Are all human beings intrinsically valuable, no matter how evil they might be?
The Collins dictionary defines intrinsic as “belonging to the real nature of a thing; not dependent on external circumstances; essential; inherent”. Psalm 100:3 says “Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his.”
Yes. All human beings are intrinsically valuable. Being human is our real nature and our value is not dependent on the external circumstances of our evil choices. Our value is essential; inherent. Simply by being created human, we have value. Each and every human being is created by God, damaged in nature by sin, and given the opportunity to be truly human through rebirth in Jesus Christ. Our value is not based on how good or evil we are. Our value is based on our Creator. Nothing that we do can change that value because nothing we do can change the Creator. In Genesis we read of creation and that after the creation of man God said it is “very good”. Psalm 139 teaches us that we are wonderfully made “your works are wonderful”. Our value does not come from us, it comes from who created us. Intrinsic value is assigned to something that is valuable just because of what it is. This value is given to humans, through scripture, because they are human - no other criteria. To begin to give more or less value to human beings based on the amount of evil (sin) they choose, is to say you are above God in recognizing what is “very good”. Separating the who from the what is essential in determining the intrinsic value of human beings. The what is the only thing that matters. We are human. We are valuable. Who we are and the impacts of our evil (sin) can not eliminate this value.