and wrong that include honoring elders, honesty, justice, mercy, care of children and so on. This is what Paul means when he says “the work of the law is written on their hearts.” Thus, throughout the Old Testament, God, through the prophets, held pagan nations accountable to this universal moral law. Even though these nations did not have the Law of Moses which stipulated right and wrong behavior, they knew enough of morality to incur guilt before a good and just God.

Therefore, morality is not relative to one’s culture or individually subjective but is generally universal. Things like rape, theft, torture and the like are always wrong irrespective of the time or culture in which we live. When a person suffers injustice, they cry out against it because they intuitively know the moral law has been broken. If morality is not relative, then we are faced with an objective moral order of some kind. How can we best explain it?

The moral argument is abductive, meaning the evidence leads to the best possible explanation. How do we sufficiently account for the existence of objective moral values?

1. If a personal God does not exist, then objective moral values do not exist — Buddhism, Hinduism and other pantheistic religions teach that God is not a personal, moral agent but a universal, amoral Reality (transcending distinctions between good and evil). Therefore, pantheism cannot support objective moral values because it overtly denies them or it vainly attempts to affirm and deny them simultaneously. Naturalism is out because there is no evolutionary mechanism that can adequately explain the development of moral awareness. And atheism is out because it provides no foundation upon which to build objective moral standards.
2. Objective moral values exist — As we have argued above.
3. Therefore, a personal, moral God exists — We are left with the theistic worldviews of Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Which one is best? Only Christianity, which is Judaism fulfilled, teaches that humans were created in God’s image (Gen. 1:26-28). Thus the human conscience is one of the unique ways in which we reflect our personal and moral God. Furthermore, only Christ can provide violators of God's moral law with hope to stand before him justified.

Lord, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations.

Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Psalm 90:1-2

Where did God come from? Atheists often ask this question of Christians who argue that God created the universe out of nothing (Gen. 1:1; Jn. 1:1-3; Heb. 11:1-3). If everything that exists requires a causal explanation outside of itself, then how do we explain the existence of God? Bertrand Russell, in his essay Why I Am Not a Christian, wrote, “If everything must have a cause, then God must have a cause. If there can be anything without a cause, it may just as well be the world as God, so that there cannot by any validity in the argument.” So who created the Creator? Though this question is meant to silence and utterly refute God as an explanation for the universe, it is actually a classic straw man fallacy.

The cosmological argument (arguing for the existence of God as the cause of the cosmos) does not claim that everything that exists must have a cause. Rather, it claims that the universe—due to its contingency, its need for an explanation and finitude—requires a cause beyond itself, a non-contingent, self-existent, uncaused first cause. This non-contingent being who explains the existence of the contingent universe is the God of Scripture, who depends on nothing outside of himself and upon whom everything else depends.

This is not an ad hoc explanation given by Christians to dodge the question. Rather, this is what the Scriptures themselves teach.

Jesus said that “the Father has life in himself” (Jn. 5:26). If life itself originates with God then he depends on nothing outside of himself to exist, making him a non-contingent entity. He exists in a category of one metaphysically: “There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.” (Psa. 86:8; see also Ex. 15:11; Mic. 7:18) Paul, in arguing for the existence of a Creator who exists apart from and above creation, said that he is not “served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” (Acts 17:25)

God is not finite, temporal or contingent. He is “from everlasting to everlasting.” Before the creation of the universe and the existence of time as we know it, God existed (Jn. 17:5). He says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega… who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Rev. 1:8) Unlike the creation, the Creator has no beginning and no end and requires no explanation outside of himself. Therefore, we cannot apply the same principles we use to explain the origin of the universe (a finite, temporal and contingent entity) to God (an infinite, eternal and non-contingent entity).

The argument for the origin of the cosmos is deductive, meaning if the premises are true, then the conclusion is unavoidable:

1. Whatever begins to exist has a cause — Things don’t come into being from nothing: ex nihilo, nihilo fit (“out of nothing, nothing comes”). Notice that this is a subset of things that exist in which God, because he has no beginning, does not belong.
2. The universe began to exist — In addition to insurmountable philosophical problems with an eternal universe, there is solid scientific evidence that the universe had a beginning and will end; its expansion, abundance of helium, residual radiation and the second law of thermodynamics point to a finite cosmos.
3. Therefore, the universe has a cause — There must be a first event in time which requires a sufficient explanation.
4. The cause of the universe is God — There must be an uncaused first cause, a being who is “from everlasting to everlasting” who brought forth the universe.

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Psalm 63:1

Augustine once wrote to God in The Confessions, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” East of Eden and under the sun, we all feel a painful longing for the transcendent, on the one hand, and a frustrating sense of inadequacy of earthly things to satisfy that longing, on the other.

David felt this longing and rightly turned to the only one who could satisfy him (Psa. 63). When we feel this same sense of emptiness and longing do we know where to turn? We discern our inward wretchedness and conclude rightly that we cannot cure it. We know we each have an appointment with death that we cannot escape. The question is, what do we do in the face of such sober realities?

Far too often, in order to get through the day and avoid despair, we divert ourselves from thinking too seriously about such matters. What is behind our constant need to be entertained and stimulated by technology and hobbies every spare moment of the day? Why can’t we sit in silence and rest alone with our thoughts? This propensity to constantly check our phones and be entertained is more than silly and frivolous. These are attempts to escape despair, boredom and anxiety through diversion, further highlighting our profound need for something this world cannot offer.

This idea, which Blaise Pascal and C. S. Lewis explored extensively, has been summarized by a “God-shaped vacuum.” We were created to live lives of freedom, peace, joy and satisfaction all under our Creator’s loving authority and in his perfect presence. But in our broken world in which we are out of sync with the One who made us, there are only traces of this joy left. These vestiges of earthly goodness cannot fulfill us. The presence of legitimate human desires, such as hunger and thirst, indicate that satisfaction for those desires exists. But, to paraphrase Lewis, if we find within us a desire that this world cannot satisfy—a spiritual thirst—then we must look beyond this world for satisfaction.

The writer of Ecclesiastes observes that “[God] has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” (Ecc. 3:11) We long for this “eternity.”

Though God is transcendent, “he is actually not far from each one of us.” He has placed us within his creation to “seek after him and perhaps feel [our] way toward him and find him.” (Acts 17:27) He provides evidence of his goodness in the gifts he gives every day: “he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” (Acts 14:17) These gifts were meant to be enjoyed but also to act as signs pointing to their divine source. The thing about earthly appetites is that once one is satisfied another will come to take its place: “All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.” (Ecc. 6:7)

This inability of earthly things to fully satisfy us points us toward heaven. However, this feeling of inner emptiness is no post-dated check only to be cashed at some point in the distant future in heaven. God came down from heaven to earth so that we could begin to experience eternal life and spiritual renewal here and now: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (Jn. 5:24) Jesus came to both purify and satisfy our desires. He fills our emptiness “with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:19; see 2 Tim. 2:20-21) and satisfies our deepest longings with his steadfast love (Psa. 16:11; 81:16; 90:14; 145:15).

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord… Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.…  Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark…”

Genesis 6:5-9, 11-14a

Noah lived in a world of chaos and corruption, a world in which humanity had fallen far from the God in whose image and likeness they were created. Imagine trying to live faithfully, raise children and protect a family in such a world. In response to this human wickedness,  the heart of God was “grieved.” The verb here can carry different senses depending on the context: (1) to be injured (Psa. 56:5; Ecc. 10:9; 1 Chr. 4:10); (2) to experience emotional pain; to be depressed or worried (2 Sam. 19:2; Isa. 54:6; Neh. 8:10-11); to be embarrassed or offended to the point of anger; to be insulted (Gen. 34:7; 45:5; 1 Sam. 20:3, 34; 1 Kgs. 1:6; etc.). There may be several aspects to God’s grief but human sin did not merely wound God emotionally; it prompted him to strike out in purifying judgment against the source of his grief (v.7). This terrifying story of divine judgment also teaches us comforting truths about God’s character and the human condition.

God is just, therefore salvation is needed — God is patient but his justice cannot allow evil to continue unchecked. In the New Testament, the flood is used as a type of the final judgment to come (Mt. 26:36-41; 2 Pet. 2:5). While it is certainly good news that evil will not get the last word, our situation before such perfect justice is imperiled. No one can stand before God justified on his own (Rom. 3:21-26). Therefore, God’s justice highlights our need for salvation.

God is gracious, therefore salvation is provided — How did Noah find “favor in the eyes of the Lord”? The passage speaks of Noah’s righteous character in verse 9. In contrast to the evil world, Noah was “blameless” and “walked with God.” The point is not that he was sinless and, thus, deserved salvation but that he lived in such a way as to be in fellowship with God. Noah lived “by faith” (Heb. 11:7). This squares with the larger biblical picture of salvation coming “by grace through faith” (Eph. 2:8-9). As God pronounced long ago, “The righteous shall live by his faith” (Heb. 2:4; cf. Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38; Jn. 3:36). God is gracious and provided salvation in Christ to all (Titus 2:11), but he determined that his gift of salvation can only be accessed by faith (Rom. 1:16).

God is powerful, therefore salvation is effective — The flood also demonstrates God’s might. The world he created through water is now unmade through water. God’s power in judgment is equal to his power in salvation. In fact, God’s salvation often comes through judgment, not apart from it. Noah’s safety in the ark points to our salvation in Christ—the true Ark. Our salvation is effective because of the security of the Ark that is Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 3:20-22). That is, Christ and his achievements are the foundation for our confidence in being saved from God’s just judgment, a judgment which will come not through water but fire (2 Pet. 3:8-13). Therefore, like Noah, we must be sure we are “in the Ark” and warn others of the coming judgment, beckoning them to Christ with loving urgency (2 Pet. 2:5). God is just, gracious and powerful.

Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.

(Matthew 22:15-22)

In the above text, Jesus simultaneously escapes a trap and teaches a valuable lesson. The Pharisees and Herodians, normally at odds with one another, team up to trip up the Lord. Their question expects an either/or answer but Jesus gives a both/and answer (“fear God, honor Emperor” 1 Pet. 2:17). But what’s all this about coins? Jesus points to the image of Tiberius on the coin for the poll tax (Greek εἰκών, eikōn). This is the same Greek word used in the Septuagint translation (LXX) of Genesis 1:26-28 which speaks of God creating humanity in his “image.” Jesus makes a subtle and powerful contrast: since Caesar’s image is stamped on the coin, he can lay claim to money through taxation; but since God’s image is stamped on us, he can lay claim to our whole lives (Mt. 22:36-38).

What is the “image” of God within us? It consists of those faculties that distinguish us from the rest of creation. These are things that make us unlike animals and like God. All creation is reflective of the Creator but humans uniquely reflect God. There are at least five dimensions to the divine image within us.

Rational: ability to think — Humans can reason. We are told “be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding” (Psa. 32:9). Though animals have rudimentary intelligence, they don’t share our complex rationality, wisdom and understanding.

Moral: ability to choose — We have a will. That is, we are moral beings who can distinguish between right and wrong (Gen. 2:16f). Humans are imbued with the unique quality of free moral choice.

Social: ability to love — We are emotional beings made for relationship. This is reflected in the plurality of God and the plurality of humanity (male and female, Gen. 1:26). God exists in eternal communion with himself (Father, Son, Spirit). God is love and we reflect God most accurately when we love God and our neighbor (Mt. 22:37-40).

Creative: ability to work — We don’t just exist within creation, we are given jurisdiction to rule over it, yet under God (Gen. 1:28; Psa. 8:3-8). We bear God’s image by using that ruling power to make full use of the amazing potential of creation. We farm fields, build houses, grow families and communities, invent and create. The Hebrew word for “image” (Gen. 1:28) is translated “idol” in most places. Idol statues were often placed in temples to represent the gods (Ex. 20:4-5a). In contrast, humans are God’s living “images” placed in the temple of his creation to represent him and rule on his behalf. Exercising godly dominion is a uniquely human vocation.

Spiritual: ability to worship — Lastly, we were created to be in perfect communion with God. He is described as “walking in the garden” among humans in the beginning (Gen. 3:8). Ultimately, we are fashioned, body and spirit, for that fellowship (Gen. 2:7).

But underneath all this is an intrinsic quality of being human that has nothing to do with ability. Simply by virtue of being human we are made in God’s image, a fact that has far reaching implications. Though God’s image within us has been corrupted by sin it can be fully restored through Christ, who is “the image of God” (Col. 1:15).