ECONOMICS AND THEOLOGY

There has been an attempt to separate what cannot be separated. This has been attempted in every branch of human knowledge. All knowledge has to have a base but we are living in an age when knowledge has been separated from its foundation. Thus, present day knowledge is without a foundation. This means that knowledge cannot be put together into a comprehensive whole. Knowledge will be fragmented. When knowledge is fragmented the world becomes fragmented and man’s policies will bear the same quality.

Modern education is not based upon the principle of unity and plurality. Unity and plurality are theological concepts. God created the world and He has defined the way that the world works. He has built into the fabric of creation unity and plurality. Unity and plurality are also expressed as the one and the many. The Christian doctrine of the Trinity explains unity and plurality. God is a unity and a plurality simultaneously. All three persons of the Godhead are equally God i.e., they are ontologically God and God’s personages all have different functions or the concept of the economical Trinity.

All knowledge is theologically based. Theology is the unity of knowledge. The different subject matters are the plurality. Thus, theology controls all knowledge. The analogy of a tree with its branches gives us a spiritual look at what knowledge should represent. All areas of knowledge come from the same source. This makes knowledge unified, not fragmented. Every separate area of knowledge has a similar source and thus can be traced back to its original source.

Economics is a branch of theology. Economics is permanently attached to its source and attempting to separate it will have disastrous results. Since God is Spirit, His word is spiritual. All of God’s word is law based. The law is spiritual. Therefore, all knowledge is spiritual and is law based. This makes economics a branch that is governed by particular laws. One of the most familiar of these laws is the law of supply and demand.

Two Commandments that are not mentioned in economic literature but apply anyway are "Thou shalt not steal" and "Thou shalt not covet." If something is true, the opposite is also true. When someone steals what are they stealing? They are stealing private property. The Eighth Commandment prohibits stealing and at the same time enforces the right to enjoyment of private property. The prohibition against coveting has the same kind of idea behind it as stealing. You are prohibited from evilly desiring your neighbor’s personal property.

Modern education needs to be reformed. Reformation can only take place when the church realizes that the law of God governs His world that He created. Economics is not a science but it is applied wisdom. Frugality is a branch of wisdom and wisdom is a branch of theology. There is a hierarchy of knowledge. Being able to recognize this hierarchy will enable one to progress in God’s world. The Christian should never be ashamed to admit that economics is theologically based.