Grace Economics (1) (2)
“You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shall fear your God: I am the LORD.” Leviticus 19.14
The rich rules over the poor,
And the borrower is servant to the lender. Proverbs 22.7
Borrow on!
In general, Shakespeare’s advice is sound: we should neither borrowers nor lenders be. The more our nation slips into what seems like an abyss of personal, corporate, and national debt, the more we as a people must realize the need for economic principles other than mere getting-and-spending, to rein in our lust for things and our penchant for going into debt.
But in some cases, it is not only appropriate but altogether wise to borrow. When, for example, we discover a source of economic activity which takes into account the dignity of human beings, the value of persons, and the importance of such concepts as freedom, fairness, and justice, we would be wise to borrow as much as we can.
This is precisely what the first American colonists did, as they arrived on the shores of the New World and began to create laws to guide their social and economic practices.
Because there was not in the colonies, as they developed, an established system of justice with adequate lawyers and judges to staff it, and a good working knowledge of English common law, the writing of civil codes to preserve order in the colonies took on urgency. Writers of the early colonial statutes borrowed freely and often from the Law of God, including various of the civil laws, frequently copying down the very text of Scripture rather than try to invent better language.
As scholar W. Keith Kavenagh has written concerning the New England colonies, “the Puritan concept of the role of church and state rested upon the belief that God’s word was clear, that it had been interpreted correctly, and that no one could deny the rightness of insisting upon the application of the laws of God to all aspects of society” (Foundations of Colonial America: A Documentary History, Volume 1 – Part 1, Northeastern Colonies).
What was true in New England was true throughout the colonies, albeit to a lesser extent. And, while our colonial forebears at times overreached and at other times misinterpreted or ignored the application of Old Testament civil statutes, nonetheless, their free and frequent borrowing from those statutes bred a wholesomeness and robustness into the colonial economy and society where human beings—most, that is—could be free and flourish.
Unconscious borrowing
To this day we acknowledge the wisdom and decency encoded in many of those Old Testament laws, although our borrowing at present is not nearly as self-conscious as was that of our forebears. Not that long ago, for example, President Obama held a gathering in the White House to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This act, which “levels the playing field” for people with disabilities, opens up new opportunities, and helps to preserve the inherent dignity of the disabled, is not quite what you would expect from a society infused with an evolutionary worldview. In the evolutionary worldview the weak and sick are to be culled so that only the strong may survive. Why try to help them out?
But in America, even though our public position on the origins and development of humankind is officially the false religion of evolution, in our social practice, regard for those who have special needs has been encoded in law. Because that Law is written on the hearts of all men, even those who do not believe (Rom. 2.14, 15).
This tradition and the practices encoded with it do not derive from evolutionary or progressive law, but from fixed law which insists that human beings all have dignity and worth, and that, in a wholesome society, it is the duty of the strong to care for the weak, and neither to take advantage of them nor to put unnecessary obstacles in the way of their freedom and flourishing.
The Americans with Disabilities Act is not a perfect law, as many business owners will testify. But it encodes a tradition that many Americans hold dear, despite our evolutionary upbringing. That is the tradition of caring for those who need special attention, and of going out of our way, if necessary, to not make life more difficult for them than it already is.
A Biblical tradition
This tradition—an expression of neighbor love—can be seen to be grounded squarely in the Biblical teaching that people are the image-bearers of God and that it is the responsibility of each one of us to care for our neighbors in need.
So then, since our colonial forebears borrowed from God’s Law, and as it is evident Americans are still doing so today, let us take a closer look at those Old Testament statutes to discover what else we might borrow from them to bring into being more grace economics and less economics of greed.
It might be, if we borrow enough thinking about what the Kingdom economy should look like, that we may be able to lend some wisdom to our communities, cultures, and laws and help establish more of an economics of grace throughout our society.
For reflection
1. Can you think of any examples of American law which can be shown to have grounding in and to have borrowed from Biblical Law? Why do we continue to observe these laws?
2. The Americans with Disabilities Act legislates a certain kind of moral conduct with regard to certain citizens. Is this wrong? Is it wrong to try to legislate morality? Can you legislate anything else? Explain.
3. Do you think your friends would be surprised to learn that a law like the Americans with Disabilities Act has Biblical support and foundations in the Law of God? Why or why not?
Next steps—Preparation: Continue praying through the Ten Commandments each day with a view to discerning God’s leading for the day ahead. Are you beginning to discover any principles of grace economics in the Law?
T. M. Moore
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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: Our Read Moore podcast begins this week an extended verse meditation on the exaltation and reign of Jesus. In our Crosfigell series on Brendan of Clonfert, the saint pushes on over the Atlantic to find The Promised Land of the Saints. Why not start your day with our worship devotional, The Scriptorium? We’re barely two chapters into this daily guide for the book of Ephesians, so it’s not too late to jump on board. 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. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
