American law mostly treats people as rights-bearing individuals, bound together in a minimally common culture for the mutual defense of those rights. The Declaration of Independence asserts that these rights are God-given, including the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Bill of Rights enumerates citizen powers that the government cannot infringe.

Our law in general holds each person responsible for his own welfare. It does not even require us to help someone in distress. “Good Samaritan” laws may shield us from legal trouble if we try to aid someone, but they do not require us to help. How different is the Bible’s teaching about solidarity in sin and in grace for the family, nation, and even humanity. God deals with us as a single human race that sinned in Adam, and He saves us through our union with Christ, the second Adam.

Nevertheless, the Bible puts limits on family and national solidarity. In contrast to many tribal societies, Israel did not hold a man responsible for the sins of family members. “Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin” (Deut. 24:16, see 2 Kings 14:6). More generally, “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself” (Ezek. 18:20). In like fashion, a family was not to protect erring members from justice. “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son…then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city” (Deut. 21:18-19, see Judges 20:13-14).

Just as God is one God and three Persons in one God, so God intends human solidarity to coexist with personal freedom and responsibility, each equally fundamental. Christians are part of the one body of Christ. We are also individually loved and known by name. Christian families, churches, and nations should thus avoid both the tyranny of the community and the anarchy of each one doing only what is right in his own eyes. With God’s law in our hearts, there can be both order and freedom.