Most modern Western Christians are enthusiastic about the idea of human rights. For who can deny that the modern idea of universal, inalienable human rights has brought about much good in the world? Despite some problems and ambiguities with the discourse of human rights, the concept of human rights has provided a common ethical discourse which Christians have been able to use to engage in moral dialogue with those outside the church, and has been a useful tool for promoting the cause of justice and relief for the poor and the oppressed. Nevertheless, I will argue that a social ethic centered in the idea of human rights is fundamentally incompatible with Christian ethics.
Human Rights and Christian Love
Christian ethics does not begin with considering what seems to us to be useful and pleasant from an empirical standpoint. It begins with considering who God is. Christian ethics must be firmly theologically grounded, or else it is not Christian ethics at all. Christian ethical thinking must first consider who God is, what He has done for us in Christ, and the identity we now have in Christ. Only then can Christian ethical thinking move to consider what it means practically to live out the identity we have in Christ.
Christians believe that God loves us. He loves us so much that He was willing to humble and humiliate Himself, become human, and suffer and die on the cross, taking upon Himself the consequences of our sin, so that we could be saved from sin, suffering, and death, be reconciled to Him, and have eternal life. God did not do this for us because we are deserving of His love. Scripture makes it very clear that we do not deserve God’s love; we are saved by grace (Eph 2: 8-9). The salvation God has given us is a gracious gift which we do not deserve and which we did not and could never earn. God does not love us because we are entitled to His love; He loves us because God is love (I John 4:8).
When someone puts faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior, they become adopted as a child of God. They then begin to take on the character of their Heavenly Father. By the power of the Holy Spirit, Christians have union with Christ as part of His Body, and undergo a process of being conformed to the image of Christ. Being a Christian does not just mean being a recipient of God’s reconciling work; it means becoming an agent of God’s reconciling work (2 Cor 5:17-21). Since we have received God’s amazing love, how can we not show that same love to others? This is the basis for a Christian social ethic. We love our fellow human beings because we love God, we love God’s creation, and we want to show God’s love to all human beings.
Now compare this to the idea of human rights. According to the idea of human rights, everyone has a right to demand that we treat them a certain way. Everyone deserves or is entitled to us giving them certain freedoms and goods. We thus do good to our fellow human beings because they have a right to demand that we do so. There is an enormous difference between such an idea and a genuine Chrisitan social ethic. Christians do not love their neighbors because our neighbors are deserving of our love. Just as God demonstrated His amazing love for us, even though we do not deserve it, Christians are to demonstrate love for their fellow human beings, even though they do not deserve it. Even if the outward act may seem the same, doing good to someone because they have a right to demand it and doing good to someone because you genuinely love them are two very different things.
Standing Up for Your Rights
We have seen that there is a big difference between the idea of human rights and the Christian motivation for treating others well. But when we turn to the issue of standing up for our own rights, the difference is even more apparent. Nowhere do we see this difference more clearly than when we consider the issue of loving one’s enemies. If someone bases their social ethic in the idea of human rights, they will always find an excuse for not loving their enemies, reasoning that they have a right to defend themselves and to stand up for their own rights against their enemy. But the Lord Jesus Christ commands His disciples to love their enemies, grounding this command in who God is: “I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to shine on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. . . Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt 8:44-45, 48).
Just before commanding His disciples to love their enemies, Jesus provided His disciples with this teaching: “I tell you not to resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well; and if someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles” (Matt 5:39-41). The reference to forcing someone to go one mile refers to the fact that Roman officials could force their subjects to carry their equipment for them for a mile. Jesus does not tell His disciples to respond to this oppressive practice by engaging in civil disobedience, starting a protest, and standing up for their right to be free from the evil, oppressive, pagan Roman Empire. Instead, He directs His disciples to consider how they can show love to the Roman who is oppressing them, and to voluntarily carry the equipment for an extra mile as a personal favor to him, in order to show him love.
In their social ethic, Christians should not ask the question, “How can I stand up for my rights against my enemy?” They should ask the question, “How can I show God’s love to my fellow human being, regardless of whether they are my enemy or not?” Our enemies may be undeserving of our love, but we know that God loves us even though we do not deserve it, and so we must show God’s love to our enemies, even though they do not deserve it.
In his first letter to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul takes the Corinthian Christians to task for bringing lawsuits against one another in the courts of unbelievers, instead of settling their disputes within the church (6:1-6). Paul then writes, “The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?” (v. 7). For Paul, a Christian should prefer to just be wronged and cheated and leave it at that, rather than to bring shame on the name of Christ by having two members of the church go to court in front of unbelievers.
Later, in the same epistle, Paul addresses the issue of eating meat that has been sacrificed to idols. Paul acknowledges that, technically, there is nothing wrong per se with eating meat that has been sacrificed to idols (8:4-6). However, since some members of the Corinthian church think that idols are real and that eating meat sacrificed to them is sinful, Paul directs those who have this “knowledge” to refrain from eating such meat, for the sake of their “weaker” brethren (8: 7-13). Rather than condemning those who hold to what we might call a “legalistic” view of the matter, Paul instead focuses on how other Christians can show love to them by giving up for their sake something which is not inherently wrong.
The idea of standing up for one’s own rights can have no significant place in Christian ethics. This is because every Christian has denied themselves for the sake of following Jesus (Luke 9:23). Thus, each person who is a Christian will not ask, “How can I stand up for my individual rights?” Instead, they will ask, “What will be best for the advancement of the gospel, the building of God’s Kingdom, and the building up of the church?” One could argue that Christians do have rights, but should sometimes be willing to give them up in order to show love to others. But if the ethical thing to do is for a Christian to give up their “right” to do something, then that means they do not in fact have a moral right to do it. Thus, it is meaningless to claim that a Christian has such a “right.”
Rights and Christian Ethics
A social ethic centered in the idea of human rights leads people to feel entitled to all sorts of things. Then, when people do not get what they want, they feel bitter and resentful. This is not at all compatible with a genuine Christian attitude of thankfulness, joy, and gratitude. Christians recognize every good thing they receive as a gracious gift; they do not feel entitled to anything, but are genuinely grateful for every good thing they receive.
Furthermore, a social ethic centered in the idea of human rights is individualistic and egoistic. It creates a culture in which each individual stands up for their own rights over against other people. This leads to society fundamentally being a realm of conflict. As each individual claims rights against other individuals, endless conflicts of rights arise and endless disputes occur over whose rights take precedence in each situation. This is not at all compatible with a genuine Christian ethic, in which Christians consider how they can serve one another and show love to all people, including their enemies, even if it means they must suffer as Jesus suffered.
As disciples of Jesus Christ, Christians are called to share in the sufferings of Christ, not to claim the right to be free from suffering. We know that suffering can be meaningful and redemptive (Rom 5:2-5, Phil 3:10, I Pet 4:13), and that we are safe in the hands of God, whatever sufferings we experience. Claiming rights is a way of attempting to be in control, rather than trusting God and letting Him be in control. It is an attempt to control others, rather than humbly showing them God’s love. Christians do not claim that non-Christians must give them the right to live faithfully; they simply live in obedience to God and have no expectation that the world will respect that. In fact, Christians are given the expectation that the world will hate us and persecute us (Matt 10:22, John 16:2, II Tim 3:12). The Christian response to this is not to angrily protest that our “rights” are being taken away; it is to show love, grace, and forgiveness to our enemies.
That may be all well and good for a Christian, but what about standing up for other people’s rights? Isn’t the discourse of human rights useful, even necessary, to get non-Christians to treat others well? If we abandon the discourse of human rights, won’t that give opportunity for other people to be harmed? The discourse of human rights has indeed been useful for getting non-Christians to treat other people well. But just because an idea is useful does not mean that it is true. Chrisitans must always be people of truth and integrity. Christians are motivated to do good to others because we love them and want to show them God’s love. Our desire should be that others will do good to their fellow human beings from the same motivation. Without the discourse of human rights, the church can still make public declarations about social ethics, grounding them in love, and hope that this will have some kind of impact on the non-Christian world. Ultimately, Christians must seek to be faithful and to trust in God, rather than compromising their ethical beliefs for the sake of what is useful.
Conclusion
So is there any room for rights in Christian ethical discourse? There is. In particular contexts, the language of rights will always have some role to play in speaking about matters of justice. As long as Christians live in countries with constitutions that legally guarantee certain rights, appeal to these rights in discussions of social ethics and politics is inevitable. However, the language of rights can play a subsidiary role at best within the framework of Christian ethics. It may be in some ways beneficial that much of the world has adopted the idea of universal human rights, but Christians should not allow their own ethical thinking to be controlled by such pseudoChristian ideas. Ultimately, a social ethic centered in the idea of human rights is fundamentally irreconcilable with a genuine, Biblical Christian ethic.