There have been debates and divisions within the Christian community almost from the very beginning. Jesus once said, “Wherever two or more are gathered, I will be there among you.” But to look at the way the church sometimes behaves, you would think that He had said, “Wherever two or more are gathered, an argument is soon to be among you.”

The fact that we often bicker with one another is nothing new, of course. However, it seems to me that there has been a shift in the nature of those disagreements. For example, the theological and doctrinal issues that once divided Presbyterians from Lutherans, and Anglicans from Roman Catholics, seldom engage the ordinary person in the pew. These days the great dividing lines are drawn around matters of ethics.

In other words, we are no longer fighting over the real presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper, or even our understanding of the Trinity. What Christians argue bitterly about now are abortion, economic justice, human sexuality, crime and punishment, and the appropriate role of the church in these and myriad other social issues.

What troubles me about this shift is that I’m not sure ethics and theology can be so easily separated. What we believe and how we act are not two distinct things. Thinking about faith (theology) shapes the way faithful women and men live (ethics), just as the way people live affects their thinking about the faith. And unfortunately, Christian ethics is increasingly becoming a matter of private opinion.

Now, obviously, few of us would want to return to the days when church laws governed our every ethical decision and church authorities told us exactly what we should do or not do. But there is little comfort if the alternative is ethical anarchy in which each Christian becomes an isolated decision maker. Is God’s Way in the world nothing more than for individuals to make their own moral choices? Or is God’s Way in the world the gift of new life, and a calling to live in accordance with new standards?

Please don’t get me wrong—I’m not suggesting that we resume our battles over theological issues. What I am pointing out is that arguing over ethics without a common theological framework is not going to get us anywhere. First, let us come together around what we believe, and then we will be able to see clearly how we should live.