Chapter 5: Inheritance
Christian Economics: Student's Edition
[Updated: 7/16/18]
Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose. His soul shall abide in well-being, and his offspring shall inherit the land (Psalm 25:12--13).
Point five of the biblical covenant is succession. It asks: "Does this outfit have a future?" How does this relate to inheritance?
The Bible teaches the concept of linear time. This was not believed in the ancient world, including classical Greece and classical Rome. The ancient world believed in cyclical time: no end of time's cycles. This was a major reason why biblical religion was a radical break with the ancient world. The Bible teaches that there was a beginning, a period of history, and a final judgment, both for individuals and for the existing cosmos. After time ends, hell will be deposited into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14--15), and the new heaven and new earth will replace the sin-cursed earth. It will also replace heaven as a holding place for the bodyless souls of the redeemed (Revelation 21, 22). Eternity will replace history. There will be development in eternity for covenant-keepers. There will be neither development nor mercy for covenant-breakers.
Not only is this outlook linear, it is progressive. It is progressive because of the concept of dominion. God mandated that the human race extend across the face of the earth in order to make it flourish (Genesis 1:26--28). This is a religious responsibility that is inherent in humanity.
Dominion is through inheritance. Inheritance is established through growth, especially economic growth. The Bible teaches this: "A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous" (Proverbs 13:22). Over time, covenant keepers will inherit. Covenant breakers will be disinherited. By what means? By purchase and conversion. Covenant keepers will buy the assets of covenant breakers. They will also preach the gospel of redemption through faith in the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ at Calvary. If the hearer accepts this, he becomes a covenant keeper. This new man inherits the wealth of the old man. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" (II Corinthians 5:17). His wealth is transferred by covenant oath from the kingdom of man to the kingdom of God.
Point one of the biblical covenant is God's transcendence, yet also His presence. This is the biblical issue of God's sovereignty. How does this apply to inheritance?
The model is the creation week. God created everything. He began with nothing. He spoke the light into existence. He continued to add to the creation over the next five days. Each day was a separate act of creation. Each day was cumulative. God expanded the capital base in a linear fashion: from beginning to end. God ended the process of creation with the creation of Adam and Eve, who were His designated heirs.
The original goal of capital creation was inheritance. God created the universe, but it had a purpose. Purpose was built into the creation. He made the sun, moon, and stars for the purpose of giving mankind a way to measure time. He began with the stars.
And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." (Genesis 1:14--15).
This was astronomical in more than one sense. God created two trillion mostly unseen galaxies with a hundred billion stars each. Why? To produce the astronomical basis of a calendar. Yet it was not until the twentieth century that men could perceive the magnitude of the heavenly creation: multiple galaxies. All of this is for man's sake? Yes. There is purpose in the universe. The enormous size of the universe testifies to the magnitude of the sovereign God who created it as a tool for calendar design. Yet calendars today are based on the rate of deterioration of cesium atoms. What this means is that God created an extra two trillion galaxies or so for an unstated reason. Amusement? Showing off? To lure evolutionists into greater rebellion? I don't know. I do know this. What men do on earth is cosmically far more significant than the silent, slow rotation of two trillion galaxies. The galaxies are a kind of afterthought for God: a backdrop to history. The significant action in cosmic history takes place on earth. What you do with your life is far more important to God than your per capita share of galaxies. It is also far more important to you. God did not send His son to die primarily in order to redeem the galaxies. The galaxies do not change in response to the gospel. People do.
God mandated capital accumulation from the beginning. This is a matter of ethics. Again, "a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous" (Proverbs 13:22). This is what a good man does. The idea that a family should give away its wealth rather than transfer capital to covenant-keeping children is anti-biblical.
Of course, too much capital can be a curse. Too much of any blessing can be a curse. With capital comes responsibility. There is no escape from this unbreakable connection. Some children are not ready for excessive responsibility. It can destroy them. The multi-billionaire Warren Buffett put it this way: "I will leave my children enough money so that they can do anything, but not so much that they can do nothing." Buffett is famous for sage observations. This is one of his best.
It takes thrift to accumulate capital: less spending than income. It also takes skilled entrepreneurship: the wisdom to imagine enough about future economic conditions so as to invest wisely. The owner of capital must buy low and sell high. This is what two of the three men in Jesus' parable of the talents did. The third man buried his talent, and he was condemned for this (Matthew 25:14--30).
The inheritance is supposed to be mostly productive capital: marketable tools of production. This includes the training necessary for the heir to manage the inherited capital. The first kind of tools can be capitalized: sold for a price that factors in expected future output. The second kind cannot be sold for cash wherever slavery is illegal. But it can be rented: wages. If the two kinds of tools of production do not match well, the heir should sell the capitalized tools of production in order to buy different tools that are more suitable to his skills.
Point two of the biblical covenant is hierarchical authority. It asks: "To whom do I report?" How does this apply to inheritance?
God gave the garden to Adam and Eve. Before God created Eve, He assigned Adam a preliminary task: to name the animals of the garden. God tested Adam's skills of classification. God had built these skills into Adam's nature, but He nevertheless imposed an objective test. Only when Adam passed this test was he given a specially designed assistant. The two were a team from then on.
Had they not sinned, they would have extended their dominion beyond the garden. The garden was the origin of four rivers (Genesis 2:10--14). These were sources of cheap transportation downstream in all directions.
The farther away they moved from the forbidden tree, the less immediate and intense the temptation would have been. But this also applied to the tree of life. The preliminary inheritance would be followed by the general inheritance after a communion meal: either the forbidden tree or the tree of life. The dominion covenant had to be sealed judicially. The oath-sign had to be a meal.
After they sinned, God cast them out of the garden into the world. He placed a boundary around the garden to keep them away from the tree of life and its positive sanction. Their preliminary test was over. They had failed it. The whole world was cursed by God in response to this failure (Genesis 3:17--19). The task of dominion would be more difficult. But it was not revoked.
Point three of the biblical covenant is law. It asks: "What are the rules?" How does this apply to inheritance?
There is no covenant apart from laws: positive and negative. The dominion covenant had a positive commandment.
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth" (Genesis 1:26--28).
This command was given to all mankind. It defines man. It involves a requirement to reproduce biologically. The heirs must be provided with capital, beginning with respect for God's law.
It is common for large inheritances to be governed by written rules contained in the will or the trust document. The person who accumulated the capital had the testament drawn up so that the heirs would have to meet certain requirements for their continued ownership of the inheritance.
God's initial transfer of property to Adam had requirements. The first was positive: subdue the earth on behalf of God. This was the general requirement. It preceded the creation of man. The second was positive and specific: defend the garden and care for it. "The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it" (Genesis 2:15). This was the initial transfer. The third was negative: do not eat from the forbidden tree (v. 17).
There was no escape from the general requirement: the dominion covenant. There was one escape from the second requirement. They had to exercise dominion over the garden, but this would end if they sinned. God would remove them from the garden. He did not tell them about the procedure He adopted: physical exclusion. The promise of death was supposed to persuade them that they would be removed. Finally, the third requirement regarding the forbidden tree would have been revoked at the time that they ate from the tree of life. The sanction of death would have ended; therefore, the prohibition would have ended. Because they did not eat from the tree of life, God expelled them from their initial inheritance after they violated the terms of the covenant.
Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever--" therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life (Genesis 3:22--24).
Point four of the biblical covenant is sanctions. It asks: "What do I get if I obey? Disobey" How does this apply to inheritance?
This is the issue of judgment: declaring God's law in specific circumstances and then imposing the law's mandated sanctions. Adam named the animals of the garden. This involved judgment. How did each species differ from the others? Which difference was the key one in each case? The names had to have meaning. Adam had to assess the meaning of the differences within the framework of the garden's principles of action. The garden was representative of the world.
Adam had to impute both meaning and purpose based on his knowledge of God's laws. As a creature, he was required by God to think God's thoughts after Him. He was not authorized to impute meaning or purpose in terms of any rival standard. Adam passed this test. His reward was Eve. But with every blessing comes responsibility. He would now have to warn her of the prohibition regarding the tree. If she misunderstood, she might lead him into rebellion. This is what happened.
Eating from either tree was a covenantal act. Covenants are established by an oath. This is a two-way loyalty oath. The two trees represented rival responses. The meals were oath-signs. They were tokens of loyalty. But because these were rival oaths, each tree represented disloyalty to one or the other source of law. Covenantal loyalty or disloyalty is the judicial foundation of either inheritance or disinheritance. God rewards covenantal loyalty with inheritance. He punishes covenantal disloyalty with disinheritance.
The curse of the ground was a blessing in disguise. Man was now a covenant-breaking species. Sin was now endemic, meaning original. It would be transferred to the biological heirs. The heirs would at times have murder in their hearts, as we learn from the act of Cain. So, in order to reduce the extent of sin, God cursed the ground. This reduced mankind's productivity. To regain control over a now less productive nature, men would have to cooperate. The division of labor would be necessary to offset the curse. The benefits of cooperation would hold in check the innate evil of men. There would be a payoff for cooperation: greater output and therefore greater individual wealth.
Point five of the biblical covenant is succession. It asks: "Does this outfit have a future?" How does this apply to inheritance?
From the beginning, God planned to transfer ownership of the world to Adam and Eve. This was the basis of the dominion covenant, which He announced on day six. Mankind was to fill the earth through biological multiplication. God assigned the task of dressing the garden and defending it from any unauthorized invader (Genesis 1:26–28). This was an aspect of delegated ownership. They were to imitate God. They were to train their children in the tasks of trusteeship: guardianship (legal) and stewardship (economic).
Before God created Eve, He assigned Adam a preliminary task: naming the animals of the garden. He remained with Adam in the garden. He watched Adam do his task. This was a kind of apprenticeship. God was there in case Adam needed guidance. Adam did the job without fault. In response, God gave Eve to Adam to serve Adam as a lifetime partner. Adam would have to train her, which he did. Eve knew about the prohibition on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because she responded to the serpent with God’s word (Genesis 3:2–3). There is no indication in Genesis 2 that God spoke directly to her. Adam must have.
There was mandatory training involved in the process of inheritance. God was the original owner of the capital that He created on days one through five. Then He gave it to Adam and Eve. This was an unmerited gift to mankind. Grace precedes law. But God did not intend to transfer this inheritance to Adam and Eve free of charge. They needed to understand how to use it productively on His behalf (economic stewardship) and in His name (legal guardianship). This meant that God would have to provide initial guidance to Adam, who would in turn provide initial guidance to Eve. There was a technical aspect to this training: naming the animals. Naming required Adam first to understand God’s categories for the various roles of each species, which would be followed by his imputation of names consistent with God’s standards.
There was a reward for completing this task: a wife. Adam had seen how God had guided him. Now he would be in a position to provide guidance for Eve. There would be a transfer of information. Shared information regarding cause and effect, which means a shared worldview, was fundamental for mankind’s cooperation. This was made clear at the tower of Babel, when all cooperation was undermined by God’s destruction of mankind’s single language (Genesis 11).
A transfer of information preceded God’s transfer of ownership of the creation to mankind. This was a multi-step process. It began with the transfer of authority over the garden. The garden was representative of the whole earth. They would learn to administer this preliminary grant of capital before they and their heirs moved out of the garden to extend mankind’s dominion across the earth. This preliminary grant of capital was what the Bible calls an earnest: a down payment that reveals good faith on the past of the grantor. This also revealed the progressive aspect of inheritance. The inheritance was initially perfect, but it was not developed. Adam and Eve had to dress the garden in stages. There is therefore a pattern to inheritance: an original representative transfer that is followed by administration. Then there is another transfer, also followed by administration. This is the mandated biblical process of capital accumulation. It is inter-generational: father to son.
Before the fall, the son was ethically untested. He might squander the inheritance by disobedience. That was why God conducted a test. He left as soon as He had made the transfer. He would see how well His children would administer the garden. This process of observation remains in force. Parents have about two decades to train each child in the responsibilities of ownership. Then, if the children appear to be responsible stewards, the parents transfer a portion of their capital to them. This is how covenant-keeping families are supposed to extend the dominion covenant.
Christianity offers hope to those redeemed by His special grace. Their eternal futures are secure covenantally. This is a doctrine of personal optimism. But this optimism is not confined to the world beyond the grave. It also applies to history. Righteousness will progressively replace evil in history. God's promise to the serpent will take place in history: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel" (Genesis 3:15). This was a messianic prophecy. The power of Christ is greater than the power of Satan. God's kingdom has greater authority than man's kingdom. Jesus said: "I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18b). The message is clear: Satan's kingdom, which is the kingdom of self-proclaimed autonomous man, is on the defensive in history.
Dominion is inter-generational. This is why the doctrine of inheritance is so important. God made it clear that each generation must look to the next generation for greater fulfilment of the dominion covenant. Wherever and whenever Christians have believed this, they have been future-oriented. They have been willing to sacrifice income and comforts in the present for the sake of capital accumulation. Capital accumulation has a purpose: to provide tools of dominion for the next generation. Future-orientation is the basis of low interest rates. Future-oriented people save for the future even when interest rates are low. Present-oriented people do not. Present-oriented people prefer to borrow money when rates are low, with the borrowed money to be used for present consumption. Future-oriented people lend to them. This increases the authority and wealth of future-oriented people. Through voluntary exchange, future-oriented people increase their supply of capital at the expense of present-oriented people. No coercion is involved. This is an aspect of dominion. Thus, God told covenantally faithful Israelites: "And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow" (Deuteronomy 28:12b).
With each increase of wealth comes a necessary increase of responsibility. This is basic to capital accumulation. Covenantally faithful stewards act on behalf of the owner, who is God. They must train their children to have this attitude of responsibility: forward into the future, and upward toward God. As humanity's numbers increase, this is supposed to lead to widespread property ownership and therefore widespread responsibility. Ownership should be decentralized among individuals, families, and businesses. This outlook was basic to inheritance before the fall of man.
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