Application of Biblical Worldview to Economics

This article discusses the application of biblical worldview to economics, focusing on creation, redemption, fall of man, restoration, free enterprise, socialism, progressivism, and justice. It explores how these concepts align with the biblical perspective and their implications in the economic world.

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Running head: BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW
Application of Biblical Worldview to Economics
Name
Institution

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BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW
Application of Biblical Worldview to Economics
No one in the world does not have a worldview or how one looks at the world and the
things that happen in the world every day. How we picture, the world establishes how we
correlate with one another. Many people interpret life and the world in so many ways, and one of
those numerous ways is the biblical worldview. The biblical worldview is looking at everything
from the eyes of God (Kline, 2006). It is viewing the world through the word of God which is the
bible.
In the biblical worldview, four primary facets bring out its main points. These are the
creation, redemption, fall of man and restoration. Creation in the biblical perspective accredits all
creation to one individual being, and that is God (McDurmon, 2018). Life itself was created by
God and He has given us facilities to take care of life, property being one of them has been given
by God for us to use (Bastiat, 1998). This creation history is recorded in the book of Genesis
chapter one. This chapter goes further to reveal to us that God was pleased with everything He
created as in Gen 1:31. God is seen to have created the whole universe within six days some
thousands of years ago. Therefore, when it comes to creation through the biblical worldview God
is seen as Sovereign and who created everything.
The fall of man is the other aspect. In the same chapter of Genesis chapter one, God
creates man in His image and likeness as verse twenty-six records. However, the man was
without sin at the beginning, but they sinned by eating of the Tree of Knowledge. They had been
told not to eat from this tree yet they did. Redemption is the third principal component in
understanding the biblical worldview (Wad, 2015). When man fell, God wanted to rescue the
man and be able to have communion with him. Hence, He brought redemption. It was a way of
bringing man back to Him. That even though man is in his sinful nature, he can still associate

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with God. It is the only way man would be able to do God's divine purpose. Jesus was the way of
redemption, and if there were any chance at all of man to associate with God, then God would be
the one to be the way of recovery (Gunton, 2014). The biblical worldview on restoration presents
Jesus as the savior; without Jesus then no one can get to heaven (Middleton, 2016). Jesus Christ
becomes all a christian needs to focus and to be able to be right with God (Gunton, 2014). With
all our sinful nature, Christ Jesus is presented as righteousness, and therefore we are righteous
because He is.
Fundamentals of free enterprise is a commercial structure where private business
functions are allowed in competition and are free of government hegemony (Martinez, 2016). In
this system people are allowed to own their businesses, produce commodities of their profits, the
makers and punters control themselves, and there is freedom to use the available resources. The
fundamentals of free enterprise comport with the biblical creation (Mills, 2013). This is because
man was made in the image of God; he was given the power to rule over everything on the earth,
and therefore, he was given authority over everything. In Genesis 2:15 we see that man was put
in the garden to tend and keep it; and so , he was given freedom to do with it as he pleased. He
was not going to be controlled whenever he wanted to make any decision concerning earth.
Freedom in Christianity is what has brought a lot of changes in the scientific world and this
could have not been possible if man had not been given freedom by God (Stark, 2006). Stark in
the book of “Victory of Reason” says it was in the dark ages that Christian monks came up with
things like eyeglasses, fish-farming, water wheel and clocks. Thus, freedom in businesses is
good for it brings forth development.
The biblical creation supports the ownership of private property; we find this in Psalms
115:16 (Drollinger, 2017). It says that the heavens belong to God, but the earth has been given to

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the children of men. Hence, man has been given the power to own property. The bible also
encourages people not to steal or to covet someone else's property. For there to be something to
covet or steal then there must be ownership of that property. Even though the fundamentals of
free enterprise are not State-controlled, they still have to abide by the laws that govern the
country. When a business goes against these laws, then they get into trouble. In the fall of man,
man had in the beginning been given freedom to do all that he wanted, but he was still supposed
to abide by the laws that God had given him, in this case, not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge.
But when man went ahead to eat it, he was thrown out of the garden of Eden. The fall of man
and the fundamentals of free enterprise indeed are in agreement. Christ came to restore the
former relation that man had with God, He came to enable people to follow the laws set to guide.
The free market acknowledges the mistakes of man and his limitations (Gills & Nash, 2002). It
just goes to show that man cannot do it on his own and this is exactly why restoration was
brought. It was in confession that man cannot do it on his own, he needs a higher power who is
God to always lead. Even in business, God’s supremacy is seen, He tells us that He is not pleased
with dishonest weights, that every person needs to be honest when selling or buying anything
(Proverbs 11:1). The fundamentals of free enterprise allow one to make a profit, but the gain has
to be made in the right way and not exploiting other people. Redemption through Christ will
enable people to do business properly; that is without dishonesty.
Contrary to free enterprise, socialism is the system where the production and selling of
products and services are controlled by the community or the government (Burwood, 2013). It
champions the government to control the production and distribution of all goods. Even though
God in the bible intended that no one should ever lack when someone else has in abundance, He
also did not mean that the government should control everything. Socialism does not give people

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the freedom to do as they please with their resources (Galbraith, 2017). This is because a specific
group of people takes charge of supplies. The bible advises people to work hard, that without
working hard one should not eat (2nd Thessalonians 3:10). It tells us to help the needy in society,
and therefore this means the needy in society will always be part of us. This is contrary to what
socialism believes. Socialism believes that if the state controls everything, then everyone will be
equal, everyone will receive equivalent services and products. This will never be so because
everyone has different giftings, talents, and capabilities (Novak, 1991). Fundamentals of
socialism do not support the biblical view. In the biblical worldview everyone works differently
with different efforts, so everything does not belong to everyone instead it belongs to God.
Indeed, there is no equality in socialism. During restoration and redemption, there is equality;
everyone is equally restored. No one is restored higher than another person. Socialism tries to
eliminate competition through balance in everything, but it cannot attain it.
Progressivism is the philosophy that encourages improvement of the society through
reforms. It is not a bad thing. Although if not taken care of it can be bad, there should be
progress but these progresses should be made under the law. Progressivism can be a threat to the
declaration of unity and constitution of a country if it is not taken care of (Arnn, 2012).
According to Stark a lot of progress has come about because of Christianity. Progress in the
economic world cannot be disassociated with the biblical worldview (Stark, 2006). Stark says
that progress was God-given and that is true. Progress though was not supposed to change the
ideologies of the Bible; the doctrines were supposed to always remain the same but a lot of
changes has been witnessed in the church. Progressivism as Spalding puts it has eaten into the
country and threatens a lot of institutions like churches, private associations, and families. He
notes that these institutions need to stand up to progressivism and retain their original values

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(Spalding, 2014). Progressivism has rejected the biblical worldview; It may use the Bible, quote
it but it does not interpret it well. For instance, it shifts the focus from sin and redemption to
social justice; justice is good; it is even featured in the bible but replacing sin and redemption for
justice is entirely wrong (Gamble, 2014). It takes out the most critical parts of the biblical
worldview point to suit its desires (Sanneh, 2013). It does not acknowledge parts of it; it does not
see the coming of Christ as a historical event but a form of metaphor. Progressiveness fears to
speak out loud on issues to do with sin and sexual immorality; it fears that someone will not feel
right if these things are mentioned point blank and they will leave the church (Gamble, 2014). It
always downplays the sinful nature of man, saying that Christ did not die because of the sins of
the world, but it was only an act of martyrdom. It interprets the scriptures differently in line with
what is emerging. Thus, they forsake the real meaning of the scriptures and try to please people
with the words they want to hear.
Justice in the biblical worldview is seen as a way of doing God’s will by being fair and
just to the poor and oppressed (Taylor, 2012). That they are not to be despised, they have to be
treated equally too as the rich are treated and they have to receive equal access to resources
(Marshall, 2015). When two people go to the court of law when one is poor and the other rich,
the judge is not supposed to rule in favor of the rich but in favor of the one who deserves justice.
Free enterprise can be compared with justice in the sense that both advocate for equality. Free
enterprise gives people the right to own property and be in charge of selling and handling
properties. A person is allowed to manage his property as he pleases. Justice, on the other hand,
calls for every person rich or poor to be treated with utmost respect, the rich are not to steal from
the poor because it is the property of the poor. Justice does not support the exploitation of the
poor; if someone wants to buy a property from the less fortunate, then they can buy it at a price

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they would have purchased it from the rich man. The biblical worldview of justice does not
support socialism. Even though the early church would gather together and share things, they did
it out of free will, and there was equality. Socialism is not fair; it tries to be but it cannot. This is
because only a few people control the disbursement of property and most times, they do not tend
to be; thus, justice leans more on the free enterprise rather than socialism.
According to the biblical world view, all property is owned by God, since He is the
creator no one can say that anything in the world is his. However, He has given man authority
over all things; this means the man is like a manager over what God owns. Whence, man, can
manage how he would love to control it. God has given us a right to protect ourselves as
individuals, our liberty and our property (Bastiat, 1998). Man, in the biblical context is not
supposed to steal someone else's property, man is advised to work with his hands to get what he
needs (Richards, 2006). Sometimes man finds it easy to steal to get something rather than to
work and the only thing that can work on such a case is law (Bastiat, 1998). Thus, the law has to
be well applied so that man can find it impossible to steal and opt to work (Bastiat, 1998). Even
if man is encouraged to work, the Bible records there will always be the group of people who
luck and God commands that these people be helped with those who have. Several instances
show how the biblical context supports ownership of property: Exodus21:29 shows a case where
an owner is irresponsible of his property, and therefore there will be punishment, Deuteronomy
19:14 warns a person from moving his neighbor's landmark to add more land to himself, these
instances prove that the biblical worldview supports the ownership of property. Free enterprise is
in good agreement of purchase of property in the biblical context. Everyone is allowed to own
property and use it as it pleases him. However, God advises that the poor should never be

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ignored. That they should be provided for. Socialism does not allow ownership of property while
the biblical perspective does.
Ethics is the moral standard that governs a person's behavior. These standards in the
market place have long been overlooked. Everyone is trying to get everything for himself,
everyone is trying to get the best for himself, and no one thinks of the person sitting next. It has
been a self-centered place. Honesty in accounting has been put into questions in these times
(Jennings, 2016). The biblical viewpoint of ethics highly esteems good morals (Noebel, &
Edwards, 2002). If every person would be thinking of the neighbor next door or the person
sitting next to you on a bus, then the marketplace would be a better place. If people would be
selfless, thinking of others before themselves then a lot of fraud cases would have gone down,
incidents of conning would not even be heard of. Leviticus 19:11 tells us not to steal or lie to one
another and Proverbs 11:1 tells us how God hates a balance that has been ill-balanced. If these
things were employed in the market place, then a lot would change positively. Capitalism
is what can bring equality in the world of business, industries, companies and in any other way
possible, other means of owning and controlling wealth treats other people as less than other men
(Gills & Nash, 2002). Capitalism is the only way that is fair and gives freedom just as God
intended from the beginning.
According to the free enterprise, power is given to individuals to own and run their own
business. The biblical worldview on the other hand encourages people to be good stewards of the
property in their custody. Thus, I will give my children chores to do and things to take care of
independently. I would then reward them in terms of how well they have done it. This would
enable them to have the power over what they have been given to do or take care of but also to
be responsible over them. It would also bring a sense of competition because clearly the best

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would be awarded more. I will also decentralize the powers of the business to the employees in
my business, this will give them the power to be in charge and encourage them to be more
creative. So that instead of a central governing body, the responsibilities are distributed even to
the youngest employees. This will more support capitalism and the biblical worldview which is
not focused on one central body but focused on each person according to his capabilities. In case
of any setback, then we will learn from it and actually admit that man has weaknesses but what
he can do when given the freedom surpasses the weaknesses. After all that is why there was the
redemption and restoration of man; man has weaknesses and cannot manage on his own, he
needs to be guided always morally.

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