Gisle on The Christian Society

Original page of "Det Kristelige Selskap."

Gisle Johnson, Forelæsninger af den Kristelige Ethik, “Det Kristelige Selskap” 

What makes a society a Christian society is the Christian brotherhood (philadelphia) as it surrounds and unites all who regard each other as brothers in the Lord. The form in which it essentially comes to light in this form of society is brotherly kindness in dealing with the people with whom life brings the Christian into personal contact. 

Since Christians are now treated as brothers beyond the Christian society, their unilateral recognition of common equality is a given; between brothers there can be no significant difference. This also applies to the Christian society in such a way that there is no difference between Jew and Greek, between free and slave, a unity and mutual equality which especially also comes to be seen in the common participation in the sacrament. But this unity and equality does not exclude all difference. Such is already naturally given in the difference in individuality, in the individual persons’ different personal endowments, their different personal development course and the resulting different character and social position. All this will necessarily entail a certain difference also between them, who regard each other as brothers. But this natural difference between the individual persons is now empowered by sin toward hostile opposition and as such fixed there, where it should really only be transient. Nor can Christian society completely avoid this disturbing influence of sin, and thus the individual differences that actually become apparent within it will always be conditioned by sin. Now, we know that everything that points back to sin as a source must be abolished and annihilated by grace. Insofar as the existing contradictions within the Christian community must be regarded as grounded in sin, the Christian will therefore necessarily strive to abolish them, so that the essential spiritual equality between the brothers can also find adequate expression in the reality of life as much as possible. But with this, any thought of a violent, revolutionary destruction of the historical present will be far from him. The complete destruction of the fruits of sin is conditioned by the destruction of sin itself; as long as the cause is not removed, any violent destruction of its effects will only lead to it breaking out into other forms. Everything that in reality confronts the Christian as a product of a historical development, even if it is by no means untouched by sin, still has for him an irrefutable demand to be respected to the extent that the natural in it is preserved, at the same time as the impure is expelled. With regard to all individual differences within Christian society, he will therefore also consider it his task to lift the sinful contradictions, which prevent Christian equality in its full manifestation, by permeating social relations with the spirit of self-denying and communicating brotherly love and thus instruct them toward perfect harmony. 

The opposite of false extremes is that Christian brotherly love will in its own way contribute to leveling out the various contradictions within Christian society and raise them to Christian harmony. The all-determining principle is and remains here the Lord’s Word. Human society, which, shattered by egoism, appears as a bellum omnium contra omnes (war of all against all), is restored to a living organism by Christian brotherly love. Even if within the Christian society there is always a great difference in individual gifts and positions of life, then the whole is always pervaded and controlled by one spirit. The multiplicity of the limbs arranged in the outer relation does not negate the unity of the body, in which the individual limbs are so united that one both rejoices and suffers with the other. A Christian does not want to appear great or higher than others, but on the contrary, gladly steps back for his neighbor, does not envy those higher gifted, but rejoices in his gifts and gladly serves him in humility, satisfied with the position God has appointed him in society. He knows that God is no respecter of persons, that great and small have equal access to his society, that he who is great and lofty among men can be an abomination to the Lord, and that the First should become the Last. Therefore, he will also, as a determining principle for his ethical relationship towards the differences in status that are inseparable from cultural society, maintain that the true value of human beings must not be judged according to their external position in society, but according to the relationship in which, according to their ethical behavior, they must be assumed to stand before God. 

What gives cultural society with its difference of status the character of a Christian society is the self-denying Christian brotherly love in its unity with the all divine order, respecting and enforcing justice. But it is precisely in this Christian brotherly love that we have what is true, veritably justified in that sense of humanity which can be said to be the characteristic goal for the Christian's contemporary social striving.