Divine Command Theory and the Incarnation

FordFestivaPhilosophy

I’ve been thinking about some Divine Command Theory, and it seems like it would be problematic for the necessity of the incarnation. The typical defense of the incarnation is that it was necessary to satisfy both God’s perfect justice and his perfect mercy. Under Divine Command Theory, however, these two qualities are dependent upon the will of God, i.e. whatever God wills is what is just, and perhaps God wills that mercy is a vice, not a virtue.

So then, what is the basis for the necessity of the incarnation? It would seem that God, could have pick a variety of soteriological systems and they all would have been just, so why did he pick one that involved his own suffering?

Now one may say that he chose a system that would result in the set of people being saved who most fit his character. But, why, given his infinite knowledge, could he not just have said that all the people who would have been saved under the current soteriological system, are just inherently saved (elect, if you will). He could have simply decided that it was good that these people were saved, and saved them. There is no necessity for him to use the incarnation of Christ, and thus the sacrifice of Christ was simply an arbitrary decision on the part of God.

Furthermore, why, if Divine Command Theory is true, did God not simply decide that all the counterfactual which are actualized in our world, are morally good, and thus establish universal salvation. He could simply decide that it is just that everyone be saved, and then save them. If he’s not appealing to some moral truth, then who gets saved is really due to an arbitrary soteriology decided by God, which for some reason involves a physical incarnation, although he could have accomplished the same result with a variety of systems.

In short:

1. If Divine Command Theory is true, the incarnation is unnecessary.
2. Divine Command Theory is true.
3. Therefore, the incarnation was not necessary.

This seems problematic to me, I would much rather accept the necessity of the incarnation than Divine Command Theory.

alan1000

Fortunately, God willed that Mercy is a virtue. "Go and learn what that text means, I require mercy, not sacrifice..." (Mathew 9:13). You should consider how this might affect the rest of your argument, and restate it.

Terrapin Station

Not that I normally pay much attention to theology, but I had no idea prior to your post that anyone thought of the incarnation as being metaphysically necessary.

Queen Cleopatra

It's easy to find faults in the bible depending on the interpretation given. In the old testament, much of what is said about God contradicts with what is given in the new testament. This is because, in the old testament God is also tempestuous, impulsive, impassioned, basically everything you would say of someone with little self-discipline. Then again, they're all hearsay statements since only the prophets dealt with God directly and none of them were the actual writers. It is possible that some of those human-like actions were actually perpetrated by the prophets and were attributed to God because of their relation. The point of view of the writers seems to have coloured much of the information in the Bible.
However, from the time of prophet Samuel onwards, God's representation gets better the further on towards the new testament. From the early old testament books, even I questioned whether morality was solely dependent on God's commands, but as you read on especially in the new testament, we realise that God's nature is absolute and that the laws He gives are to govern human conduct which is why they may change in interpretation. This is largely expressed when Jesus says, "the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath." The laws are like tools which humans use to govern their relations but are not supposed to override their free-will which allows them to determine whatever course of action they choose.
The only hint to reincarnation I know of in the Bible is when Jesus says that John the baptist is the former prophet Elias (Elijah). Certain other interpretations use the teaching about being born again as implying reincarnation but for me it's not definite. So far, reincarnation is not a christian teaching.

flight747

Hi @FordFestivaPhilosophy,
I believe you are wrestling with the sovereignty of God. I do agree with your second premise that Divine command Theory is true because we often see God in the Old testament condoning individuals for no reason and ordering the Israelites to kill off the enemy completely. However, I do not agree with you that the incarnation is unnecessary under the divine command theory. I think that even under a Divine Command Theory, incarnation is indeed still necessary. Even though God has commanded humans to do certain acts, in the end it is the humans that have chosen to obey or to disobey, thus illustrating humanity’s free will. So with the New Testament in mind, God gives humanity an avenue through which humans can choose to be saved. Under a world where God would choose who to save and not to save, God is doing the choosing, thus abducting the free will that humans require. So the value of the incarnation, even under a divine command theory, is that it still gives humans free will. I will layout my argument as follows,
1. If God does not exhibit the divine command theory, then there is no free will.
2. There is free will.
3. Thus, God does exhibit the divine command theory (MT 1,2)
Moreover, the fact that Jesus walked on Earth and lived like a human allows humans to see an exception to the rule. This is important especially for Christians because offers an example that one should attempt to follow. On the other hand, if the incarnation had not occurred, it would be useless to point to any individual that was both divine and of the flesh and lived a sinless life. It, once again, enables humans to choose on their own account to emulate such a man. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Divine Command Theory and the Incarnation

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