Has God Mandated a Way for Economics?
Or, to put the issue still differently, has God, or has He not, mandated a particular way in which men should conduct themselves in producing and exchanging the many economic goods and services they and their families must depend on for their very survival?
This is a vital question for Christians to consider. For, depending on how they answer, they will either give aid and support to the forces in society that are ever striving to erect the all-powerful secular State as supervisor over every aspect of human life; or they will resist those forces in favor of the principle of voluntary exchange by persons who stand as free and self-responsible before God.
Some fifteen years ago this writer stumbled at the threshold of accepting Christ as his Savior for some time because so many so-called Christian leaders advocated socialist/communist ideology. How can Christianity be the answer, l asked, if it stands for the immoral system of coercive economic exchange directed by totalitarian rulers?
But, praise the Lord, the Word of God stands true, while some Christians and so-called Christian leaders can be very, very wrong! Upon a challenge by a believer who is now with the Lord, this confused searcher for truth started reading what the Bible says--not what men said the Bible has to say.
A fair reading of God's inspired word does indeed show that God has mandated an economic way for man to follow. It is only too evident that many Christians--those who believe the Bible upholds, or at least tolerates, State collectivism as a method of economic exchange--have not properly "thought God's thoughts after Him."
What, then, does God's word have to say about man, man's self-responsibility before God, and the principle upon which man is to conduct his economic activity? We find the Trinity in the midst of a discussion about man before the foundation of the world: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness..." (Genesis 1:26).
One aspect of our God-given nature is that we, like God, have the power of looking at an object or of considering an alternative and then placing a value upon it. This, in effect, is exactly what God did when He placed His love on Israel. This is exactly what God did when He chose each of his elect before the foundation of the world, and when He announced that His creation was good (Genesis 1:31).
Now we may ask: Does God give gifts He doesn't expect man to use? We are told that God. . . hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings. . . before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. . . (Ephesians 113,4). No, the clear message from God IS that man has received, and God expects man to use, the gifts He has so graciously bestowed. "For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2: 10).
The question we must ask is this: Would God have given man the internal ability to make value imputations if he didn't intend for man to have the necessary freedom to act upon those value imputations in his social environment? The whole question of man's economic freedom and individual self-responsibility before God hinges on this very question. To the extent that the coercive State imposes its will on man in the area of economic activity, to the same extent is man deprived of his crucial role as trustee before God.
But Christians who see their fellow men suffering and in need sometimes reply that most men aren't Christians, and even some who profess to be don't seem to be guided too strongly by God's admonition to ". . . love thy neighbor as thyself" (Matthew 19:19). Isn't it proper in such a situation, they ask to use the agency of civil government as a vehicle for transferring needed resources from "those who have" to "those who don't"?
To answer this question properly, one must presuppose that we hold a biblical view of the sovereignty of God and also assume that the wealth in question was honestly gained. It is God in his sovereignty who bestows riches on whom He will, "Both riches and honor come of thee. . ." (l Chronicles 29:12). (See also Eccl. 5:19.) God's laws, "Thou shalt not steal" and "Thou shalt not covet. . ." (Exodus 20:15,17), don't seem at all to be conditional. God didn't say we should not take or covet our neighbor's property unless we think someone else needs it more. Nor did God ever say that we have a right to appoint the State to do collectively what we are prohibited from doing individually. No, for when speaking to the rich young ruler, our Lord left it completely up to him whether or not to give his wealth to the poor (Matthew 19:19-22). And in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, the latter was also free to share or not share his wealth (Luke 16:19-25). How else could he have maintained his self-responsibility before God for the wealth God had bestowed on him?
As our society moves ever closer toward the anti-Christian, humanist concept of the State as regulator and controller of the people and provider of their daily bread, it is incumbent upon Christians that they sincerely seek to discover the mind of God and think His thoughts after Him on important social issues. For only we who are Christians--through the subjective work of the Holy Spirit in response to the objective Word of God--are truly in a position to lead society in a moral direction. Property and man's self-responsibility are inseparable and inviolable according to the Scriptures. But this in no way precludes--rather it enhances--the duty of Christians everywhere to do the works of love: "this is a faithful saying, and these things l will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works" (Titus 3:8).
Biblical Economics Today, Vol. 1, No. 1 (February/March, 1978)
This was originally titled: "Has God Mandated a Way?"
At the time this was published. Dr. Rose was on the economics faculty of Grove City College, along with Dr. Hans Sennholz.
For a PDF of the original publication, click here: