Inspired by Paul Collier’s book, I just finished reading Wayne Grudem’s concise book entitled Business for the Glory of God: The Bible’s Teaching on the Moral Goodness of Business. I wonder if some Christians live with a vague guilt about business activity. They feel that business is (at best) morally neutral and that using business relationships to explicitly share Christ is the only way to legitimize it. While we should rejoice that business connections can and do provide wonderful avenues for sharing Christ, while also providing financial means to advance the gospel, Grudem’s aim in this book is something more: He wants readers to enjoy and thank God for ownership, productivity, employment, commercial transactions, profit, money, inequality of possessions, competition, and borrowing and lending. These are chapters 1-9 in this provocative, accessible, and very helpful book. In each chapter, Grudem explains how business is inherently a gift of God and therefore good, even though humans can distort it for evil purposes.
In the chapter on ownership, Grudem explains that God validated personal ownership by commanding that we ought not steal (Ex. 20:15). By owning possessions, we imitate God’s sovereignty by exercising “sovereignty” over a tiny portion of the universe. By taking care of our belongings or improving upon them (washing our car, or adding a bathroom to a home) we imitate God who owns a cattle on a thousand hills (Ps. 50:10). The Bible’s teaching on generous giving assumes ownership. Yet we need not give away all that we own, for the Bible mentions other morally right uses of our resources, like subduing the earth (through harvesting crops, or converting sand into computer chips for cell phones and iPODs). Of course, ownership can be distorted for evil purposes. For example, in some governments hoard the land and/or impose complex regulations which inhibit common folk from improving their lives through owning a home or a small business.
In the chapter on competition, Grudem explains that competition encourages and rewards excellence in areas such as sports and academics. Competition guides society in the assigning of jobs to those who are best suited for those jobs. In the business world, competition rewards performance. A bad painter will not gain referrals and will thus be directed toward other lines of work. Competition also drives down prices and rewards efficiency, which helps people be better stewards of their limited income. While a “safety net” should be available for those who are physically or mentally incapacitated, in American society, Grudem argues, “there is productive work for the vast majority of the population, and competition is the mechanism that helps workers find the jobs for which their interests and abilities best suit them.”
For more thoughts on competition, you might check out my recent Boundless essay, which also discusses God-ordained inequalities of ability. Grudem hits on this theme as well, and from a similar perspective, noting that Jesus’ teaching on stewardship suggests there will be inequalities of stewardship and responsibility even in heaven, with some having authority over ten cities and others over five (Luke 19:17,19). Here on earth, “if reward for each person’s labor is given fairly and is based on the value of what that person produces, then those with larger abilities will naturally gain larger rewards,” says Grudem. Yet an abundance of riches is accompanied by many temptations to sin (I Tim. 6:9-10). The rich need to trust God, not their wealth (Prov. 30:8-9), and to give generously to the poor (I Tim. 6:17-19) and to the work of the church (Luke 12:48; I Cor. 4:2; 14:12).
The chapter on borrowing and lending also helpfully refutes the position of some well-meaning Christians whose consciences forbid accruing any debt, including a home mortgage. Romans 13:8 (“owe no one anything”), taken in context, does not prohibit all borrowing. Rather, it merely teaches that we should pay what we owe at the proper time. Taking out a 30-year mortgage for a home is perfectly consistent with Rom. 13:8 provided we faithfully make our monthly payments. Of course, borrowing can be unwise (see Prov. 22:7, “the borrower is the slave of the lender”), like when someone borrows too much and cannot repay (Ps. 37:21, “the wicked borrows but does not pay back”). However, used responsibly, borrowing and lending brings tremendous good to the economy. It allows me to “temporarily own” (i.e., rent) a car in any city in the world–for a day, a week, or for longer. It allows a bank to put money to work by lending it to a family to buy a home (which then allows a contractor to build the home, and other vendors to furnish it, employing many people in the process). Furthermore, “microloans” are having an amazing impact among the poor in many countries. (See the pioneering work of Opportunity International in Oak Brook, IL. In 2002, they made 536,003 loans for an average amount of $237. The money was loaned at market rates, with 98% of it repaid on schedule. They estimate the loans are providing 800,000 jobs and impacting the lives of 4,000,000 people.)
In the last chapter, Grudem states that “the only long-term solution to world poverty is business.” I could not agree more. Every country that is lifting itself out of poverty has at least one common characteristic: a relatively simply process for getting a small loan and starting a business. Unfortunately, many countries impose excessive regulations on entrepreneurs, choking the life out of economic growth. Some evil governments confiscate wealth. Other governments destroy businesses to enhance their own power. But if the long-term solution to world poverty is business, Grudem has done us a great service by helping us see the moral goodness of business (in spite of it being a potential occasion for evil). Grudem’s closing paragraph:
“If attitudes toward business change in the ways I have described, then who could resist being a God-pleasing subduer of the earth who uses materials from God’s good creation and works with the God-given gift of money to earn morally good profits, and shows love to his neighbors by giving them jobs and by producing material goods that overcome world poverty, goods that enable people to glorify God for his goodness, that sustain just and fair differences in possessions, and that encourage morally good and beneficial competition? What a great career that would be! What a great activity for governments to favor and encourage! What a solution to world poverty! What a great way to give glory to God!”