Values, Value Judgments
Values, Value Judgments. Key principles that shape human identity, destiny, and actions; Evaluative discernments that aim to apply an individual’s or community’s value system.
As key principles and beliefs that reflect what one considers important and worthy of pursuit, values are of central importance for any understanding and expression of identity. Individuals, communities, societies, cultures, and even historical ages can be said to possess values. They name key convictions and preferences, direct actions and resource allocation, and infuse human life with a directional, teleological character. Values, we should note, can be explicit or implicit, intentionally embraced or subconsciously assimilated, coherent in their character or with contradictory pulls, comprehensive or pertaining only to some facets of life. As such, they intertwine with worldviews—our fundamental beliefs about reality, life, and purpose—by being shaped by them and, in turn, reinforcing them.
Viewed from a biblical perspective, these principles serve as a yardstick against which moral decisions are measured, forming a conceptual nexus that binds together individual conscience, communal ethics, and divine injunctions. While the Bible does not provide a systematic axiology (theory of value), it presents us with a wide array of value-laden terms. Words such as kabod (glory), tsedek (righteousness) in the OT (e.g., Ps 19:1; Prov 12:28; Isa 6:3), and euarestos(pleasing) and hagios (holy) in the NT (e.g., Rom 12:1; 1 Cor 1:1–2), are but a small sample in this connection. It is worth noting that these and other values are theocentric in character in that they are normed by the character and actions of God.
From the outset, the Genesis creation narrative serves as a cornerstone for comprehending values and value judgments. God’s repeated declarations of tob (“good,” Gen 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25) and the climactic tob me’od (“very good,” Gen 1:31) are acts of both articulation and endowment. Borrowing from speech act theory, we could say that God’s pronouncements function as both “declarations” and “assertives” (J. Searle). That is, they both reflect and confer the value of creation. Regarding the latter, the Bible repeatedly highlights how individuals, communities, objects, places, and times acquire value as God designates them to be holy or otherwise worthy of attention, admiration, or respect.
The Bible, we should add, references a variety of values, including personal, political, social, and aesthetic. Nevertheless, Scripture accords a special status to those that concern moral and spiritual facets of existence. Unsurprisingly, therefore, it puts a high premium on moral virtues like khesed (Heb. “mercy,” “lovingkindness”), rakhamim (Heb. “compassion”), chrēstotēs (Grk. “kindness”), and aphesis (Grk. “forgiveness”) (e.g., Mic 6:8; Col 3:12–13). These virtues act as concrete manifestations of the transcendental principle of love (e.g., Lev 19:18; John 13:34–35). Both Testaments enjoin the love of God and neighbor as foundational (Deut 6:5; Matt 22:39), with justice (mishpat in Heb. and dikaiosynē in Grk.) considered an essential aspect of such love. It is by embracing these values and living according to them that Christians are recognized as true disciples of Christ (John 15:35).
Accordingly, the prophetic literature in the OT is replete with exhortations for leaders and the people to practice justice and mercy in their dealings with others (e.g., Amos 5:24; Zech 7:9–10), and by so doing, pursue values reflecting the character of God. In the NT, Jesus echoes these calls for justice and criticizes the religious leaders of His time for neglecting the weightier matters of the law, such as mercy and faithfulness (Matt 23:23). In fact, one way to view the ministry and teachings of Jesus is to describe them as exercises in values clarification, i.e., as pointing people to the “weightier matters of the law” that His followers are asked to embrace and enact.
On the important question of the nature of values, we should stress that Scripture emphasizes their objective stratum. They have a character of the “given” that transcends various personal or cultural standpoints. That is to say, they are to be discovered rather than simply invented. Their foundational nature is unchanging and transcendent, aligning with the immutable nature of God (Mal 3:6; Heb 13:8). At the same time, some values in the Bible have a contextual aspect to them, representing accommodations to cultural norms rather than expressing some trans-cultural truths. In that connection, we can think of Paul’s exhortations for women to wear headscarves (1 Cor 11:5–6) or the cultural and cultic specificities surrounding the practice of circumcision (Gen 17:9–14; Acts 15:1–29).
Value judgments that we find in the Bible and that believers are asked to make in their daily existence are an essential aspect of any discussion of values. By their very nature, value judgments are evaluative in character. They label actions or conditions as either aligned or misaligned with divine purposes (Gen 3:6–7; 6:5–8; 18:20–33), and as such, involve declarations of what is good or evil, right or wrong, and pleasing or displeasing to God. Believers are called to exercise discernment (1 Kgs 3:9; Heb 5:14) and make value judgments that align with God’s will and character (Phil 1:9; Rom 12:1–2). See also Love; Justice; Virtue.