For me, economics is a fascinating field of study which tries to understand how the world and society work. It is the study of how we can produce, use and allocate limited resources (of a community, society, state, country or the world) to meet the unlimited wants and needs of those who participate in it.
It forms the foundations of how we interact, work and solve problems together and its principles can be applied in many fields of study such as wealth, finance, environment, health and defence.
Whilst not explicit, Biblical principles can be seen within certain economic systems that we have today. These principles came from how God, Israel and the church organised themselves and account for human action. Many of these principles are argued as “universal” and are also applied today in how our economies operate.
Understanding this helps us to understand how and why people (whether your neighbour or a politician) make certain decisions. It also can help us avoid misinformed decisions in how we live, vote or help each other.
Given its societal impact, there are several competing and complementary schools of thought. However, most have the same foundational core but differ in some assumptions and in turn, practice.
Some core concepts of this include: human action, private property and voluntary exchange. Many of these concepts may seem foreign, but do not worry! The Bible talks amply about them.
Human action
For any modern economy to work, it relies on three fundamental ideas to be practiced: human action, ownership of property and voluntary exchange.
Human action is simply describing the need of a person (or company) to satisfy a desire. For example, someone who is hungry will want to eat food in order to satisfy that hunger. Whether we are cold, hungry, angry, tired or ambitious, we will all take action to reduce or satisfy these desires.
As this is normal and intended, the Bible teaches us about the boundaries for how we go about fulfilling our desires. For example, the Bible describes theft as a sin, this means that whilst a person might be hungry, it would be wrong to steal in order to satisfy their hunger.
Private ownership of property
The second idea is private ownership of property, meaning a person or company who has exclusive control over a good, service or resource. For example, a restaurant that has bought the ingredients and created a burger. Private property is foundational for any economic system to function because without it, nothing can be traded or “exchanged”.
The Bible talks a lot about respecting other people’s property, so much so that two of the Ten Commandments address it! One stating “You shall not steal” and the other “You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbour” (Exodus chapter 20, verses 15 and 17). Not only is it bad to steal but even yearning for it is not good.
Instead our mindset should be to respect each other’s private property, and not to be envious or jealous of other people’s property.We should also be reminded that everything ultimately belongs to God (Psalm chapter 24, verse 1) and He will provide us with what we need (Matthew chapter 6, verses 19 to 34).
Voluntary Exchange
Lastly, voluntary exchange is two or more parties agreeing on their own free will to exchange goods and services which in turn will satisfy each other’s desires. In our example, it is the hungry person exchanging cash (something they own) for a burger from the restaurant during opening hours.
The restaurant cannot forcefully sell a burger to a person who is not hungry or hates burgers, neither can someone forcefully make a restaurant sell them a burger when they are closed or ran out of ingredients.
God also desires a willing heart from people who donate to causes. One example of this was in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians where he asks for a donation from the Corinthian church to the Macedonian churches but only to do so with eager willingness and not out of compulsion (2 Corinthians chapter 8 verses 8 to 12).
In the same way, faith in God is a matter of a willing heart (voluntary) and Christians cannot forcefully convert people to follow Jesus if they are not willing (1 Chronicles chapter 28, verse 9).
Solving daily life problems
These three ideas are pre-requisites for any economic system to function and are in line with Biblical principles. Voluntary exchanges of property between two or more willing parties for the purpose of satisfying an uneasiness or desire are the basis of “markets”.
The world of economics is huge and can be quite complex, but when we go back to basics to understand, at the philosophical and Biblical level of how we might interact with each other day to day, it can simplify things a lot and in turn, inform us about how to approach different problems daily.
For example, the next time we might get into an argument with someone about something we own (such as siblings fighting who gets the car to drive), let’s pause and reflect to understand our desire and the desire that the other party might have.
From there we can try and solve our differences in a way that ensures it is voluntary between both parties and respect each other’s property as nearly everything is negotiable as long as it is Biblical and all parties are okay with it!
Brandon Tsang is a Sydney-based writer currently working in IT. He studied Marketing and Economics at UNSW and loves to spend his spare time hiking, playing volleyball or watching Netflix.
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