Christian Liberty and Economic Freedom

Christ came to set us free from the bondage of our sin:

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.” (Isaiah 61:1 ESV)

Christian liberty, however, is not licentiousness; it has a purpose:

“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. … For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” (Galatians 5:1, 13 ESV)

Christian liberty is just like Christian worship; it cannot be confined to the inner, personal realm. It is part of every aspect of life. Not just in being kind to others and in giving to the poor, but in the realm of government.

Government has existed from the beginning. Before the fall, government existed in these ways:

• God’s governance of man
• Man’s governance of earth
• Man’s governance of himself
• A husband’s governance of his family

Before the fall, liberty was virtually indistinguishable from governance; man was expected to govern himself. However, there was a maturation process through which governance from above–God to man and husband to family–was to bring liberty–exhibited through self-governance–to maturity.

Of course, we failed miserably in this. Rather than liberty, we sought license. We failed to submit to God’s governance. When Adam and Eve failed to govern themselves, they failed to submit to God’s governance. Adam also failed to govern his wife and Eve failed to submit to her husband’s governance.

Post fall, liberty is still the goal of governance. However, the two have been sundered by human sin, in two primary ways. First, liberty has been set above governance, resulting in license. Second, government has been set above liberty, resulting in oppression.

God’s governance of man, of course, continues after the fall. And so does personal and family governance, however marred they might be. But God did introduce new institutions of governance to address sin in the post-fall world.

The first of these was angelic governance over man. Angels served as intermediaries between God and man. This was the situation until Christ completed His work, part of which was to restore man as the governor of the earth:

What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. (Psalm 8:4–5 ESV)

Church governance and civil governance were the other two institutions of governance introduced.

Of course, in all the forms of governance, Christ is the King:

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. (Isaiah 9:6–7 ESV)

Christ as King over all forms of government means that all forms of governance will look very similar. I have previously noted that:

the PCA’s polity certainly—and I think intentionally—pulls [the laity] in the direction [of striving for the peace and purity of the church]. The first way in which this happens is when we vote and thus select those who will lead us and represent us, i.e., rule us. (By the way, is any of this sounding familiar? As I have studied this, I have been struck by the similarities of the PCA’s polity and the structure of American government. Which should be no surprise given the common reformational and Puritan roots of our nation and our church).

These same notions apply to civil governance, to which we shall now turn.

What is the focus of civil government? The same as all other forms of government:

to bring good news to the poor; … to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.

I have written how Christian laity should participate in the governance of the church:

But in order to vote responsibly, we should study the peace and purity of the church. We should read the Bible. We should study doctrine. We should make ourselves aware of the issues in the church and the culture that are affecting the kingdom of God. And we should get to know the men whom we are going to vote on and the issues that they occasionally bring to us. And pray for clarity whether God is calling them to the office on which we are voting.

This pattern is not just for the Christian laity in the Christian church, however. It is required of all participants–whether they are Christians are not–in all forms of governance. So in civil government, all participants–voters, government workers, and elected officials–are obligated to inform their understanding of and decisions about civil government from Scripture in a way that reflect Christian liberty and the other aspects of Christ’s government. Not everyone will do this, of course–and even those who do it will do it imperfectly, but they are nonetheless obligated to do so.

From the moment of man’s creation, liberty was at the forefront of God’s governance of man. And we see from the events in the garden and throughout human history that one of the essential characteristics of Christian liberty is the freedom to fail:

because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. – 1 Peter 3:20

For a period of about forty years He put up with them in the wilderness. – Acts 13:18

Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? – Romans 2:4

The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. – 2 Peter 3:9

One of the earliest components of Christian liberty was living out God’s image and carrying out the cultural mandate by being industrious and fruitful. This means making the world habitable for man with God by using our creative nature to reshape the elements of this world for our use. This is called production. We have to produce first because we have to consume to survive.

Unfortunately, many Christians seem to be bound by the idea that government should be used to “protect” the poor from the fruitful and the consumer from the industrious.

However, the government does little to help maintain ethical behavior. Unethical people continue to find ways to behave unethically no matter how big the regulatory regime grows. The end result of a large regulatory regime is not protection for the oppressed but oppression of all people, robbing them of their ability to pursue their freedom to worship God with all their heart and to love their neighbor as themselves.

God didn’t establish external government to protect Adam and Eve from Satan or themselves. He granted the freedom to fail. It is not merciful or charitable to force people into obedience, success, charity, or dependence on government; it is oppressive. Instead, there is a biblical call for universal liberty:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9 ESV)

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. (Romans 8:20-21 ESV)

While government is clearly part of God’s plan for our path to freedom, one of its primary functions should be to “set at liberty those who are oppressed.” But a large government that reaches into all aspects of our lives will corrupt the pursuit of freedom, resulting in oppression:

Through respect for men, [Darius] forgets the deities and substitutes himself in the place of the gods, as if it was in his power to attract the authority of heaven to himself! This, as I have said, was a grievous sacrilege. Hence we are taught by this example that no virtue is so rare in kings as moderation, and yet none in more necessary; for the more they have in their power, the more it becomes them to be cautious lest they indulge in their lusts, while they think it lawful to desire whatever pleases them. – John Calvin

“He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants.” – 1 Samuel 8:15 (ESV)

An individual’s responsibility to care for the poor cannot be fulfilled by appropriating the resources of another for that purpose. In other words, the corporate responsibility for compassion does not make this an obligation of the government funded through tax dollars.

There is no charity in taxation and government programs.

Yet if we are to grow biblical freedom throughout the world without oppressive government, Christians must obediently carry out their obligations to love their neighbor, to care widows and their children, to help the poor, etc. The biblical model is for individuals and the church to fill these roles, e.g., gleaning (Ruth 2:7); and deacons (Acts 6:1-3).

Profiting, or growing in abundance, is also an aspect of our pursuit of liberty. Profit often helps us to be charitable, though it doesn’t ensure it: “For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on” (Mark 12:42-44). Yet taking away an uncharitable person’s profit to fund government welfare programs does not lead to charity. Again, it leads to oppression. For both rich and poor:

“Equity with respect to justice requires that the responsible person not be penalized for being responsible, and that the slothful person not be rewarded for his slothfulness.” – R.C. Sproul

Focusing on Christian liberty helps us understand how we should also seek political and economic liberty for this world. These don’t bring salvation, but they do reflect Christ’s coming “to set at liberty those who are oppressed.” Those who replace liberty with big government deny the liberty that Christ brings us through His life, death, and resurrection much like the adulterer denies Christ’s faithfulness to His church.