ABSTRACT
Government and law should treat individual people with love, respect, and the dignity that they have because they are created in the image of God. Government and law that do this will maximize each person’s freedom to do all the good they can, including to serve Christ. This general, normative objective for law both limits and encourages the formation of private law through promises. Most promises are rightly untouched by the legal system; for these, promisors are accountable only to God and to promisees. When important freedoms necessary to human flourishing are at issue, however, the law steps in to enforce certain promises. The doctrine of consideration, correctly applied, properly identifies one set of promises integral to economic flourishing.
