Love Your Neighbor Freely – The Law of God and Public Policy

Love Your Neighbor Freely
The Law of God and Public Policy

Love must be the guiding principle in using personal property.

“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” Leviticus 19:18

In the divine economy people are encouraged to seek the wisdom of God and to use their resources in a manner consistent with His instructions and commandments. Love for God and neighbor, as we have said, are the guiding economic principles. People stand or fall before God according to the economics of justice outlined in His Law.

Those who will not tithe, for example, or who refuse to help the poor in their community should not be subjected to government policies that seize their wealth in order to do what is “right” with it. Taxation to support churches in early America—a practice common in many of the colonies and states, even to the 1830s—should not have been considered just. Tax incentives related to charitable giving for religious purposes and the property of religious organizations are, in my mind, questionable, and can serve as a form of bondage for the very organizations that benefit from them.

In the same way, we should not regard as just programs of income redistribution which exceed the bounds of justice as defined by God’s Law. In the divine economy people must be persuaded to love their neighbors, not coerced.

Christians who use their property unjustly, without due concern for love of God and neighbor, will come under the loving instruction and perhaps discipline of their local congregation. Those beyond the pale of faith are still accountable to God for the use they make of His good gifts—time, strength, property. However, if they cannot be moved to do good by the teaching and example of the Church, or the fear of public disapproval, they must be free to practice their folly without fear of State intervention or interference. God knows how to bring the wicked and heartless to justice, in His own way and time.

Of course, any use of property or individual freedom which directly transgresses the Law of God and assaults the freedom or usurps the responsibility of one’s neighbor should be regarded as a breach of justice, and appropriate actions must be taken. We must love our neighbors as ourselves, and respecting our neighbor’s freedom and honoring his individual responsibility are nothing more than what we would like for ourselves.

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.