Persons are ends and as such are more important than things. Laws are but things and means and must give way to persons. Because love is a debased word in common parlance, situation ethics is commonly misunderstood as allowing sexual licence in particular and general irresponsible freedom. For this reason situationists in emphasising love as the ultimate criterion in making moral decisions explain that by love is meant love as it is presented in the New Testament. However, what love demands in any specific instance depends upon the situation.
Formal obedience has to do with conformity to external rules.
Man hears God's word in the concrete situation. The demand of the moment is discernible because somehow God's demand is written into the situation. The demands of the moment are made clearer by a knowledge of precedents and consequences, but the decision is never determined by this knowledge. The situation determines what one should do. J. A. T. Robinson says the old morality starts with general principles, supernaturally oriented, which sometimes take precedence over persons.