Grace Economics (2) (1)
“You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” Leviticus 19.18
Fair, just, good
Grace economics indicates an economy based not on greed and self-interest, but on principles of justice and love, derived from careful study and wise application of principles revealed in the Law of God and all His Word.
In an economy based on getting and spending, people look to government to ensure fair and just opportunities to achieve material wealth. Frequently, however, this reduces to systems of redistributing wealth so that everyone can have a slice of the pie, at the expense of those who made the pie.
Politicians delight to play this game, for it allows them to explore endless possibilities for purchasing the support of various constituencies through the manipulation of public policy. In the American economy, the State presumes to be the arbiter of all things good and fair and just. It alone possesses the power to enforce its views and to shuffle and distribute resources according to its preferences and policies, which policies are fixed only by the whims, wishes, and agendas of whichever political party happens to be in power.
Government thus feels free to compel those who have means to yield those means to the State for its purposes in “spreading the wealth around.” In so doing, the State presumes to define the terms of goodness, fairness, and justice, and encroaches on individual responsibility by taking away the freedom one has to steward his personal property as he sees fit and, especially, as accountable to God alone.
Government’s attempt to play God thus results in the loss of a measure of freedom and the cancellation of individual responsibility for the use of resources.
But in the Kingdom economy of God, which weaves in and throughout the economy of getting and spending, grace begins with individual responsibility under God and His Law.
Responsibility in the Kingdom economy
In the Kingdom economy, people are encouraged to seek the wisdom of God so that they can use their resources in a manner consistent with His instructions and commandments. Individual responsibility before God is a bedrock principle of the Kingdom economy, as we have seen. We are stewards of property entrusted to us by God. We are also called to love our neighbors and, therefore, the community in which we live. We stand or fall before God according to the principles of justice outlined in His Law.
Those who will not tithe, for example, or who refuse to help the poor in their community must answer to God for their disobedience and hardness of heart. But should they be subjected to government policies that seize their wealth in order to do what is “right”, or to some church’s attempt to manipulate their giving?
During the early days of this nation, some states levied taxes to support churches. This should have been recognized as unjust, since these laws forced even non-Christians to support preachers of the Gospel.
Programs of income redistribution that exceed the bounds of distributive justice as defined by God’s Law are, in Kingdom terms, unjust, and will only lead to more injustice in the future. Knowing those bounds, so that the poor are cared for and those who do the work of God are supplied, is the responsibility of individuals, not States.
Christians who use their property without due concern for love of God and neighbor, may come under the chastening hand of God, Who disciplines His children to lead them back onto the path of righteousness (Heb. 12.3-11).
Those beyond the pale of faith are still accountable to God for the use they make of His good gifts—time, strength, property, and treasure. We may deplore their selfishness and lack of concern for the needy, but trying to force neighbor love by the unjust seizure of property only creates anger, resentment, and corruption. A day is coming when all people will have to give an accounting to God. Our duty, by our example and instruction, is to show the way into an entirely different economy, where grace, not self, is the driving force.
An example
In other times, the example of the righteous, and the peer pressure they were able to bring to bear in society, exerted strong influence on people to realize their individual responsibility in loving their neighbors, according to the requirements of God’s Law. Even when people may not be particularly eager to do so, the Christian’s duty is to work for justice and love wherever we can, in the hope that our example and influence might redound to the benefit of all. This is one of the promises where the Kingdom economy obtains (cf. Ps. 81.15).
The movement to free slaves and to reform public manners in early 19th-century England, led by William Wilberforce and others, demonstrates how example and instruction on the part of the believing community can move a society to enact just public policies. In this effort, individual responsibility for loving one’s neighbor was restored and embodied first within particular communities. From that platform, others were called to join in the effort. Over time, as public opinion was influenced toward Biblical principles, unjust public policies gave way to just policies. Greed gave way to grace.
Free economic practice depends on individual responsibility, the right to enter into commerce without coercion. In grace economics, individual responsibility is exercised unto the Lord first of all. Example and persuasion are the keys to keeping greed in check and bringing more grace and justice to commerce and society.
And such examples and persuasion begin in the words and deeds of those who have embraced the Kingdom economy as their own.
For reflection
1. Are we our brothers’ keepers? In what sense? Does fulfilling this role work better in grace economics or greed economics? Explain.
2. How does the concept of responsibility in commerce and economics fit in with the Christian calling to follow Jesus?
3. How do personal example, patient persuasion, and social influence work to increase the practice of individual responsibility?
Next steps—Preparation: What is the Gospel of the Kingdom? Make an outline of the Gospel of the Kingdom, based on Ephesians 2.8-10. Pray that outline back to God, asking Him to make you a better and more persuasive citizen in His Kingdom for the work that is before you today,
T. M. Moore
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 Scriptorium series on Ephesians we will work through chapter 3. Our Read Moorepodcast continues addressing the question raised by our book, What in Heaven Is Jesus Doing on Earth? This week our Crosfigellteaching letter traces the beginnings of Brigit’s ministry in 6th-century Ireland. Click here to see all the other columns and writers 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.
