In the Body of Christ, we have responsibility for one another because we are members of Christ and therefore members of one another (Romans 12:5, 1 Corinthians 12:27).  We are not independent but highly interdependent just like all of the parts of our bodies.  What we do affects the rest of the Body, and what others in the Body do affects us—whether we know it or not. 

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

-Romans 15:1-4, ESV

We have all heard people say “it’s wasn’t my day to watch him”, usually following some negative outcome for that individual.  This is just a modern expression of “I’m not my brother’s keeper”, used as a way to deny responsibility for someone else.  While this is true in some sense, in the Body of Christ, we ARE our Christian brothers’ and sisters’ keepers.  This is particularly relevant when we differ in matters of conscience, so this post will examine our responsibility in keeping other saints from stumbling to discern when exercising our Christian liberty becomes sinful.

Shared Responsibility

To say we are not someone else’s keeper goes all the way back to Genesis: “Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”” (Genesis 4:9).  This comes after Cain murdered Abel, which parallels the original sin of the Fall.  God spoke to both Adam and Cain beforehand, both men succumbed to temptation, and both tried to evade responsibility when God questioned them.  Cain was essentially blaming Abel for his own murder.  Abel was righteous and accepted by God, which angered Cain who was rejected by God (1 John 3:12-13).  Cain may have thought his smooth words would absolve him of responsibility, but God cannot be fooled.  As we saw when examining abortion, Cain would not have been justified in killing Abel unless Abel was actively trying to kill him.  Cain was responsible for his own motives, emotions, thoughts, words, and actions—as are we all.  As individualistic Americans, we understand individual responsibility, but as we saw when discussing the nature of responsibility, there is also shared responsibility.  Recall that individual responsibility always exists, establishes guilt, and can be retained or delegated but not shared.  If multiple people are responsible for something individually, each is responsible for the particular aspects he or she had authority over.  On the other hand, shared responsibility is not about guilt but fixing problems.  In shared responsibility, we recognize that our words and deeds impact other people and therefore acknowledge our contribution to their thoughts, emotions, motives, words, and deeds even while we do not accept individual responsibility for them.  Therefore, we are prone to two errors in misunderstanding the nature of responsibility.  The error of critical theory is to treat shared responsibility as individual responsibility and punish accordingly, which is unjust and therefore abhorrent to God (Deuteronomy 24:16).  But we must also avoid neglecting shared responsibility by assuming that someone else’s individual responsibility absolves us of any responsibility of our own.  Scripture is clear that we Christians are responsible for one another.

Members of One Another

In the Body of Christ, we have responsibility for one another because we are members of Christ and therefore members of one another (Romans 12:5, 1 Corinthians 12:27).  We are not independent but highly interdependent just like all of the parts of our bodies.  What we do affects the rest of the Body, and what others in the Body do affects us—whether we know it or not.  You need only to stub you toe to be reminded this fact.  This interconnectedness leads to interdependency that is seldom acknowledged in many churches of the individualistic West.  Scripture does not describe the Church as a group of collocated strangers, social club, or political party but as a body, family, and building.  Though we are many and diverse, we are one, reflecting our Triune God: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:12-13).  God has determined the place for every individual and gifted him or her accordingly.  That means that everyone in every church needs everyone else in that church—not in spite of our differences but because of them.  So we cannot say that because we do not have a particular role or possess certain gifts we are not part of the Body (1 Corinthians 12:12-20).  Nor can we say that anyone else does not belong to the Body because he or she does not have a particular role or gifts (1 Corinthians 12:21):

On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

-1 Corinthians 12:22-26, ESV

Notice how the members of the Body care for one another for the good of the entire Body.  When one part suffers, the other parts feel it and compensate so that the suffering part can heal and the whole body can continue functioning.  For the rest of the body to ignore the suffering part and continue on normally is to aggravate the injury, which ultimately increases the pain to the entire body.  So since we are responsible to use our gifts to build up the Body, we are responsible for other members of the Body.  This includes calling one another to repentance and restoring them when they do: “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted” (Galatians 6:1 cf. Matthew 18:17-19).  Since this is a command—and God gives us the authority to obey Him—we have the authority to call one another to repentance and do what is necessary to restore each other much as a leader has authority over subordinates.  And since authority cannot exist apart from responsibility, we have shared responsibility for each other.  Therefore, we are each responsible for ourselves and yet also responsible for each other: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

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