top of page
Writer's pictureBible Brian

Every right has a corresponding responsibility


It seems in our modern world, everyone has a right, yet no one has a responsibility. As Christians, it is vital to understand that this is not how it should be. Rather, every right is accompanied by an equal responsibility. Freedom of speech is not freedom to lie, cuss, or intentionally offend people. You are free to eat whatever you want, but I once saw a guy get heralded as a hero because he ate steak in front of a vegan. This is not good. We are free to drink, but does this mean we should get drunk? And modesty goes beyond being barely clothed enough to avoid indecent exposure charges.


Need I go on? Even the freedoms we genuinely have in Christ do not give us license to go wild. If we are to imitate Christ, we ought to imitate Him in everything, up to and including how He used His own freedoms. We know that He drank, because He specifically admitted to doing so (Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:34), yet can you name a single time He took a drop too much? He wasn't the winebibber He was accused of being, as is shown by the fact He wasn't often accused of being one.


Neither was He a glutton, but note that, in spite of the fact He, Himself, declared all foods clean (Mark 7:19), He never once got accused of eating an unclean thing. No pigs, no camels, no shellfish, Jesus never ate any of these things. Why? Because in doing so, He may have violated the conscience of a disciple.


With Christ as our example, we should be able to understand why Paul, though he believed all foods were permissible to those who deemed them so, would have willingly foregone such a liberty (1 Corinthians 8:13). In fact, Biblically speaking, the responsibility is always on the stronger brethren (see Romans 14) to not offend the weaker brethren with their liberties. And when our liberties become a hindrance rather than a blessing? This, too, is good reason to discard them.


Liberty is a blessing, but it is not to be taken lightly. Jesus didn't get nailed to a cross so His Church could run around like hooligans. Let us reflect Him in our conduct, using our freedoms responsibly, as mature Christians.

14 views
bottom of page