The Crowd Is Untruth: Søren Kierkegaard on Standing Alone Before God

The Crowd is Untruth: Kierkegaard file source: https://pictures.abebooks.com/isbn/9781522922797-us.jpg

One of the most arresting ideas I ever encountered in the writings of Søren Kierkegaard is his claim that “the crowd is untruth.” At first reading, it sounds harsh, even exaggerated.

Surely the problem lies with bad crowds, not crowds as such. But Kierkegaard presses the point relentlessly, and in doing so, he forces us to look again at the Passion of our Lord.

Kierkegaard reminds us that it was not a single individual who mocked Jesus, spat upon Him, and crucified Him — it was the crowd.

Each act, taken by itself, is shocking. Spitting in another man’s face is a deeply personal act of contempt. Most people would recoil from doing such a thing alone.

And yet, within a crowd, such behavior not only becomes possible — it becomes easy.

This is Kierkegaard’s unsettling insight:what no individual would dare to do alone, the crowd does boldly and without shame.

The Crowd and the Death of Responsibility

In a crowd, responsibility is diluted. Guilt is shared and therefore felt by no one in particular.

Each person can say:

• I was only one voice.

• I was following others.

• This is what everyone was doing.

• 
  

And so conscience is silenced. Repentance is postponed. Accountability disappears.

Kierkegaard puts it bluntly: the crowd possesses power, influence, and numbers — but it cannot repent.

Repentance requires a single person standing alone before God and saying, “I have sinned.” A crowd never speaks that way.

Hosanna and Crucify: The Same Crowd

The Gospels themselves confirm Kierkegaard’s point. The same city that cried “Hosanna!” at the triumphal entry soon shouted “Crucify Him!” The shift required no deep reflection, no moral struggle — only momentum.

This is why Jesus never entrusted Himself to public enthusiasm. He called individuals:

• “Follow Me.”

• “If any man will come after Me…”

• “What will you do?”

• 
  

Christianity is never addressed to “everyone” in general. It is addressed to you, personally.

Christendom, Crowds, and Comfortable Faith

Kierkegaard was writing in a society where nearly everyone was baptized, churchgoing, and officially Christian. And yet he saw clearly that mass Christianity often produces the illusion of faith without its cost.

When everyone is a Christian, no one feels personally responsible to live as one.

Crowds create:

• agreement without conviction

• belief without obedience

• worship without repentance

  
  

They allow us to hide — not from others, but from ourselves.

Standing Alone Before God

The Gospel does not permit us to disappear into the group. At the final judgment, we will not stand as part of a congregation, a movement, or a denomination. We will stand alone.

This is why Kierkegaard insists that truth is always found in the single individual before God.

Faith is not validated by numbers. Truth is not established by majority vote. Christ does not ask where the crowd is going — He asks whether you will follow Him.

The crowd may shout. The crowd may mock. The crowd may even spit.

But only an individual can repent. Only an individual can believe. Only an individual can take up the cross.

A Final Word on Kierkegaard

Kierkegaard does not call us to despise others, nor to withdraw from fellowship. He calls us to something far more demanding: to refuse to let the crowd think, choose, or repent for us.

Christian faith begins — and ends — with a single soul standing honestly before God.

“Enter thou into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret.”— Matthew 6:6 (KJV)

That door closes behind us one by one.

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Lord, I have shut the door,

Speak now the word

Which in the din and throng

Could not be heard;

Hushed now my in­ner heart,

Whisper Thy will,

While I have come apart,

While all is still.

Lord, I have shut the door,

Here do I bow;

Speak, for my soul at­tent

Turns to Thee now.

Rebuke Thou what is vain,

Counsel my soul,

Thy ho­ly will re­veal,

My will con­trol.

In this blest qui­et­ness

Clamorings cease;

Here in Thy pre­sence dwells

Infinite peace;

Yonder, the strife and cry,

Yonder, the sin:

Lord, I have shut the door,

Thou art with­in!

Lord, I have shut the door,

Strengthen my heart;

Yonder awaits the task—

I share a part.

Only through grace be­stowed

May I be true;

Here, while alone with Thee,

My strength re­new.

--Words: Will­iam M. Run­yan, 1923.