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Christian Individualism
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[In Ephesians,] the emphasis is not on us accepting Christ. The emphasis is on Christ accepting us.”
- Steve Deneff
In this Lesson, Dr. Steve Deneff tells us something we may not realize. Western culture – and especially American culture – is hyper-individualistic. The thing about culture – including culture in the church – is that we often do not realize we are swimming in it. The comparison to a fish swimming in water is often made. We do not realize we are thoroughly impacted by culture, like a fish may not know it is in water.
It often takes going and living in another culture to realize how much of how and what we think is a product of where we have grown up. Even when we visit another culture, we are just as likely to think they are weird and wrong while not admitting to our own “weirdness” to other cultures. Individualism is a fairly recent development in history, as Dr. Deneff points out.
It affects the way we read the Bible without us even realizing it. We read statements like, “You are God’s temple” and “God’s Spirit dwells in you” (1 Cor. 3:16, ESV). Then we assume it is talking about me when the “you” is plural in Greek – it is not speaking of me as an individual. Rather, in this instance, Paul was talking about the local church at Corinth, a plural “you.” It is the same when he tells the Philippians to work out their salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12) – it’s a plural command to the whole church to work together. It wasn’t about me as an individual in my private prayer time alone with God.
To be like God in true righteousness and holiness is to belong to a community.”
- Steve Deneff
Deneff’s point is that holiness is not just an individual matter. It is not just about me going to the altar or working out my spiritual struggles alone in private. Worshipping God alone on a mountain is great, but it is not enough because the church is not just a private, individual matter. The church is a community that gathers together.
Sometimes, God chooses not to fix my problems in private. Sometimes, he chooses to work on my problems with others in the church. When my spiritual antennae are damaged, sometimes he will only fix them by using others in the body of Christ as the repairmen and women. Confession of both sin and faith – key ingredients in coming to Christ in the New Testament – are both public matters. We need each other in the body of Christ!