Morality Comes Before Soteriology

Although they would almost certainly never describe it in this way, the typical evangelical priority of redemption over sound moralism seems to be inherently rooted in egoistic utilitarianism: the evangelicals who care more about being saved than doing the right thing for its own sake care more about escaping their deserved fate in hell [1] than they do about fulfilling the moral obligations rooted in God's nature.  If someone was committed to Christianity for the sake of evidence and morality, they would not speak of their own salvation as if it is more significant than those things.

Is it any wonder that someone who is merely or mostly fixated on avoiding a certain outcome out of self-interest has only a trivial concern for the consistent, thorough pursuit of morality?  This should surprise no one.  If someone ignores the facts that moral failings are the entire reason why salvation is needed and that moral betterment is the entire reason why people are saved to begin with, why should it be unexpected for them to regard Biblical ethics as secondary to redemption?

Even evangelicals themselves can be selectively appalled at the moral failings of other evangelicals, and yet very few of them are willing to endorse genuine moralism.  Morality is treated like its importance is tangentially derived from soteriology, when the opposite is actually the case.  The importance of soteriology is derived completely from morality--there can be no capacity or need for redemption unless morality comes first, and mercy is inherently non-obligatory in the first place, making it something that does not need to be shown in any particular case.

It is clear that morality comes before soteriology in all things, to the point that to claim the opposite is to deny reason and the sequential importance of Scriptural doctrine.  The inversion of these priorities inevitably leads to people who only do that which is Biblically obligatory by happenstance or by preference.  To live as if one's own salvation or that of others is more significant than the moral obligations rooted in the Biblical God's character is to live as if the self is more important than the very moral fabric that gives human life significance on the Biblical worldview to begin with.


[1].  Evangelicals in general would not aclnowledge that the Bible predicts that the wicked will cease to exist in hell because death is the penalty for sin, but the point stands.