(Today, we return to this series after a two-week hiatus due to duties with the Presbyterians. 🙂 )
In recent posts, I've been suggesting some biblical themes that need to be a part of deliberations on theology and economics. God created humanity for dominion. It is our mission. Our relationship to material things is to either be stewards or forgo their use. God reigns over creation, and we are God's vice-regents.
Sin entered the world, and our mission now includes God's mission of redemption. Our primary role in redemption is to live out the Kingdom in our time proleptically, remaining aware that we live in a time when the Kingdom is not fully realized. The idea of shalom is probably the nearest thing we have to sum up the nature of the Kingdom of God.
Contrary to the practice of ancient cultures, God seems to desire that each person in the community participate in stewardship of the world. Private property is simply assumed, and God gave practices like the Jubilee as safeguards to protect ownership of agricultural property allotted to the people. Perpetual indebtedness and servitude were thwarted in God's plan. Yet even with private property, there was the injunction that the poor be provided for.
Also planted deep within the Judeo-Christian ethos is the idea of progress. The things God creates are good but unfinished. We participate with God in transforming matter, energy, and data from less useful forms into more useful forms. We are not merely protecting a status quo but building a Kingdom, bringing everything to its fullness.
I want to turn our attention now to economic justice. When discussing economic justice, we essentially talk about three justice aspects.
1. Distributive Justice – This addresses how capital and goods are distributed throughout the society.
2. Commutative Justice – This addresses the truthfulness of parties to an economic exchange.
3. Remedial Justice – This addresses just compensation and punitive action when there has been malicious or careless damage done to life, liberty or property.
Next, I want to briefly examine these three aspects of economic justice and the evidence for them in the Bible.
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