In my book, I have, following the example of one of the Dutch Christian political parties—the Gereformeerd Politiek Verbond (now part of the Christian Union)—argued that the starting point for political economic reflection can be found in the cultural mandate which God gave mankind at the foundation of the world. For the purposes of this blog, I here briefly summarize this discussion.The cultural mandate is, of course, very much intertwined with the concept of stewardship. For practical purposes, the two can be used together and, in my work now, I tend to follow the North American custom of putting more stress on stewardship.
This blog reviews the scriptural foundation for both these concepts. It will then be noted that these concepts are merely a starting point for our analysis; they normally are not sufficient to solve practical political problems. Other Christian principles that are helpful for this purpose will then be set out.
The Cultural Mandate:-While the exact meaning of the term cultural or creation mandate may be somewhat in dispute, Douma's brief definition,
the task that God gave to mankind to rule over the earth, to work it and bring it to unfolding[1]
and Veling’s characterization as:
to fill the earth and with a view thereto to develop it to the glory of the Creator[2]
will suffice to indicate what we have in mind.
We first find biblical reference to this task in Gen 1:
26: Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
28: God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea..."
In Gen 2:15 we read: The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
And, in Ps 8, David exclaims that God has made man “ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet.” The parable of the talents (Mt 25:14-30) is also used to support the idea of a cultural mandate. That is, we must develop all our talents and use them to develop the earth.
Stewardship: This cultural mandate is closely linked to the biblical principle of stewardship, i.e. that we are required to manage God's resources as His stewards for His purposes. Stewardship is probably the most frequently used biblical principle when it comes to economics. In fact, the word economics itself derives from the Greek "oikonomia"--the management or direction of a household or office.
The close connection between the cultural mandate and the stewardship principle is evident from the fact that the Genesis texts discussed in the previous section are also used to justify the stewardship principle. Stewardship has also been related to our being created in the image of God:
The cumulative evidence suggests that the biblical imago Dei refers to the status or office of the human race as God’s authorized stewards, charged with the royal-priestly vocation of representing God’s rule on earth by their exercise of cultural power.[3]
The stewardship principle can also be firmly based on the fact that everything we own belongs to God:
The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters (Ps 24:1,2).
Of course, plants and animals were given to man to use for food (Gen 9:3). However, since all we do must be done to the glory of God and all we own is His, we can only exercise whatever authority or ownership we have as His stewards.
That man could not totally control, but had to act stewardly with his possessions, can also be derived from the intent of the Old Testament shadow-commands. For instance, the Israelites were to give the land a rest every seventh year (Ex 23:10-12). Also, fruit-bearing trees were not to be destroyed in war-time (Deut 20:19-20). Moreover, portions of the harvest were required as sacrifices and "productive" time was reduced because of the Lord's Sabbaths.
As with stewardship, the parable of the talents (Mt 25:14-30) also provides further justification; a man entrusted property to his servants. The talents spoken of here can be interpreted in a wider sense as "gifts and tasks that Christ gave to his apostles and disciples to, in word and deed, advance His kingdom." That is, we have to use our abilities and God-given possessions as loyal servants for God's purposes.
A Starting Point: Neither stewardship nor the cultural mandate are, however, by themselves, sufficient to provide guidance for practical economic politics. They need to be seen primarily as a point of departure. To derive ready answers to practical economic problems, we cannot restrict ourselves to these two. Klapwijk, for example, drew the following conclusion when discussing a Christian stance on environmental problems:
The whole Bible must be our line of direction... It is, therefore, better in environmental ethics to work with biblical principles that rest on multiple scriptural evidence. It is also good to work with more than one notion. The danger of overemphasis of certain aspects is then less likely.[4]
This appears to be a good guideline also in a broader economic context. Consequently, various additional biblical concepts or principles also need to be used in developing Christian economic policies. In my book, I set out a number of relevant principles and their economic policy implications:[5]
1. A Christian economic analysis must adequately recognize the pervasive nature of sin. Every area of our life, our stewardship, our attempts to help the weak and disadvantaged, our treatment of the environment, etc., are distorted by sin. Because of the depravity of mankind, God has instituted the government for our good--to provide, among other things, a necessary control on the free operation of the market. On the other hand, since the government is made up of sinful people we should have no unduly optimistic expectations of the government. We must constantly remember that we seek solutions to the problems of a fallen world which may require small steps requiring compromise instead of impractical utopian alternatives.
2. The command to Love your Neighbour is critical to our economic thinking. Neighbour love provides a supplementary purpose to our stewardship--second to our service to the Lord. Neighbour love should focus on creating the necessary conditions that permit our neighbour to glorify God. Our neighbour love will drive our concern for the poor, the marginalized, our desire to alleviate the scourge of unemployment and prevent the negative impacts of inflation. Neighbour love also reinforces the need for various safety regulations to protect human life and health and the necessity to protect the environment so that future generations will not suffer. Finally, neighbour love should lead us to seek harmony in economic life instead of "us versus them" class conflict.
3. Another essential principle for Christian economic analysis is justice. A major aspect of that is the justice system--an adequate system of laws and regulations and the means to enforce them in order to "restrain the depravity of mankind" and provide a framework for economic activity. The prime biblical aspect of justice is, however, that of righteousness. Justice is to do right, to obey all God's commands. The Bible also requires justice in the sense of fairness or equity. Everyone must be treated impartially without showing favouritism--particularly in the courts.
Biblical justice is closely related to neighbour love. Many biblical references relate to justice for the poor and weak, those deprived of basic needs. That is a question of distributive justice--how society's resources are to be distributed among its members. Biblical distributive justice does not require an equal distribution of goods or income. Distribution according to results can, however, be accepted as a starting point for biblical distributive justice. Such justice must, however, also incorporate need as a further criterion. In addition, equality of opportunity is required so that all can carry out their stewardship task.
4. It is biblical to emphasize our personal responsibility in the development of economic policy. This principle implies that we seek to discern and implement policies that will help people grow in their ability to care for themselves.
Notes
[1] J.
Douma, "Is het cultuurmandaat een zeepbel?" [Is the cultural mandate
a soap-bubble?], Nederlands Dagblad, Variant, Sept. 16, 1989, p.3.
[3] J.
Richard Middleton, The Liberating
Image, Brazos Press, Grand Rapids, 2005, p.235
[4] Jasper Klapwijk, Christus en Natuur,[Christ
and Nature] Doctoraalscriptie Ethiek, Theologische Universiteit, Kampen, 1987
p.111.
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