Moral Agency is Dependent on Spiritual Maturity

You can’t have one without the other!

Readership: All
Author’s Note: This essay was inspired by private communications with Red Pill Apostle and contains excerpts from readers’ comments.  Links to original comments are contained in the initial words.
Length: 3,100 words
Reading Time: 16 minutes

Moral Agency = Emotional, Psychological, Social, and Spiritual Maturity

As readers have seen from the many reports of other authors on the topic of Women’s Agency and Women’s Moral Agency, many authors have tried to nail down the agency question.  All have offered an angle, an elaboration, a facet, a perspective of the topic, but all somewhat inconclusively, and when compared, very inconsistent.  This may explain why the question has appeared to be mysteriously enigmatic for so many years.

Maturity is a topic that I’ve covered in a few previous posts (a few are listed under Related below), but my theories on this as it pertains to agency have developed further and will be explained in this essay.

My conclusion is that agency and maturity are correlated.  I believe agency is dependent on maturity, and in practice, they are the same thing.  During all the writings and discussion over the past month, I’ve even come to the conclusion that Moral Agency is what the Bible refers to as Freedom in Christ.

This is a correlation that no other author (to my knowledge) has addressed.

It’s rather difficult to write a convincing essay (or series of essays) on this point, but after reading a score of essays and hundreds of comments about agency, readers might come to this same conclusion intuitively, as I have.

In this essay, I’ll attempt to convince our readers that this is true.

Route 66, U.S.A.

Moral Agency = The Active Improvisation of the Will

Teachings and discussions about Free Will are quite often mispresented as a separate topic from obedience and spiritual growth.  Thus, people often misinterpret Free Will as the freedom of choice, but these are not the same thing.  Freedom of choice is about which shirt to wear, which job to take, where to go on vacation, etc. etc.  Whereas, Free Will is about exercising moral agency to discern good and evil, to walk in obedience to God, and to embrace God’s purpose for one’s life, no matter what shirt, job, or vacation destination one chooses.

“He who loses his life will find it, and he who holds on to his life will lose it.”

This concept is repeated several times in scripture (Matthew 10:39; Matthew 16:25; Mark 8:35–37; Luke 9:24–25; Luke 17:33; John 12:25; Revelation 2:10), and the fact that it is repeated so many times emphasizes it’s central importance in the Christian Life.

Traditional Protestantism interprets this verse to mean that God’s promises to replace the old, assuredly sinful life, with a new spiritual Life, and that to hold on to the old life is a rejection of the renewed Life.

While this may be true, pastors and teachers seldom if ever hit on how one is to take advantage of this new Life in one’s daily life.  Similarly, the Christian literary genre of “Christian Living” would appear to address this in explicit detail, but it doesn’t.

The important detail that is habitually and maleficently overlooked is that one must employ the active improvisation of the will to resist autopilot, doubt, and laziness, and at other times, a disengagement of the will in favor of trusting God moment by moment.  One must impulsively renege the comfort zone, forfeit self-serving conveniences, sacrifice the natural inclinations, and creature habits of the flesh, and extemporaneously subdue the ego to its proper status in order to exercise moral agency to choose the good and reject not only the bad, but also the not-as-good.

He who holds on to his life in the flesh is essentially a self-sufficient, all-surviving cockroach, who never extends love to others nor receives it in turn, and thus, never finds real meaning in living.

OTOH, he who willingly resists his inner carnal life in the flesh can only do so to embrace Life in the Spirit.  If done as a habit, it fosters humility and love such that his life shall be restored through God’s grace and the communion found in his relationships with others.

Free Will is impossible without Moral Agency.  Without it, all of life is reduced to the stark fatalism of Nature vs. Nurture.

Thus, these passages are not describing a replacement of one life for another, but a discovery, exploration, and redemption of The Life!

Case Study – “You Must Rise Immediately Upon Awakening!”

My father taught me this when I was an adolescent.

When you awaken in the morning, as soon as you achieve consciousness and before your mind becomes alert, you must throw back the sheets, jump to your feet, and busy yourself with a mundane task (e.g. brushing your teeth, cleaning the house, getting dressed, taking a shower, washing dishes, etc.) while your mind is waking up.

Whenever I’ve done this, I’ve had a grand productive day.  Whenever I haven’t, it feels as though a demon invades my psyche (anxiety, fears, guilt, pessimistic thoughts, etc.) as soon as I become alert.  Then the rest of the day is a struggle.

I’ve often thought about this phenomenon, and why it should make such a difference.  I believe it is because rising enthusiastically and taking action is an act of faith that God has good things in store for you this day.  Without this act of faith, you give yourself over to spiritual oppression.

That is Moral Agency!

Sidenote: Going to bed at a timely hour and getting a good night’s rest are a necessary precursor.

Moral Agency = A Will to Grow in Faith

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.

Philippians 3:12 (NKJV)

In the typical Christian experience, the process of spiritual growth begins with recognizing the demands of one’s own conscience and how these demands interplay with a respect for God’s Laws and His natural order.  It is quite common for individuals to only discover this after reaching the limits of their human capacity, coming to the ends of their natural person.  Others discover this after violating God’s Laws either out of exasperation, stupidity, or temptation, and then having to face the consequences.  The former reveals to one’s awareness that humanity is incommensurate.  The latter reveals the sinful nature.  Both are shortcomings in the eyes of God, but God can and does use both to inspire one to embrace faith.

Then comes the challenge of embracing faith, a sublime consciousness of metaphysical truth which transcends the bounds of human nature, the worldly principles, paradigms, and powers, and all the sociopolitical-isms (e.g. Existentialism, Feminism, Gnosticism, Marxism, Nationalism, Nihilism, Progressivism, etc. etc.).  It is the confidence that what is believed, discerned, and hoped for is more true, more real, and more powerful than what is thought, felt, or observed.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1 (ESV)

Next come the Trials of faith, of doing the hard work to cling to one’s faith in the face of all manner of argumentations, confusion, difficulties, persecutions, and temptations.  Because of the prior absence of the faith experience, one is prone to become confused and deceived by any number of spiritual assaults.  Thus, it is easy to lose faith and stumble during this phase.  But one must overcome all these challenges, until one can be sure-footed in one’s faith, and not easily unmoored by the winds of false doctrine and the waves of doubt (Ephesians 4:14; James 1:6; Jude 1:12-13).

A failure of faith (and Moral Agency) can be seen when people take any one of the following recourses.

• When they believe that faith can be reliably improved or maintained through one’s habits, doings, and/or thinkings (AKA legalism or “works”).
• When they believe nothing they do can have a negative effect on their life (AKA antinomianism).
• When they attempt to assign blame to others or to circumstances.
• When they succumb to self-pity (AKA “victimization”).
• When they are overtaken by anger, bitterness, contempt, depression, despondency, distrust, fear, hate, self-rejection, etc. (AKA “the Abyss”).
• When people anesthetize themselves with various distractions (alcohol, entertainment, idolatries, illicit sex, p0rn, various addictions, etc.).
• When they turn to worldly constructs (e.g. Planned Parenthood, street gangs, welfare, etc.) to shore up their personal errors and insufficiencies and thereby become enslaved to the dark spiritual powers of those systems.

These may prove to be a greater sin than any particular manifestation of one’s inherent sinful nature (e.g. The 7 Deadly Sins), because it is a turning away from God.

It is only after we have overcome these trials do we begin to discover The Life as something fresh and new — as a fountain of clear Living Water flowing from within.  Although we may have had a fleeting taste of this in our immaturity, it is only when our faith becomes indomitably resilient and robust do we exhibit the Fruits of the Spirit with regularity and force (Galatians 5:22-23).

Moral Agency = Spiritual Identity

As long as our hearts lie dormant (AKA “spiritually dead”, we cannot give God anything to work with in our lives. As long as we are passively running on autopilot, we cannot lay claim to making any difference for Christ. Our Christian identity is not revealed until we begin to exercise Moral Agency.

Bruce Charlton describes agency in terms of creativity, and that as a form of true self-expression.

“…as Children of God with agency; we just-are creators – however partially and imperfectly: and this represents much (not all) of what is divine in us.

Furthermore, it is what God most wishes from us; as indicated in the Fourth Gospel when Jesus describes his disciples as Friends, and not as Servants. 

I understand this to show that Jesus wants to work-with Men who have taken-on the same kind of primary creative agency as he himself had; and as God has.

Therefore, we should not and cannot be contented with a life in which our own creation is annihilated – and this discontent will not be ignored nor suppressed.”

Bruce Charlton’s Notions: Why is it so difficult to find a creative path – day by day, year by year…? (2022/11/17)

It is through our creative doings that we discover our individual purposes in Christ. This is the “pressing onward” — the manifestation of that for which Christ Jesus has laid hold of us (Philippians 3:12).

Case Study — The Archetypical Bastard as a Form of Identity Crisis

In Bastards (2022/9/9), I described the sort of man who is deprived of identity through the absence of a father figure and therefore never experienced the presence and power of God in his formative years.  The effects of poor identity formation are shown in many negative traits, such as being awkward, boorish, hesitant, insecure, irresponsible, shifty, and untrustworthy.  He is one who is vainly willful, self-centered and unknowingly frustrating to interact with; one who does not share the privileges of God’s children; always busy with self-absorbed activities, never allowing nor even knowing how to let God act in his life, and never conscious of how he could be a part of anything larger than himself.  Thus, he never knows faith, and never finds rest.

If we consider this condition in light of agency, faith, and maturity, we find that such a person is swamped in the muck of spiritual immaturity.  They are unable to give or receive love in an appropriate and efficient manner.  They cannot adapt nor learn quickly, but instead must endure many false starts and stops along a meandering and tortuous path in life.  Their spiritual immaturity is a stronghold that perpetuates rejection and shame — being disrespected, unappreciated, and unloved, and never knowing why.  Meanwhile, others find constant and endless amusement in mocking and taunting him, which only contributes to his despondency and misery.

Moral Agency = Love

Life is fragile and love is brutal.  To not regard life as fragile relegates one to the status of a beast or a cockroach.  To not regard love as brutal indicates an ignorance of the irresistible overpowering domination of love. When Life and Love are juxtaposed, the irony is striking.  It is a battle between the desire of the will and the fleshly nature to resist domination.  To balance the two is not an easy task.

Bette Midler sang a song called The Rose. If we overlook the culturally assigned interpretations of romantic love, we find that Midler describes many true aspects of love and trust, not only between humans, but also in our relationship with God.

“(I feared that) Love is (only) for the lucky and the strong…”

As these lyrics intimate, one purpose of Love is to preserve Life.  This is often shown in supplying the basic needs of others to support their physical life, e.g. cash flow, clothing, food, physical affection, protection, shelter, etc. etc.  A more profound expression of Love works towards preserving Spiritual Life, such as acceptance, companionship, emotional support, sanctified sex, teaching, and of course, Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary.

Spiritual Maturity can be broadly described as having both the ability and the purpose to love others efficaciously, properly, and responsibly (not to be confused with the worldly interpretation of love).

Moral Agency is a vehicle for Love.  Thus, it is a synonym for Spiritual Maturity or even Freedom in Christ.

Moral Agency = Freedom in Christ

What is the purpose of Freedom that Jesus Christ gave us in the New Covenant?

It is in order to save us for Good Works.

Freedom in Christ is often insufficiently interpreted as freedom from sin.  This is true, but this description is often easily dismissed by those who are tenuous in their knowledge of God as something doctrinal, ethereal, and theoretical.  Thus, it fails to impart a complete understanding of redemption.

To expound further, it is freedom to exercise our volitional will, to defend our boundaries, to express our true selves as God created us to be.

It is freedom to work and create, to decide our course in life for good or ill, and to build His Kingdom on Earth.

It is Freedom to pursue the Virtues of Righteousness.  Not as a mere set of rules.  But the Organic Righteousness of Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit.

If the New Covenant writes the Laws in our Hearts, it is a restoration of what is meant to be instinctive and as routine as breathing.

Duties and Freedom belong together.  How then can we perform good works, faithfully, and with wisdom, unless we have attained spiritual maturity?

Maturity and agency tend to go together hand in hand, do they not?  One is considered to have agency based solely on the age of majority — even without maturity, but it would be more difficult to have what would properly be considered adult or Christian maturity without instantiating agency.

Does this not all hinge on developing and implementing moral agency within ourselves?

Conclusions

Now let’s put all this into context of Women’s Moral Agency. As discussed above, a woman’s level of Moral Agency determines all of the following capabilities.

• Her personal self-discipline.
• Her ability to love and be loved.
• Her willingness to grow in faith.
• Her willingness to submit and obey.
• How much she can trust and be trusted.
• Her tenacity to resist sin and temptation.
• How much responsibility she can handle.
• Her overall ability to be a suitable companion and helper.

All these things hinge on a woman’s level of Spiritual Maturity. Thus, a woman’s level of Moral Agency is largely dependent on her level of Spiritual Maturity, and in practice they are essentially the same thing.

These qualities also determine her overall value as a wife.

Deep Strength takes this even further in his most recent post, Husbands are to improve the moral agency of their wives through sanctification (2022/12/17). Here, he emphasizes that a woman’s spiritual maturity largely determines her ability to discern right from wrong and the quality of sanctification that she can bring to a marriage.

“Sanctification can only be had if someone is a moral agent and able to determine right and wrong. Only if they know what is right and wrong are they able to be convicted by their conscience and repent of their wrongdoing.”

“Regardless of the level of moral agency of a wife started at or has grown in the process, the goal should be to continually sanctify her to be more like Jesus. Thus, her moral capability to acknowledge any wrongdoing and repent should increase over time. As she becomes a stronger moral agent, she will become a more mature Christian who can resist temptation more effectively.”

So when we speak of a woman who possesses Moral Agency, we are unwittingly speaking of an emotionally mature and spiritually pure or regenerated woman.  Thus, a continual habit of instantiated Moral Agency should be a priority qualifier for single Christian men vetting a potential wife. For married men, developing Moral Agency / Spiritual Maturity in the wife should be the central focus of their interaction, as DS pointed out in this post.

One year ago, Deep Strength wrote about how Trust is earned and an expression of the character of godliness (2021/12/20). Here he proposed a 4 tier scale of a woman’s spiritual maturity which aligns well with Zippy’s concept of Agentic Moral Capacity.  This scale could be further developed into an “Agency Inventory” that men could use to vet women, grade women’s progress and development, and help keep them accountable.

Furthermore, the possession of Moral Agency more or less sums up the FAST heuristic that reddit/RPChristians uses.

1. Faithful — Involved in growing in the faith with Church and also virtues. Shows commitment to what she says she will do.  No Bulverizing, solipsism, etc. etc.  Her yes is yes, and her no is no.
2. Available — Single, ready, and willing to act as a companion and helper to you specifically.
3. Saved — Professes Christ and lives it out. Not lukewarm.  Possesses at least some Fruits of the Spirit.
4. Teachable — Being open to learning new things and changing her beliefs and behaviors.  Being teachable is the key for women responding to a man’s leading and loving her by respecting and following him.

At the risk of stating a redundancy, all of these require a healthy sense of Moral Agency in a Spiritually Mature woman.

Related

• Σ Frame: Wisdom, Spiritual Efficiency, and Flow (2018/1/26)
• Σ Frame: The Motivation of Desire (2020/12/1)
• Σ Frame (NovaSeeker): Viewpoints on Man’s Confusion about How God Works in the Life of a Believer (2021/3/29)
• Σ Frame: How is Godliness Attractive? (2021/9/1)
• Σ Frame: Elements of Emotional and Personal Maturity (2021-09-08)
• Σ Frame: Elements of Spiritual Maturity (2021/9/15)
• Σ Frame: On the Discernment of Desire (2021/9/24)
• Σ Frame: Developing Discernment (2021/9/27)
• Finer Femininity: The Awakening of the Will ~ Rev. Edward Barrett (2022/1/13)
• Σ Frame: Summary of Red Pill Redemption (2022/9/30)