Jesus & Economic Life (14) Unrighteous Wealth

Jesus introduced the concept of “unrighteous wealth.

So if you have not been trustworthy in handling unrighteous wealth, who will trust you with true riches (Luke 16:11)?

People hanging onto unrighteous wealth will not be trusted with spiritual blessing. This is a blunt message. A key part of Jesus jubilee message was that unrighteous wealth should be given away.

Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys (Luke 12:33).

Jesus did not define unrighteous wealth, because this had already been done in the Law and the Prophets. When his listeners heard the expression, they knew what he meant. He was referring to wealth held contrary to the instructions for economic life. The following are the main categories of unrighteous wealth.

1. Wealth that had been obtained by practices that were forbidden in the Torah is unrighteous wealth.

   Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet (Acts 4:36-37).

   Barnabas was a Levite and Levites were not entitled to own land in Israel (Num 26:62). When he came to faith in Jesus, the illegal ownership of land would have weighed on his conscious. He probably could not return the land to its rightful owner (Lev 25:13), so he sold the land and gave the money to the apostles for distribution to those in need.

2. Land and other possessions that have been stolen are unrighteous wealth. The word used for possessions in Acts 2:45, 4:34 and Acts 5:1 is “ktema” or “ktetor” This is not the word generally used for possessions in the New Testament (uparxis). These nouns are derived from the verb “ktaomai”. It means “acquire” or “gain control over”. It refers to property that has been acquired, not bought. “Ktema” refers to unrighteous wealth that has been acquired by wickedness. Some of the property sold by Christians like Barnabas and Ananias may have been acquired as a reward for wickedness.

3. The accumulation of houses is unrighteous wealth. The prophets spoke against those who accumulated land and houses.
   

   Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land (Is 5:8).

   In the modern world, residential housing is a popular investment. This demand pushes up the price of dwellings, which makes it difficult for young people to buy a house. Investment in housing is unproductive. It does not increase the productivity of the economy. People who are saving for their retirement should invest in productivity activities not residential dwellings.

4. Land and property received through collusion with political powers is unrighteous wealth. People with political power often protect their positions by providing land and property to their supporters. The people who had become rich in Jesus times gained their wealth through their place in the Roman political system. It was unrighteous wealth. Once these people had chosen Jesus as their King, they could not retain land and property that represented loyalty to King Herod or Caesar, so they sold it. They would probably have lost their property anyway, once their new loyalty became clear.

5. In the modern world, governments often give a group of people monopoly power over an aspect of the economy. Then enables them to become very wealthy, but this is unrighteous wealth.

6. Limited liability laws allow business to take excessive risks and then leave their creditors (often small contractors) carrying the burden when they default. Wealth gained by benefiting from limited liability is unrighteous wealth.

7. Wealth obtained through debasing the currency is unrighteous wealth, whether it is done by a counterfeiter or a government.

   See how the faithful city
   has become a prostitute!
   She once was full of justice;
   righteousness used to dwell in her—
   but now... your silver has become dross (Is 1:21-22).

   Those who become wealth through debasing or inflating the currency are creating unrighteous wealth for themselves.
   
   In the modern world, people have found less direct ways to take advantage of the debasement of the currency. Many people have become wealthy through investing in real estate to benefit from the capital gains that come through inflation of property prices. These gains are often amplified by using borrowed money to pay for the properties. Large returns are earned through an activity that produces very little for the economy. The high returns are dependent on continued price inflation that is caused by the government manipulating the currency. Collecting capital gains caused by inflation is sharing in the deceitful activities of currency manipulators. Wealth obtained from capital gains obtained by highly leveraged investments in real estate is unrighteous wealth.

8. If the Holy Spirit is prompting someone to assist a neighbour in financial difficulty by giving them an interest-free loan and they refuse, the money that should have been lent probably becomes unrighteous wealth.

9. If the Holy Spirit is prompting someone to assist a neighbour in financial difficulty by redeeming their property and they refuse to assist, the wealth that they cling to probably becomes unrighteous wealth.

10. Wealth that has been obtained by taking property pledged by as security by people who are defaulting on interest bearing loans is unrighteous wealth. This has been an easy way to gain wealth in every age.