This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. | 1 Corinthians 4:1–3
At the beginning of this whole social distancing situation, I wrote a blog about the conflicting values that Christians (and especially Christian leaders) face when making decisions in this pandemic. The blog focused on balancing the Biblical call to gather together as the people of God and the Biblical call to honor the governing authorities. Since then, the conversation has changed. The church is still conflicted, but the conflict is now focused more on our individual rights and our role in working toward the common good. It seems to be more about how the church should exercise its God-given freedoms in this time.
Before we define there two ‘sides,’ let me be clear: any authority the government has is from God AND the reason why Christians follow this law is to honor God. In a way, we could say that the government does not have power over us, because as Christians, we are free to serve God alone. We must also recognize that the freedoms that we have are given to us to exercise in a God-honoring way. Christians are not bound by the governing authorities; we are bound by our devotion to God. He has given us freedom to steward in ways that are aimed toward shalom: the perfect harmony of His creation. With that, let’s talk about the conflict between rights and the common good.
This country has always been a balancing act between these two principles. A great article published this week pointed out that individual rights and national unity have always been a tricky pair:
From the moment the American republic was born right up until today, this has been its hallmark: Me and we — different flavors of freedom that compete but overlap — living together, but often at odds.
We must recognize that these competing values are BOTH part of what it means to be American. We are the United States of America: individual states, united together. We fought a war trying to makes sense of it on that level. It is no easier for the individual. An individual citizen of this country has individual rights as well as a responsibility to work together with fellow citizens to make this democracy function.
INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS
Those who are focused on individual rights tend to see the upholding of rights as the best way to serve the common good. They will point back to the founding of this nation and to the Constitution and Bill of Rights, declaring that protection of individual rights is the only way to assure that government does not become tyrannical. Christians fighting for individual rights are often protecting the structure essential for the common good to be possible.
COMMON GOOD
Those who focus on the common good recognize that individual rights are only as beneficial as the people exercising them. The Christian understanding of sin makes law and government necessary. We are not all independent of one another; our lives overlap and our decisions affect far more than just ourselves. This is why we don’t have unlimited freedoms, because that would be anarchy. There are always restrictions to freedom put in place to serve the good of all. In times of emergency, those allowances need to be increased, because unfettered rights have the potential to do more harm to the whole.
Which ever way you tend to lean, recognize that those on the other ‘side’ are also acting to provide community flourishing. The question is: what is the balance necessary for this time? No matter what the balance is, it has both a me and a we component to it. Those who lean in these opposite directions need one another to accomplish whatever good we believe best. The good news is, the church is equipped (and designed) to unite various people under a shared commitment to God. This is simply the newest test for us: to live out what we are.