The movie, Wall Street, made famous the phrase, “Greed is Good” and launched a wave of ambition and selfishness across the United States. But, Jesus tells us to “Beware the many faces of greed.” The New Testament tells us to beware the “love of money” which can lead to the root of all kinds of evil… so Christians must stand against greed in its many forms.
HOWEVER…The Bible clearly shows that capitalism is the most moral system of economics based on Biblical values of incentive, self-interest, and generosity. So, how must Christians respond to the perceived civil war between capitalism and greed? First, we must recognize the two are not synonymous.
Christians must also think through the realities of common grace and self-interest. Jesus told us the greatest commandment is to “Love the Lord God,” and the second is “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Notice the last part, as yourself. Jesus presumes that we “love ourselves.”
We look out for ourselves. We protect ourselves. We provide for ourselves. We are motivated by self-interest. And Jesus even tells us to use this basic foundation of psychology to think about how to love others. He uses the same logic with the Golden rule:
Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You.
We know how we would want to be provided for, loved on, and taken care of, and we can use that moral law written on our hearts as a basis for how we view others. The moral law of God written on every human being’s heart (Romans 1-2) is a part of the common grace God gives to all of us to function in a broken world.
Paul also reminds us that it’s not just the world that’s out of alignment; our hearts are fundamentally cracked as well. So, though we are motivated by self-interest, we must be careful not to “think of ourselves more highly than we ought”. Here in Philippians, Paul also affirms self-interest when he says,
“Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.“
Again, there is that assumption that “we do look out for our own interests.” Paul doesn’t say that it’s an either-or, it’s a both-and. Love yourself and love others. Why is this important–because in Christ, we can fully and completely love who we are. We should love the beauty, the righteous standing, the purity, the cleanliness, and the worth we have, if we have received Him as forgiver and leader. We have His standing and worth in Christ. For those who do not trust in Christ, God has hard-wired even the non-believing world with common grace. His law is written on their hearts and revealed through Creation.
At the same time, God tells us that mankind’s heart is sinful and evil. So where does that leave us (especially when developing a way to look at law, government and economics) ? We need a system that plays to mankind’s self-interest, while accounting for mankind’s greedy tendencies.
The Roman world that Christianity took root in was characterized by complete selfishness and greed. The historian, Josephus, said that no one gave anything to anyone, until the Christ -followers came and gave away what they produced to both “their own poor,” as well as the poor of different religions and backgrounds. This was a counter-cultural movement. Free market capitalism is the only moral economic system; because the only way to make money is if someone “freely” chooses your product, based on price and quality. So the seller (motivated by self-interest to provide for himself) must think about the buyer’s needs (price and quality) in order to both bless the buyer, and provide for himself. This doesn’t eliminate greed… but it does neutralize it. The bottom line is this reality: the more the seller “blesses the buyer,” the more he will “receive” profits that also bless himself. It truly is more blessed to give than to receive.
For a free 30-minute session of Godonomics, visit: http://www.godonomics.com/watch-session-1
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