The government and the poor (September, 2005)

Please forgive my tardiness. I'm back-dating this to so that the blog archives it under September.

Jay makes a case for the government, perhaps along with private organizations (like churches), being tasked by God to care for the poor. He challenges those who "insist that this should not be role of the government."

I appreciate Jay's heart for the poor, and his advocacy on their behalf. Such compassion is clearly mandated in Scripture, and the mark of a godly leader.

I am not suggesting that government programs and expenditures are the only way to deal with poverty, or that government policies intended to deal with poverty have unfailingly helped the poor. Many have been disastrous. ... It is impossible to do justice to the commplexity of this issue in a brief column, and I recognize that it is perilous to compare a modern democracy with an ancient monarchy.

I appreciate his sensitivity here in approaching this touchy issue, and agree whole-heartedly with each of these observations.

I'm open to the idea of the government, along with churches and private organizations, playing a role in helping the poor. I agonize over which Scriptures to apply to that end, though.

I do want to argue that according to the Bible, rulers, the state, and society have a responsibility to care for the poor. .... the Law and the prophets have quite a bit to say about how God wanted Israel to make sure "there will be no one in need among you" (Deut 15:4).

Let's look at Deut. 15:4-6:

However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, [5] if only you fully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today. [6] For the Lord your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you.

One could take many things from this passage, including imperialism ("you will rule over many nations"). What should we take from it? Should we endorse monarchy since we find it in the Old Testament? (I'm sure Jay and I agree that we shouldn't.)

We're not to disregard the Old Testament (Matt. 5:17-19, Acts 24:14, Hebrews 1:1, Romans 15:4), but to understand it through the lens of the New Testament (2 Peter 1:19-21). We see the Kingdom of God spiritually, not politicly and geographically (Matt. 12:28, Luke 17:21, Rom. 14:17, 1 Cor. 15:50, Col. 3:1-4). We see God's mercy prevailing for now (Matt. 5:45), and his immediate judgment deferred (2 Peter 3:8-9). And we see the Chuch universal being the focus of God's attention and promises as Israel was (1 Peter 4:17).

So we don't take everything from the Old Testament and apply it today. It's not arbitrary, though: we use the New Testament, not our personal whims and tastes. And, often, it's a matter of our discernment.

Similarly, we must be very careful in taking promises God made to Old Testament Israel, and apply them to our government. (This is where the "religious right" gets it wrong, in my humble opinion.) God chose Israel as a nation in a way he hasn't done since--except in his Church universal, the Body of Christ.

So what about government? I believe it should reflect the compassion of its people. So it should care for the poor. The church, however, should reflect Christ's character in a way that a government can't.

How to go about it, as Jay mentions, is another discussion. I'd add that an equally important discussion is who is and isn't poor.