The Christian View of Property – The Law of God and Public Policy

The Christian View of Property
The Law of God and Public Policy

We must not use our property for ourselves alone.

“And you shall not steal.” Deuteronomy 5:19

At all times the people of Israel were to remember that God alone, the Giver of every good and perfect gift (James 1:17), is able to define the right use of private property. This same understanding carried over into the Christian era. The Christian understands that he is not his own; he has been bought with the blood of Jesus Christ and all that he is and has, having come from the Lord, belongs ultimately to the Lord and is to be used in such a way as to reflect the interests of divine justice and love (1 Cor. 3:21-23; 4:7; 6:19, 20).

All our property—every good and perfect gift entrusted to us by God—is to be used, therefore, in a manner that will redound to the glory of God (Matt. 25:14-30). Our approach to private property, therefore, must not be, in the first instance, as something with which to enrich ourselves, but as something to invest for the love of God and neighbors. Of course, we must use our property in a responsible manner to meet our needs and those entrusted to our care. But beyond this, God requires that we use all our property to demonstrate love for Him and for our neighbors. We must hold our property as though it were not, in fact, our own (Acts 4:32). Instead, we must see ourselves as stewards of God’s property and be ready to use His gifts for furthering His Kingdom, building His Church, and the meeting our neighbor’s material needs.

In the divine economy, material prosperity is a resource for loving God and neighbor, not for indulging one’s fleshly passions. And we need not fear, as we use our private property in such ways, that we shall ever be in want; God is able to supply all our needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19).

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T. M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.