In this episode of Christ the Center, Camden Bucey and Lane Tipton discuss a deceptively brief but theologically weighty section of Geerhardus Vos's Biblical Theology, exploring Jesus' critique of first-century Jewish ethics. Far from addressing merely surface-level moral failures, Vos shows that Jesus exposes a deeper religious collapse—one marked by practical deism and pervasive self-centeredness. When God's glory is displaced as the center of ethical life, obedience becomes external, fragmented, and ultimately irreligious.
This conversation presses the listener to consider how these same distortions reappear across church history and into the present—whether in moralistic fundamentalism, liberal Protestant ethics, or debates surrounding the New Perspective on Paul. The antidote Vos commends is not tighter rules or refined casuistry, but a recovery of true religion: life coram Deo, grounded in union with Christ, animated by delight in God himself as our supreme reward. In Christ, obedience is restored to its proper place as worship, flowing from grace rather than self-reliance.
Watch on YouTube
Chapters
00:07 Introduction
07:32 Jesus's Critique of Jewish Ethics
18:07 Common Distortions of Ethics
32:55 Modern Expressions of the Same Error
40:46 Von Harnack and the Essence of Christianity
44:08 The New Perspective on Paul
49:35 The Antidote
52:28 Conclusion