Economics 101: Reason and Love – The Law of God and Public Policy

Economics 101: Reason and Love
The Law of God and Public Policy

Reason and love must overrule covetousness for justice to obtain.

“You shall not charge interest on loans to your brother, interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest. You may charge a foreigner interest, but you may not charge your brother interest, that the LORD your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.” Deuteronomy 23:19, 20

When the goal of economic activity is justice—the practice of love for God and neighbor—rather than material prosperity, everything about that economy is going to look different, including the use of credit and debt. These would not be forbidden, but the terms on which they are engaged and the reasons for which they are employed would, it seems to me, be dramatically different than the easy credit/burdensome debt practices so common in our society today.

Public policies that support the latter can be calamitous in the extreme, as we learn the hard way during times of recession. Moreover, they create a mindset which can be difficult to overcome—as, again, we are seeing in our society. When people are taught that material prosperity is the way to happiness, and easy credit is extended on every hand to make that prosperity a reality, covetousness and lust will rule instead of sound reason and neighbor love, and the blessings of God will elude us, though we possess the wealth of all the nations of the world.

Visit our website, www.ailbe.org, and sign up to receive our thrice-weekly devotional, Crosfigell, featuring writers from the period of the Celtic Revival and T. M.’s reflections on Scripture and the Celtic Christian tradition. Does the Law of God still apply today? Order a copy of T. M.’s book, The Ground for Christian Ethics, and study the question for yourself.

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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.