One of the fascinating things about Jesus is how he reconciles things that seem to mix as well as oil and water. He has total power and authority and yet describes himself as meek. He speaks the truth and acts in love. Paul Miller points out that Jesus is others-focused but also self-proclaiming. He is a man of paradox.
It should be no surprise then, that the Gospel of Christianity, centered around the person of Jesus, is also full of paradoxes. I remarked to some friends recently that Christianity often holds out a “Third Option” in a world of false dichotomies. Often this third option is not precisely a “balance” of two extremes but rather a melding of two extremes.
For example, truth and love are sides of the same coin. It is not that we must temper them both in order to have both. Truth includes Love and wouldn’t be the Truth without it. Likewise, Love without Truth would not be real Love. Many paradoxes in the Christian faith work this way. One must have great spiritual power to embrace meekness.
Out of Many, One?
This all lays the foundation for what I want to focus on in this article: the paradox of freedom and community. We live in a culture ruled by the dichotomy between individualism and collectivism. To embrace either extreme is dangerous.
On the one hand, individualism asserts the rights, freedoms, and opportunities of the individual. Sacrifice for the greater good is not encouraged. Instead, an individual should be the highest priority. In our culture, individualism is embraced by both the left and the right. With some moral issues, the left pushes individualism to assert that morality and truth are up to each of us to decide for ourselves. Meanwhile, the right asserts the rights of the individual in debates on free speech, firearms, and the like.
Inversely, collectivism asserts the responsibility of the individual to serve the benefit of the group, or collective. This is, of course, a basic tenet of socialism. But it can also be found at both ends of the political spectrum. In traditional conservative cultures, for example, the honor of the family is exalted above the freedom of the individual.
COVID-19 has actually illustrated this underground battle between individualism and collectivism quite well. Something as simple as a mask mandate has divided people into those who assert the rights of an individual to not wear a mask and those who assert that, for the benefit of the entire community, masks should be worn. Of course, other examples could be provided to illustrate the flip-flopping of individualism and collectivism between left and right.
The Third Option
Like I said above, Christianity often provides a third option in our duotone world.
In the case of collectivism and individualism, Christianity extends a melded understanding that asserts both full freedom for the individual and full devotion to the benefit of the group.
This is described well in Galatians 5:13:
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
And again in Romans 13:8:
Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
Both of these verses point to the freedom we have in Christ and the call to use this freedom to love our community.
The Bible rejects Individualism’s claim that the individual is the final decider of truth and morality and that we are not responsible for our community. It likewise rejects collectivism’s claim that our identities are established by other people. We are free individuals.
The Countercultural Paradox
This third option is countercultural in two ways.
First, the Christian emphasis on individual freedom and identity in Christ frees us from a culture of identity politics. We are not judged by the groups or demographics that we belong to. We are judged as individuals on the basis on Christ’s work for us. We are responsible for our actions and not for those who are simply part of our demographic. Our identity is found as a unique child of God who has been set free to let that uniqueness flourish.
Second, the Christian emphasis on serving the community and loving others frees us from a miserly life of defending our rights. Philippians 2 describes Jesus laying down his right for our benefit. In the same way, the Gospel frees us to love others without worrying about getting ahead on our own. It compels sacrifice.
We can apply the paradoxical nature of the Gospel as we live fully confident in our individual identities in Christ while sacrificing for our community.