A BIBLICAL DEFENSE OF CAPITALISM

by Lee Edward Enochs


Senior Thesis (2013).
College at Southwestern,
B.A. Humanities
Fort Worth, Texas

During this time period of western civilization, the United States of America faces a very uncertain future due to catastrophic and systemic fiscal problems. At the time of this writing, America’s national debt has mushroomed to over sixteen trillion dollars and economists estimate that forty-three cents of every dollar earned in this country is borrowed, which is about four times the rate of deficit spending America incurred in 1980. Due to this massive national debt and deficit spending, many people around the country are arguing that the current financial model operating in the United States is unsustainable and some other are even arguing that free market capitalism should not be the foundational economic system of this nation. In the face of these persistent calls of overhauling America’s economic system, this current author would like to argue that free market capitalism is the economic model most compatible with the economic principles delineated by the authors of sacred Scripture and, that free market capitalism should be maintained as the fiscal model for America’s economy.

The Importance of Economics

The subject of economics has taken center stage in recent political discussions in the United States and it is of paramount importance that American Evangelicals be knowledgeable of the fiscal problems that currently plague this country in order to be effective ambassadors of life to the culture in which God has called Christians to minister. The recent “Occupy Wall Street Movement” and cultural ascendancy and trenchant left-leaning policy implementation of President Barack Obama has made the subject of economics pertinent to every concerned American. President Obama, by his own admission is a progressive and left leaning politician who has decried the alleged economic injustices fiscal abuses of recent Republican administrations and the free market system and has attempted to level the playing field between rich and poor in American society through economic policy change and a more activist role of the federal government.

Since the election and mercurial cultural ascendancy of President of Obama in November 2008, the economic terms known as capitalism and socialism have been well discussed and used indiscriminately by both his supporters and opponents, and clarification is needed in order to understand precisely what these concepts really mean. An objective and careful analysis of these critical economic concepts is necessary in order to see what fiscal principles are necessary in order to help America out of its current economic calamity. As America faces a catastrophic debt crisis of unparalleled proportions, the subject of economics has become of paramount importance to every American irrespective of political party and demographic status.

The subject of economics is equally important to Evangelical Christians currently residing and ministering in the United States and this paper attempts to establish the meaning of the before mentioned rival economic systems and seeks to set forth a Biblical defense of the basic capitalist system as the most exegetically and theologically compatible economic system in the world today. The important subjects of money, gainful employment, commerce and government are important to every American citizen, and it is crucial that faithful and concerned American Evangelicals be familiarized with the basic economic issues facing the society God has placed Christians in that they might be the “salt and light” of the earth and become faithful and wise stewards of the resources God has endowed us with in order to impact our lost and dying world with the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ.

With the above crisis in mind, it is imperative to understand that as Evangelical and Bible believing Christians, we are implored by the Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ to “give every man an answer for the hope that lies within us” (1 Peter 3:15) and to earnestly contend for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). Thus, it is of paramount importance that Evangelical Christians have an answer to the economic issues facing the countries they reside in. As the late Dutch Reformed theologian, educator and statesman Abraham Kuyper once argued, no realm of human endeavor is outside the bounds of Christian engagement and that should not be subjected to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Christians should not abandon the realms of politics and economics but should encourage fellow believers to follow Abraham Kuyper’s example and seek to influence culture through the adoption of a Christian worldview. The subject of money and how we are to spend our economic resources is an issue that faces every citizen in every country. The subject of how much government interference and regulation of our private economic lives in an issue that should concern everyone since we need money to survive and yet the government needs to level some measure of taxation upon its citizenry in order to keep running. Since the fall of Adam, men and women are implored by God to work with their own hands and by the “sweat of their brows” (Genesis 3:19) in order to provide for their daily sustenance. It is also a component of the Decalogue that every person should be employed six days out of seven in order to provide for their basic needs (Exodus 20). The Bible is clear that if a man does not eat neither shall he eat (2 Thessalonians 3:8-10), and if one does not provide for his own he is worse than an unbeliever and has denied the faith (1 Timothy 5:8). Thus, from the Biblical record, it is clear that God has mandated every person to work if he or she has the physical and mental ability to do so.
In a similar vein, the Bible stresses the importance of economics and gainful employment in the context of society.

According to the Bible, the civil government has been ordained by God to regulate and rule over the affairs of men and we are commanded by God via the Holy Scriptures to obey the governing authorities as though we were obeying God Himself (Acts 4:19, 5:29, 16:36-39, 22:25, Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Peter 2:13). It is of paramount importance that each of us attempt to provide for our own needs. Since the day Adam was first cast out of the Garden of Eden, men and women have been mandated by God to work for their own bread and keep. However, in our current welfare state, many Americans have become tragically dependent upon the state to meet all their fiscal needs. It is important that Evangelicals not fall into the trap of being dependent upon the state. It is the firm belief of this author that one of the major tragedies of today is the level of dependence many American citizens have on the secular government to provide for their basic needs of money, food and housing. In the lives of many America’s the federal and centralized government has become the source and focal point of all their basic needs and from the cradle to the grave many American citizens have relinquished their independence and have become subservient to the state.

The fiscal discipline known as economics is one the social sciences that attempts to study the manufacture, allocation, and expenditure of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek οκονομία which means to manage a household or administration. Historically, at least since the time of the Scottish economist Adam Smith, author of the famous book, The Wealth of Nations, economics has become its own independent field of study and has been analyzed by students of government in order to manage the fiscal affairs of local national governments.

In 1776 Adam Smith defined economics as an inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations and a branch of the science that attempts to understand how the commonwealth is supplied and how public works are funded. Thus, economics can be understood as the means of how revenue and capital are generated in a given society and on an individual basis and how this revenue and capital is used personally and collectively in a given culture. Meno Lowenstein, former professor of economics at Ohio State University defined economics as “the study of how man uses scarce resources to satisfy his wants or needs.” The importance of understanding the meaning and nature of economics cannot be underestimated. Economist Henry Hazlitt argues that most of the economic fallacies that are causing dreadful harm in the world today are the resultant effect of not learning the lesson of sound economic principles. The contemporary crisis regarding the national debt and massive deficit spending is largely predicated upon the adherence and implementation of unsound economic principles such as printing and spending money the government in fact does not have.


Varieties of Capitalism Systems

In western society, economics has been studied by a wide range of ideological perspectives ranging from the Puritans and Dutch Calvinists who believed in free enterprise and limited government regulation and argued that financial prosperity was a sign of God’s election to the atheistic communists who believed that all the means of producing revenue in given society were to be rigidly controlled by the state. As Evangelical Christians we are commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ to “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s” and to pay our taxes irrespective if we agree with the governing officials set over us (Matthew 22:17-22, Mark 12:14-17 and Luke 22:22-25). Thus, it is clear from the explicit teaching of sacred scripture that God has ordained and sanctified gainful and legitimate employment and has commanded us to be obedient to the civil government He has ordained over us by paying taxes.

Throughout the history of western civilization, a wide variety of theologians, philosophers and astute thinkers of economic matters have attempted to establish why and how people are to utilize the economic resources available to them. Some of these individuals known as free market capitalists have argued that men and women are essentially free to earn and utilize their economic resources as they see fit without the interference of the secular government. Others, arguing from a more socialistic and collectivist set of principles, believe that the means of production of a given society have a measure of personal freedom but should be heavily regulated and controlled by the civil government. However, there are some proponents of the theories of Karl Marx (communists) who believe that every aspect of a person’s means of production should be controlled by the state and ague against the capitalistic notions of free enterprise and personal property rights.
However, capitalism is a system of economics predicated upon the notion of individual and personal property rights and postulates the thesis that private ownership of the means of production and the creation of goods or services for profit is the only basis of a free democracy. Key components that are essential to capitalism include unregulated and competitive markets and the necessity of wage labor. There is a wide variety of capitalist systems including laissez-faire, state capitalism and Keynesian capitalism that argue for differing views concerning the role of government in the free enterprise system.

Laissez-faire capitalists believe in the absolute independence of the free enterprise system from the civil government and decry interference of any kind into the private economic affairs of privately owned companies. Welfare capitalism and Keynesian capitalism argue that the basic principles of capitalism are sound but believe the government should regulate certain aspects of commerce. With these various capitalist systems in mind, this present author would like to argue for an economic model he has coined for the purposes of this paper; “basic capitalism,” a rudimentary and nascent form of the principles of free market capitalism. Basic capitalism is a series of economic principles deduced from the Bible as a foundation for labor, profit, wage earning and other aspects of commerce. The present author believes the Bible should be used as the authority in all matters of life, including how we spend our money. The Bible explicitly says, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Colossians 3:17) and “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

As stated earlier, the worldview of the late Dutch theologian and statesman Abraham Kuyper comes to mind here in that every area of human endeavor is to be brought under the Lordship of Christ including the field of economics. A cursory study of the entirety of the Bible, will conclusively demonstrate that the Holy Scriptures have a lot to say about employment and money. The Bible is clear that because of the curse of the fall, men and women have been mandated to work by the “sweat of their brow.” The Bible says, “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19).

Thus it is safe to say that God has instituted and ordained a transcendent and universally obligatory “employment mandate” for every able bodied adult. Free enterprise capitalism attempts to facilitate this “employment mandate via an economic way of life that seeks to eliminate restrictions on business and commerce and unburden these venues of earning money from unnecessary government interference and regulation. The free enterprise system was initiated in the eighteenth century as a response to what many people during that day felt was undue government involvement in the economic affairs of its citizens. Free enterprise proponents argue that private citizens and companies have the fundamental right to do business or trade with whom they want and when they want and it is not the job or function of the civil government to try to regulate whom we do business or trade with.

As stated above and to further expound on, the form of free enterprise capitalism is known as the laissez-faire model; which is an economic way of life that seeks to be free from all government interference, tariffs, subsidies and coerced monopolies and seeks help only from the government in cases of alleged graft, corruption, theft and coerced business practices between alleged business partners. Laissez-faire is an economic concept taken from the French language and culture that means essentially, “let it be” or “let them do it.” It ultimately argues that people and companies should be able to do as they please in commerce as long as it does not violate or infringe upon the rights of others. However, as this present author stated earlier, there are economists that take great issue with the laissez-faire model such as the fiscal ideology known as “Keynesian economics” that was first developed by the British economist John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) and his thought has radically and profoundly changed the way western countries spend their money. Keynes believed in a “mixed” economy wherein there is government stimulus, regulation and control within a basic capitalist framework. Keynes believed in the predominance of the private sector but also believed in government control and debt spending during recessionary cycles. The current Obama administration following the lead of Keynesian economist Timothy Geithner, has heavily borrowed from the traditional Keynesian economic model and has caused America to accumulate a massive national debt in the hopes of getting America out a major economic recession that began in 2008 with the failure of many banks.

Yet, the Keynesian model of economics that places a tremendous emphasis on deficit spending and government intervention in the free market economy has been decried as the polar opposite economic model as historic capitalism. The Scottish economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith (1723-1790) is a very important figure in the history of capitalism and his famous book entitled, The Wealth of Nations has been very influential in the last two centuries in defending the role of the private sector in the area of economics. Many scholars believe that Adam Smith was the father and founder of the modern capitalist system and the central thesis of The Wealth of Nations is that wealth is produced through commerce when industry is undeterred by government interference and regulation. Smith believed in free market economics and that the government should not attempt to regulate commerce and the generation of capital outside a minimum involvement.

It was Adam Smith that first coined the metaphorical term “the invisible hand of the market” and said that the economies of the world buy sell and are involved in commerce by an “invisible hand” that is driven by supply and demand. When there is a need for a particular good or product industry will produce it and those who want the item or good will buy it without the false stimulus of the economy that many secular governments fall into. Max Weber (1864-1920) was a German sociologist and scholar who wrote the classic book entitled, The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, argued that Western Europe developed rapidly and flourished economically after the protestant work ethic began to take root and influence an enormous amount of people into working in the secular realm, producing their own companies and engaging in trade and the acquiring of wealth for further investments. Many of the heirs of the Protestant Reformation believed that personal wealth was a sign that they were part of God’s elect and that financial wealth was a sign of divine blessing. Essentially, capitalism is a term used to describe an economic system wherein private individuals and companies develop, own and control the vast majority of a country’s capital or personal wealth. “Capital” is an economic term used to describe a personal wealth. A person’s investments are capital since it is supposed to produce more wealth through the accumulation of interest or the economic dividends.

Under the capitalist economic model the means of production and implementation of commerce is generally controlled by private individuals and companies. This is greatly contested by socialists and communists who believe the secular state should control and regulate all avenues of commerce in a respective society. Basic capitalism argues for the freedom of the individual to generate revenue for him or herself without unnecessary government regulation and interference. An essential ingredient of basic capitalism is economic liberty where the power of commerce is placed in the hands of the people. In the basic capitalism fiscal scenario, the government is seen as a friend of commerce and serves the people to ensure that all those involved engaged in private industry play by the same rules and guards against fraudulent business practices. Under the basic capitalist framework the state serves the people in order that they may be the best economic earners possible rather than the people serving the state. The role of the secular government which Thomas Hobbes called “Leviathan” in the realm of commerce and industry is to safeguard that people play by the rules and that ethical business practices are being implemented. An essential component of the capitalist model is the necessity of hard work and gainful employment that is honest and should be able to meet ones basic needs. The apostle Paul argued for the need for honest labor to meet ones own needs when he wrote, “Let him who steals steal no longer; but rather let him labor, performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he may have something to share with him who has need” (Ephesians 4:28).

A careful reading of Proverbs 12:11 shows that hard and diligent work will be rewarded, but laziness will incur the wrath of God. The text says, “He who tills his land will have plenty of bread, but he who pursues vain things lacks sense.” Similarly, Deuteronomy 24:14 argues for the need of paying workers with an equitable wage, “Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.” In a similar vein Psalm 128:2 argues that we will be rewarded by our own labor, “You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.” Proverbs 14:23 says, “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” And finally, Proverbs 18:9 says, “One who is slack in his work is a brother to one who destroys.” Work is mandated by God and is part of the Decalogue that God gave Moses. God commanded Moses “Six days you shall labor and do all your work” (Exodus 20:7). Another factor germane to the issue of the Decalogue and capitalism is the subject of personal property rights that seem to be inherent within the Mosaic Law. In Exodus 20:15 God says, “You shall not steal” and Exodus 20:17 God says, “You shall not covet your neighbors house, you shall not covet your neighbors wife or his male servant, or his female servant or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

The verses mentioned above provide foundational scriptural support for the essential capitalist understanding of individual and private property rights. These verses demonstrate that God’s law commands that a person not steal or covert another individuals resources. Individual and personal property rights seemingly are inherent in these texts. If these items were ultimately the property of the state as collectivism suggests, then God’s law would not say “you shall not covet your neighbors house” but rather the text would imply that all the items at our disposal for living are ultimately the property of the state and not our own. However, on the contrary, the Decalogue itself argues that in order for a person to steal or covet another person’s items that in fact must be the possession of another , thus demonstrating that personal property rights or inherent and meant for all of us to enjoy for the glory of God. In the same way that within “common grace” God sends the rain and provides daily sustenance for the “just and the unjust” (Mathew 5:45), He has allowed all people to own their own property.

Introduction to Communism

Communism is a political and economic revolutionary movement that seeks to establish socialism as the way of life in a given society or country. Communism seeks to create a completely equal utopian society devoid of economic or social status and seeks to establish a society rid of private ownership of the means of production and where all commerce is under common ownership. Communists seek to implement the socialist economic model by the means of revolution and believe with little exception that in order to create a classless society wherein the means of production are controlled by the collective society, various stages of government must be set in place in order to implement their agenda and the first stage of government is often a totalitarian dictatorship wherein all dissent is suppressed by the state under the banner of the communist cause. Communists seek to create a utopian society free of class, race, money and geographical boundaries. The founder of the modern communist movement was the radical dialectical and socialist philosopher Karl Marx (1813-1883) who sought to see the entire world under Communist control.

In Karl Marx and his associate Friedrich Engels’ seminal and world famous work entitled, The Communist Manifesto, which was commissioned and published by the communist league in 1848 it attempts to delineate a solution to the class struggle throughout world history to the present day (1840’s) and makes the prognostication that communism world eventually rule the world. Marx and Engels argue that “the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.” Here Marx and Engels argue that the capitalist society of Western Europe and the United States of America would eventually be supplanted first by socialism and then by communism and that this radical economic and social change would be done through revolutionary force.
The Communist Manifesto has an introduction and three different parts followed by a conclusion and argues that despite the European fear of “worldwide” communism, there was nothing they could essentially do about it except the inevitable conclusion that communism would one day rule the day and that a classless utopian society would one day dominate the world. Marx and Engels argue that society is essentially composed of the “bourgeois and the proletarians” or the working and ruling class and that these two classes of people are essentially and fundamentally at odds with each other. According to this book, the bourgeois are essentially an evil class of people who subjugate the masses of the world to their own ends and it is the job of the proletarian class to see that they are being exploited and need to overthrow their bourgeois oppressors through a communist revolution.

Here Marx and Engels argue that the bourgeois incessantly exploits the working class through constant innovation of technology that produces goods for commerce and the bourgeois is constantly upsetting the social conditions of the working class laborers. Communism argues for the abolishment of all ownership of private property and seeks to see the communist state confiscate all private lands. This foundational work of communist theory also argues for a heavy progressive or graduated income tax upon all citizens, the abolition of all rights of inheritance, the confiscation of all the property of emigrants and rebels against the state. Communists also seek to centralize and place the means of receiving credit in the hands of the state via a centralized national bank that exclusively has the right to issue credit, loans and other banking concerns for the people of the state. This book also argues for the centralization the means of communication and transportation into the hands of the state and seeks to see all factories and all other instruments of production into the hands of the state exclusively. Communists also argue that the job of raising and educating children is exclusively the right of the state. Furthermore, The Communist Manifesto argues that all means of education should be done by the state exclusively.

Socialism is very similar to communism as an ideology and is at once an economic system, political movement and ideology that postulate that national and local governments rather than the individuals of a society should own the nations resources, means of commerce and other means of production and calls for the collectivization and public ownership of land, factories and all other means of production. In the socialist economic system there is no private ownership of land or commerce but the state owns all the territory under its dominion and entirely controls the means of production. Socialism developed in the early 1800’s in Europe when a series of writers began to critique and complain against the suffering and hardship of many of the working people under industrialism. European socialist writers such as Comte de Saint-Simon, Francois Fourier and Robert Owen of Great Britain greatly decried the abject poverty and working conditions of the common people working in the factories and industrial centers of their respective countries and called for major socialist reforms wherein the means of production of a given country were owned collectively and not privately and called for other reforms such as a minimum wage, ten hour work day and the legitimization of trade unions. Some of these socialist formed societal collectives and short lived cooperative settlements where everything was owned collectively. They called these living arrangements “utopias” based on a term from Thomas Mores’ famous Utopia written in 1516.

Communism and socialism's emphasis on the collective control of commerce and the elimination of personal property rights appears to be counter productive and obliterates the incentive towards excellence in employment. Communism and socialism are very similar ideological systems and both are essential “collectivist” in orientation but differ on the means and methods on how to implement the socialist agenda on a given society. Karl Marx believed that the socialist agenda should be forced upon a given country or society by the means of total political and military revolution. Marx and his communist followers believed that a given society would reach a socialist utopian state gradually but at first had to be ruled by a dictatorship the suppressed and repressed any form of dissent against the communist regime. The resultant effect of communist ideology and revolution within many countries has been disastrous as hundreds of millions of people have been forced into slavery and submission under the so called banner of freedom. In countries like China, North Korea, Cuba and the former Soviet Union, freedom and liberty have been suppressed under the guise of a utopian economic state. Communism has been used as an excuse for totalitarianism where people are placed under total servitude to the socialist state.

However, in radical counter distinction to the communist and socialist economic models enumerated above, the essence of capitalism is economic liberty in that the capitalist fiscal system essentially postulates that the people of a given society have certain unalienable rights such as the right to own property, freedom of mobility and the right to work wherever one can find employment. Another principle of this liberty under the capitalist economic system is the concept of economic and fiscal independence from the state. Classical capitalist fiscal ideology postulates that the means of production, commerce and generating revenue should be privately owned and free from government interference and interdependence. Via the principle of “supply and demand” the economy of a given society will grow, stimulate and function independently of government interference, regulation and false stimulus. In economics the principle of supply and demand is a standard of price determination in an economy.

The cost of a specific good will is at variance until it is settled by the consumers demand for such a good. In the supply and demand economic scenario the quantity of production of a specific item or good will be determined by the actual consumer demand for such a good or item and is not dependent upon government stimulus or purchase of the item. However, in the socialist and communist economic system, the State controls everything and redistributes wealth as it sees fit and the means of production of said item or good are entirely controlled by the state and thus the demand for a given consumer item is not fixed or determined by actual potential consumers but by the state itself, thus creating a false demand and false stimulus to a respective economy. Under the socialist and communist economic system the liberty to buy and consume is infringed. In these systems of economics wealth is redistributed as the state feels necessary.

A decidedly negative thing about the socialist and communist ideology is its disapproval of religion and suppression of religious liberty. Karl Marx, the ideological mentor of both the communist and socialist economic and political movements was a militant atheist who believed “religion is the opiate of the masses” and argued that religion was merely a psychological projection of one’s felt needs and had no objective basis in reality. Karl Marx believed that mankind created the concept of the Judeo-Christian God and that this God does not in fact exist, Marx wrote, “Man makes religion, religion does not make man.” Karl Marx and the communist movement believed that all organized religion should be eliminated from society and the followers of Karl Marx and his communist compatriots have systematically implemented a radical anti-Christian and anti-religious policy whenever they have come to power. Religious freedom is suppressed in every communist country on earth and the resultant effect of this policy of irreligion has been the merciless slaughter and millions of Christians and other people of faith around the world. Socialism and communism fails as an economic and political system because it attempts to control the economic decisions of people who were created in the image of God to honor Him in all things. Socialism and communism attempt to be the “god” of the people and these economic systems attempt to control where they work live and how they buy and spend. Socialism and communism is diametrically opposed to a Christian view of economics and liberty since it attempts to replace God with the state and attempts to subjugate the people against their will and individual conscience. In defending capitalism from the Bible one only needs to review what socialism and communism have done to people of faith to see that it is counter productive to society and to the historic Christian faith.

While the Bible is not a text book on Economics and while Christians are commanded to obey the governing authorities irrespective of whether or not it adheres to Christian values or not (Romans 13:1-7) there are basic biblical principles that would tend to demonstrate that the communist and socialist collectivist economic worldview that advocates state control over production and distribution seems to be an impediment to hard work and ingenuity. The great difficulty of the communist and socialist economics systems is that everyone is paid the same amount of money irrespective of the rigor, effort and skill involved in the work. In the communist and socialist economic scenario there is no incentive to go above and beyond in their particular employment task since everyone is compensated at the same level. While the Bible does not endorse any particular political party affiliation it is can be safely argued that the communist and socialist emphasis on state control over all commerce and personal property is directly opposed to the biblical principles mentioned above about personal property rights. It is the firm conviction of this present author that communism and socialism have certain admirable points especially in attempting to level the economic disparity between rich and poor and alleviate the suffering of the economic down cast, these economic systems do not reward hard work, ingenuity and skill in its promise to pay each worker at the same pay rate.

Economics and the Secular State

It may be asked by the astute reader why a secular government should consider what the Bible says regarding economics since most governments of the world espouse the separation of church and state and secularism as fundamental ideological tenets of their respective governing charters and constitutions. To this question this current author would like to respond by stating that it is this secularization of the respective governments of the world that has caused many of the catastrophic problems we encounter in the world today and just because a nation defines itself as “secular” does not mean the timeless and non-negotiable truths of the Bible are not in force of those nations and individuals that choose not to obey the explicit teachings of Holy Scripture. In the same way a person and nation of people are accountable to obey the transcendent moral teachings of the Bible irrespective if he or she chooses to believe or submit themselves to, there are inalterable and transcendent economic principles that God has inscribed in the very fabric of human existence they every person is accountable to. God’s word is our norm, not the fleeting dictates and fancies of a dying culture.

In the very same manner that the moral imperatives of the Decalogue are binding on all humanity, the other unchanging and non-arbitrary principles of Scripture are still transcendent and obligatory to every person irrespective if they are Christians are not. Case in point, if a married man consummates a physical relationship with a woman other than his lawful wife, he has committed adultery irrespective if he is a Christian or chooses to submit to God’s Word in the area of human relationships. It the very same sense there are inalterable economic principles God has inscribed in the fabric of human existence that are binding on every person and every nation in the history of the World. When the Decalogue commands us not to steal or covet this applies to every human being irrespective of their particular religious or cultural demographic. God’s inspired and inerrant Word and the moral commands contained therein are authoritative over every person and nation of the world irrespective if they choose to submit to their truth or not and those who choose to rebel against God’s truth and law will suffer the consequences in this life and the life to come, “For it is appointed for men to die once and after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). However, while it may be true that God’s law is authoritative and binding on every person and nation of the world, it is also demonstrable that most people and nations on earth choose not to believe and submit to God’s law and the consequences of this rebellion against God has been catastrophic on an individual and collective societal basis.

In the same manner that adultery and fornication has wrecked havoc upon individuals and families throughout the nations of the world resulting in widespread divorce rates and the contraction of innumerable venereal diseases, the pervasive tendency of many people to violate God’s law in the sphere of economics has led to the almost complete breakdown of society through theft, graft and fraud. God’s Law is clear we are not to steal or covet our neighbor’s property (Exodus 20:15-17), yet we as a collective nation and people of the world have violated these non-negotiable and inalterable truths with wanton disregard of God.

The Bible is also clear that God intents for us to be honest in all our business dealings. The Bible says, “A just balance and scales are the Lord’s; all weights in the bag are His work” (Proverbs 16:11) and “Unequal weights are an abomination to the Lord, and false scales are not good” (Proverbs 20:23). As Bible believing Christians who want to see righteousness, honesty and integrity prevail in society, we must not fall into the trap of believing that God’s Law is not applicable to everyone and we must not allow ourselves to allow to believe in the compartmentalization of the Christian faith wherein we believe that the Christian faith is true in the spiritual and doctrinal spheres of human existence but not in areas that touch on secular society. The Christian faith and the moral teachings contained in God’s Word transcend all cultures and inhabitants of the world irrespective if we are faithful to obey God’s Word or not. In the same way there are inexorable, transcendent laws that govern the physical world, such as the second law of thermodynamics , there are moral principles contained in the Word of God that transcend culture and this includes economic principles.

Augustine and Political and Economic Engagement

Throughout church history theologians of varying theological orientations have attempted to address the subject of how Christians are supposed to interact with and engage the culture around them. Some Christians have argued that Christians should not be in the business of affecting the political and economic affairs of a give culture. Others have offered a different perspective regarding the role of Christians in society. One such theologian who postulated a significant theory regarding Christian engagement with culture was the important Christian leader Augustine of Hippo, the North African bishop and theologian’s astute and insightful writings have impacted Christendom and the broader world for many years Augustine’s theory of cultural engagement is known as the doctrine of the “two kingdoms” in which he argues that there exists two cities, the city of God (civitas dei) and the city of Earth (civitas terrena) that are in diametrical opposition to one another. Augustine wrote, “The one city consists of those who wish to live after the flesh, the other those who wish to live after the spirit, and when they severally achieve what they wish, they live in peace, each after their kind.”

However, in counter distinction to this view, not every Christian theologian has agreed with Augustine’s view of the two kingdoms and some have even postulated that Augustine’s view argues for unbiblical form of dualism. Augustine’s theory of the two kingdoms is clearly articulated in his classic book, The City of God (De Civitate Dei) that he wrote after the “eternal city” of Rome was sacked and to discuss why Rome’s apostasy from their ancient pagan gods and adoption of Christianity as a religious faith was not the determining factor for Rome’s cataclysmic downfall. In The City of God Augustine argues that despite the fact Christianity since Constantine I (272-337 AD) issued the Edict of Milan in 313 AD had become the official religion of the Roman Empire was not political but rather spiritual. Augustine elucidated his view that the city of God and the city of man are entirely antithetical to one another and that eventually the city of God will prevail at the end of the age. In The City of God Augustine contrasts the citizens of the city of man with the citizens of the city of God. Those who inhabit the city of Man are marked by worldliness and a love for the passing pleasures of sin that are for a season (Hebrews 11:25). Ultimately in Augustine’s antithesis between the city of God and the City of Man, Rome is not the “eternal city” but rather that designation is the spiritual kingdom of God where God dwells forever and ever. Augustine postulated the view that two cities, the civitas dei and civitas terrena, are diametrically opposed to one another. Augustine wrote, “The one city consists of those who wish to live after the flesh and those who wish to live after the spirit; when they severally achieve what they wish, they live in peace, each after their own kind.”

Reformed theologian David VanDrunen argues that Augustine’s “two cities stand in perpetual and eschatological tension” and are “divided as to their respective ends and thus there is no overlapping or dual membership.” In Augustine’s view one cannot be a citizen of both kingdoms simultaneously since one cannot be a Christian and a non-Christian at the same time, it naturally follows one cannot be a member of the city of man and the city of God concurrently. Because of the antithetical relationship between the city of man and the city of God in Augustine’s thought, some have charged him with unbiblical forms of dualism and cultural defeatism. Some have said that Augustine’s view essentially argues that since a citizen of one country cannot be involved in the political affairs of the another country, Christians who are citizens of the “city of God” should not be involved in the political affairs of secular government which is the “city of man.” Karl Barth for example, argued that Augustine’s “two kingdoms” view had a direct impact on the rise of Adolph Hitler and the Nazi’s in Germany during the 1920’s and 1930’s since German Lutherans during this time were heavily influenced by Martin Luther who in turn had adopted Augustine’s understanding of the diametrically opposed kingdoms. Some have argued that Augustine’s view of the two cities postulates that Christians should have no involvement within the civic duties of society since politics are worldly pursuits that have no relationship with the city of God.

However, this seems to be a misreading of Augustine and the City of God and a misinterpretation of the explicit teaching of the Holy Scriptures that teach the sanctity and sacredness of all professions irrespective if they are secular or ecclesiastically related. In fact, there are several Scriptural passages that demonstrate that Christians can and should be involved in politics and the civic affairs of secular society. For example, Jesus Christ did not tell Zacchaeus the tax collector from refraining from collecting taxes from secular Roman government (Luke 19:1-10), nor did Jesus tell the Centurion whose daughter he had healed to refrain from being in “authority” over men in the Roman government (Matthew 8:1-13 and Luke 7:1-6). The Bible even indicates that it is a good thing godly people to be involved in government, Proverbs 29:2 says, “When the righteous are in authority the people rejoice but when a wicked man rules, the people groan.” Augustine of Hippo’s view of the “two cities” is an accurate depiction of the relationship between the kingdom of God and the world of unbelief. A person becomes a citizen of the kingdom of God by faith in the person and redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Augustine’s conception of the “two cities” does not address the question of whether or not a Christian should be involved in the political affairs of a secular government, rather Augustine was employing in an allegorical sense, was employing a metaphor on the relationship between the spiritual world that can only be appropriated through faith and the physical world of which we initially all belong as sons of Adam.

It is the firm belief of this present author that Augustine was not attempting to argue that Christians should not be involved in politics or influencing public policies of a respective nation but in appropriating the “city of God” and “city of man” terminology, Augustine was ultimately using metaphorical terminology to refer to the fact that according to the Bible, men and women are either part of the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of this earth. Thus, this present author would like to argue that it is a perfectly acceptable role of engagement for Christians to attempt to be involved in the economic affairs of a respective nation. It is the firm belief of this present author that God calls each Christian to various vocations and these vocations include jobs within the political and economic realms.

Conclusion

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that out of the multiplicity of rival economic systems vying for the monetary allegiance of the respective nations of the world, Capitalism is the economic system most compatible with the historic Christian worldview and Biblical revelation. Other important ideological and economic tenets of the Capitalist worldview is the legitimacy of earning wealth of making a profit on one’s hard work and investments. Capitalism is the best economic system today because it argues for the maximum freedom of the individual in his or her means of employment and earning wealth. Capitalism argues that the private individual not the state is best able to govern themselves. Capitalism is diametrically contrary to collectivist economic theories such as communism and socialism which argue that the entire means of production and commerce should be governed and regulated exclusively by the state.

At issue here is a fundamentally and entirely antithetical outlook on human life. On one hand there is the collectivist mentality that says every aspect of a human beings life should be controlled by an elite group of socialist and communists. In the socialist and communist mentality individual freedom and liberty are obliterated and are at the disposal of the State. Then on the other hand, there is the capitalist line of thinking that argues that the individuals of a given society are what give validity and power to the State not the other way around. Capitalists eschew this collectivist and totalitarian mentality that seeks to subjugate the masses to the hand of an elite few. The quintessential ideological motif of capitalism is fiscal freedom and the ability to make one’s own economic choices. It argues we are free to buy and sell and work as we see fit and that the means of commerce and production should be in the hands of the people and not in the hands of the state.

The Bible is replete with examples and instruction on the ethical legitimacy of acquiring wealth (Psalm 94:12-14, Proverbs 10:4, 10:19, 11:4, 14:31, 22:1-7, 30:8-9, Malachi 3:9-10, Mark 8:36, 10:25, Luke 16:13, 2 Corinthians 9:11, Ephesians 4:28, 1 Timothy 5:19, 6:17-18, James 2:5-6 and 1 John 3:17). The Bible does not condemn the earning and acquiring of wealth it just instructs those who possess wealth to help those in need. The Bible is also clear that earning a profit for one’s hard work is a legitimate endeavor (Genesis 13:2, Psalm 62:10, Proverbs 10:2-5, 22, 11:4-7, 13:1, 23:4-5, 27: 23-27, 28:19, Ecclesiastes 5:10, 19, 10:19, Jeremiah 17:11 and Matthew 25: 14-30). The Bible is full of examples of men whom God blessed with financial prosperity in abundance (Genesis 24:35, 26:12-15, 36:6-7, 37:29, 1 Samuel 25, 1 Kings 10:23, I Chronicles 29:28, 2 Chronicles 9:22, 17:5, 32:26-28, Job 1 and Matthew 27:59). If America is to solve its main fiscal problems, it would do well to implement sound economic principles deduced from the Bible.

Many people today are calling for free market capitalism to be abolished in America but this present author would like to argue that free market capitalism is the economic model most compatible with the economic principles delineated by the authors of sacred Scripture and that free market capitalism should be maintained as the fiscal model for America’s economy. Despite the vehement criticism of contemporary anti-capitalists, this present author believes that the Bible is the inspired and inerrant word of God and its economic principles should be studied and applied to the fiscal crisis currently transpiring in America for the glory of God and betterment of the American people. This present author also believes that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is ultimately the only hope for the salvation of America, but by implementing sound Biblical principles of economics, this nation can stem the tide of financial chaos that is presently ravishing our great land.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Arrighi, Giovanni. The Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power, and the Origins of Our Times. London New York, NY: Verso, 2010.
Augustine, and Marcus Dods. The City of God. The Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2006.

________. The City of God. Hendrickson Publishers ed. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 2009.

Bahnsen, Greg L. By This Standard : The Authority of God's Law Today. Tyler, Tex.: Institute for Christian Economics, 1985.

Beeke, Jonathon David. "Martin Luther's Two Kingdoms, Law and Gospel, and the Created Order: Was There a Time When the Two Kingdoms Were Not?" Westminster Theological Journal 73, no. 2 (2011): 191-214.

Bernstein, Andrew. The Capitalist Manifesto : The Historic, Economic and Philosophic Case for Laissez-Faire. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2005.

Beyer, Gerald J. "Solidarity and Occupy Wall Street: A Tale of Two Movements." Political Theology 13, no. 1 (2012): 5-13.

Blomberg, Craig L. "Neither Capitalism nor Socialism: A Biblical Theology of Economics." Journal of Markets & Morality 15, no. 1 (2012): 207-225.

Bole, William. "Relative Poverty: The Indignity of Gross Inequality." Christian Century 128, no. 26 (2011): 10-11.

Brat, David. "God and Advanced Mammon: Can Theological Types Handle Usury and Capitalism?" Interpretation 65, no. 2 (2011): 168-179.

Bratt, James D. Abraham Kuyper : Modern Calvinist, Christian Democrat. Library of Religious Biography. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2012.

Burman, Leonard, and Joel Slemrod. Taxes in America : What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.

Butler-Bowdon, Tom. 50 Prosperity Classics : Attract It, Create It, Manage It, Share It : Wisdom from the Best Books on Wealth Creation and Abundance. London ; Boston: Nicholas Brealey Pub., 2008.

Cantor, Eric, Paul Ryan, and Kevin McCarthy. Young Guns : A New Generation of Conservative Leaders. 1st Threshold Editions trade pbk. ed. New York: Threshold Editions, 2010.

Chinn, Menzie David, and Jeffry A. Frieden. Lost Decades : The Making of America's Debt Crisis and the Long Recovery. 1st ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2011.

Connolly, William E. "Capitalism, Christianity, America: Rethinking the Issues." Political Theology 12, no. 2 (2011): 226-236.

Cooper, John W. "Markets, Freedom, and the State : Friedrich Hayek's Enduring Vision." Brethren Life and Thought 35, no. 2 (1990): 154-159.

Davis, Nancy J., and Robert V. Robinson. "Theological Modernism, Cultural Libertarianism and Laissez-Faire Economics in Contemporary European Societies." Sociology of Religion 62, no. 1 (2001): 23-50.

Dierckxsens, Wim, and Paul Burns. "The End of Neo-Liberalism, Unsustainable Capitalism, and the Need for a New Utopia." In Different World Is Possible, 15-26. London: SCM Press, 2004.

Downing, David. Capitalism. Political and Economic Systems. Rev. and updated. ed. Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2008.

Elzinga, Kenneth G., and Matthew R. Givens. "Christianity and Hayek." Faith & Economics, no. 53 (2009): 53-68.

Enochs, Lee, Edward. "Karl Marx and the Consequences of His Communist Ideology." Term Paper, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2010.

________. "Augustine, Politics and the Two Cities." Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2013.

Furnham, Adrian. The Protestant Work Ethic : The Psychology of Work-Related Beliefs and Behaviours. London England ; New York: Routledge, 1990.

Gibson, Donald. Wealth, Power, and the Crisis of Laissez Faire Capitalism. 1st ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

Hazlitt, Henry. Economics in One Lesson. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1979.

Hobbes, Thomas, and E. M. Curley. Leviathan : With Selected Variants from the Latin Edition of 1668. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub. Co., 1994.

Hobbes, Thomas, William Molesworth, Thucydides, and Homer. The English Works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, 11 vols. London,: J. Bohn, 1839.

Kaiser, Walter C. What Does the Lord Require? : A Guide for Preaching and Teaching Biblical Ethics. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2009.

Keynes, John Maynard. The End of Laissez-Faire. 3d impression. ed. London,: L. & Virginia Woolf, 1927.

Kittel, Gerhard, Gerhard Friedrich, and Geoffrey William Bromiley. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans, 1985.

Lava, Jesus. Socialism, Communism, and Religion. Manila, Philippines: J. Lava, 1987.

Lerner, Warren. A History of Socialism and Communism in Modern Times : Theorists, Activists, and Humanists. 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1993.

Levin, Mark R. Ameritopia : The Unmaking of America. 1st Threshold Editions hardcover ed. New York: Threshold Editions, 2012.

Lovenstein, Meno. Capitalism, Communism, Socialism (Comparative Economic Systems). Economic Series,, vol. 55. Minneapolis,: Curriculum Resources, 1962.

Luther, Martin, and Holger Sonntag. Only the Decalogue Is Eternal : Martin Luther's Complete Antinomian Theses and Disputations. Minneapolis, MN: Lutheran Press, Inc., 2008.

MacAllister, P. E. "Power and Responsibility in the Free Enterprise System." Church & Society 69, no. 4 (1979): 29-41.

MacArthur, John. Ephesians. The Macarthur New Testament Commentary. Chicago: Moody Press, 1986.

Marx, Karl. Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844. Dover ed. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 2007.

Marx, Karl, Friedrich Engels, Leon Trotsky, and Pathfinder Press. The Communist Manifesto. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Pathfinder Press, 2008.

Marx, Karl, and Eugene Kamenka. The Portable Karl Marx. The Viking Portable Library. New York: Viking Press, 1983.

McCabe, John. "The End of Work: Theological Critiques of Capitalism." Theology 113, no. 871 (2010): 47-48.

McDaniel, Charles. "Reviving Old Debates: Austrian, Post-Keynesian, and Distributist Views of Financial Crisis." Journal of Markets & Morality 15, no. 1 (2012): 37-63.

More, Thomas, and Gilbert Burnet. Utopia: Containing an Impartial History of the Manners, Customs, Polity, Government, &C. Of That Island. Political Classics,, vol. 3 [no 2]]. London,: Printed for D.I. Eaton, 1795.

Nichols, Anthony H. "Educational Doctrines of Abraham Kuyper : An Evaluation." Journal of Christian Education 52 (1975): 26-38.

North, Gary. An Introduction to Christian Economics. Nutley, N.J.: Craig Press, 1973.

Obama, Barack. The Audacity of Hope : Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. Edinburgh ; New York: Canongate, 2007.

________. Dreams from My Father : A Story of Race and Inheritance. Edinburgh: Canongate, 2008.

Phillips, Richard D. The Masculine Mandate : God's Calling to Men. Lake Mary, Fla.: Reformation Trust Pub., 2009.

Reagan, Ronald, Alfred A. Balitzer, and Gerald M. Bonetto. A Time for Choosing : The Speeches of Ronald Reagan, 1961-1982. Chicago: Regnery Gateway in cooperation with Americans for the Reagan Agenda, 1983.

Rhoads, Gladys Titzck, and Nancy Titzck Anderson. Mcintire : Defender of Faith and Freedom. Maitland, Fla.: Xulon Press, 2012.

Rose, Tom. Free Enterprise Economics : A Resource Unit for Instruction in America's Free Enterprise System. Dallas: Institute for Free Enterprise Education, 1974.

Rossatto, César Augusto, Ricky Lee Allen, and Marc Pruyn. Reinventing Critical Pedagogy. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006.

Smith, Adam, and Hunter Lewis. The Essence of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. The Essence of Series. Mount Jackson, VA: Axios, 2011.

Sperber, Jonathan. Karl Marx : A Nineteenth-Century Life. First edition ed.

Stark, Rodney. The Victory of Reason : How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success. Random House trade pbk. ed. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2006.

United States. Congress. House. Committee on the Budget., and Paul Ryan. The Path to Prosperity : A Blueprint for American Renewal : Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Resolution. First edition. ed.

VanDrunen, David. Living in God's Two Kingdoms : A Biblical Vision for Christianity and Culture. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2010.

Voegeli, William J. Never Enough : America's Limitless Welfare State. 1st American ed. New York: Encounter Books, 2010.

Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Student's ed. New York,: Scribner, 1958.

Weber, Max, Peter Baehr, and Gordon C. Wells. The Protestant Ethic and the "Spirit" of Capitalism and Other Writings.