Stephen A. Grunlan: The New Testament and Poverty

“Jesus picked up the theme of our treatment of the poor being equated with our treatment of God when he taught that if we feed the hungry, clothe the needy, visit the sick, and minister to the imprisoned, we are doing it to Him (Matt. 25:31-46). Jesus also addressed the believer’s responsibility to the poor. He told the rich young man that to be complete, he needed to sell his possessions and give to the poor (Matt. 19:21). Jesus also taught that when we give a party, we should not invite the kind of people who can return the favor, but the poor who cannot (Luke 14:12-14).

Paul was also concerned for the poor (Gal. 2:10) and took special offerings for them (Rom. 15:25-26; 1 Cor. 16:1-3). James teaches that true faith is evidenced by our treatment of the poor (James 2:14-20). John teaches that Christian love results in helping the poor and needy (1 John 3:17-18).

There are two passages of Scripture dealing with the poor that are often misunderstood. The first is Matthew 26:11: “The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.” The context concerns the story of the woman who anointed Jesus with expensive perfume (Matt. 26:6-13). The disciples thought the perfume should have been sold and the money given to the poor, but Jesus responded, “The poor you will always have with you.”

Some have underwood Jesus to mean that there will always be poor people; so Christians should not worry about them but concentrate on spiritual ministries. However, the Lord actually was saying that the woman had performed an act of worship and that there were many opportunities to help the poor–and by implication that they should do so. Jesus alluded to the phrase, “where will always be poor people” in Deuteronomy 15:11. The whole verse reads, “There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.”

The second misunderstood passage is 2 Thessalonians 3:10: “For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: ‘If a man will not work, he shall not eat.'” Actually this verse does not even refer to the poor, although some try to apply it to them. In this context (2 Thess. 3:6-12), this rule governing working and eating refers to busybodies in the church community and not to the poor.

It should be noted that although this verse is not addressing the poor, it does reaffirm the Scripture’s emphasis on the dignity of work (cf. Gen. 2:15; Prov. 10:4; Eccl. 3:13; Eph. 4:28). The Scripture does not condone laziness or the poverty resulting from it. The evidence from God’s work is clear: the Christian is to have a concern for the poor and to reach out and help the poor.”

Stephen A. Grunlan, “Economics” in Christian Perspectives on Sociology ed. Stephen A. Grunlan & Milton Reimer (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982) 194-195.

Grunlan sums aptly the biblical message regarding poverty: we should “have a concern for the poor and to reach out and help the poor.” So whether we are writing a paper, working with rich people, or concerned with our own application of biblical teaching, care of the poor starts in our hearts. Are we concerned for others or just worried about ourselves?

Akin to this concern is openhanded action. It’s not just writing a check. It’s reaching out to assist like Jesus. When we do it, we find that we meet Christ in the poor (cf. Matt. 25:31-46). Few get this like my brother David, who is “51” today! Uncle Dave, as he’s affectionately known in our home, has a heart for noticing needs and he’s openhanded to meet them. Happy Birthday, David!

“What should be the Christian response to poverty? Christians look to the Bible for directions and instruction concerning the issues of life. The Word of God is not silent on the issue of poverty, but rather addresses the issue head-on.

The Old Testament teaches that food should be provided for the poor (Exod. 23:11; Lev. 19:9-10). In fact part of the tithe was to be used for this purpose (Deut. 14:28-29). The Old Testament also teaches that those who help the poor will be blessed (Ps. 41:1, KJV; Prov. 14:21; 22:9).

Another Old Testament teaching equates one’s treatment of the poor with one’s treatment of God; the one who oppresses the poor is reproaching God, while the one who is generous to the poor honors God (Prov. 14:31). Also, being kind to the poor is lending to God (Prov. 19:17). Caring for the poor is seen as evidence of righteous living (Ezek. 18:5-9). Also, true fasting and true worship are equated with care for the poor (Isa. 58:5-11; Jer. 7:2-7; Amos 5:21-24).

The Old Testament goes on to teach that if people shut their ears to the cries of the poor, God will shut His ears when these people call on Him (Prov. 21:13). The Scriptures also teach that the righteous are concerned for the rights of the poor, but that the wicked lack such concern (Prov. 29:7).

The prophet Jeremiah condemned God’s people for being fat and well fed but lacking in concern for the poor (5:28). He went on to command the people of God to practice justice and help those being oppressed (22:3) and pronounced a woe on kings who did not pay for labor (22:13-17). Oppression of aliens, orphans, and widows is also condemned by Ezekiel (22:7) and is equated with the sin of adultery by Malachi (3:5).”

“Stephen A. Grunlan, “Economics” in Christian Perspectives on Sociology ed. Stephen A. Grunlan & Milton Reimer (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982) 194.

One of my former students emailed me this week about paper he’s writing on “the poor who are always with us” (cf. Matthew 26:11), so I have been doing some research on the Christian response to poverty. Another Meditations reader asked how to connect the rich and the poor because many rich say they don’t know any poor people.

To write the paper or connect the rich and poor, we must start by opening the Word. The Scriptures reveal who the poor are so we can both see them and know how God wants us to relate to them. Grunlan’s survey of OT themes is not a resource for readers but paints the backdrop for Jesus’ teachings in the NT which we will examine tomorrow.

If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need. Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,” so that you do not show ill will toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land. Deuteronomy 15:7-11

“Deuteronomy 15:7-11 … shows that an “open-handed” disposition toward the poor is required: “The poor will always be with you in your land, and that is why I command you to be open-handed towards any of your countrymen there who are in poverty and need.” This passage is the source of Jesus’ famous saying in Mark 14:7: “You have the poor among you always, and you can help them whenever you like; but you will not always have me.” By citing this passage, Jesus responds to those who would condemn the woman when she anoints Jesus with expensive oil, rather than cashing in the ointment and using the money to help the poor. But Jesus uses this text from Deuteronomy to expose the criticizers’ insincerity. “The poor are with you always,” he says in Matthew 26:11 and John 12:8 leaving the remainder of the text unspoken but implied — “therefore be open-handed toward them.” Jesus, Judas and those who were condemning the woman no doubt knew the full text. They recognized that the text did not mandate that they keep the poor in poverty, but that the presence of the poor was to serve as the reason to be constantly open-handed toward them.”

Kent A. Van Til in Less Than Two Dollars a Day: A Christian View of World Poverty and the Free Market (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007) 77-78.

Open-handed living runs contrary to our flesh, which cries “mine” to all that which our gracious God puts in our hands. God, forgive us for our selfishness. Teach us to live open-handed, and in so doing, to show the world your love. Amen.

Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you…to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 3:2, 9-10

“The biblical good news is that believers have been given the opportunity to serve as stewards of the openly revealed gospel of God, to take part in a venture involving the many-sided wisdom and plan of God, as part of God’s stewardship (Eph. 3:2, 9-10)…All can join in stewardship, as part of God’s economy.”

John Reumann in Stewardship & The Economy of God (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992) 123.

Jesus saved us from sin and death, and our salvation by grace through faith has a purpose. We, His Church, get to participate with Him in His redeeming work as stewards through our service and work in God’s economy! This weekend I will be sharing my recent research on this topic.

I am teaching on “Life in the Economy of God” at the invitation of my friend, Steve Bury, executive director of Urban Impact at Rainier Ave Church (Friday and Saturday) and Emerald City Bible Fellowship (Sunday) in Seattle, Washington. I’d appreciate your prayers.

“Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” Mark 14:6-9

“Jesus knew that by selling the perfume for whatever price it was, it was not going to solve the problem of the poor. If the disciples were honest about the poor, the only way to tackle it was not to engage in piecemeal charitable acts but to follow the radical social redesign envisioned in Deuteronomy.”

If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need. Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,” so that you do not show ill will toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land. Deuteronomy 15:7-11.

R. S. Sugirtharajah in “‘For You Always Have the Poor with You’: an Example of Hermeneutics of Suspicion,” Asia Journal of Theology 4.1 (1990): 105.

Grasping life in God’s economy is linked to living out the “radical redesign envisioned in Deuteronomy” through the Church. Open-handed living leads all of us from shifting from “piecemeal charitable acts” to the radical enjoyment and sharing experienced by the early church in Acts and many communities of faith today where the gospel is preached and followed.

“The Poor One and poor people in general are God’s question to us. God gives us responsibility in the world by asking us a question which we have to answer. The question is constant, permanent, living, for “you will always have the poor with you [Matt. 26:11, Mark 14:7, and John 12:8].” We cannot sidestep this question, for we are always in contact with the poor, and each one of them puts God’s big question in human flesh…

Whether we like it or not, we have to answer either positively or negatively. Our whole attitude is our response. Scripture reveals that our attitude toward the poor is our response to God’s question. We all can find our place and get involved with this question, which appears to concern economics or human feelings, but behind this question, a spiritual decision is ultimately demanded of us. God adopts the poor to put us all in question, and it is certainly our all that is put in question…”

Jacques Ellul in Money and Power (Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 1984) 152.

What will I do with the poor, especially since they more than a problem to be solved, but rather people that God loves? What will you do? Perhaps the best answer to the question as Christ-followers is to ask, what did Jesus do with the poor, and to go and do likewise…

“O that God would enable me once more, before I go hence and am no more seen, to lift up my voice like a trumpet to those who gain and save all they can, but do not give all they can! Ye are the men, some of the chief men, who continually grieve the Holy Spirit of God, and in a great measure stop His gracious influence from descending on our assemblies.

Many of your brethren, beloved of God, have not food to eat; they have not raiment to put on; they have not a place where to lay their head. And why are they thus distressed because you impiously, unjustly, and cruelly detain from them what your Master and theirs lodges in your hands on purpose to supply their wants! See that poor member of Christ, pinched with hunger, shivering with cold, half naked!

Meantime you have plenty of this world’s goods of meat, drink, and apparel. In the name of God, what are you doing? Do you neither fear God, nor regard man? Why do you not deal your bread to the hungry, and cover the naked with a garment? Have you laid out in your own costly apparel what would have answered both these intentions? Did God command you so to do? Does He commend you for so doing. Did He entrust you with His (not your) goods for this end? And does He now say, “Servant of God, well done?” You well know He does not.

This idle expense has no approbation, either from God, or your own conscience. But you say you can afford it! O be ashamed to take such miserable nonsense into your mouths! Never more litter such stupid cant; such palpable absurdity! Can any steward afford to be an arrant knave to waste his Lord’s goods? Can any servant afford to lay out his Master’s money, any otherwise than his Master appoints him? So far from it, that whoever does this ought to be excluded from a Christian society.”

John Wesley (1703-1791) in “Causes of the Inefficacy of Christianity” Sermon 116.9.

Strong but profound words from Wesley. Sadly, many don’t turn to Christ because so many in the so-called “Christian society” look and act nothing like Him. Father, help us gain all we can and save all we can so that we can give all we can in a manner that shows your love today to a broken and lost world, by the power of Your Holy Spirit, I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

“The radical abundance Jesus invites us into is the economy of a shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. It is the interruption of every economic system because it refuses the law of scarcity and insists that the impossible can happen. God’s people can survive for forty years on bread that falls out of the sky. Five thousand people can eat their fill and still have leftovers from a meal of two fish and five loaves of bread. God’s economy is not a new system to be established in the world. It is, instead, the fundamental truth of the universe. It is the miracle that keeps us all alive, despite our rebellion against God and selfishness in relating to one another.

God’s abundant life is not success as the world defines it. It doesn’t mean God wants you to live in a mansion on the hill. Such extravagance is far less than what God desires for every person–a restored relationship with our Father and the family that gathers around his welcome table. The abundant life Jesus offers is freedom from the poverty that says some people are worthless and freedom from the wealth that tempts others to forget God. Beneath the illusions of the power called money, this is our deepest hunger: to know we are loved unconditionally and to know our neighbors in light of that love.”

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove in God’s Economy () 50-51.

In the Greek NT, the term “oikonomia” only appears three times: 1 Tim. 1:4; Eph. 1:9-10; and, Eph. 3:8-10. It can be translated as God’s “economy, plan, or divine order of things.” From these texts, we learn that it is rooted in Christ; it is the opposite of the world’s system; and, it functions through the church.

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove opens our eyes to see the divine order of things: life in God’s economy is one of abundance and love in relationship to the Father and all are welcome. All of us! I pray this inspires each of us today not to settle for the life money offers but to take hold of “real” life in God (1 Tim 6:19).

“Of course, salvation is God’s gift, out of his sheer grace–this is the teaching of the whole Bible and grace is free. Those who have truly received this free grace are made investors in heaven through deeds of love.

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has not deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food, if one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well, “keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” James 2:14-17

Grace, received through faith, does not ease the obligation to invest in heaven through gifts to the needy. Against the pull of self-interest and the excuses of selfishness, grace makes such investment possible.”

Gerard Berghoef and Lester DeKoster in Faithful in All God’s House: Stewardship and the Christian Life ed. Brett Elder (Grand Rapids: Christian’s Library Press, 2013).

Father, thank you for the free gift of salvation and the outpouring of your love and grace in our lives which makes deeds of love possible. May our actions not reflect our stingy selfishness but rather your gracious generosity.

“When Jesus asked the rich young man to sell his goods and give to the poor, he did not say, “Become destitute and friendless.” Rather he said, “Come follow me” (Matthew 19:21). In other words, he invited him to join a community of sharing and love, where his security would not be based on individual property holdings, but on openness to the Spirit and on the loving care of new found brothers and sisters.”

Richard K. Taylor in Economics and the Gospel (Philadelphia: United Church Press, 1973) 21.

As placing our security in individual property holdings and deciding not to follow Jesus are not viable options, may we all find a home in such a body of Christ-followers right away. If we can’t locate such a body, perhaps it’s time you start a community of sharing and love.