The Bible About the “Spirit” of Capitalism

This post is the last in a five-part series on the real purpose and spirit of capitalism. You can read of the purpose here, of the spirit here, of Adam Smith on the spirit of capitalism here, and of Ayn Rand on the spirit of capitalism here. Our use of the word “spirit” (small ‘s’) in this series does not mean Spirit (capital ‘S’) in a religious or metaphysical sense. Rather, we’re using spirit to mean a set of values – the ethics and behaviors – that drive people to behave as they do. This definition is to be consistent with the way 20th century sociologist and economist Max Weber discussed the spirit of capitalism.

The Bible is universally considered the most influential book in Western Civilization. Whatever one’s individual opinions about the Bible may be, one simply cannot ignore the weight, history, and impact of this towering influence. Why? If for no other reason than to recognize that because Judeo-Christian values have played a major role in shaping our world, they can play a major role in reshaping it – including the economic shape of our world.

Image Credit: Rev. Paul Knowlton

Nowhere does the Bible provide or teach the details of a monetary system. There is no mention of capitalism, communism, socialism, or any other economic construct that warrants an ‘ism.’ What does this mean? Primarily, it means that nobody can assert that the Bible says any economic system is God ordained or a law of nature. All economic systems are human constructs.

So, what is the relevance of those many, many references to riches, wealth, and money in the Bible? Brilliantly, rather than set out a specific or preferred monetary system, the Bible provides guidance in the form of values and relational guardrails regarding our riches, wealth, and money. This guidance shows us how to operate in our relationships with our money and with each other regarding our money. Today we generally refer to these networks of economic relationships as “the economy.”

In a business context, we might refer to the values and guardrails of the Bible’s guidance as ‘best practices’; but, to be consistent with Max Weber and others, we’ll refer to this guidance as the Biblical “spirit” of our economy. Because our economy is based on the construct we call capitalism, we’re on solid theological and behavioral economic grounds by speaking here about the spirit of capitalism as found in the Bible.

Let’s introduce you now to a sampling of this spirit. As you read and think, notice how scalable this spirit is. It works from person to person as well as from nation to nation.

The Hebrew Bible – Old Testament

At the center of the Torah, Leviticus 17–26 is known as the “Holiness Code.” This section is an extended series of laws from God about holiness—how God’s people are to live. Leviticus 19:1–2 makes the theme plain: And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.”

What exactly does it mean to be “holy” in light of God’s holiness? Leviticus chapters 17–26 provide many concrete, specific examples of holiness. Chapter 19 in particular has clear examples of an economic nature.

Leviticus 19:9–10 When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God. For us today, this means don’t take every last scrap for yourself without regard for others—don’t “maximize” your own value at the expense of others, even if you’re the owner. Instead of creating hardship for the poor and the stranger or foreigner by excessive self-seeking, those with resources are to cultivate them well and to consider others. Use excess resources to partner with others, particularly the poor and the stranger.

Leviticus 19:11 You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. Pretty straightforward; however, easy to understand does not mean easy to do. Not dealing falsely has the benefit of being far-reaching but currently isn’t popular.

Leviticus 19:13 You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning. Pretty straightforward as well. Don’t oppress neighbors or laborers, much less rob them. This means providing a non-oppressive wage, in full and on time. This too has the benefit of being far-reaching but currently isn’t popular.

Leviticus 19:15 You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. Unlike “class warfare” that advocates the attacking of one class by another or the gaining of one class at another’s expense, we’re guided to not be unjust by being partial to either the poor or the great. In daily life, we should not idolize or demonize either the poor or the rich.

Leviticus 19:17 You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. This is another admonition against class warfare, as well as against interpersonal bitterness. Do not harbor resentment by allowing hate in your heart; be frank with your neighbor. Candid, direct communication between aggrieved parties is called for.

Leviticus 19:33–34 When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God. Don’t do wrong to strangers/foreigners—treat them as your own people, your partners. Love them as yourself—seek their benefit as well as your own. Partner, even with strangers, for mutual benefit.

Leviticus 19:35–36 You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures, or length or weight or quantity. You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah [a measurement of volume], and a just hin [a smaller measurement of volume]. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. In assessing or measuring what you provide someone, do not cheat them.

Leviticus 19:18 provides a brilliantly brief summary of these many laws: “love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.” Many types of economic “neighbors” have been addressed in these concrete examples, so a broad understanding of “neighbor” makes this a far-reaching principle. “Love your (economic) neighbor as yourself” is the essence of the spirit of capitalism according to the Bible. It can be accurately restated as “benefit your (economic) neighbor as yourself” and “partner with your (economic) neighbor for mutual benefit.”

These concrete examples from the Hebrew Bible – referred to by many as the Old Testament – are applicable to countless exchanges that occur in our economy every minute. With simple, clear examples, anyone willing to listen can see how this part of Scripture paints the picture of the spirit of capitalism. And what does another part of the Bible – referred to by many as the New Testament – say about the spirit of capitalism? Glad you asked!

Jesus as Behavioral Economist

Before we dive in about Jesus as a behavioral economist, let’s all be on the same page about the meaning of behavioral economics. The University of Chicago Explainer Series provides a nice thumbnail review, from which we pull a few snippets: “Behavioral economics combines elements of economics and psychology to understand how and why people behave the way they do in the real world. … Behavioral economics is grounded in empirical observations of human behavior …. [T]he field of behavioral economics considers people as human beings who are subject to emotion and impulsivity, and who are influenced by their environments and circumstance.”

Image Credit: get.tithe.ly

Now, imagine Israel some 2,000 years ago, millennia before Israeli psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman and their long-time collaborator Richard Thaler articulated behavioral economics. Humanity didn’t have the accumulated knowledge base we have today, or the corresponding contemporary vocabulary. There weren't words like “behavioral economics," but that doesn’t mean people 2,000 years ago couldn’t recognize and name what was happening in, to, and around them.

With that context, we’re collectively at liberty to read and understand Jesus as a behavioral economist with a different language set, including his famous Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew chapters 5-7).

Matthew 6:19–34 presents a long block of explicitly economic teaching from Jesus, dealing with issues of money, food, and clothing. There are a variety of opinions about exactly how this block should be subdivided. In our analysis, we see and understand two major, economic parallel units — verses 19-24 and verses 25-33 — with verse 34 encapsulating the full block of teaching.

These two units provide complementary economic parallels and perspectives. We name these perspectives “from above” and “from below.” For now, Matthew 6:19–24 is the view from above. Only people who have some economic prosperity need to be told to avoid treasuring for themselves on earth. Matthew 6:25–33 is the view from below. People in economic poverty are anxious about food and clothing. These complementary perspectives do not pertain strictly to prosperity and poverty in a narrow monetary sense; this is not merely about how much or how little one has monetarily. These perspectives are best understood in terms of one’s relationship with their economic goods.

From above, one has the perspective of sufficiency, if not abundance — having “enough,” however much or little that may be. From below, one has the perspective of lack — not having “enough,” however much or little that may be. The perspective from above is characterized by the sense of plenty — feeling prosperous and needing a way to securely employ that prosperity. The perspective from below is characterized by the sense of lack — feeling impoverished and needing a way to feel secure. Note that both from above and from below include needs related to security, whether securing one’s prosperity or securing one’s survival.

The final summary statement of verse 34 goes to the core of the matter theologically and economically: “do not be anxious.” 

Image Credit: Mohammed Hassan | Unsplash

Even if it lacks 21st-century digitized data, this teaching is empirically grounded in astute observations of the human condition. Jesus's communication is shaped by the vocabulary of the times, yet he speaks to deeply universal issues — resources, anxiety, and the priorities that underlie them — in deeply resonant ways. The people of Israel 2,000 years ago experienced anxiety in relation to economic resources; are we any less in need of “do not be anxious”? Let’s take a closer look at Jesus's theologically-grounded behavioral economics.

Sermon on the Mount – From Above

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)

This is investment advice — Jesus says invest for the long term, the really long term; invest in things of eternal value. Such advice fits well into the “do not be anxious” theme — don’t invest in things that make you lose sleep at night, don’t invest in things that you have to keep worrying about — invest in things that are secure. In a financial world obsessed with so-called securities, Jesus teaches the kinds of investments that are truly secure — treasures in heaven.

What is meant by heaven? In the “Lord’s Prayer” earlier in Matthew 6, Jesus teaches “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” On earth as in heaven. This serves as a strong caution against viewing heaven as exclusively otherworldly, completely detached from our current world. Investing in heaven, according to Jesus, is to be done in ways that are realized on earth! We're not to store up treasures on earth, but neither are we to ignore earthly things — we're to invest in heaven while seeking the realization of God’s heavenly will on earth.

These verses are also risk management advice. Risk management in the larger economic sense is a huge and complex field that admits by its very name just how limited it is — risk cannot be eliminated, only managed. In our sea of constantly swirling risks, Jesus’s words to counter the risks of moth and rust and thief may seem quaint — but if people had anxiety about those risks, we should not pretend that we are subject to any less anxiety given the modern risks we face.

The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! (Matt 6:22-23)

The “evil eye” here is an expression for stinginess, and the good or healthy eye means generosity. If your eye is good — you are good toward others, you have good relationships with others — then your whole body is full of light. There is less anxiety for you . . . and for them, meaning the collective “body” is better, too. This corporate ethic lightens the whole “body” — both those dealing favorably and those favorably dealt with are lightened. Corporate bodies can be either stingy or generous and subject to the same teaching here about promoting light or darkness, creating anxiety or reducing it based on the use of economic goods in relationship with others.

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon. (Matthew 6:24)

A divided self creates great anxiety — no one can ultimately serve two masters, and trying to creates tremendous stress/anxiety. Imagine trying to work two full-time jobs for completely different companies/masters, much less keep up two different 24/7 agendas. Numerous studies show the negative impacts of stress from multi-tasking on even minor tasks; being pulled by two different ultimate agendas — God’s and Mammon’s — simply doesn’t work.

Here's a good spot to correct misunderstandings about the word “Mammon.” “Mammon” is used very distinctively here as a personification or even deification of monetary/material wealth. As a common noun, mammon is a neutral term for material goods, requiring modification as “unjust mammon” when under criticism (see Luke 16:9). In Matthew 6:24, Mammon is not neutral, is not just another word for money, but is a personified pursuit of wealth that demands religious devotion as a god, resulting in loss of control and self-enslavement.

Image Credit: CultureMatters.org.uk

Sermon on the Mount – From Below

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? (Matthew 6:25-30)

In the most concrete sense, Jesus here speaks to the basic material needs of human existence — food and clothing, and he does so “therefore” — because of the immediately preceding from-above section. Because God provides for investing in heaven (6:19–21) such that God’s will is done on earth as in heaven (6:10), because God provides and encourages “good eye” light instead of “evil eye” darkness (6:22–23), because God provides and we don’t have to serve two masters (6:24) — therefore do not be anxious about your life. God provides for the necessities of life just as for investment of plenty.

The basic needs of food and clothing are not just matters of physical existence, as Jesus is very clear — they can trigger anxiety. This anxiety about food and clothing is not limited to those who are in material poverty; one can have vast wealth, yet also have a from-below perspective if they feel they do not have enough, if they feel they are lacking. Indeed, insecurity can and does strike those who have much material wealth.

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we wear?” For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. (Matthew 6:31-32)

Simply telling people to “not be anxious” isn't helpful; in fact, it could be invalidating and insulting if the underlying cause of anxiety isn't addressed. The “therefore” of these verses makes that connection. Because God feeds the multitude of birds, and people are more valuable than birds, therefore do not be anxious about what to eat — God knows what you need. Because God clothes the expanses of grass, and people are more valuable than grass, therefore do not be anxious about what to wear — God knows you need that too.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33)

For those who may be religiously devout in a way that has been detached from economics, we cannot overstate the significance of the fact that Jesus commands “seek first the kingdom of God” as part of a block of teaching that overtly and definitively deals with money and material resources. For those who may be economically inclined in a way that has been detached from religion, we cannot overstate the significance of the fact that Jesus offers a way for “all these things” — material resources and the behavioral aspects that drive people’s approach to them — to be added to all who need them. Jesus says our dis-ease, material and relational, can be overcome by stopping the disease of serving Mammon and instead serving God, seeking first the kingdom of God, God’s justice. That’s quite an offer. Can it be taken seriously? How would it work?

Jesus plainly does not say, “God will hand-deliver all these things to you individually.” After teaching about having resources and lacking them, and the perspectives of having enough and lacking, Jesus uses active voice to say that God knows all that you need (6:32) and passive voice to say “all these things will be added to you all” (6:33).

Our scholarship of this block of the Sermon on the Mount unleashes the convicting and inescapable conclusion that the adding to us of all that we need (basic needs, wise investment, valuable relationship, peace rather than anxiety) happens via partnership with our fellow human beings (the use of the plural “you”). “All these things will be added to you all,” when all of us from all across the from-above and from-below experiences come together with all our resources (material and relational) and all our needs (material and relational) to seek mutual benefit with each other. This is the enlightened mutuality of the kingdom of God.

From Above and From Below – Better Together

The core conviction that “God provides” fundamentally (re)shapes our relationship to economic goods and to our fellow human beings, whether from above or from below. From above, in the perspective of plenty, we receive God’s provision and invest it securely and productively with one another rather than anxiously hoarding for our divided selves. From below, in the perspective of poverty, we receive God’s provision gratefully as part of a glorious Creation rather than anxiously comparing ourselves with those who appear to have more.

God provides for our needs — economic and relational, countering our underlying anxieties about both — through our partnership with each other. In partnership together, loving neighbor as self, God secures our material resources and our psychology that are otherwise prone to insecurity.

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:34)

This verse summarizes all of Matthew 6:19–33, Jesus’s profound, as-needed-in-the-twenty-first-century-as-the-first, life-giving Sermon on the Mount teaching on loving your economic neighbor as yourself. “Do not be anxious about tomorrow” applies to those from above and those from below alike.

Whether from above with the perspective of enough or from below with the perspective of lack, whether materially or in other ways, do not be anxious but trust that God provides what is needed and seek the realization of God’s provision in the mutually beneficial partnering of those with plenty and those in need. The partnership of mutually beneficial interacting — love as a verb — among those who have various forms of plenty to meet each other’s various forms of need makes for a sufficient and satisfying day.

Matthew 6:34, and the teaching it summarizes, are not calls for shortsightedness or endorsements of poor planning; quite the opposite! Recall that the opening verses of this teaching, Matthew 6:19–21, are about investments that truly last, and here in the closing verse of Matthew 6:34, Jesus does not command an irresponsible ignoring of tomorrow but rather speaks against our anxious attempts to control tomorrow. “Begin with the end in mind” fits Jesus’s teaching.

In Jesus’s vision, we don’t irresponsibly live like there’s no tomorrow, or aimlessly do things that lack alignment toward a meaningful tomorrow, or anxiously try to create tomorrow in our own image; we handle the trouble of the day knowing that it is a sufficient step toward the tomorrow that God provides.

The Leviticus 19:18 command to love your neighbor as yourself, framed theologically in love of God, is echoed explicitly by Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew (22:34–40), Mark (12:28–34), and Luke (10:25–37), and with variation on the theme in the Gospel of John (13:34–35; 15:12–17). As just shown, even beyond direct quoting, this principle of mutually beneficial interaction is also at the heart of larger instruction from Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, including, in pointed ways, for economic matters.

In other words and in a sentence, the spirit of capitalism according to the Bible is: Love your [economic] neighbor as yourself. The invitation for you, me, and every other person on this planet who’s steeped in some variation of capitalism is to start acting on this spirit of capitalism as described in the Bible with reckless abandon. In doing so, we’ll begin the transformation to not only a better capitalism but a better world.

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