Kingdom Commerce (5)
Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord,
But a just weight is His delight.
When pride comes, then comes shame;
But with the humble is wisdom.
The integrity of the upright will guide them,
But the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them.
Riches do not profit in the day of wrath,
But righteousness delivers from death. Proverbs 11.1-4
The rot of sin and corruption
Human systems and institutions are susceptible to corruption for the simple reason that they are created, managed, and used by sinful people. The more sinful people give in to covetousness and mere self-interest, taking greed rather than grace as their base currency, the more they will configure their systems and institutions to support their objectives. Corruption becomes inherent in any system—including a system of commerce—when people lack the integrity and will to regulate their practices according to the Law of God.
Where the holiness, righteousness, and goodness of God’s Law are compromised in a system, there the rot of sin and corruption will take hold. Love—grace—grows cold where lawlessness obtains (Matt. 24.12). People become mere objects of exploitation to satisfy the material wants of the “haves.” Soon enough, economic practices that polarize people become the new normal, as the corruption of commerce becomes a cancer on society.
It may be helpful to review just a few examples of how corruption has created or affected elements of our own economic system, so ensconcing itself in the system as to corrupt entire institutions. Among these we may mention slavery, the sex trade, abortion, and political favoritism.
Slavery
Slavery was a crucial part of the economy of the American colonies and southern states for over 200 years. It was based on a practice common to many nations at the beginning of the 17th century, but it was justified as an economic tool among the Christian nations of Europe and their colonies by specious appeal to certain passages in Scripture and the claim that slaves were better off than they had been in their home country.
Slaveholders ignored the larger teaching of Scripture (cf. Col. 3.11; Philemon) and the long tradition of Christian manumission of slaves in order to prop up a sector of the economy on which they had become dependent, and which allowed them to maintain their comfortable lifestyle. And this was true throughout the colonies, as John Woolman and others observed.
The American Civil War was only the most visible cost to this nation of the pernicious practice of slavery, and the effects of that commercial cancer still manifest in and threaten the social fabric in our day.
Corruption and judgment
The sex industry—prostitution and pornography, but including abortion—depends on spurious claims to freedom of expression and the right to privacy, and the sensual and libertine temper of the times, to prop up multi-billion dollar industries.
The demand for sexual indulgence has also renewed the slave trade, as girls and women are stolen from their homes or wooed by false promises into a life of degradation and exploitation. Worldwide, more people are in slavery today, a large number of them for the purpose of illicit sexual activity, than in the entire history of the American colonial experience.
Political favoritism—in which lobbyists and lawmakers maintain a dance of mutual advantage—has become so much a part of the American landscape that it seems almost futile even to think of reforming the ways corporations and other special-interests woo and own politicians, and the way politicians curry favors and political contributions from wealthy clients. Cries of corruption in politics have become so common, and the sense of futility regarding any change in these practices is so widespread, that a kind of national cynicism about politics has become the new normal.
Clearly the black horse of corrupt commerce is rampaging through the American economy and those of many other nations. Slavery, the sex industry, and political favoritism represent and promote corruption in the American economy, introducing false and sinful standards and practices, compromising integrity, engendering pride, and leading to oppression and, ultimately, the judgment of God.
Such institutionalized corruption cannot help but affect those whose own commercial activity takes place within such an environment, promoting more greed, creating more debt, and promoting cultural and social degeneration in a wide variety of ways.
Our holy God is even now pouring out His wrath on people and societies that turn away from Him, as they give the rein to greed, and worship the idols of material self-interest (Rom. 1.18-32).
If people will not face up to the corrupt practices in their economy and in their own lives as participants in such economies, God will certainly intervene, in His way and time, to vindicate His holiness. Christians must seek in every way to inject the healing balm of grace into their economic activities, and to decry the absence of grace wherever sin, greed, and corruption have infested commercial activity of every kind.
For reflection
1. How are corrupt institutions—such as slavery—ever reformed? Is violence the only way to rid an economy of corruption? What should be the Christian’s responsibility in a corrupt economy?
2. Do you believe the Word of God speaks to the economic and commercial practices of people? Explain.
3. Christians are called to be witnesses to King Jesus and to sow His Word into every area of life. What does this mean for us as participants in the getting-and-spending economy of our society? How can we keep grace as our base currency in all our commercial transactions?
Next steps—Preparation: Begin praying about your participation in commerce—buying, selling, participating in commercial institutions such as banks, using credit cards, and so forth. Ask God to show you how grace and His Law can keep your commercial activity free of sin and greed.
T. M. Moore
Glorifying God in how we use our money might seem like a small thing. But our life is made of small stuff, and God expects us to work for His glory in all things. Our book, Small Stuff, can help you develop a mindset for glorifying the Lord in whatever you do. Order your copy in book form or as a free PDF.
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Other columns of interest this week: In our Read Moore column, we continue readings from the book, Such a Great Salvation. Our Crosfigell series on Brendan of Clonfert finds him pressing on in his journey to the Promised Land of the Saints. You can subscribe to Read Moore and Crosfigell and receive them in your email regularly. Use the Subscriptions box at the bottom of this page to update your subscriptions. All subscriptions are free. Click the Articles tab on the home page to see all the selections available to you.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
