These days, Anabaptists are as well known for their construction and cabinetry as they are for coverings and community. The quiet in the land have become the landed gentry. Many have—rightly—critiqued the growing problem of materialism as contrary to Jesus’ teachings. Yet this leaves us with a difficult question: Are material things themselves (like business, money, and ownership) inherently evil?
I recently read Business for the Glory of God, by evangelical theologian Wayne Grudem. He argues that business, far from being evil or morally neutral, is actually a moral good. The book is very short—essentially an expanded research paper—so Grudem does not delve into “the complex problems in the ‘gray areas’ of business ethics.” Each chapter looks at a different aspect of business (ownership, profit, money, competition, borrowing and lending, etc.) both for its potential to glorify God and its temptations to sin.
By commanding “You shall not steal,” says Grudem, God “affirmed the validity of personal ownership of possessions.” Ultimately God owns all things, but God made man in his image and put him in charge of subduing the Earth. Owning possessions reflects our God-given desire to imitate his sovereignty.
Grudem argues that business, like marriage and government, are God’s common grace to mankind – basic goods that restrain evil and promote human flourishing. Competition, for example, restrains greed by rewarding people who provide the best product for the lowest price. Yet business can also be distorted by sin. Just as sexual immorality corrupts the goodness of marriage, dishonesty and greed corrupt business into exploitation.
Jesus often calls his followers to make sacrifices directly opposed to good business sense. It would have been nice to see Grudem engage with more statements in the New Testament about selling possessions and not storing up treasures. He does touch on several passages, such as Acts 2 and II Corinthians 8, both of which characterize the radical generosity of the early church. Grudem points to textual clues to show that this was not some kind of “early communism.”
In the end, I think Grudem makes a strong case that business is both good and normative, even if this tension—when God calls some to build cabinets for the glory of God and when he calls others to sell all that they have—remains unresolved.