What Did the Early Church Say About Economic Justice?

This is very interesting and challenging. The difficulty, here, where we live, In America is that I cannot find many who are truly poor. There are neither naked, nor cold, nor hungry in sight. There are a few regulars who are truly in need, and they come weekly to the Church (when we are open, there were some weeks due to the COVID in which we were not open). It is also true, as Angela says, that if we have nothing, we can give nothing . . . as to the rest, we must personally struggle to learn how to give. Angela, I am with you on this not being a teaching of either Communism or Socialism (and they are indeed the same thing, possibly separated slightly by degree). But this post is not about instituting a political system in my reading of it. It is about each of us learning how to personally give. Both in Socialism and Communism, there is no "giving". It is more of a legalized "Robin Hood" state, in which the State itself decides what needs to be given, by whom, and THEY distribute it. It is the furthest thing from the Church I can imagine - much further away than Capitalism, which allows for incredible amounts of charity to be given. Interestingly, there are FAR more poor in places where they have instituted socialism and communism than there are in Capitalist countries, where actual wealth can be created, and then given to the poor. But again, all of this is outside the subject matter of the article, I believe.

Pure bliss to have read that article. Thank you.

Thanks for integrating the Early Fathers and 'modern' ideas, every blessing ( Canadian Anglican)

I do not understand why this is a foreign thought. Do we not pray " thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" ? Do you really think in the Kingdom of God He wants some people to have to much and some to little? When He rained down manna it was not so. Jesus said, " In my fathers house there are any rooms" sounds like to me the Kingdom is communal and equal. Lets us bring the Kingdom to all areas of our life, not just Sunday.

Wow! I am amazed at what I just read here. I had no idea that the early Church took such a daring stand on equality. Bravo to The Plough for daring to write and publish this article, which opposes popular economic assumptions.

And yet, every time I turn away from giving away my money to someone I encounter who is in need, every time I turn away I become that rich young ruler who turned and went away sad for he had so much. And when I do that, I am turning away from Jesus. Until I can see Jesus in the faces of those around me, I worship the wind.

First to Angela: Socialism and Communism are COMPLETELY different political systems. One bears absolutely NO RELATIONSHIP to the other. I have lived in socialist countries. They have private property, entrepreneurship, etc. AND they manage to have a better life for EVERYONE in their society...because they genuinely feel (as I was told many times) that: What is good for the individual is usually good for our communities and our societies. Americans should really educate themselves about the strong and significant differences before they start lumping the two completely different systems together in the same sentence. That said, I posted some excerpts from this on my Facebook page - and it got no "likes" at all. Which says, I think - a great deal about the focus and the (let's face it) - basic selfishness of many Americans today. Thank you, Plough, for once again calling in our day - for what Jesus did in his - a radical realignment of our thoughts and our ways of thinking.

Angela, please take the words of Jesus at face value: "You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only." "The Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." "They should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts." "Go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." "You cannot serve God and riches." "That which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God." You can't believe Jesus said those things? Please believe it. But nowhere did Jesus say "Go and create a socialist government." Jesus is not asking the government to follow his commands; he's asking you and I to do so. True, some of the commands of Jesus are quite stringent, but it's better to contemplate that actual words than to try to duck into an argument based on politics.

I can't believe this! If God wanted communism or socialism, he wouldn't have given every man his own vine and fig tree, and laws to help the poor out of the tithes. If Jesus demanded everyone give up all their possesions, then Peter and Lazarus would not have had a house to invite him to, nor would any of the saints in the epistles had houses for the church to meet in. The church in Jerusalem voluntarily held things in common -- they made no rules forcing people to join in, as the incident with Annanias makes plain, and you read nothing like that in New or Old Testament. You also don't read any of the other churches practicing the same type of holding everything in common -- although they did all radically care for one another's needs, I'm sure. It probably was because most poeple in Jerusalem weren't FROM there, so they all had to pool resources to stay there for several years. Yes we should radically use everything we can to aid others instead of 'holding on' to it for ourselves, but we have to have something which is ours, legally and morally, in order to have something to share. Let him who stole, steal no longer, rather let him labor... to have something to share. God loves a cheerful giver. You can't give what is not 'yours.' But you do hold all things as God's, not your own, and must be willing to share anything you have. Christians living in 'civilized' countries can only legally share everything and care for the poor in a society with private property rights. Under communism it was ILLEGAL to assist your neighbor, and the government stole people's property and livelihood to line the pockets of the officials, creating famine that killed 20 million peasants and created 70 years of economic chaos. Even in your quotes above, it is OWNERS who are to give to the poor. They had to preach it because it is a voluntary personal obedience to Christ's command to care for each other and the poor that each person works out between them and the Lord. Paul would not have asked each one to set aside what they would for taking to the poor in Jerusalem, if no one in the church had a claim on any money of their own, he would have said something about how the whole assembly should decide how much they could send out of the common fund.

I like Mother Theresa's comment, "What we desire is not class warfare but a class encounter where the rich save the poor and the poor save the rich".