Sine mercede
Religion · Christianity · Deontology
7 Sep 2026
We might be tempted to view the Christian life as a series of transactions: I forgive so that I'm forgiven; I give so that I'm rewarded; I reject sin to escape hell; I pray in order for God to grant me what I ask. We understand that how we behave has consequences (whether good or bad), and we are tempted to make those consequences the drivers of our behaviour.
This view is not necessarily false or wrong, and Scripture seems to often encourage this reasoning. Scripture frequently attaches rewards and punishment to moral conduct, and these consequences can become motives for the disciple.
When Jesus teaches us how to pray with the Lord's Prayer, he says: “ … forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”1 The petition takes the form of a bargain: it suggests that we have not forgiven our debtors for its own sake, but to secure God's forgiveness for us.
Jesus makes the exchange even more explicit in (Luke 6:37–38):
Similarly, in (Matthew 6:14–15) Jesus tells his disciples:
These verses appear to encourage particular conduct not for its own sake, but because of what we may obtain in return. Forgiveness is rewarded by the promise of forgiveness; generosity by the promise of reciprocity.
Other times, Jesus seems to offer a deal to his disciples. He asks them to act in certain ways, and in exchange he promises to reward them appropriately. In (Matthew 19:21), for example, Jesus says that if you “wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.”4 Later, Jesus continues: “everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life”5 (Matthew 9:21). Similarly, in (Luke 14:12–14) Jesus uses the promise of rewards to encourage certain behaviour when he tells us:
At times, Scripture warns us of the consequences of doing evil and the punishment that will follow. For instance, in (Romans 2:6–10) we are told how our actions will be judged: good will be rewarded with eternal life, whereas evil will be severely punished:
A Christian reading these passages from Scripture may very well begin to act in such ways with the promised consequences, whether reward or punishment, as their only motive. Doing so is not inherently wrong. It is certainly better than not following Jesus' teachings at all.
However, this should be viewed as a first step on our moral ladder.8 Just as a child may first learn correct behaviour through reward and punishment from their parents,9 but eventually learns to behave well for its own sake rather than from the desire for reward or the fear of punishment, we should aspire to follow Jesus' teachings because we have understood them and come to view them as the right thing to do.
Do not forgive to be forgiven; do not give because treasure awaits; do not avoid sin to escape hell; do not pray to get things from God. Do all these nonetheless, but do them for their own sake. The problem is not hoping for heaven. The problem is reducing heaven to a reward earned in exchange for good behaviour.
What does it mean to follow Christ's teachings for their own sake? I believe it can ultimately be understood through the theological virtues of faith and charity.10
Faith allows us to believe all that God has “said and revealed to us,” because “he is truth itself.” This includes Christ's teachings: through faith, we accept them as true not out of self-interest, but because we trust the God who reveals them. Through faith, “the believer seeks to … do God's will.”11
Charity brings faith to its proper expression in love. Through it, “we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbour as ourselves for the love of God.”12 It is through charity that we follow Christ's teachings for their own sake. Not because we fear punishment or seek reward, but because we love God and, through that love, we come to love the good that he teaches. In doing that good for its own sake, we obey God not as slaves or mercenaries, but as his children:
Therefore, doing something for its own sake, in the Christian sense, is not to do it instrumentally, but through charity and faith: out of love for God, and therefore out of love for the good that God wills.
The contrast between doing something based on its consequences, or for its own sake and out of charity, is also present in the sacrament of Reconciliation. When we sin, Jesus calls us to repent.14 The Church teaches us how to confess our sins, obtain forgiveness from God, and be reconciled with the Church.15 In doing so, the Church differentiates imperfect contrition from perfect contrition.16 Contrition is imperfect when it arises from consideration of sin's ugliness, or is done out of fear: fear of hell, eternal punishment, the loss of heaven, and other punishments due to sin. However, the Church tells us that even though imperfect contrition prepares us to obtain forgiveness, it cannot by itself grant us the forgiveness of grave sins.17 Perfect contrition, by contrast, stems from our sincere love of God above all else. We repent our sins not only because of what they may bring upon us, but because through our sin we have offended God, whom we love.18
This understanding is not foreign to Scripture. As we have seen, Scripture often uses reward and punishment to incentivise certain behaviour. Nonetheless, through charity, it also encourages us to set self-interest aside and to act in certain ways for their own sake. In (Luke 6:35), for instance, Jesus tells his disciples to reject ordinary reciprocity in doing moral good, and instead to “love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.”19
A clear example of the importance of the theological virtue of charity in justifying obedience is (John 14:15). There, Christ tells us: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”20 Shortly after, Christ reiterates the connection between charity and obedience in (John 14:21): “They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me.”21 The same idea is repeated in the First Letter of John: “For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments.”22
In his Rule, St. Benedict explains that the first of his twelve steps of humility is to “keep the fear of God before your eyes at all times and never forget it.”23 He tells us that we must follow every command of God because whoever does not will end up burning in hell, but those who fear God will enjoy everlasting life.24 Thus, St. Benedict doesn't see fear of punishment and hope of reward as false motives for doing good rather than evil. However, he considers these motives only as the first step in our moral progression. At the end of the twelve steps, he says that “because of love, all the things you once did out of fear you will begin to do without effort.” Our motivation will no longer be fear of hell, but the love of Christ.25 Eventually, we don't stop obeying, but why we obey changes. The good becomes something loved rather than something done to avoid punishment or seek reward.
As Christians, moral choices should not be ultimately be the result of a calculation of consequences. We should follow Christ's teachings, but not out of fear of punishment or hope of reward. There is nothing wrong with those incentives at first, if they lead us to follow the Gospel's teachings. Our aim as Christians, however, is that such obedience should progress towards becoming an expression of what we have learned to love. Would I still choose the good, even if it produced no favourable consequences for me at all? We should not behave well in order to go to heaven; rather, we should become the kind of person for whom heaven is simply the completion of what we have learned to love. As we learn to love God, we begin to do good and avoid sin for their own sake, because we recognise the good as right and, through charity, have come to love it.
Notes
1 Matthew 6:12, NRSV-CE.
2 Luke 6:37–38, NRSV-CE.
3 Matthew 6:14–15, NRSV-CE.
4 Matthew 19:21, NRSV-CE.
5 Matthew 19:29, NRSV-CE.
6 Luke 14:12–14, NRSV-CE.
7 Romans 2:6–10, NRSV-CE.
8 Cf. Genesis 28:10–12; St. Benedict, The Rule of St. Benedict, Rule 7.
9 As St Thomas Aquinas writes, “the fear of punishment and certain temporal promises have been necessary, even under the New Covenant, to incite them to virtuous works” (CCC § 1964, quoting Summa Theologiae I–II, q. 107, a. 1, ad 2).
10 CCC §§ 1814–1816, 1822–1829.
11 CCC § 1814.
12 CCC § 1822. Also, cf. CCC § 1972; CSDC § 196.
13 St Basil of Caesarea, The Longer Rules, prologue 3, quoted in CCC § 1828.
14 Cf. Mark 1:15; Matthew 4:17; Luke 13:3; Luke 15:7; Luke 7:36–50.
15 CCC §§ 1422–1498; CIC, cann. 959–997.
16 CCC. §§ 1451–1454.
17 CCC § 1453.
18 CCC §§ 1451–1452.
19 Luke 6:35, NRSV-CE.
20 John 14:15, NRSV-CE.
21 John 14:21, NRSV-CE.
22 1 John 5:3, NRSV-CE.
23 St. Benedict, The Rule of St. Benedict, p. 29.
24 Ibid.
25 Ibid., p. 37.