Material Wealth – The Law of God and Public Policy

Material Wealth
The Law of God and Public Policy

There are dangers in making material wealth the standard of well-being.

“You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land the LORD your God is giving you.” Deuteronomy 16:19, 20

The business of life in our modern/postmodern world has become the business of economics. Government, education, work, relationships, personal decision-making—all are guided, above all else, by considerations of economic well-being: How can I maximize my personal prosperity?

Consequently, public policy-making is also driven—and justified—by appeal to economics, and that very broadly defined. If, for example, it is considered to be in the interest of the economy as a whole to “stimulate” this or that sector, policies will be established to do so, whether in the form of subsidies, tax breaks, or other means. At the individual level, public policies are established to ensure that individual citizens have the right to maximize their personal well-being. So whether the need is educational opportunity, supplemental income or other kinds of support, or even the “freedom” to abort an unwanted child, public policies are created to further the private economic interests of as many people as possible.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “economics” is “the science relating to the production and distribution of material wealth.” “Material wealth” is the driving force of the American economy and tends, therefore, to be the driving force for most other aspects of life as well.

But there are dangers here. Material wealth can be an uncertain foundation from which to pursue and an unstable pillar on which to build one’s personal happiness. Even more, the quest for material wealth can divide societies, corrupt politics, justify all manner of questionable enterprises, and distract people from more important considerations related to human flourishing.

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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.