The purpose of civil government is to be a revenger, to protect us from evildoers by administering justice to those who break God’s laws. (Ro 13:4) With the advances of our modern military capabilities, this naturally includes providing for the common defense, shielding us from hostile foreign powers.
The primary reason for restricting government to this defensive role is straightforward: it’s the only entity which may lawfully take money from others by force (Ro 13:6), and this power to tax is very easily corrupted; limiting governmental power limits corruption.
Ensuring domestic tranquility is the one thing we as individuals or small groups are incapable of managing effectively; when we start taking the law into our own hands we no longer have a stable society, we have mob rule. So, maintaining civil order must be delegated to government, aligning us all with a code of conduct we collectively agree to follow.
Furthermore, it’s common sense wisdom to restrict government to minimal, necessary functions since government spending is the most inefficient and wasteful way to spend money. Consider the only four possible ways our money can be spent.
- We can spend our money on ourselves. This is the most efficient way to spend money, since we tend to be concerned about both quality and cost; we’re incented to buy efficiently, to get the best deal for the kind of quality we want.
- We can spend our money on someone else. This is a less efficient way to spend money, since we tend to be much more concerned about cost than we are about quality; we’re incented to buy something less expensive even if the quality is unacceptable.
- Someone else can spend our money on themselves. This is an even less efficient way to spend our money: when someone else spends our money on themselves they tend to be much more concerned about quality than than they are about cost; they’re incented to buy something very expensive even if the higher quality is unnecessary or minimal.
- Someone else can spend our money on someone else. This is the worst way to spend money because when someone else spends our money on someone else they tend to be unconcerned about both quality and cost: they’re often incented by entirely unrelated factors; they may buy something very expensive even if the quality is unacceptable.
When government spends our money it’s Type 4 spending, the very worst kind. Government tends to be more wasteful and inefficient simply because it’s seldom directly impacted by its own decisions; it’s very difficult to hold government accountable for waste and inefficiency.
So, God’s prescription for helping the poor isn’t government handouts: it’s found in the hard work (Pr 14:23), ingenuity (Pr 8:12), diligence (Pr 12:27) and industry of free enterprise (De 15:10): being rewarded according to the kind of value we create. (1Ti 5:18) Once our own needs are met, we are to offer person-to-person charity, where we have some idea of who we’re helping and why. (Ep 4:28)
We’re less inclined to help those who won’t help themselves, who are unwilling to work (2Th 3:10), who squander their time, energy and money. (Pr 13:23) We know that consequences are generally the best teacher; when people suffer for their personal choices they tend to straighten up; but when we reward laziness and foolishness we tend to get more of the same.
Government bureaucrats don’t know who best to help and when, over-burdening value creators and rewarding problematic behavior to achieve political objectives, promoting apathy, mediocrity, and creating self-fulfilling cycles of sustained dependency and pathology which are extremely difficult to correct.
God’s way encourages us to contribute earnestly to our own welfare, to meet the needs of our own families (1Ti 5:8), and to enjoy the fruits of our own labor. (Ec 5:18-19) Then we’re to help those who, through no fault of their own, need our help to get back on their feet. (Ga 2:10)
As part of promoting the general welfare, especially in a society which is not generally of a biblical world view, one role of civil government is to enact laws which limit monopolies, one of the unhealthy byproducts of unrestricted free-enterprise.
When certain successful individuals become so powerful they are able to limit the capability of others to complete and produce value, then government should step in and regulate their controlling interests, breaking up their empires so as to maintain a competitive environment and prevent winner-take-all scenarios.
This equalizing responsibility is seen in the principle behind the Year of Jubilee, when debts were forgiven and land was re-distributed back to the original family owners. (Le 25:8-17) It’s part of God’s design to prevent one class of people becoming so prosperous that they oppress the rest of the population. (vs 17)
The promises of socialism and capitalism position the State to care for us all, eliminating poverty and injustice, taking from all according to their ability and giving to all according to their needs.
This sounds good on the surface, encouraging us to feel both safe and morally superior at the same time, but the cost is that we give up our liberty in the process, allowing state officials to decide what we’re each capable of and what we each need. This inevitably makes us slaves to the ruling class, and crushes the human spirit. Instead of eliminating poverty and injustice, it consistently institutionalizes and normalizes poverty and injustice.
Socialists and Marxists try to use scripture to support their ideologies, but they inevitably conflate the responsibility of personal charity with government enforced wealth redistribution – something that’s foreign to scripture.