'We don't preach morality' or 'godly, righteous, and sober life': which is it?

We don't preach morality, we plant churches  - Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, Church Times, 2nd July 2021.

Compare the Archbishop's comment with some classical statements of the Anglican tradition:

The Wise Man saith, He that believeth in God, will hearken unto his commandments. For if we do not shew ourselves faithful in our conversation, the faith which we pretend to have is but a feigned faith: because the true Christian faith is manifestly shewed by good living, and not by words only; as Augustine saith, Good living cannot be separated from true faith, which worketh by love ... Now forasmuch as he that believeth in Christ hath everlasting life, it must needs consequently follow that he that hath this faith must have also good works, and be studious to observe God's commandments obediently - 'A Short Declaration of the True, Lively, and Christian Faith', Book of Homilies.

Faith may not be naked without good works; for then it is no true faith ... If he [i.e. the penitent thief] had lived, and not regarded faith and the works thereof, he should have lost his salvation again ... And travelling continually during your life, thus in keeping the commandments of God - wherein standeth the pure, principal, and right honour of God, and which , wrought in faith, God hath ordained to be the right trade and path-way unto heaven-you shall not fail, as Christ hath promised, to come to that blessed and everlasting life - 'A Sermon of Good Works Annexed unto Faith', Book of Homilies.

Whatsoever is good, the same is also approved of God: and according unto the sundry degrees of goodness the kinds of divine approbation are in like sort multiplied ... Some things in such sort are allowed that they be necessary unto salvation, by way of direct, immediate, and proper necessity final, so that without performance of them we cannot by ordinary course be saved, nor by any means excluded from life observing them - Hooker, Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity II.8.3.

For pretend not that God's commandments are impossible: it is dishonourable to think God enjoins us to do more than He enables us to do; and it is a contradiction to say we cannot do all that we can; and "through Christ which strengthens me I can do all things", saith St. Paul. However, we can do to the utmost of our strength, and beyond that we cannot take thought; impossibilities enter not into deliberation, but according to our abilities and natural powers, assisted by God's grace, so God hath covenanted with us to live a holy life ... "for the grace of God hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live godly, justly, and soberly, in this present world"; for upon these terms alone we must " ook for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ". I shall no longer insist upon this particular, but only propound it to your consideration, to what purpose are all those commandments in scripture, of every page almost in it, of living holily and according to the commandments of God, of adorning the gospel of God, of walking as in the day, of walking in light, of pure and undefiled religion, of being holy as God is holy, of being humble and meek as Christ is humble, of putting on the Lord Jesus, of living a spiritual life, - but that it is the purpose of God, and the intention and design of Christ dying for us and the covenant made with man, that we should expect heaven upon no other terms in the world but of a holy life, in the faith and obedience of the Lord Jesus? - Jeremy Taylor, 'The Invalidity of a late, or deathbed Repentance', a sermon preached at Golden Grove.

Thus you see what obligation the profession of Christianity lays upon us to holiness of life. From all which it is evident, that the gospel requires something on our part. For the covenant between God and us is a mutual engagement; and, as there are blessings promised on his part, so there are conditions to be performed on our's. And if we live wicked and unholy lives, if we neglect our duty towards God, we have no title at all to the blessings of this covenant. The contrary doctrine to this hath been greedily entertained to the vast prejudice of Christianity, as if in this new covenant of the gospel God took all upon himself, and required nothing, or as good as nothing of us; that it would be a disparagement to the freedom of God's grace to think he expects anything from us. That the gospel is all promises, and our part is only to be lieve and embrace them, that is, to be confident that God will perform them if we can but think so, though we do nothing else; which is an easy condition to fools, but the hardest in the world to a wise man, who, if his salvation depended upon it, could never persuade himself to believe that the holy God, without any respect at all to his repentance and amendment, would bestow upon him forgiveness of sins and eternal life, only because he was confident that God would do so - John Tillotson, Sermon VII 'Of the Obligations of Christians to a holy life'.

There are two, characteristics which eminently distinguish the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One is, that holiness of life to which his followers are called; the other is, that mutual love or benevolence which his disciples should cherish towards each other. 

Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, assumed our nature, and offered himself a sacrifice upon the Cross, for this express purpose "that he might redeem us from, all iniquity, and purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works". He is therefore a Saviour, because "he saves his people from their sins" - not only from the guilt of sin, and the condemnation due to it; but from its dominion and power. 

Hence his gracious invitation to "all who labour and are heavy laden" with the burden of sin, "to come to him and he will give them rest". Hence his injunction of self-denial, and following him in all holiness and renunciation of sin, in order to be his disciples. On this principle we are assured that without holiness, no man shall see the Lord.  That in Christ Jesus, nothing can avail us to salvation - neither circumcision, nor uncircumcised, - no form of godliness, no profession of religion, or zealous attachment to a party; but "a new creature, a new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness" ...

These are prominent features in the Christian character.  Holiness of life, and benevolence of heart, are indispensably necessary in all who aspire to the title of true disciples of Jesus Christ ... This is evidently the case for everyone who hopes for salvation through the Son of God.  I know of no dispensation by which any man can claim an exemption from the acquisition and constant practice of holiness and charity.  As they are peculiarly characteristic of the real Christian; so are they absolutely necessary to fit us for heaven - Charles Inglis, Primary Visitation Charge to the clergy of the Province of Quebec, 1789.

The rule of the Spirit is universal; it reaches through every moment of our lives, and comprehends all the ten commandments in their full Gospel meaning. It is "the mind of Christ" and the mind of Christ must be perfect. The pattern of it is the life of Christ, and in the life of Christ there could not be wanting any manner of thing that is good. Do not say, 'The thing is impossible: none of us ever can be perfect, and it is no use setting about it. I will just let it alone, and be content if I can maintain a decent character, and turn out no worse than other men'. Do not, I beseech you, indulge yourself in this way of thinking. Truly none of us can be perfect; no, not in any one thing; we know that very well. And do you suppose that our Saviour did not also know it? He, Who is Perfection itself, knew infinitely better than we can, how far, how very far, the best and holiest of us all falls short of what He created us to be: and yet His word is, "Be ye perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect: be merciful as your Father is merciful : purify yourselves even as He is pure". These are our Lord's own rules to every Christian man woman and child, to guide him in the daily course of his life - John Keble, 'The Rule of the Spirit', a sermon for the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity.

Who does the Archbishop of Canterbury mean when he says "we do not preach morality"? It certainly cannot refer to how Anglicanism has traditionally, soberly, clearly, meaningfully preached an understanding of the moral life as a necessary expression of what it is to have life in Christ.  This itself has been rooted in the evangelical imperative (Matthew 7:21-27) and the apostolic proclamation (Titus 2:11-14).  To preach Christ Jesus as Lord, therefore, must necessarily also include a proclamation of the moral life in Christ.  A Church - even a successful church plant - not preaching morality is not adhering to the evangelical imperative nor to the apostolic proclamation. 

That the Archbishop should say this in a cultural context in which there is an increasingly obvious seeking after a convincing account of the moral life is all the more surprising and disappointing.  To not preach morality in this cultural context is to fail to preach Christ because Christ does not abandon us to the disorders, confusion, and irrationality afflicting our common lives, whether this refers to climate change or the dignity of the human person, economic inequalities or the good of marriage and family. A Church not preaching morality in this context is surely condemning itself to missional irrelevance, incapable of offering meaningful, coherent accounts of the Good and of human flourishing.

It is because grace does not destroy nature that the Church must proclaim the vision of the moral life restored in Christ.  Or, as Cambridge Platonist Benjamin Whichcote put it:

The Creation of God and the Restoration by Christ, Reason and Gospel, agree in Sobriety, Righteousness, and Godliness.

This is something Anglicans have recognised over centuries, with consistent, sober, thoughtful proclamation - through preaching, liturgy, catechism, and theology - of the moral life in Christ (including, of course, natural law).  The Archbishop's 'we', therefore, refers to something quite different than the Anglican tradition.

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After taking a Summer break, laudable Practice will return on 2nd August.