While we often envision ourselves living in an unimaginably vast and incredible universe, we can’t help but recognize the finiteness of our own existence. As our desire for satisfaction and pleasure presses on, we find ourselves at every turn limited by time, space and a sundry of other seeming “inconveniences” in our material world. It seems that no matter what is done, each of these resources remains limited and in fact, scarce. While the language of economics enables us to discuss how this “world of scarcity” operates (Patrick J. Welch and Gerry F. Welch, Economics: Theory and Practice, 8th Ed (Hoboken, New Jersey: 2007, p. 2.), only our Creator can explain why it operates in this way, why we desire the timeless and infinite and how we reconcile what is with what should be.
Recognizing this point, many economists over the years have attempted to produce a uniquely Christian economic outlook by overlaying the teachings of Christ with whatever economic theory is respectable at the time. Doing so, however, does more than misrepresent our current and future states of affairs; it confines the power of the Word to the realm of already formulated, man-made theories rather than allowing it to fully speak of the all-encompassing reality of the transcendent God of Creation. Christian economics then is not the discussion of the morality of socialism or the reality of capitalism, it is a study that is itself rooted in another morality and another reality that is wholly different from anything that man could have invented for himself.
First, then, Christians base their economics on the fact that God is the Creator and Owner of all things. Property is one of the most important subjects within the field of economics. A person’s view toward property often serves as the cornerstone of their entire economic outlook. Two quite different views of property exist among economists. The first, viewed as sacrosanct by capitalists, is the theory of private property, in which businesses and other nongovernmental organizations maintain “the right to own resources, goods, and services [i.e. all factors of production], and to use them as they choose” (Gerry and Gerry, p. 38). Socialism on the other hand maintains that “the factors of production are collectively owned” by “governments and [other] groups of citizens” in order to “equalize the distribution of income” (Gerry and Gerry, p. 45). Faith demands, however, that Christians view the world as having been “framed by the word of God, so that what is seen hath not been made out of things which appear” (Heb 11:3). God’s creation forever declares His perpetual supremacy over the material world. Speaking to this very point the Psalmist records that, “The earth is Jehovah's, and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein” (Psa 24:1). No man or men then are in the position to do “as they choose” with what they have been given from above; instead it is God’s providence that works as the “invisible hand” (to borrow a term from Adam Smith) that regulates all things to the end which He intends. After all, “A man's heart deviseth his way; But Jehovah directeth his steps” (Pro 16:9).
Secondly, Christian economics views labor as a matter of stewardship. While capitalists and socialists are either stern individualists or strict collectivists, respectively, Christians should recognize that it is individuals, various groups and God working together that fully accomplishes His will. From the very beginning man has been granted a trust for which he alone was responsible (Gen 2:15). Though this trust has adapted over time, we continue to serve one another individually as “stewards of the manifold grace of God” with “the strength which God supplieth” (1Pe 4:7-11). This responsibility is carried over to the church as well, in which the overseers are called “God’s stewards” (Tit 1:7) and preachers speak as “stewards of the mysteries of God” (1Co 4:1-2). The biblical home is regarded as a place of industry, honor and charity (Pro 31). The government is charged with maintaining an economic system that praises those who “do that which is good” and strikes fear in those who do evil (i.e. the true biblical meaning of justice), a principle that should be considered when developing a tax system (Rom 13:1-7). And businesses are charged to honor both their employees and their customers, giving the former “that which is just and equal” knowing that they too are in the employment of Another (Col 4:1; cf. Eph 6:9) and giving the latter their money’s worth knowing that “A false balance is an abomination to Jehovah; But a just weight is his delight” (Pro 11:1; cf. 16:11; 20:10, 23).
(continued next week…)
