To quote a current phrase circulating the world from the World Economic Forum’s own videos on social media speaking of their 2030 vision: “You’ll own nothing, and be happy.” Seems as if the WEF and the world’s most powerful leaders have finally caught up to the early Christian church’s practices as described in Acts 2 and 4 quoted below. The world’s elite are finally now in lockstep with what the Bible teaches on economic systems.
44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.
Acts 2:44-45 ESV
Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.
Acts 4:32 ESV
In this post, I want to go through the mental exercise I went through as I asked myself serious questions about what these verses in Acts 2 and 4 really mean because these verses have been used as long as I can remember to say real Christianity as practiced by the early church was socialistic in nature, and capitalism is a greed-based, evil system designed to benefit the rich at the expense of the poor. Socialism and its principles of equality are much more in line with Christianity.
Now, to be up front, I believe that our capitalistic system within a constitutional republic is the worst form of government, except for all the others. Hat tip to Sir Winston Churchill for the quote, but I believe it to be absolutely true. Our system doesn’t even compare to what I believe to undeniably be the best form of government – a true theocracy under the direct reign of Jesus Christ in the future millennial kingdom and then the eternal state. You just can’t get better than the direct and absolute reign of our Creator, an absolutely gracious, good, loving, righteous, true, and perfect God. Anything run by fallen and sinful humans is far less, by definition, and will be corrupt to varying levels because WE are corrupt. However, His direct reign in a physical kingdom on this earth is yet future, but I thank the Lord that it IS future and coming, and hopefully soon.
Let me take a moment to define ‘socialism’ the way I’m interacting with the term. National Geographic has a very clear definition I like:
Socialism is, broadly speaking, a political and economic system in which property and the means of production are owned in common, typically controlled by the state or government. Socialism is based on the idea that common or public ownership of resources and means of production leads to a more equal society.
National Geographic Encyclopedia
While I await Christ’s return and physical reign on this earth, what are we fallen creatures to do in the meantime? Does God’s sufficient word give us any principles in this area? Are Acts chapters 2 and 4 telling us that socialism is the way? I honestly want to dig and know.
As I study this section of scripture and the context around it and add to it other scriptural principles I know, my answer I’ve arrived at is … absolutely NOT. Here is why.
The first point is in Acts 2:45 itself: “And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.” Private, individual property rights are right there in the text. This was not some government ownership or confiscation with a program to redistribute to those with need. These were individual believers truly loving their brethren in the church because as any had a need that became known; a brother would decide to willingly sell something he privately owned and then freely give to help meet his brother’s need. This is not a government program of forced redistribution; this is tangible Christian love. This makes so much sense. Think of the time and culture – there is no such thing as the First National Bank of Jerusalem with checking and savings accounts. Totally foreign idea. You don’t “write a check” in biblical times. Your private wealth you’ve earned is stored in your flocks, your grain, your material belongings, not some balance in an account: a number in a database record. The only idea of an ‘account’ was the money pouch you carried for immediate needs. If you desire to help meet someone else’s need out of love, you sold an animal or two and helped them out. Acts 4:32-37 is filled, in example after example, with the saints as “property owners” selling “their” possessions to help meet the needs of other saints. They couldn’t write a check or do a Venmo, they had to sell an animal, or some grain, or some product they produced and owned in which they held their wealth. They did so willingly. God loves a cheerful giver, not a government that takes and doles out “equality of outcome” to everyone. If the government is either taxing or confiscating and owning everything and giving to each according to his need, then there is no such thing as a believer being a “cheerful giver” in socialism. You can’t love by giving. You own nothing to give. The concept doesn’t even exist. Charity dies. Call it what you will, but you are not loving your neighbor in this system.
Nowhere does any of this imply that the people turned over everything to some central governing body that owned everything and doled it out equally. Some central organization owning everything, such as the State, is nowhere in the picture. That is simply foreign to the text. To say these verses teach such is a fabrication.
If you continue to read through Acts 2 and 4 and into chapter 5, you’ll immediately hit the story of Ananias and Sapphira. As Peter is rebuking Ananias he clearly says “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?” Peter is CLEARLY saying to Ananias that the property was his own, it was his private property. Even after he sold it, the proceeds were his own and at his disposal; to be done with as he pleased. The problem here is not one of private property rights, but one of lying about the amount of money he said he’d give but then apparently backed out and did not when the coin jingled in his pocket.
I find nowhere in the word of God it teaching anything other than private property rights. I find it upholds them. I find nowhere it teaches that the government’s role is to own all property and the means of production and dole out to each person equally. I find the word of God saying if a man won’t work, don’t let him eat. I find seemingly endless Proverbs concerning the rewards of hard work and the losses of laziness and sloth. God is absolutely not about equality of outcome and that is true on so many levels.
I also think back to principles taught in the OT. In Deut 27:15-26, God is pronouncing all sorts of curses on certain actions of men, from perverse sexual sins such as bestiality and incest, to outright idolatry, to murder. Right there at #3 in the list (vs 17) is this: “Cursed is he who moves his neighbor’s boundary mark.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’” Wow. Right up there in the list is messing with another man’s private property. Trying to ‘equalize’ things a bit more. God is concerned with private property rights. God curses this form of stealing the same as some rather gross sins.
If you look at the Ten Commandments, the last one is “Thou shall not covet.” What does coveting your neighbor’s stuff presuppose? Inequality. They have more or better than you and you want it. In the ideal of socialism, there is nothing to covet. Interesting. This commandment is not teaching that equality of possessions is the cure to coveting, it’s not. It’s contentment with where the Lord has you in spite of inequality of outcome. We all inherently know this. If we think absolute equal bank accounts will solve sin in our hearts, we are badly mistaken and we cheapen the Lord’s sacrifice on the cross. Buyer of this ideology beware. In fact, it seems to some degree our society today is trying to turn covetousness into a virtue.
This idea of working hard and accumulating private property does not arise out of some late-term capitalistic idea of man. It arises from God’s word all the way back to the giving of God’s law to mankind. Government’s role is defined in Romans 13, and it is NOT to own everything and dish it out as the elite see fit. Their role is to punish evildoers, with evil defined by God. After that, their role is to “get out of the way” so we can live quiet and peaceful lives before God.
Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to take up his portion and be glad in his labor; this is the gift of God.
Ecclesiastes 5:19 LSB
Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread.
2 Thessalonians 3:12
and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.
1 Thessalonians 4:11-12
You work, you earn according to your work and the value you produce, you meet your own and your family’s needs enjoying the fruit of your labors, and maybe earn more so that you can give and bless others. That’s the pattern. Government isn’t in the mix owning everything and ‘giving’ you what you need.
That’s the key to me. In socialism and related systems, government replaces God. That’s the bottom line. Its core is faith in government, not God, from cradle to grave. Government, not God owns it all and gives to you. You turn in faith to government to provide your daily needs. As Dostoevsky predicted in The Grand Inquisitor, people will exchange their freedom for security: “Make us your slaves, but feed us.” No faith in God required for your needs, government takes His place. That’s at the core of the evil of this system. The question every human being must ask themselves is this: what is my faith in to meet my needs? Stimulus checks? My Creator, or the state? Who is taking care of me and my daily needs, God or government? Who or what is the OBJECT of my faith for all my needs, not just eternal salvation but daily bread?
Now, let’s think about capitalism. Its not perfect by any means – like the Churchill quote says it’s the worst form, except for all the others. Is it subject to perversion by human greed and corruption? Absolutely, no question – just like all the others. We live in a fallen world, full of only fallen people, the entire creation is subjected to futility (Romans 8), so nothing here is going to even approach perfection. Fallen humanity corrupts EVERY system it touches. Perfection eludes us completely until Christ returns, and that includes any and all economic systems.
But let’s think for just a moment about how capitalism works at the core. I am usually rewarded according to the value my work produces for my fellow human beings. Others assign a value to what I produce. If what I produce is of value to many of my fellow human beings, if it benefits many others, I’m usually rewarded accordingly. At least that’s the principle. I ask, in this fallen world, is there any better system than my reward being based on how my work benefits others? It is, at its core, an “others-oriented” system. If other people don’t find sufficient value in my work and what it produces, I go out of business. Hard, but true. Then you move on, retool, and find something that your fellow humans value more and start doing that. I’ve been with the same company forever, but I’ve had to change jobs and departments several times as the value proposition changed, trying to keep myself in a place where I’m providing good value. I’ve been in positions where I foresaw the value of that work to others going down, so I had to move to something else. But it’s always about the value I’m providing to those around me. That starts to sound much more biblical to me. That starts to sound more like your reward is based on how much you benefit others. It is NOT fair, if by fair you mean “everyone who does 40 hours of effort gets the same reward” – in other words, equality of outcome. You and I both show up at work and we both are present for 40 hours a week. You produce 3x more value for customers in that 40 hours than I do, yet we get equality of outcome – we get the same reward. It will take about 2 weeks of that before we all sink to the “lowest common denominator” – and everyone suffers as a result.
It seems evident to me that there is one economic system, as imperfect and subject to human sin as it is (and all are), that has produced the most human flourishing on the planet. It is not socialism and all its flavors – its capitalism. Beat it up all you wish and it deserves some, but we shouldn’t complain too loudly while we enjoy its benefits. So much of what we as a society are able to use and enjoy today is the result of it. Creativity and innovation flourishes under one of these systems and languishes under the others. Why in the world would you work hard to bring an innovative idea to fruition under socialism? Just go ‘do your time, get your check the same as everyone else, repeat till you die.’
Now, let me be the FIRST to say capitalism is not perfect in a fallen world, and the example that immediately comes to mind is teachers. Those who pour themselves into training others and are typically poorly compensated according to the ACTUAL VALUE they produce for others and for society at large. I’m by no means arguing capitalism is perfect, and I know it’s infused with the human sin of greed among others, but as I keep coming back to, it’s the absolute worst form, except for all the others. Best of the worst doesn’t mean it’s not without large faults.
I think what history shows us, over a very long period of time, is that socialism is where government takes the place of God as the “provider”. An official atheism goes hand in hand with it. But while such systems promise “equality”, which sounds so good, what they end up producing is equal misery, with the greed still there, just manifesting itself in the ruling class ‘at the top’. Just look at the luxury of all these Russian oligarchs, the floating city yachts they personally own, on the backs of their people. It does not, it cannot solve sin. The God of the Bible never blesses any system where government supplants HIS role as provider and the object of faith, the provider of our daily needs. God has not subcontracted his role as our daily bread provider to human governors. He calls us to work, to work hard, and enjoy the fruits of that labor. Therefore, there will be inequality of outcome, and if you spend any time in Proverbs, you’ll vividly see that – and it is good. We are to, when confronted by those with more than us, not covet but be thankful and content – and happy for them. This idea of the solution to our sinful societal ills is to ‘make everyone the same’ does not arise from Scripture.