CHRISTIAN LIVING:

UNIT 1: THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN MORAL LIVING

CHAPTER 1: CHRISTIAN MORAL LIVING AND THE HUMAN PERSON

LESSON 1:
Christian Moral Life

★ Moral life
○ A responsible life where a moral person strives to give help to those in need.

★ Christian moral life

○ Is about the Gospel.
○ About growing in love and holiness.
○ The process of becoming authentically human.
○ The commitment in thought, word, and action on the ongoing process of freeing
oneself from the enslaving sin and becoming a true disciple of Christ.
○ Involves being sincere and mature in following Christ.

Authentic
Being truly the person God created him/her.

Liberating
Freedom from sin through Christ.

Matthew 5:48
“Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

LESSON 2:
The Human Person

“Madali maging tao, mahirap magpakatao.”

★ Christian moral life

○ A call to live the life exemplified by Jesus Christ.
○ A call to become a loving person in relation to God, the community, and the
environment
★ The human person is the key to a moral life.
★ We understand the human person in Jesus Christ.

Incarnation
The Son of God assumed a human nature; Jesus becoming human; the Word made flesh.
Galatians 3:26
“For through faith, you are all children of God in Christ, Jesus”

LESSON 3:
The Human Person: Open and Relational

“No Man Is an Island” by Joan Baez

★ We grow into our full selves as persons only in relating to others.

★ Being a person means being by others (our conception, birth, upbringing), being with
others (our family, friends, neighbors), being for others (love, service).
★ Being by, being with, and being for others speak of the truth that a person is a product of
the past, continues to grow and develop in the present, and lives not only for himself but
for other people in love and service.

Full selves
Positive development of physical, social, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual aspects of a
person.

Genesis 2:18
“It is not good for man to be alone, I will make a helper suited to him.”

LESSON 4:
The Human Person: A Conscious Being

★ People are endowed with intellect and will.

★ They think and choose their actions freely.
★ They have the ability to make decisions.
★ They are aware of what is happening to and around them.
★ We possess this self-awareness through our knowing and free willing.
★ Having self-awareness through knowing and free will becomes the basis for moral life.
★ Knowledge and freedom impute a person’s responsibility and accountability.
★ To live a Christian moral life, persons who have the ability to discern, can be aware and
choose that which is pleasing to God.

Will
The capacity to choose. Romans 12:2
“Do not conform yourself this age but be transformed
Intellect by the renewal of your mind.”
The capacity to know.

Discern
The act or process of determining the right decision or action.
LESSON 5:
The Human Person: Embodied Spirit

★ Persons are embodied spirits.

★ They have body and soul.
★ The body and soul as one make up the human person.
★ Christian faith regards the body as “good and honorable since God has created it and
will raise it up on the last day.”
★ Manichaeism
○ A major religion founded by the Iranian prophet Mani which believes that the
body is a source of evil.
★ The body is good and holy for God made it a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.

To embody
To intimately give or connect the body to the spirit.

To dignify
To make it worthy.

1 Corinthians 6:19
“Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.”