Human Rights - Part 3

What are we supposed to do with rights?

Rights are expectations that are backed up by authority, whether inherent or delegated. The ultimate authority is God. He set up the universe in all the ways that give people inherent or delegated rights. True rights come from Him. What we -- I -- should do with other people’s rights is honor them. That makes sense, doesn’t it? If I honor someone’s rights, I’m ultimately honoring the one who delegated the rights. I’m bowing to the power of the One higher than both of us.

Rights give authority, and authority carries power. That’s an important connection, and it leads toward the answer to a harder question: What should I do with my rights -- that is, the power God has given me?

The answer is shaped by the type of universe we live in: this particular universe was made by the God who revealed Himself through the Hebrew and Greek (and Aramaic, sometimes) Scriptures. He created the earth, its flora and fauna, and man, and He endowed man with purpose: to exercise authority over creation (Gen. 1:28) as co-rulers. This purpose hasn’t changed between Testaments (2 Tim. 2:12). Our purpose is to use God’s delegated power to responsibly cultivate His creation for His glory. Our rights fall under the category of “God’s delegated power,” and I should use my rights to responsibly cultivate His creation for His glory.

Government officials endowed with the authority of life and death (Rom. 13:4) should use their power to cultivate a just society. Church planters should use their power to build up their converts (2 Cor. 10:8). Parents should use their rights to cultivate godly, contented children (Eph. 6:4).

Pipe dreams are great, but this isn’t how government works most of the time, is it? And there are an awful lot of parents who abuse their rights and do not attempt to cultivate godly children. Why is that? 

This is where we shift in the theological discussion from anthropology (the study of mankind) to hamartiology (the study of sin). Specifically, it’s worth taking a minute to talk about how the Fall impacts the way people use power.

I have found helpful Dallas Willard’s discussion of the aspects of a human. If you’re interested in his fuller treatment, it’s worth reading in Renovation of the Heart (really the whole book, but at least chapter 2). He outlines four elements of a human:(1) the spirit, the ability to choose; (2) the mind, the abilities of feeling and thought to perceive, imagine, and reason; (3) the body; and (4) the soul, the character as shaped by the sum of our choices and experiences. The table on the left shows the difference in priorities between the way God designed humans to function and how they do function since the Fall.

For fallen people, God (or rather, a “god” they imagine) serves their spirit (god enacts their choices). Their spirit serves the mind’s thoughts and feelings, and the mind’s thoughts and feelings are defined by the soul, or character, which takes all its cues from the body’s natural desires. This is the lifestyle Paul describes in Rom. 3:10-18; 8:5-7; and Eph. 2:1-3.

God designed us to operate under exactly the opposite priorities: the body carries out the character of the soul, which is shaped by the mind (thoughts and feelings) that is submitted to the spirit (the capacity to choose), and the spirit serves God.

The Fall is the reason that people abuse their rights. By nature, people without God act based on their bodies’ desires. When people without God try to fulfill their desires (for pleasure, popularity, or power -- see 1 John 2:16), they don’t mind violating the rights of others unless violating the rights of others will cost them popularity or power. A person without God will seek to fulfill his desires in a way that does not cost him too much. When he can get away with something, he will.

What should I do with my rights, and for that matter, all the other forms of power God has given me?

1. use them (this is the body element of my person)
2. in a manner consistent with my soul (character and values),
3. which is shaped by thoughts and feelings (mind)
4. that are intentionally chosen (spirit)
5. in submission to God.

That’s the positive dimension of human rights -- what I should do with mine. The question that really started me thinking along these lines, though, was about the negative dimension: what should I do when rights (mine or others) are violated? For example, when a child is abused, what should he/she do about his/her violated right to be raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?

We’ll look at that question next time.