by Matthew W. Bassford<\/p>\n
Much to my surprise, for the first time that I can remember since the Cold War, there is a flurry of national interest in socialism. As someone who is a student of history, this concerns me. As someone who is politically unaligned, I\u2019m not sure what to do about it.<\/p>\n
I have seen, though, a small minority of brethren with left-leaning political views justify their embrace of socialism by pointing to the communal practices of the first-century church. They cite texts such as Acts 4:32, which reads, \u201cAnd the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them.\u201d Ergo, the argument goes, adopting a democratic-socialist form of government is Biblically acceptable, if not outright Biblically justified.<\/p>\n
From my perspective, though, the argument appears to suffer from the usual problems with basing public policy on the Bible. New-Testament Christianity is concerned with the conduct of individuals and small groups, not nations. It assumes that those individuals and groups will be motivated to obey by love. The less true those things are, the less applicable the code of the Bible becomes.<\/p>\n
Take, for instance, Acts 4:32. It certainly describes a communal moment in the history of the early church. However, we see plainly in the text that everyone who was involved in sharing their possessions did so willingly. If a group of people chooses to pool their possessions, whether Christians or not, I don\u2019t have a problem with that.<\/p>\n
However, socialism is never 100 percent voluntary. No political system is. It invariably involves coercion. Somebody who is a citizen of a socialistic country but doesn\u2019t want to have his possessions redistributed will have those possessions redistributed forcefully.<\/p>\n
I think that generosity among brethren is beautiful. I think that forced redistribution is hideous. It is provoked by greed, not love. Historically speaking, lots of people have died in the course of state redistribution of property.<\/p>\n
Second, Acts 4 captures a particular moment in time. It comes on the heels of the establishment of the church on the day of Pentecost, during which thousands of Jews from all over the world who were in Jerusalem for the festival obeyed the gospel. Most of those converts didn\u2019t own property in Jerusalem. They didn\u2019t have employment there.<\/p>\n
As a result, if they wanted to remain in Jerusalem and be taught, they had to rely for their needs on others. The native Christians were driven to sell their property to meet the need. This took place only for a limited time, and if the situation had continued indefinitely, it would have been unsustainable. There\u2019s a sense in which the persecution of Saul did the Jerusalem church a favor by forcing it to scatter.<\/p>\n
Political socialism, by contrast, does not advocate state assumption of assets as a limited-term response to a crisis. Instead, to at least some degree, it contemplates the permanent collectivization of property. This too is unsustainable. People who are not motivated by the prospect of reward will not work.<\/p>\n
In summary, there is a facial resemblance between the economics of the Jerusalem church and socialism, but the parallel doesn\u2019t stand up under scrutiny. What a church might do when many of its members are in need has little to do with how a nation should organize itself. As always, we are on solid ground when we seek to apply the word of God to ourselves and our churches. The more we stray from the intent of the Holy Spirit, the more fraught the exercise becomes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Matthew W. Bassford Much to my surprise, for the first time that I can remember since the Cold War, there is a flurry of national interest in socialism. As someone who is a student of history, this concerns me. As someone who is politically unaligned, I\u2019m not sure what to do about it. I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[144,336,310,337],"class_list":["post-1328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-acts","tag-economic-systems","tag-government","tag-socialism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":24207,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/all-things-in-common\/","url_meta":{"origin":1328,"position":0},"title":"All Things in Common","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bryan Matthew Dockens It has been argued that socialism is a divinely approved economic system exemplified in scripture. Proponents point to two passages as evidence of their claim: \u201cNow all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/Peter-and-John-Healing-a-Crippled-Man-300x294.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3524,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/economic-systems\/","url_meta":{"origin":1328,"position":1},"title":"Economic Systems","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 16, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: Luke 12:13-34 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many of the things we take for granted in our life are difficult for everyone to produce individually \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Imagine life where you had to produce everything yourself. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0That car you drove to services, would you be able to put one together yourself? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What if that also\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93828,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/not-saved-by-saying-alone\/","url_meta":{"origin":1328,"position":2},"title":"Not Saved by Saying Alone","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 10, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Gary Henry via WordsPoint.com \"The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do\" (Matthew 23:2-3). Saying and doing are closely related, but they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":94395,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-it-any-of-lots-business\/","url_meta":{"origin":1328,"position":3},"title":"Was It Any of Lot’s Business?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 7, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton I got a note from someone telling me that the LGBTQ causes do not and should not concern me. That is like saying, what they are promoting in schools and through political causes does not concern me. Well, it does! You see, sin is a spiritual\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42217,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/fed-and-led\/","url_meta":{"origin":1328,"position":4},"title":"Fed and Led","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Brian Faulkner Text: Psalms 23 Introduction: Live in a society that wants no responsibility Welfare mentality Want someone else to do the thinking Little or no investigation Even less concern Do as little as possible Runaway lawsuits to get rich Lottery Want and look for the easiest way out\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12265,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-is-gallio-mentioned-in-acts-1812\/","url_meta":{"origin":1328,"position":5},"title":"Who is Gallio, mentioned in Acts 18:12?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 11, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Tell me something about Gallio who is mentioned in Acts 18:12. Why don't people care about what Christians have to say? Why don't Christians care about the lost as they should? Answer: \"But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1328\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}