Money in the Bible
Money in the Bible
Section: God's ⋅ Work ⋅ Debt ⋅ Investing ⋅ Tithing ⋅ Pastors ⋅ Sharing ⋅ Hoarding ⋅ Character ⋅ Temporary ⋅ Taxes ⋅ Parables ⋅ Macroeconomics ⋅ Wealth ⋅ Quotes
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First, an acknowledgement. There isn't one right answer to this. However there are a million wrong answers, and there are some common themes. Let's look at the passages, because what's in God's Word is important.It's all God's anyway
Work
Paul & Peter mention the concept of slavery, which is odd to us in the 21st century. They were writing about literal slaves, but slavery that occurred during Bible times (either Old or New Testament) looked nothing like the slavery that ran rampant in the Americas during the European imperial days. But still, in the context that it was written, the concepts of master and slave are not far from master and servant, which are not far from employer and employee, and in some ways not far from lender and borrow. Either way there are important principles to take away about money and work.
That said about work, there's a clear distinction between men and women in the Bible. The exact differences are the subject for another webpage, but one application here is women working outside the home. Feminism, while not a discrete concept, seeks for equality for women. Equal rights are good, eradicating culturally defined gender roles is unbiblical. Women have different biological and emotional capabilities and are meant to compliment men (Genesis 2:18) and we should allow them to fulfill this role rather than burden them with the responsibilities of being men, too (Genesis 3:16-19). We should recognize and honor the strengths and weaknesses of each gender. From a Biblical perspective women should not be expected to work outside the home, but instead focus on the family (1 Timothy 2:15) and the home (Proverbs 14:1, Proverbs 31:10-31, Titus 2:5). If women were supported in this, and if men did their part to "love their wives" (Ephesians 5:25-33) then feminism would be much less common around the world. If our aim is to be able to buy more stuff (or more depressingly, if you're on a track to be in debt for the rest of your life if something doesn't change) then wives/moms need to work. If our aim is strong families and communities, then wives/moms working for a paycheck are counterproductive. (Any parent knows being a good parent, or more specifically raising a good kid(s), is much more work than most jobs.) This anti-feminism perspective isn't meant to be the polar opposite. It doesn't mean women should be banned from anything, it just means we shouldn't expect all or even most women to work 40+ hours a week for an employer. They should still be well educated, productive members of society, and society should respect and admire raising strong families more than it does establishing paid careers.
Debt
- Deuteronomy 15:1-11 hub
- Proverbs 6:1-11 hub *
- Proverbs 22:7 hub *
- Proverbs 22:26-27 hub
- Romans 13:8 hub *
- Proverbs 6:6-8 hub
- Proverbs 13:16 hub
- Proverbs 21:5 hub
- Proverbs 21:20 hub
- Proverbs 27:12 hub
- Ecclesiastes 10:19 hub
- Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 hub *
- Luke 14:28-30 hub
In short (regarding tithing) always give at least our first 10% of our gross/total/before deductions income back to God. The tithe wasn't the maximum, it was the base: Deuteronomy 12:5-7, 11-12, 16:16-17. Remember, in a more broad context, there are many ways we can give sacrificially: time, talent, treasure, and testimony. Notice in Genesis 14:20 Abraham intuited the need/value in tithing, and in Genesis 28:20-22 his grandson Jacob (Israel) intuited it too. Jesus made a tangent comment in Luke 16:10. Related, here's a great YouTube video on topic, called "God Pie".
Paying pastors/missionaries
- Deuteronomy 25:4 hub
- Luke 10:7 hub
- 1 Corinthians 9:7-14 hub *
- Galatians 6:6 hub *
- 1 Timothy 5:17-18 hub
Sharing
- Deuteronomy 23:24-25 hub
- Deuteronomy 24:19-21 hub
- Psalm 37:21 hub
- Psalm 112:5 hub
- Proverbs 11:2-26 hub
- Luke 6:38 hub
- 2 Corinthians 8:7-9 hub
- 2 Corinthians 9:6-11 hub
- 1 Timothy 6:17-19 hub
- 1 Peter 4:10 hub
Character
Temporary
- Proverbs 14:29 hub
- Proverbs 23:5 hub
- Proverbs 27:23-24 hub
- Ecclesiastes 5:15 hub
- Ecclesiastes 9:11 hub
- Isaiah 40:6-8 hub
- 1 Timothy 6:6-8 hub
- James 1:9-11 hub
- 1 Peter 1:24 hub
Parables
Macroeconomics
One of the reasons God created man was to rule the Earth (Genesis 1:27-28) but He never said how (other than to demonstrate good character while doing it). No matter which macro economic theory we prefer (for example: capitalism, socialism, mercantilism, or feudalism) the "bottom line" is: are we bringing honor to God through our lives and obeying God by being generous to our fellow man? If not then all economic systems turn into enablers for "redistribution of wealth" and separation of made-up classes. (In other words, to "fix" a "broken" economic system, the solution must involve protection from human greed, namely the greed of those in power. Since power corrupts, the government must put checks and balances in place to drive appropriate behavior. Since human greed is universal, switching economic policies from capitalism to communism or vice versa does nothing beneficial without this intentionality.) To deny this reality, some people will try to claim their perspective is "fair" and everyone else's isn't. However there are two kinds of fair: egalitarianism: everyone gets the same, and meritocracy: everyone gets what they earn/deserve. Socialism and Capitalism are just extremes of each. Keep in mind that not everything is going to be "fair" by our own cultural definition/expectation.
Meritocracy
Egalitarianism It's an interesting theological detail that there are examples of God and Heaven being both egalitarian and meritocratic, but that there are triple the examples of them being meritocratic. Surely both perspectives are relevant, but merit seems to be significantly more important than equality. (Note this statement has nothing to do with salvation, which is by faith (Ephesians 2:8).) Either way, the philosophy where everyone gets the same works great for democracies (laws and liberties) but not economies (financial risk and rewards). If you consider yourself lower middle class (or lower) and if you desire to be upper middle class (or higher) then why on Earth would you vote on policies now that will hurt you later if and when you succeed at getting what you want? And similarly, why would you punish other people who had the same desire as you and just succeeded before you did? I'll tell you why, it's immature selfishness and greed. Not politically correct, but true.
Wealth
Is it wrong to be rich? It depends. We are warned away from making money a focus of our lives: There's a difference between being rich and loving money just as there's a difference between working in a morgue and being a murderer.
- Deuteronomy 8:18 hub
- Deuteronomy 15:6 hub
- Deuteronomy 28:2-14 hub
- 1 Samuel 2:7-8 hub
- Psalm 25:12-13 hub
- Psalm 112:1-3 hub
- Proverbs 10:22 hub
- Hosea 2:8 hub
- Luke 16:9 hub
- Genesis 13:2 hub
- Genesis 13:14-17 hub
- Genesis 30:43 hub
- Genesis 39:2-6 hub
- Genesis 41:34-36 hub
- 2 Samuel 12:8 hub
- 1 Kings 3:9-13 hub
- Job 1:1-5 hub
- Job 42:10-17 hub
- Luke 12:16-21 hub
Quotes
Remember, there isn't one right answer to this. However there are a million wrong answers (Matthew 7:13-14) and there are some common themes. What's in God's Word is important. And I just can't resist, even though this page is dedicated to what the Bible says, here are my favorite worldly quotes relating to money, finances, and work.
- "Having money's not everything, not having it is." -Kayne West
- "We have a shortage of sharing rather than a lack of enough." -Annie Leonard
- "The consumer turns to the company and says, 'Give me more for less.' And then companies turn to employees and say, 'If we don't give them more for less, we are in trouble. I can't guarantee you a job and a union steward can't guarantee you a job, only a customer can." -Thomas Friedman
- "It’s not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It's the customer who pays the wages." -Henry Ford
- "The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer." -Peter Drucker
- "If the gains from trade in commodities are substantial, they are small compared to trade in ideas." -David Landes
- "Wealth is not so good as work, nor riches so good as earnings." -David Landes
- "Educated, eyes-open optimism pays; pessimism can only offer the empty consolation of being right." -David Landes
- "Compare the Protestant and Catholic attitudes toward gambling in the early modern period. Both condemned it, but Catholics condemned it because one might (would) lose, and no responsible person would jeopardize his well-being and that of others in that manner. The Protestants, on the other hand, condemned it because one might win, and that would be bad for character." -David Landes
- "As long as people are free to earn money, some will earn more than others. For a majority of Americans, fairness is not redistribution of wealth; fairness is rewarding merit -- and that's what free enterprise does. Free enterprise -- like freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion -- makes our nation more fair, not less." -Arthur Brooks
- "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." -Thomas Edison
- "Anybody who thinks having money will make you happy, hasn't got any money." -David Geffen
- "Wealth isn't about having a lot of money, it's about having a lot of options." -Chris Rock
- "I... heard James Dobson compare life to a Monopoly game. We work hard to accumulate things so we can impress people who will probably resent us anyway. Then one day it's all over, we give it all back, and someone puts us in a box and closes the lid. Suddenly the dollar bills, deeds, and hotels don't matter. What matters is whether or not we pursued righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. What matters is whether or not we are ready to face God." -Bob Russell, Money: A User's Manual
- "No amount of success anywhere makes up for failure at the home." -Wife of Dr. Richard Swinson
- "The simplest way to determine if something is a 'right' is to ask the question: Does this 'right' make a claim on another man's wallet? If it does, it cannot possibly be a right." -Bryan Fischer
- "Put your money where your mouth is" -Anonymous
- "Pursue your dreams, but pay the bills... because you gotta do both." -Erwin McManus
- Life, Money, Hope (Dave Ramsey) (also, 20 Things the Rich Do Every Day) +
- Being Rich (at what matters most) (Craig Groeschel) +
- How to Be Rich (Andy Stanley)
- Global Rich List
- Prager University Videos
