While Christians are commanded to care for the poor, especially fellow believers, debates arise over how to best alleviate poverty. Those who challenge the welfare State arouse suspicions of callousness or indifference. In reality, a strong biblical & practical case can be made that free-market principles—when operating without undue interference—combined with widespread voluntary charity, lift more people out of poverty over time.
Decades of the government throwing money at social problems have not remedied poverty. If the amount of money collected by the State to fight poverty were actually given to families below the poverty level, they could all be living high on the hog. But of course they’re not because bureaucrats & organizations line their own pockets with the money siphoned off to run such programs. Inflation also hurts the poor the most. When the bureaucracy continues deficit spending & printing more money, it erodes their purchasing power.
Before society can even have enough to distribute to the needy, a sufficient quantity of goods must be produced. When the market produces more, people get more. And the only way the market will produce more is when it’s profitable to do so. More is then made available to all, prices drop, the poor are able to afford more, & more people get hired.
But the government penalizes productivity through over-regulating & over-taxing. Politicians who promise “economic justice” only succeed in gaining more power for themselves by capitalizing on the “politics of envy.”
Government isn’t obligated to provide everything to which everyone has a right (like food, jobs, health care, college, child care, etc.). Rather, it only makes sure that everyone’s right to get those things isn’t denied. One should work to earn & pay to receive, otherwise he’s not entitled to such things (2 Thess. 3:10-12). Yet, benefits to the idle incentivize sloth while penalizing industriousness. You always get more of what you subsidize, so when it pays not to work, you get more people living on government programs.
Claims are made that to be against such handouts is to be against “social justice.” But true justice demands that all are treated justly—that people receive what they’re due. It means people have the right to earn & own property without being subject to state-imposed confiscation. Justice in the Bible means fair treatment & impartial procedures, not guaranteed outcomes or equal results (Lev. 19:15).
If we were to go to a ball game, we’d see a set of rules being enforced to make sure the players’ conduct is fair. But beyond ensuring that the game is played fairly, nothing is done to guarantee a “just” outcome. One team might feel they “deserve” to win because they’ve had such a bad season. But if the players cheated or the umps showed favoritism to even out the two teams, fans in the stands would riot! Why? Because it’s unjust. If the game is played fairly with each team having the same opportunities to win, no one can complain that the final score is “unjust.”
Is this then to say, “Let the poor eat cake”? Of course not. Other than employment, people are best helped through voluntary charity by individuals, families, churches, private organizations, & businesses. This better maintains their motivation to work instead of promoting dependency, & provides a better vetting process for those with genuine need.
Paul urges the thief to stop stealing & instead labor honestly “so that he may have something to share with anyone in need” (Eph. 4:28). If it’s wrong for me to steal from you to help someone else, then it’s equally wrong for the government to do the same. The “have-nots” do not have a moral claim on the possessions of the “haves,” so they should not be allowed either to loot personally or to vote in politicians as their agents to rob from the “rich” to give to the “poor.”
The government can never be “charitable” because they’re giving other people’s money through involuntary taxation. As many have noted, a republic cannot survive for long when citizens continue to vote themselves “public” funds from their fellow citizens. Such socialistic practices end in decline, tyranny, & collapse. Likewise, when a government practices inflationary devaluation of the currency, it’s engaging in theft.
While Scripture recognizes legitimate government authority to tax (Rom. 13:6-7; Matt. 22:21), forcing one person to fund another violates principles of justice & personal stewardship. To help one person, you have to hurt another, which is unjust favoritism. This would include government involvement & intervention to benefit the rich as well through tax loopholes & business subsidies.
What a person does with his own property is between him & God. No one has the right to force him to do a good thing through Statist coercion. Of course, if government didn’t tax us so much, we’d have a greater amount of money to willingly help the poor. Nevertheless, Christians are still the most charitable people around, despite the Church being robbed of its previous central, visible role as society’s primary provider of compassionate care (Prov. 19:17, Matt. 25:31-46, Acts 2:44-45; 4:32-35, James 2:14-17).