Welcome to the MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my seventy ninth episode. Tonight I want to figure out whether or not Jesus is a socialist. You might think that sounds silly, but it’s actually not uncommon for people to reference Christ and the early church to justify movements toward socialist governmental structures. Answering this question is important because the West is seeing a growing population of people who wish to effect fundamental economic and governmental changes to more closely reflect the socialist ideal. I want to address this in three parts. First, I want to investigate what causes the emergence of socialism. Second, I want to look at Scripture and make the best case I can for socialism. Third, I want to tell you what I think about this issue and why. But before we do anything we need to define what socialism is. Socialism is a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.
So first we need to find out why socialism is even on offer. The issue begins with hierarchies. Our lives are defined by having problems to solve. It’s why we get up and go to work. Any time you try to solve a problem, you are going to produce a hierarchy of people who can solve it more efficiently than others. We have to solve problems – it’s not optional. If we say, “well let’s avoid solving problems so that we can prevent forming hierarchies”, then our cities burn down and everyone in our population dies.
So we have to solve problems and that means we have to produce hierarchies. Even if every individual is given an equal opportunity at the hierarchy, the majority of participants are still going to become dispossessed at the bottom – while a select few will ascend to the top. We need these hierarchies because they select for the geniuses, the hard workers, the talented, and the competent. These are the people who prevent all the average chumps like us from dying to things like bubonic plague and starvation. Not to mention the little bonuses we get from them like personal computers, smart phones, internet, air conditioning, cars, housing, sanitation, economics, the world’s most powerful military and all the rest. The only way to flatten out these hierarchies and ensure that every individual has an equal outcome is to remove the individuals who excel – and this definitely subverts our own flourishing. Why, then, would anyone want to do this in the form of socialism? The reason is wealth inequality.
Wealth inequality happens when a small percentage of hyper-rich individuals possess and control a majority of the nation’s economic resources. In the West, they call these individuals big corporations or the top 1%. Proponents of socialism often reference the top 1% as the reason why socialism is necessary. They say that wealth has a tendency to collect at the top while the disenfranchised stack up at the bottom. Then they go on to say that the reason why most people have hard lives is because the 1% has hoarded all of the money. The part about wealth collecting at the top is true, but the part about this being the reason why people have hard lives is false. Let me explain.
It’s true that wealth collects at the top. This is called the Pareto distribution. I find this idea particularly fascinating because it’s one of those concepts that is pointed out in the Bible long before it is discovered by man. Jesus makes such a clear reference to the Pareto distribution in the Gospel of Matthew that it has become well known as the Matthew effect. Furthermore, the Pareto distribution even applies in places where human beings have never been. There appears to be only one way to counter or reverse the Pareto distribution – and the Bible tells us what it is. So let’s break this down together.
What is the Pareto distribution? The Pareto distribution is an idea that in any given domain 80% of the resource potential will be controlled by 20% of the participants. It is named after the Italian civil engineer, economist, and sociologist Vilfredo Pareto. So if you have 10 people working in a group – 80% of the creative power will collect around just 2 of the people across time. This is why in capitalistic, laissez-faire societies the resources tend to collect at the top 10-20% – forming an elite. This is observable across all of human history where markets have been set free to operate in optimal conditions.
The Pareto distribution presents a problem because, across time, the resources will continue to collect at the top and create an ever-increasing divide between the upper 10-20% and the lower 80-90%. Historically, this divide would be allowed to grow until the lower 80% unites against the upper 20% and strips them of their resources. That is a sub-optimal solution, however, because the lower 80% will take those resources and set up markets which will then follow the Pareto distribution right back into the same problem.
If that doesn’t seem troubling enough, the Pareto distribution is not something that is caused by human beings. We can observe it happening in trees in the Amazon rain forest. The taller trees have access to more sunlight and thus grow even taller. We see it happening in stars. The larger stars have a stronger gravitational pull and thus gain even more mass. The Pareto distribution appears to be a law that is built into the universe.
Here’s where things get really interesting: Jesus Christ tells us about the Pareto distribution more than 1800 years before Vilfredo Pareto is born. Christ says this:
For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
That’s from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 25 verse 29.
In order to properly understand this verse we should think about it in its context – it comes from Christ’s Parable of the Talents, which reads this:
For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
So when I first read through that parable I thought: that sounds really harsh. Then I took a look at the world. The world is also really harsh in its observance of the Pareto distribution. The universe doesn’t care how you feel about it – it still happens. And so it makes sense that the most loving thing God could do is make us aware of this law and tell us how to protect against it. That’s right – there’s actually a way human beings can act to reverse the Pareto distribution. But I don’t want to get to that until the end of the episode.
For right now, we can agree with the socialists that wealth collects at the top. But they also claim that wealth inequality is the basis for most people having a hard life. In other words, if we redistribute the wealth we will usher in a better world. And that’s where they go off the rails. You see, hidden in their claim is the assumption that economic class struggle is the source of all pain and suffering. They believe that if you simply provide for each individual’s economic well being, that individual will become a better person and make positive contributions to society. This just isn’t true.
One problem with this assumption is the claim that poverty breeds corruption. You can’t demonstrate this to be true because there are plenty of poor people who maintain their integrity and are not corrupt. There are plenty of wealthy people who have no integrity and are corrupt. So while there is a correlation between poverty and corruption, it is not a causal relationship. The main reasons why any domain suffers chronic poverty actually emerge from individual character: lack of value for human life; refusal to commit; breakdown of the family; drug and alcohol abuse; disrespect for law and authority. If you correct these issues, you frequently correct the poverty. But I am going to plant a flag in favor of the socialists on this point. People who live in abject poverty have very little motivation to fix the aforementioned issues and even if they are motivated they can’t afford the training or the access to those who can help them recover.
One other huge issue the socialists are missing is the fact that many things other than poverty contribute to the tragedy of life. Billionaires have died young of cancer. For most of human history, life has been characterized by men and women working together in a bloody struggle against nature itself. And even if you are rich, that doesn’t save you from the trauma of encountering human malevolence. It might even make you a bigger target. If you yourself are saddled down with the character issues I mentioned above – it’s very likely that increased money would just fund your misbehavior and make it more damaging.
So we know that we have to produce hierarchies because we have to solve problems or else we all die. We also know that wealth inequality is inevitable because of the Pareto distribution. We can see that redistributing this wealth will not make society better. What makes society better is good people who do their best to adhere to a transcendent moral code. Wealth increases a good person’s ability to do good. But wealth also increases an evil person’s ability to do evil. So even if we eliminate poverty, this effort will not eliminate corruption. And those who are corrupt will likely return to poverty.
The pieces we have not yet accounted for are the people who can’t afford help even if they want it, and the people who by their nature are destined to be at the bottom of the hierarchies. These are people who have physical or mental disabilities. We have to do something about these people who are stuck at the bottom because if they are ignored their numbers will grow. Once the hierarchies within your society have dispossessed enough people, the hierarchies themselves become unstable and are in danger of crashing down. So doing something about the people at the bottom is not optional.
Jesus helped the people who were disenfranchised and He commanded us to do this as well. But does that make Jesus a socialist? Let’s take a look at some of the more frequently mentioned passages. Matthew 25:31-46:
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,[f] you did it to me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Well that is crystal clear. This is a firm and terrifying injunction from the Lord Himself that we are called to give aid to the least of people. But notice that there is no mention of governments in this passage. In fact, there’s not even a mention of these helpers being collectives of people – beyond the fact that all of humanity is standing together there at the judgment. No, this injunction is pointed straight at the individual. Straight at you. You are the one who is responsible for helping those in need when you are able. Not the state, not the government, in this passage not even the church – just you. Let’s hear what Paul says in Galatians 6:1-10:
6 Brothers,[a] if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.5 For each will have to bear his own load.
6 Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. 7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Again it is very clear: we are called to help our neighbor. And again the command is aimed at the individual. Paul goes so far as to say that we shouldn’t even be looking at how much others are doing in their efforts to help. He says let each one test his own work. Your responsibility to help out those in need is between you and God. You can virtue signal all day long – but God knows your heart, He knows what you are truly capable of, and He knows whether or not you’re doing it.
So what about fellowship? If all of this emphasis is laid at the feet of individuals, is there any value in the fellowship of believers? The answer is yes, absolutely. Listen to Acts 2:42-47:
42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe[d] came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Ooh, we’re getting awful close to socialism there! Here we see individuals making sacrifices for the benefit of the group. We also see wealth redistribution. But it’s what we don’t see that matters. We still don’t see the state and we also don’t see any kind of force. This is a voluntary effort for each person involved. The voluntary nature of this economic arrangement is further developed in verse 46 where it says they had glad and generous hearts. These people weren’t giving of themselves against their own will. And look what happens when two of them try to do just that – Acts 5:1-11:
5 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” 5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. 6 The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.
7 After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you[a] sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” 9 But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10 Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.11 And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.
The big problem here is that Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit. And Peter couldn’t even understand why they did this because the truth is that the property was theirs to give up if they wanted to and the proceeds were theirs to dispose of as they saw fit. So it didn’t make any sense to try and be deceptive about it. At no point were any of the believers forced to give up their goods on behalf of the church. At no point is God going to force you to help the needy, either. Because forced obedience is not what God is after. In 2 Corinthians 9:6-14 Paul says:
6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully[d] will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency[e] in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 9 As it is written,
“He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever.”
10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. 12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. 13 By their approval of this service, they[f] will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, 14 while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you.15 Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!
God wants you to give to the church and help the needy of your own free will. Because when you do it of your own free will, that means you are doing it out of love. Love is how you reverse the Pareto distribution and how you make this fallen universe a little bit less corrupt. Love is the truth of the Gospel. Love is what makes the neighbors in a community look after each other and help each other when they need it. Love is what makes a family the source of stability for any of the members who fall on hard times. Love is why Jesus died on a cross so that you might live. He told us to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. When we do this, there is no need for socialism.
I want to end this by saying that I understand why the socialists are acting out of compassion for the dispossessed. It’s hard to live in a fallen world and watch people struggle. But I would like them to consider these final questions:
If you take away the opportunity for the individual to be generous out of his or her own free will – out of love – and you give that responsibility to the state instead, do you really think the world will be better for it? Do you really think the world will straighten itself out when love is exchanged for forced compliance? Or do you think that forced compliance will lead to even more vitriol, division, and mistrust of your neighbor? Do you think that in the midst of this chaos one will emerge whose heart is not set on compassion – but on power – and he will occupy the vehicle that you labored so hard to construct. That vehicle of full, total, centralized power. What will he do when he gets there? Will it be from each according to their ability and to each according to their need? Or will it be us pretending to work and them pretending to pay us? Will we be the first ones to usher in the utopia, despite the long history of 100% failure? Or will the absolute power corrupt absolutely, until a totalitarian vision emerges the end of which justifies any means?
Jesus is not a socialist. Jesus is there to take care of those who need Him because Jesus loves them. And perhaps if we stopped trying to fix the system and started trying to fix ourselves we could be a little more like Jesus. Any maybe if all of us did our best to love a little more like that, we wouldn’t need to be socialists anymore.
If you find this content valuable, feel free to share it and to use it in your own studies. If you’d like to support this podcast, you can do so at www.patreon.com/michaelhbaun. There is a link in the description. Your generosity goes a long way to promoting the growth of this enterprise and the cause of free speech. Thank you all for joining me this evening, and I will see you in the next episode.
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