Personal Worth 6: Worth by Attribution

            It appears to me that the idea of “worthiness” in Christian thought is in need of untangling. It is also evident to me that some Christians who struggle with mental illness and low self-worth would be served by a clarification of ideas relating to human worth and Original Sin.

            The words “worth” and “worthiness” are used variously within Christian practice and theology. An orthodox (as is non-heretical) Christian is likely to affirm that a human new-born baby is “worthy” and “deserving” of their parents’ affection and care. The same Christian that affirms that, however, is also likely to say that all humans are “unworthy” of God’s salvation and “undeserving” of grace. They will proclaim that humans are “unworthy” but celebrate that God saves them anyways. This Christian exclaims also that she herself is “worthy” of condemnation and “deserving” of Hell on account of her sins. This is why grace given despite her sins is so precious.

            This Christian believes this but at the same time, without any sensed contradiction, believes and affirms that all human beings are “worthy” of respect and protection on account of having been made in the image of God. Indeed, this Christian even engages actively in social justice efforts for Muslim refugees, believing that these people have “worth” not because they are Christian but because they are human.

            In all of this, this Christian has remained orthodox, believing correctly according to Christian doctrine. Isn’t some of this self-contradictory, however? How is it that this Christian ascribes “worthiness” to humanity on account of their being made in the image of God, at the same as believing that all humanity is “unworthy” of God’s love and “deserving” of condemnation to Hell – how is it that these beliefs exist together in the same theology?

            I’ve demonstrated in my prior five blogs in this series that the Christian idea that humans are all “unworthy” of God’s love had problematic implications to my personal self-worth. I have needed to untangle these concepts for myself for my personal mental health. I believe that a delineation of meanings of “worthiness” would be helpful to Christians in general, particularly to those who are struggling with their own worth in intense ways.

            The Christian idea of all humanity being “unworthy” of God’s love and “deserving” of Hell might be referred to as the doctrine of Original Sin. All humanity is born in sin; every human is sinful. We are all, on account of our actions and/or the sin of the human collective, “worthy” of God’s judgment. Adam’s sin consigns humanity to judgement. That judgement is understood to be rightly death and Hell. A sect of Christians believe in what is called Total Depravity – that humans are “totally depraved” – and many believe a de-Calvinized version of it. Whether we used such strong terminology or not, it is entirely Christian to believe that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Falling short of God’s glory by sin entails separation from God and condemnation.

The good news, it is said, is that God saves people anyways. 

            Christian mission attempts to convince people that they need forgives so that they can receive that forgiveness. Why do they need that forgiveness? They need it because they are sinners and therefore “unworthy” of union of God and “worthy” of condemnation. If people understand their unworthiness, they will then be compelled to receive the free gift of grace that God extends. So, affirming human “unworthiness” is a necessary step towards receiving the gospel. The idea is necessary to Christianity.

            How then, do we present the idea in a healthy way to someone who struggles with a prolonged and destructive self-worth deficit? How do we rightly explain it to a Christian who despite having received the gospel, lives with an active and consuming personal sense of unworthiness that manifests in maladaptive behaviours and mental illness?

             I will make an attempt to delineate meanings of “worthiness” in a helpful way, but I’d also love to make an appeal for an active scholar to do this more thoroughly. Help a brother out. Please read my prior blogs to understand ramifications of low-self worth and the result that Christian ideas of “unworthiness” can have on someone struggling with low self-worth. Help me build a clear, robust theology of human worth, for the love of God.

            Let’s start with some observations, firstly observing Imago Dei, the image of God. In the beginning God finished the creation of the earth with the creation of humanity and affirmed, “It is very good” (Gen. 1:26-31). He made humanity in his image, which means among other things that humanity is somehow a representation of God.

            If we have biblical justification for developing a theology of Original Sin, certainly we also have reason to develop a doctrine of Original Good. “Very Good” is the first thing God says about humanity; God delighted in humanity. In the beginning, God attributes worthiness to humanity. In that moment humanity has a worthiness independent of their performance, and a worthiness unearned – a worthiness that is, by pleasure of God, simply given. Humanity in the beginning is counted worthy of God’s pleasure, without their having done anything yet.

            Mind that here and always, worthiness is a relational idea. Human worthiness from the start is the evaluation of “good,” in the eyes of God. It was relational in the same sense that a parent’s enjoyment of their newborn baby is relational.

            Let’s call what was given in this relational way, humanity’s worth by attribution – by the attribution of God.

            “Fall” theology follows humanity’s decline from initial perfection to horrific deterioration. The image of God breaks within them and they become erroneous representations of God on earth. They become sinful (in error) and therefore fail their purpose of serving God and representing God on earth. Fall theology explains how humanity generates unworthiness by its performance.

            Let’s call what humanity then accrued, humanity’s unworthiness by performance.

            God remains invested in his failed images, however. He pursues them despite their having failed. The flood narrative affirms that humanity is worthy of destruction. The narrative also affirms, however, that God continues to attribute worth to them insofar as he sustains them. Thereafter, the Law given to Abraham is the means by which an unworthy tribe is empowered to live in the presence of God, in other words to be counted worthy of God’s fellowship. He considers them worth his investment. He desires them and to desire is to value. He pursues them and to pursue is to attribute value to.

            This is essentially my argument: That though humanity accrued unworthiness by their performance, God continued to attribute worth to them, and by creative redemptive means restore them to himself.  What is implicitly demonstrated by God’s pursuit of humanity is an attribution of value, an attribution of worthiness. The basis for any meaningful human worthiness is the attribution of value from one to another. The true foundation of human worthiness is this attribution of value by the Creator to the Creation.

            I mean to argue, secondly, that worthiness is not just a cosmic legal assessment. I was not rescued from my low self-worth with the recognition that in some cosmic court scene I was justified before a benevolent but dispassionate God. Nay, I was rescued from my low self-worth when I understood that I was both justified in that cosmic sense and also valued in a relational sense. God wants humanity (Hos. 11:8, Matt:37). God wants me.  I was finally saved when I knew pre-rationally, in a growing measure, that God in a relational sense reckoned me worthy of his affection (1 John 3:1).

            Further affirmation of human worth by God’s attribution are these, the incarnation and the resurrection. In these, God communicates to humanity that he sees not just what they have reduced themselves to, but also what he will transform them into. Undeterred by their depravity, their accrued unworthiness, God says in the incarnation, “I join you” and in the resurrection “I remake you.” We see in these movements of God that he has not given up on this Imago Dei. He restores this image of God on earth. He remains invested in whatever humanity is, dying with them, and rising again as the perfection of them. He is called the first-fruits of the resurrection by whom the perishable will be clothed with the imperishable (1 Cor. 15:12-58). In all of this, humanity receives its worthiness, it does not earn it. In all of this, humanity is treated as though valuable to God. In all of this, God communicates the desire to hold them and keep them.

            Whatever true value we have is by God’s attribution. Whatever worth is ours is ours by grace. This is better than worth that needs to be achieved because worth that needs to be achieved is initially zero and can be lost when gained. What is given to humanity, however, has been sustained by the power of God. Worthiness by performance is fragile. Worthiness by attribution, by God’s attribution, is resilient. Worthiness by performance is conditional while worthiness by God’s attribution is stronger than a mother’s love for her baby.

            Humanity accrued an unworthiness by its sin. Individually and collectively the human is broken. God persists to attribute worth to humanity, however. All people have worth by the evaluation of God and by his interest in their salvation (holistically: health, deliverance, and reconciliation). Resultingly, everyone still is worthy of care, worthy of respect, and worthy of connection. The grace of God provided in Christ enables the human to rightly give and receive care, respect, and connection.

            I understand, now, that though I am an unworthy sinner, God still counts me worthy of his affection. I understand that though my deeds disqualify me from his love, his grace persists to qualify me regardless. I need this given worthiness to function and live above the void of withering self-worth deficit. I need this given worthiness for my mental health to heal and my soul-wound of felt unworthiness to heal. I need the worthiness that God gives me to regain the power to assert my needs to family members and others, and to regain power to set boundaries with people to protect myself. I need this given worthiness to assume a right to be loved and right to connection and respect. I need the worthiness that God gives me to trust in the affection that people give me and not dismiss it. I need the worthiness that God gives me determine that I did not “deserve” neglect and abuse that I received on a human level and to determine that some things done to me were objectively wrong.

            Everyone is still worthy of care, respect, and connection and desired by God. It is the great surprise of the gospel that God counts us worthy of his affection who have earned otherwise. I suggest that this is a safer way to frame the gospel to someone struggling with mental illness related to felt unworthiness. Tell this soul-injured person that they are worthy. Tell them that God likes them and actually, relationally, desires them. Communicate to them in every way that they are worth caring for, worth respecting, and worth connecting to.

               For reasons I’ve described in these blogs, I was deterred from believing that I was worth caring for, respecting, and connecting to for many years. It took a grand collapse, a great deal of kindness, and a few years of feeling counted worthy of love by God and people – it took these to finally pull me out of near constant depression and anxiety related to felt unworthiness. Perhaps delineating between worthiness by God’s attribution and unworthiness by human performance is helpful to another as it is to me. Every person has a right to understand themselves to be valued. No one should be deprived of basic self-worth. God is generous and kind enough to make the unworthy worthy and treat them as such.