What Does the Bible Say About Today's Economy?
Standards for Credit and Debt; Responsibility for Neighbors
The Bible is never abstract or theoretical, it deals with the real situations of real people, and economics has always been deeply woven into the daily lives of those who struggle to live a good life, however that may be defined.
A Land-Based Economy
Ancient Israel was an agrarian, subsistence economy, dependent on the land for all productivity. In such a context, land ownership is of critical importance, and a major problem in any agrarian economy is unpayable debt, which can pull a whole family into a spiral of mounting debts ending in total destitution.
To address this problem, the Mosaic Law (see Leviticus ch. 25) establishes the principle that all land belongs ultimately to God. The people of Israel are to see themselves as God’s tenants, using the land for food production, but not owning it outright. Moreover, the right to land and livelihood is established as equal for everyone. The concentration of productive assets in the hands of a few is contrary to the Covenant.
Year of Jubilee
The system for ensuring that all the people have just and equitable access to the means of livelihood is that every 49 years, all debts are canceled, and the land, which had changed hands as a result of mortgaging it, would return to its original owners, or their direct heirs. For the financial implications of this system, see Lev. 25: 13 – 17.
In effect, “buying” land means only purchasing the number of harvests remaining until the next Jubilee year. As the New Bible Commentary notes, “This arrangement made it in the interests of both lender and borrower to be cautious over the amount borrowed and would have made unscrupulous over-lending unprofitable.” (pg. 153)
Complex, Urban Economies
In today’s world, land ownership for subsistence production is less of an issue, since most of the world’s people now function within a market economy. But it may be interesting to reflect on how life today would be different if the economy were organized according to the principle that all productive assets are the property of God alone.
Even in New Testament times, the places where the gospel was preached were mainly urban centers: economic activity was on a market model, populations were highly mobile, and the early church grew in a multi-ethnic environment where ancestral ownership of land was of little relevance.
Paul’s first letter to Timothy is full of practical advice for believers living in such an environment, and his pithy comments on economics could have come directly from recent news articles: “…those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.” (1Tim 6: 9, NRSV)
Biblical Economics
The Biblical view of economic life is that God has provided enough material goods for all people to live comfortably, and that the abundant life that human beings long for does not come from the material world but from above. There is no warrant in the Bible for an economic system based on greed and selfishness and there is no basis for the belief that people are all responsible for looking out for themselves.
Rather, a community is responsible for all its members, those in need receiving special care, and lives with the understanding that: “…there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content.” (1 Tim 6:6-8 NRSV)
Sources:
- Christopher J.H. Wright, “Leviticus” New Bible Commentary, Leicester, U.K., Inter-Varsity Press, 1994.
Economics in the Bible and Today
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