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by David Odegard

The motto of the medieval Christian world was, “Some to fight, some to work, some to pray.” What this created was a system of the world that was group oriented. One was born into a place and position and expected to perform one’s duty. A serf had a duty, as did the king. The priest had a duty, as did a noble lord. Each was expected to know his or her responsibility and perform it until the day of death.

Persons were less individuals and more a cog in the system—a replaceable part of the whole. Responsibility was paramount. Duty was the ethical anchor of the entire social order, without an abundance of concern for common individuality. A peasant was expected to live a life of service to his or her lord, expected to fold under all individual personality in service of another. This was all perceived as duty.

Plainly, the development of the concept of individualism was welcome in such a rigidly stratified society. Springing from the Imago Dei was the concept that human beings are created equal, that there is no intrinsic difference in quality between the noble and the serf. They are human beings; they are persons, not cogs in a system of the world. The “Rights of Man” was a notable development, but it did not spring from John Locke originally, but from the flow of Christian thought throughout the medieval period.

The concept of individualism produces rights. Rights cannot be violated by anyone, including those with so-called noble blood. The libertarian maxim enshrined in the principle of absolute non-aggression is an example of universal rights of mankind. Another is the Christian theological conclusion to “do no harm.” For the scope of this blog post, I do not have space to explain the difference between positive and negative rights, thought it is a vital discussion. Learn about it here instead.

Although we do possess inalienable rights simply because we are made in the image of God, God Himself has ordained social structures to which we as individuals remain responsible. Not that others are entitled to my duties and service, but because God is entitled to my duty, service, and love. This is often underemphasized in modern libertarian circles, forgotten in political circles by both left and right, and entirely distorted by social pundits.

The Bible says that we are to “let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another” (Romans 13:8). We did not incur this debt because our fellow man has loved us so well that we now owe him or her something. Quite to the contrary, we owe this debt to God, not only because He made us, but also because we as Christians have been redeemed by God.

Jesus explained this debt in His sermon of the unmerciful servant (Matthew 18:21-35). In this parable, a servant hopelessly indebted with an unpayable sum is generously forgiven—no strings attached. But then he seizes his neighbor and demands payment of the very small amount owed to him. The end of the parable describes this unmerciful servant being turned over to tormentors.

When I focus solely on my rights, I have trouble understanding this parable. After all, the first servant was forgiven the debt, why would that create a duty to forgive the debts of others? He didn’t have the right to be forgiven, yet he was. This would not reduce the legal claim that he had upon his fellow servant to be repaid the small amount that was owed him. He still has the right to the money. In a purely legal world, he should still be able to collect. Jesus contends that I should show my obligation to God by forgiving the petty sums owed to me by my fellow human beings.

Jesus’ point was that being forgiven the unpayable sum created a moral obligation—a debt—to the master who forgave. The implication is clear. Based on the dual reality for the Christian that God has both made me and redeemed my unpayable debt, I owe Him forever. I belong to Him. I incurred obligation to Him that I now must show to my fellow human beings; failure in this area blinds me to my responsibility.

This is why I adamantly deny that an individual owes the poor something directly. The poor have no positive right that I have a duty to supply. Nevertheless, due to my indebtedness to Christ, I have a moral obligation to supply whatever it is He commands. If Jesus wants me to make payments to the poor or to whomever, that is His right and my obligation.

Rights are always balanced by responsibilities and responsibilities by rights. God is the all-important link in this chain. If God is missing, we end up with Marxist claims that we are in debt to all other humans; we become slaves to society because we owe them directly whatever we can produce or that they can demand. History shows this to be exactly what happens in any socialist state. The government becomes the guarantor of the people and the individual becomes a cog in the machine once again.

The other side of the coin is equally damning. If God is not there, I cannot truly be responsible to others or society in any way. Marxists may make claims on me, but they are illegitimate claims and I know it. The result is a headlong plunge into absolute individualism which cannot actually produce a stable society. Anarchy is arguably not a suitable basis for society (the libertarian minimum is not anarchy), but it certainly is not a Christian basis for society. This is true because anarchy is totally focused on individual rights to the complete exclusion of responsibilities. The result is chaos.

Take one look at any college campus today and you will notice that hyper-individualism is on full display in the gender wars. A person who is born a woman and feels like a woman, but who sometimes feels like a man who likes to feel like a woman and wears women’s clothing even though she was already wearing women’s clothing before the feeling arose that made her identify as a man wearing women’s clothes (audibly gasps for air)—this all requires a very complex set of pronouns. DNA has been mapped, but it seems less complex than some of the new genders which are being . . . um, discovered? . . . everyday.

Radical hyper-individuality produces chaos and anarchy, period. Rights must be balanced by responsibilities. All humanity owes a debt to God by the virtue that God made them, and whatever one makes one also owns. God has ordained three spheres of authority in life and we as individuals must make our peace with them: Family, State, and Church. Read more about that here.

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