KC (6) Common Good

Scot McKnights 7th these of Kingdom Conspiracy challenges the objective of making the world a better place.

Thesis 7

Christ came to build the church/ kingdom, not to make the world a better place and not for the “common good.”

This is an important point. A common tendency these days is to advocate political power to achieve the common good. Some link this loosely to Romans 13. Scot does not discuss the “common good” much, but it is a flawed concept. The common good does not exist, and it cannot exist. An action that must be imposed by political power cannot benefit everyone. It will always benefit some people, at the expense of the others, so it is not a common good. Political action is always good for some and bad for others, so it is never a common good. It is always a partial good.

If something were good for everyone, it would not need to be enforced by political power, because everyone would just do.

The concept of common good is used to put a gloss on political power by twisting words.