This post will be short, seeing as I am beginning to work on a new series of audio or video (I haven’t decided yet) explanations of postmodernism. I just wanted to remind my subscribers that while individualism is the correct view, as opposed to the collectivism of the “evangelical” communitarians like Carl R. Trueman and Tim Keller, it can only be consistently held to by those who have been given a heart of flesh, the mind of Christ, and a will renewed by the Spirit of God to always desire the truth over falsehood, as well as repent for those times when we have failed to desire and pursue the truth.
In other words, it is only by means of the work of God in the hearts of men that constant respect for, and adherence to, what is true can be achieved. In my last Trueman post, I referenced Romans 6, wherein the apostle Paul teaches us that the body is an instrument of self-expression — be that self-expression sinful or righteous. What he also states, however, is that men apart from Christ are slaves to sin, which implies that their will and, consequently, their thoughts and actions are not subject to God who is the Truth.
Paul writes —
Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?1
The person who has not been born again by the Spirit of God, in other words, will always be a slave to sin, even when he understands that another way of thinking or course of action is correct. A man can only cease being a slave to sin, moreover, by being freed from slavery to sin. And that liberation only comes through believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
As I noted in my last article as well, it is the Protestant Reformation which is responsible for the West understanding the primacy of the individual. By looking to the Law of God — which demands absolute moral perfection to the Law of God from each individual — and seeing man’s helpless state before God, and then by looking to the Gospel — which provides the forgiveness of sin and the righteousness needed to stand before God and not be cast into eternal punishment — for each believing individual, the Reformers saw that the individual lies at the root of the individual’s and society’s correct construct and consequent edification.
The corruption of the West is due to many false philosophical/ideological beliefs and the behaviors they serve to justify, yes; however, the acceptance of those falsehoods is due to the corrupt heart of man. What man needs, more than anything else, is to be born again, made a new creature, given a heart that desires the truth above lies, righteousness above sin, and, therefore, the stability and flourishing of individuals and the societies we form by contract with one another.
As Christ tells us in Matthew 6:33 —
…seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Seek the righteousness of God that is given to those who repent of their sin and place their faith in Christ Jesus, the one who underwent the judgment they deserved when he suffered and died on Calvary. Seek the kingdom of God, wherein the righteous, resurrected Son of God rules and reigns, and which informs us of how we ought to live in this life. Seek these things first, and the others will be added unto you.
-h.
Rom 6:17.