Christianity emerged in a world vastly different from the values espoused by followers of Christ. Slavery was assumed to be a necessary part of a functioning society, and slaves could be thought of as living property and tools.[1] An adulterous wife was a disgrace to be dealt with harshly, but men were free (even expected!) to have numerous sexual partners. Unwanted infants were routinely abandoned, left in the wild to die. Care for the poor, weak, and marginalized was laughable to society at large, contrary to all good sense. And a god who would sacrifice himself for others by dying the most shameful death of all could be pictured as a jackass on a cross![2]
But as Christianity spread, the values of Christ—values currently being taken for granted as good and right—transformed the Roman Empire and the world.
To be fair, the Church has not always lived up to the values she espouses. Nevertheless, over the course of history, the values of the Christian faith have brought great good to the world and our society needs Christians to bring these values into the world today.
In this article, we want to highlight a few of these values, and we do so for two reasons. One, these values ought to guide us at the ballot box, shaping the kind of people and policies we vote for. And two, these values must guide how we conduct ourselves in conversation and on social media as we engage with the political process. It’s far more important that we honor Jesus by embodying these values than that we “win” an election.
“It’s far more important that we honor Jesus by embodying these values than that we ‘win’ an election.”
Here are a few of these key values.
Truth
The Christian faith teaches that there is truth about the world, including moral truth. Truth can be known, and it’s rooted in who God is and what humans are. This truth provides guidelines and guardrails for human flourishing, so that to reject it leads to great harm to our wellbeing. Our society desperately needs to know that there is truth for their life. Not angry truth. Not arrogant truth. But they need the idea that there is real truth rooted in the way things really are. Truth that is in sync with the way life, the world, and humans are designed to operate, so that as we acquire it, individually and collectively we begin to function the way we are meant to function. In the absence of such truth, all that remains to govern society are power and feelings.
Human worth and dignity
Rooted in the creation account in Genesis is the conviction that all people are made in the image of God. Thus, all people have worth and dignity. This has led Christians to do acts such as rescue abandoned infants, risk their lives to care for those sick with the plague, start hospitals, provide homes for orphans, help the infirm and disabled, contend for the abolition of slavery, argue that all people are created equal, and fight for human rights.
“Rooted in the creation account in Genesis is the conviction that all people are made in the image of God.”
Care for the poor, lowly, and marginalized
Because Christ himself modeled it and because all people have dignity and worth, Christians care for the less fortunate. They have fed the hungry, welcomed the outcasts, elevated the status of women and children, provided education for those with no access to it, and sought to help the powerless.
Marriage and sexuality
The historic Christian vision for marriage and sexuality has protected women and taught men to practice loyal, covenant love. It elevated the value of children and provided a secure environment for children to be nurtured in. Indeed, if everyone practiced the historic Christian vision for marriage and sexuality, there would be no rape, no sexual harassment, no divorces due to infidelity, no pedophilia, and no pornography. Sex trafficking, along with a great many other societal evils connected to sex, would be eliminated.
Generosity
According to Non-Profit Source, Americans give over 450 billion dollars to charity annually.[3] Deep in our cultural consciousness lies the notion that giving to meet the needs of others is good. This idea stems from the influence of Christianity. Generosity is one of the core values of the Christian faith, motivated by and patterned after what God has done for us in Christ.
“Generosity is one of the core values of the Christian faith, motivated by and patterned after what God has done for us in Christ.”
Justice
Another great good that the Christian faith brings into the world is the conviction that all people ought to be treated fairly and rightly. There should be no double standards—one for those with money and power and another for those without. The law must be applied fairly and equitably to all people.
Forgiveness
One of the most distinctive practices of Christianity is that of forgiveness when wronged. Jesus taught us to forgive no matter how many times we’ve been wronged and modeled it on the cross by asking God to forgive those who killed him. What’s more, by offering himself, he forgave each one of us as well. Therefore, we are to love our enemies and forgive whoever wrongs us.
Hope
Hope is in short supply among many in our society. Christianity promises a glorious future that is good for the earth and for human beings. It offers meaning to our lives, a purpose to our sufferings, and a motivation for right living.
“Hope is in short supply among many in our society.”
Love
Core to these values is the Christian value of self-giving love—the kind of love patterned after Jesus’ own self-sacrifice, especially that demonstrated on the cross.
What our society often fails to recognize is that, although culturally we have taken many of these values for granted, such values were foreign to the cultures of the ancient world until Christianity arrived. The early church changed the world through preaching the gospel and teaching people to obey Christ. These teachings transformed the world to such an extent that many of these values, which were once unheard of, are now widely considered good.
Thus, for a very long time, beginning with many of the United States’ founding fathers, there was often overlap between the values of the United States and the values of the Kingdom of God. This overlap often beguiled us into thinking we were a “Christian nation.” Christians assumed we belonged and that our ideals would always be treated with acceptance and respect. Some even went so far as to contend that with enough lobbyist pressure and with the right candidates in office, the United States could become some sort of Christian utopia.
“Although culturally we have taken many of these values for granted, such values were foreign to the cultures of the ancient world until Christianity arrived.”
But the values listed above are not guaranteed American values. They are Kingdom of God values. They are rooted in the teachings of Jesus.
See, here’s the thing: distinctively Christian values such as these are based in the beliefs of the Christian worldview. Eliminating the beliefs uproots the values. So, as the beliefs that undergird these values have increasingly been rejected by our culture, the values themselves have begun to recede in our society. Some values once considered good are now seen as odd or looked on with suspicion and even hostility. This trend will only continue to happen as long as people by and large reject Christian beliefs. And thus, the church in America now finds itself in territory new to itself, but not new to the church as a whole.
A disciple of Jesus lives out values that help society flourish.
[1] Aristotle, Politics, 1.1253b. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.
[2] See the “Alexamenos Graffito” found in Rome.
[3] “The Ultimate List of Charitable Giving Statistics of 2023,” Non-Profit Source, https://nonprofitssource.com/online-giving-statistics/.
This is excerpted from a book by John Whittaker and Daniel McCoy called Following Jesus in a Politically Divided World.
