Michael Wagner

The Antithesis between

Socialism & The Bible
T
here are basically two major sys-
tems by which nations can orga-
nize their economic aairs: Capitalism
(private ownership and control of the
economy) and Socialism (state owner-
ship and control of the economy).
But there are two central assump-
tions underlying Socialism that should
rule it out as an option for Christians
support. Two foundational issues in the
debate about economic systems involve
human nature and the existence of pri-
vate property. Underlying pure Social-
ism are the assumptions that human
nature can be transformed by human
institutions and that private property is
an evil. Both of these assumptions con-
tradict the Bible.
One of the most inuential politi-
cal philosophers of all time was Jean-
Jacques Rousseau of France (1712-1778).
Rousseau can probably be de-
scribed as a proto-socialist philosopher
since his ideas underlay much subse-
quent socialist theory. In his famous
essay A Discourse on the Origin of In-
equality, Rousseau argues that man is
not naturally sinful, and that it was the
invention of private property that intro-
duced conict between human beings.
In Rousseaus view men are neither
good nor evil by nature, they are basi-
cally morally neutral. He believed that
men lived happily in a state of nature
before the rise of civilization. As he put
it, men in a state of nature, having no
moral relations or determinate obliga-
tions one with another, could not be
either good or bad, virtuous or vicious.
Tis was a pleasant condition, where
people had little to do with each other
and were not in conict with each oth-
er: nothing is more gentle than man in
his primitive state.
Tis primitive situation of mankind
was abruptly interrupted by the inven-
tion of private property. Te rst man
who, having enclosed a piece of ground,
bethought himself of saying Tis is
mine, and found people simple enough
to believe him, was the real founder of
civil society. From how many crimes,
Jean-Jaques Rousseau
Issue 3 2009_FINAL.indd 22 6/19/09 4:20 PM
23 Councel of Chalcedon Issue 2 2009
wars, and murders, from how many
horrors and misfortunes might not any
one have saved mankind, by pulling up
the stakes, or lling up the ditch, and
crying to his fellows: Beware of listen-
ing to this imposter; you are undone if
you once forget that the fruits of the
earth belong to us all, and the earth it-
self to nobody.
It was the rst man to claim private
property for himself that has brought
all evils upon mankind. Tis was the
epoch of a rst revolution, which estab-
lished and distinguished families, and
introduced a kind of property, in itself
the source of a thousand quarrels and
conicts. Te existence of private prop-
erty is the root of all human misery. In
a word, there arose rivalry and compe-
tition on the one hand, and conicting
interests on the other, together with a se-
cret desire on both of proting at the ex-
pense of others. All these evils were the
rst eects of property, and the insepa-
rable attendants of growing inequality.
In a nutshell, then, men originally
lived in a pleasant condition in a state of
nature. Tey were not sinful, just mor-
ally neutral. Teir happy condition was
obliterated by the invention of private
property, which introduced conict
into human relationships and the suf-
fering now experienced by mankind.
Private property is the source of all evil,
in other words. While Rousseau did not
believe it would be possible to return to
the state of nature, private property was
nevertheless a real problem.
If private property is the ultimate
cause of human misery, there is an ob-
vious solution to mankinds problems.
Tis was clear to the originators of
Communism, the most virulent form
of Socialism. Karl Marx and Friedrich
Engels put the solution succinctly in
the Communist Manifesto: the theory
of the Communists may be summed
up in the single sentence: Abolition of
private property.
Once private property has been
abolished, the source of humanitys
problems will be gone. Conict between
people will disappear, and the condition
of humanity can be tranquil once again.
Human beings will be transformed
from the competitive, cruel people that
they are into cooperative and gener-
ally friendly individuals. All this can be
achieved by abolishing private property.
In this respect Socialism is more than an
Karl Marx
Te Antithesis Between Socialism & Te Bible
Issue 3 2009_FINAL.indd 23 6/19/09 4:20 PM
Councel of Chalcedon Issue 2 2009
24
economic system, it is also a project of
human transformation.
Tere are two obvious problems
with this from a Biblical perspective.
First, the Bible teaches that people
are naturally sinful, and this is the
real root of human misery and con-
ict. Abolishing private property will
therefore not improve human behav-
ior, not even one iota. Secondly, the
Bible establishes private property as a
legitimate and necessary institution.
Tus anti-private property proposals
are also anti-Bible proposals.
It should not be necessary to con-
vince Christians that all men are sinful
by nature since this is such an obvious
foundational doctrine of Biblical Chris-
tianity. If man is not sinful, there would
be no need for a Savior. Tus the rst
basic assumption of pure Socialism,
that man is morally neutral, is clearly
false. As a result, all of the conclusions
drawn from that assumption (including
blaming private property for human
misery) are also clearly false.
Furthermore, as already men-
tioned, the Bible institutes private
property. Te eighth commandment,
Tou shalt not steal, makes no sense
unless people can own property. An
object cannot be stolen unless it be-
longs to someone. Tat commandment
applies to civil government as well as
to individuals and thus forbids govern-
ment expropriation of others prop-
erty. In this respect Gods Law is an
insurmountable barrier to Socialism.
Tere are many facets to the debate
between Capitalism and Socialism that
are not addressed here. In fact, there are
dierent forms of both Capitalism and
Socialism, each with its own distinctive
features. However, focusing on the basic
assumptions of Socialism in its purest
form can clarify the issue by seeing how
those assumptions conict with Biblical
truth. Undoubtedly, some supporters
of Capitalism would share the assump-
tion of human moral neutrality (or even
goodness) and their views must also be
repudiated. But the economic system
that is rooted in Biblical assumptions
about human nature and private prop-
erty is a form of Capitalism.
Michael Wagner is a home schooling
father and freelance writer living in
Edmonton, Canada. He has a PhD in
Political Science from the University
of Alberta.
Te Antithesis Between Socialism & Te Bible
Issue 3 2009_FINAL.indd 24 6/19/09 4:20 PM