Question: "What is Divine Command Theory?

"
Answer: The Divine Command Theory (DCT) essentially teaches that a thing (i.e., action, behavior,
choice, etc.) is good because God commands it to be done or evil because God forbids it from being
done. Thus, to say that it is good to love our neighbors is semantically equivalent to saying God
commands us to love our neighbors. Similarly, it is evil to commit murder because God forbids
murder.
Now, right away someone can object to Divine Command Theory on the grounds that good and evil
become arbitrary to the whim of God. If good and evil are solely based on the whim of God, then
morality is merely a will to power or might makes right. Since God is mightier than any of us,
morality boils down to His way or the highway.
The alternative to Divine Command Theory is the assertion that the basis for morality lies outside of
God, rather than at the mercy of His whim. This is the approach that Plato takes in his
dialogue Euthyphro. The so-called Euthyphro Dilemma can be stated thus: Is an action morally
good because God commands it [DCT], or does God command it because it is morally good? One
might be tempted to abandon Divine Command Theory and instead ground morality in something
external to God.
However, saying that God commands something because it is morally good threatens the
sovereignty and independence of God. If an external principle, in this case the objective ground of
morality, is outside of God, then God is obligated to adhere to this standard, and thus He is not
sovereign. Furthermore, Gods morality depends on His adherence to this external standard; hence,
His independence is threatened.
Thus, we are caught on the horns of a dilemma. Neither alternative is palatable to the Christian
worldview. God is certainly not arbitrary in His moral actions, nor is God subject to some external
standard of morality that governs His decisions. In the former case, we can say that God is not good,
and in the latter we can say that God is not God. Its quite understandable, at this point, why some
reject Christianity and adopt moral relativism as their standard, except for the fact that the Bible
presents us with a different picture of morality and demonstrates the Euthyphro Dilemma is a false
dilemma.
The classic Christian response to the Euthyphro Dilemma is to ground goodness in Gods nature.
This solves the first horn of the dilemma because God isnt arbitrarily deciding what is good and
what is evil on a whim. Rather, it is Gods nature to do good, and God never acts contrary to His
nature. This also solves the second horn of the dilemma because the ground of morality is Gods
nature and not some external standard to which God must adhere. Gods sovereignty is preserved
as well as an objective standard for morality, i.e., Gods nature.
The Scriptures, Gods self-revelation to humanity, illustrates this quite nicely. A sampling of passages
that demonstrate that goodness is grounded in Gods nature: