Skip to main content

On Human Nature: Freedom, Equality, or Relatedness?

Image
By
In his book Foolishness to Greeks, Lesslie Newbigin argues that the central value of democracy is freedom, and that in America this takes on a particularly individualistic flare. Conversely, Newbigin asserts, the central value of socialism is equality though it’s hard to discern what this means in practice since there has been no example of a truly socialistic (or communistic) nation as these terms were conceived by Marx, Engels, and those who followed after them.

Contrasting these divergent worldviews with the teaching of the Bible, Newbigin suggests that there is a third way. “From its first page to its last, the Bible is informed by a vision of human nature for which neither freedom nor equality is fundamental; what is fundamental is relatedness…Human beings reach their true end in such relatedness, in bonds of mutual love and obedience that reflect the mutual relatedness in love that is the being of the Triune God himself. Neither freedom nor equality are words that can take us to the heart of the matter” (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986, page 118-19).

Newbigin is not saying that freedom or equality are unimportant but rather that they are not at the core of human nature. Like the God in whose image we are made, relatedness, or interdependence, is central to why we exist, how we are designed to function, and how we obtain joy and bear fruit in life. Life is not about being my own man, or about being utterly equal with every other person (where equality is conceived as sameness), but about being one with Christ and those who are in Christ for the glory of Christ and the common good.

I don’t have the time to spell all of this out, but please reflect carefully on 1 Corinthians 12:27, for I think it strikes the most genius balance in the universe between the individual and the whole. Speaking of the church Paul writes, “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”

This sentence at once asserts that the fundamental nature of human beings, being made in the image of God, is what Newbigin calls “relatedness.” And yet it affirms that such relatedness does not dissolve the individual. The vision of God for his church, and indeed for humanity, is that we be profoundly interrelated with Christ and then, as a consequence, with one another. As this truth infiltrates our hearts, our thinking, feeling, and acting toward God and one another will conform to his will. And as we conform to his will, our joy will rise because we'll learn to live in a way that honors our fundamental nature and glorifies our Creator. 

So, may God grant us insight and the desire to do his will, and to live in such a way as to honor our fundamental nature.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Worship Songs, October 15, 2017

By
We post these worship songs leading up to the worship service so that parents may listen to them in the house or in the car within the days leading up to the worship service. Our hope is that children will hear the songs prior to and it will prepare them to participate in worship on Sunday mornings. My Redeemers Love Hope Has Come I Will Glory In My Redeemer Blessed Be Your Name Here In Your Presence Your Glory Be Still My Soul (In You I Rest) -- Sermon Text: John 11:1-16 That the next generation will set their hope in God and not forget the works of God (Psalm 78:7).
Post a Comment
Read more

Deacons - How They Serve and Strengthen the Church (Part 1)

By
  One of the next important priorities for GCF is to establish deacons in the life of the church. On March 14, 2021 we were able to establish an elder team. Currently, we have a team of four elders overseeing the congregation of GCF.  However, there is more work to be done. I have come to see that establishing an elder team was the bare minimum that needed to happen for GCF to survive. I believe GCF now needs to turn our attention to raising up a team of qualified and willing deacons to serve the congregation so that it will not only survive but thrive.   I would like to begin a series of blogs on deacons to help us understand who they are and what they do in the life of the church.  In this blog let me provide three reasons why I think deacons should be near our top priority.  Number 1: It is Biblical. Paul instructs Timothy to install elders who will help him pastor the church. For whatever reason, it seems the churches in our circles treat the installmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Secret of all Failure is our Failure in Secret Prayer

By
“We may be assured of this—the secret of all failure is our failure in secret prayer” (12). So writes the anonymous author of the classic little book on prayer entitled, The Kneeling Christian (Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids: 1971). He means that the reason we so often fall into sin or live in discouragement or fail to bear fruit is because we do not cling to God in Christ above all things. We do not diligently seek him or lean on him or plead with him or draw on his strength. We give ourselves to busyness over communion with God and in this way we seek to accomplish in our flesh what can only be accomplished in the power of the Spirit.  Giving first place to what our dear author calls “secret prayer” is indeed a key to the Spirit-filled life but let’s be clear: prayer is not magic, rather, it’s a relationship. It’s not as if we simply have to file requests with God, being careful to use just the right words so that we can get him to respond as we wish. God is not a vendi...
Post a Comment
Read more