Hungarian Church Press, 1968 (20. évfolyam, 2. szám)

1968-06-01 / 2. szám

HCP Vol XX Special Number

1968 No 2- 40 -(C0682)

d) The Ethics of the Serving Church

On the ground of their decision of faith, our churchea have affirmed the new sooial system emerging around us, and God has given us e:q?er±ences which have confirmed this decision* This decision meant the transition farom the idea of the church's life being an end in itself to the obligation to serve far the war id* It also meant the acceptance of the "servant form" of the church, and, inseparably from this, the renewal cf Christian ethics*

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Serving for the good of the world means serving man in the realistio way appropriate to the present level of scientific and technological development* That is: a service for the good of all men, the whole of manlciiyl« The concept of the "neighbour" is probably the most provocative concept of the Holy Soriptures: it challenges the proneness of God's people to particularism and asserts the universality of God's saving will. We are induced to accept the truly Biblical concept of the neighbour by a new view of* the peoples of mankind* This new view is rendered progressively inevitable by aoiontific and technological development* It means that, when we speak of the "neighbour" j we no longer think of individuals but of communities! arid that^ when we want to obey the commandment to love our neighbour, we must iricludo every* body since the globe, because of the development of technology* has) to an inofodible extent, "shrunk" - as we often say today* It is in this most instructive manner that the literal sense of the original word is illumined;the neighbour, "the person hext to us'** To be sure, there are vast differences as to ideology* faith and standard cf life, between men and peoples, yet the whole human race has become a single community of common destiny, so that we either learn to oo-exist, or we perish together*

And, in this context, the Law of God, too, appears in a near light* Compared with our understanding of the Law yesterday, we must speak of a new meaning of the Law, of a purer and fuller comprehension of the meaning of God's Law in relation to his revealing will. We may most aptly describe this process in connection ■with the commandments of the second table. The full significance cf the commandment "Thou shalt not steel" can only be understood in terms of collectivized property. likewise, the meaning of the/’Thou shalt not kill" is not only to refrain from what would injure individuals, such as insults, anger, hatred and murder, but we should enlarge the soope cf the commandment to include the wrongs of social or racial discrimination, the causing of divisions and the stirring up of antagonism between the peoples and social systems, and ultimately war that is the gravest sin on earth.

The only and eternal task of the Church is to serve in the world and far the world. The Chur oh is to serve far» the welfare and peace cf the world, for the peace and salvation of men, so that we remain in the world, yet free of the evil* It is to serve for the world, under the Sovereignty cf the Creator and his providence, with the spirit and sacrificial love of the Saviour of the world: that is the new position and the new and only possible way of the Chupoh in the socialist society*