What Genesis has to say about Property

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

If God created the universe, then either he is the current holder of its property rights or, at some point in history, those rights were transferred to somebody else. I think that the weight of biblical evidence (e.g. Deut 8:17-18, Psalm 24:1) points to the former hypothesis. Therefore it follows that nobody else owns anything.

Does this mean that God disapproves of private property? On the contrary, a large part of the law of Moses is concerned with establishing and protecting property rights. If God disapproved of property, at least two of the Ten Commandments (“Do not steal” and “Do not covet”) would be redundant. This is because God’s law is pragmatic, and designed for a fallen world. A system of property rights is an effective way of managing scarce resources. But this is a discussion for another time, so let’s get back to the more idealistic world of Genesis.

So how do we interpret God’s commission to mankind to subdue the earth (Gen 1:28) and his invitation to harvest its resources (Gen 1:29)? I would say that the earth’s natural resources are a gift from God to mankind but this gift comes with the responsibility to manage these resources effectively. At no time does God give up the property rights to his creation. Therefore, I think that property is about stewardship rather than ownership. It is God’s way of carving up creation into manageable chunks to ensure that it is utilised and sustained effectively. The parable of the talents (Matt 25:14-30) supports the notion that we have the responsibility to be effective stewards over the property that God has entrusted to us.

As an aside, I would argue that an atheistic worldview might lead to a similar conclusion. Rather than being an endowment from God, our wealth is derived either from our inheritance or our ability to create wealth through productive labour or investment, this ability itself being inherited through our genes and upbringing. Moreover, at some point (probably not that long ago) our inherited property was in some sense taken by force by our ancestors (either from other people or directly from nature) without being paid for. It could be argued, therefore, that the distribution of property can never be fully just. Whichever way you look at it, the evidence suggests that property should be considered as a responsibility to manage rather than a right to own.

Going back to the creationist worldview, it follows that we are all accountable to God for how we manage our resources (this includes not just our material and financial assets but also our time, human capital and shared resources such as the environment or public goods). How do we take this accountability seriously? As we are essentially managers of someone else’s property, in principle we have the same responsibilities towards God as a chief executive has towards the company shareholders or a government department has towards the taxpayer. The bare minimum that a shareholder or a taxpayer would expect from the agent acting on their behalf is to see an accurate set of financial accounts to show how their money has been spent.

So I have been challenged to be a little less casual about our household finances and undertake a thorough analysis of our expenditure. This will be an act of accountability before God but also information that I would gladly share with selected others to allow them to hold me to account. I will use the budget application on www.stewardship.org.uk to help me to do this. You might want to check it out yourself – you will need to register but it’s free.

Finally, as my wife rightly points out, what am I going to do with this information once I put it together? Are we going to start spending less on ourselves and giving away more? The answer is I don’t know yet. But it feels important to establish a baseline so that I can then allow myself to be challenged on the effectiveness of my stewardship.