Created Equal?
“And the trees are all kept equal, by hatchet; axe and saw” — Rush, The Trees
“And the trees are all kept equal, by hatchet; axe and saw” — Rush, The Trees
There are perhaps no words in American history more familiar to us than the phrase penned by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independance, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. Now, the English history behind this phrase created equal essentially meant that all men are equal under the law. In our day, thanks to the public schools and mass media, we have been taught to understand this phrase as meaning all men are equal in potential and capability- but this is surely not what Jefferson meant. The reality, however, that we see in nature itself (Biblical revelation will be examined below) is that human beings are perhaps the least equal parts of God’s creation you can imagine. As one historian has said, “There’s nothing equal about human beings. If human beings are equal why are the outcomes so unequal?”
Perhaps the most devastating thing that has come about from a false notion of the equality of man (we will ask the question below if there is a true understanding) is the philosophy of Marxism. Dividing people into “haves” and “have-nots”, asserting that there is something fundamentally wrong with this paradigm, and insisting that the “have-nots” will eventually take what it is the “haves” have so that in the utopian future all men will live in peace and harmony fails- because it assumes that men are truly equal in capability, and denies the simple truth that there are some men who are going to be masters, and some men who are going to be servants. The goal of the present article will be to demonstrate 1.) that men are not equal and 2.) how the Bible, not rebellious uprisings and forceful dictatorships, teaches us the true way to live peaceably in light of this reality.
Are all men created equal?
We made the comment above that the famous Jeffersonian phrase was addressing equality under the law rather than equality of inherent ability. The idea that no man, not even the king, is above the law. This is perfectly consistent with the Biblical ethic. God’s law in the Old Testament was the standard for both native Israelite, the sojourner and even pagan nations (Leviticus 18:24–28). Deuteronomy 17:14–20 gives specific commands towards a lawful king, and concerning the same law of Moses that all men were held to,
“And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law… it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers”. (Deut. 17:18–20)
Notice, the king was to obey the same law as his subjects, and this was to keep his pride from being lifted up above his brothers. That all men are created equal under the law, as Jefferson said in accordance with the tradition of English common law, is a thoroughly Biblical principle and Christians ought to celebrate it.
We would also say that there is another sense in which men are equal, and that is that all men are equal in terms of value. There is an intrinsic value to man as he is made in the imago dei. This kind of equality is to be reflected in law, consider Genesis 9:6,
“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image”
Because all human life is equally valuable, as man is made in God’s image, murder ought to be a capital crime. Human beings are all equally valuable, in this regard, and hence the political/social issue of our day most commonly associated with Christians is the issue of abortion. Though our preborn neighbors are small, not fully developed, and have yet to take their first breathe of fresh air they are made in God’s image and thus their lives, which are valuable, deserve the same protection as my life.
Men are not equal
Rest assured, nothing under this heading comes even close to contradicting what has previously been laid down. In our opening paragraph, we said that the myth which is commonly taught, and is a false understanding of Jefferson’s phrase, is that all men are equal in terms of their potential and capability. This is something which all of us have seen to be false, if we are honest. However, though this is clearly not the case, man’s philosophies have put forward this assertion for the past two centuries, and has lead to much harm.
In his essay, Screwtape Proposes a Toast (a sort of “sequel” to The Screwtape Letters) C.S. Lewis pictures a demon celebrating the great demonic works that were accomplished in the social/political affairs of the 19th century. Lewis touches on the themes of “democracy” and “equality” in rather fascinating way (keep in mind the following citation is from the perspective of a demon):
“[democracy] is connected with the political ideal that men should be equally treated. You then make a stealthy transition in their minds from this political ideal to a factual belief that all men are equal… The feeling I mean is of course that which prompts a man to say I’m as good as you… you thus induce him to enthrone at the centre of his life a good, solid resounding lie… No man who says I’m as good as you believes it. He would not say it if he did… The claim to equality, outside the strictly political field, is made only by those who feel themselves to be in some way inferior. What it expresses is precisely the itching, smarting, writhing awareness of an inferiority… and therefore resents.” (C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, Harper Collins Publishers, pgs 197–198)
In our opening paragraph, we briefly commented on the errors of Marxism, which demands an equality of man that can only ever be achieved by force. The fact of the matter is, there are some men, by virtue of who they are and how God made them, that are going to be leaders, masters, innovators and the like. There are some men who are going to be servants and subjects. This is not to say that a man who is born into a lower state of affairs will never be able to work his way out of it- but the reason he is able to is because of the unique giftings that God gave him. And so if you think that his status in life should be equal to, say, his brother- who was born in the same home, same conditions etc.; then the only way to make these men “equal” is to use force to take away the successful brother’s gains. You simply cannot add capability and potential to someone who was born without it. And thus, Marx imagined that the “have-nots” would seize the means of production from the “haves”, that the new regime of the “have-nots” would bring to realization this equality by force. 100 million people died during the 20th century in man’s fatal attempts to bring these visions to fruition, but just as man was not permitted to build a tower to the heavens, neither can man reorder the fundamental constitution of the individual.
God’s word as our answer
If you are a Christian, you might be wondering what does the Bible have to say about all of this? What we are going to see when we look at Biblical revelation, is a confirmation of the reality we see in nature, that there are men of differing capabilities and thus potentials, but also that the Bible teaches us to be content within this paradigm. Marx imagined a utopian future that could only be actualized by force, but Christ has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, and He is truly going to bring peace to all the nations as the kingdom of God grows- not with a fast, radical, violent uprising- but slowly, as a mustard seed slowly grows into a tree “larger than all the garden plants… so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches” (Matthew 13:32)
Proverbs 22:9 states,
“Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men”
Three categories of man are given to us in this verse:
a man skillful in his work
kings
obscure men
God’s word presents this categories as a fact of reality. There is no explanation, there is simply the wise proverb with the expectation that those with wisdom will understand it. A man skillful in his work, who excels in his craft, is a man with capability and potential. The existence of this verse also indicates that there are men who are not skillful in their craft, and thus they lack this same capability and potential. The skillful craftsmen, because of the gifts that God has given him, is going to excel in this life. Rather than occupying the company of obscure men, who are of a lowly position in life, he will stand before kings- men with power, influence and prestige. (Think about Joseph, in the book of Genesis, who was uniquely gifted by God to interpret dreams, and ended up being in a lofty position of power given to him by the king of Egypt). The man who isn’t skillful, then, will not be able to achieve the same things in this life as the man without this same potential.
How then do we live with this? Well, the Biblical teaching is that we are supposed to live content with whatever lot in life the Lord has granted us. As a matter of fact, we are even encouraged to live quiet and peaceful lives (see 1 Thessalonians 4:11). One of the ways that this is seen, in an incredibly beautiful way, is the New Testament teaching on the relationship between master and slave.
The book of Philemon was written by the Apostle Paul, to a Christian slave master named Philemon, whose slave Onesimus had recently fled. When Onesimus met Paul (in God’s divine Providence) he heard the Gospel and was saved. Paul then sends Onesimus back to Philemon, and he writes about the newfound unity, peace and harmony that the two men- master and slave- can now have in Christ,
“I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart… For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother — especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.” (Philemon 12–16)
Paul’s consistent teaching in the New Testament is not that slaves (those who are in a lower state of affairs in this life) ought to take the possessions of their masters and establish an equality of status. No, rather the slave is to humbly, and submissively obey his master (Ephesians 6:5, Colossians 3:22). Though Philemon and Onesimus were not equal in status in this life, they are both equal in Christ (see Galatians 3:28).
Conclusion
We have seen that the notion that all men are equal in terms of their capability is false. God gifts each and every one of us in different, unique ways. The Christian responsibilty is to be content with this, not to seek to create an artificial, man-made, equality by force- but to have true, spiritual unity and love in Christ Jesus.