Would Early Christians Support Government Aid?

The Bible provides a solid "Yes!"

Should Christians support the government giving aid to poor people? Is the Bible silent on this issue? There are Christians who question whether New Testament Christianity teaches this. On the surface, New Testament writers admittedly appear to be silent on this exact issue, as far as government involvement in helping the poor, but not the Bible as a whole. However, I think the question really should be this: if the New Testament leaders were living today in America would they support the government helping poor people? I believe the answer is a resounding, “Yes!”

First let’s look at why the New Testament leaders might have been silent. Mainly, they were living in areas that were dominated by the overpowering Roman Empire, which allowed only a few elite people to vote, and even those few were quickly losing power under the autocratic Caesars. Furthermore, most Christians were convinced Jesus was returning any moment. Jesus had promised his return, which they whole-heartedly believed to be any day, lessening any slight motivation (if there were any) to try to change a distant, powerful government. The expectation of Jesus’ soon return was so strong that Peter felt constrained to give a reason for the delay in his second epistle (2 Peter 3: 8, 9). Also, Paul, in a letter to the Thessalonian Christians, wrote about Jesus coming again in person and said “we who are alive will be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air. . .,” not “those who are alive . . .” (1 Thessalonians 4:17), implying that he fully expected to be alive at Jesus’ return.

As far as New Testament Christians helping the poor, we see much concern for the poor early on, with the believers selling land and property to share with the poor (Acts 2:45,45; 4:34,35). Paul urged his followers to use “every opportunity to do good to all men . . .” (Galatians 6:10) and encouraged rich Christians to use their wealth to help the poor (I Timothy 6:17-18). James, the brother of Jesus, and leader of the Church in Jerusalem, said what sounds like a moral mandate, that anyone who knows to “do good” and does not do it sins (James 4: 17). James also wrote in his epistle about the serious problem of rich people controlling the courts, when he expounded about the corrupt world of the rich, who haul poor people into courts and exploit them (James 2:6, 7; 5: 1-6).  There was certainly broad concern for helping the poor with whatever means available.

Another error comes when we forget that the Scripture which these New Testament Christians read was our Old Testament, which is full of admonitions for the Israelite rulers to care for the poor and oppressed. We need to remember that the Jewish/Hebrew government was both civil and religious. In both Deuteronomy and in Leviticus, it is written that land owners were directed to provide for the poor, “. . . do not reap to the very edges of the field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you, (Leviticus 23:22 and other references).” The year of Jubilee was a time of returning property to those who had lost their land and the freeing of slaves. The Hebrew people were not to charge interest to other Hebrews when making loans. Every third year the whole tithe was ordered to go to the Levites, the foreigners, the widows and fatherless (Deuteronomy 26:12). In Proverbs, it was written, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act” (Proverbs 3:27).

When we come to the books of the Prophets, who were frequently warning of impending doom, we find that one important concern for these prophets was the lack of care for the poor and about injustice in the courts against the poor. Here is the message from Isaiah: “Your rulers are rebels, companions of thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow’s case does not come before them” (Isaiah 1:23). Ezekiel wrote about the princes of Israel that they “oppressed the foreigner and mistreated the fatherless and the widow” (Ezekiel 22:7).

Hosea and Micah both wrote about the Lord’s desire for justice and mercy. Micah questioned what God would want the most from his people, does He require multiple sacrifices? The strong answer was “He has showed you, O mortal, what is good and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6: 7,8).  Hosea speaking the Lord’s message directly, wrote, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6).

Jeremiah later on preached an even stronger message of impending doom (which actually did happen in his lifetime), because of the nation’s practices of idolatry, as well as a lack of care for the poor and the helpless. However, he gave this encouraging message from God, “If you change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in the land I gave to your forefathers . . . “(Jeremiah 7:5 – 7).

Unfortunately, the people of Israel and Judah (now two different nations) did not repent of their idolatry or their lack of justice and care for the poor. So, they both went into captivity, though at two different times. When the people of the nation of Judah finally returned to their homeland many years later, Nehemiah, the current governor, had to correct the wealthy for mistreating their poor neighbors by taking the poor into slavery and for charging interest to the poor. Nehemiah made them give back the people’s lands and the money that had been extorted as interest against fellow Jews. This was a government demonstrating care and justice for the poor (Nehemiah 5:1 – 13).

In Jesus time, the Roman Empire often allowed conquered people groups to maintain puppet governments, so the Jews were able to make and enforce many of their own laws as long as Rome got the taxes they wanted and any uprisings were put down. Therefore, religious laws, such as a prohibition of work on the Sabbath and requirements to make certain sacrifices at feast days were current laws of the land. Jesus often pushed back against the corrupt religious/quasi-legal system. Jesus criticized the religious leaders for encouraging people to declare their wealth “Corban,” meaning a commitment of money to the temple, thus preventing these people from using that money for their poor elderly parents (Mark 7:9).

Furthermore, Jesus acted out a solitary act of protest against a corrupt system when he overturned the tables in the temple. He drove out the money changers from the temple, calling them thieves (Mark 11:15-17). Why did he call them thieves? They were cheating people during the money change process. For background on this situation, the people had to use Roman money for day-to-day commerce, but sacrifices were required to be bought at the temple with Hebrew money, hence the need for money changers on required feast days. During the process of exchanging Roman coins for Hebrew coins, the money changers were cheating the poor, which is why Jesus called them thieves.

Jesus’ teachings often focused on money, stewardship and giving to the poor. In one teaching He spoke of end times when Christians would be held accountable for how they treated the hungry, the naked, those in prison and the stranger (translated foreigner or homeless). In fact, Jesus showed such strong identity to the poor that He said in essence, “When you failed to care for these least ones, you failed to care for me” (Matthew 25:35.)

The early first and second century Church followed the teachings of Jesus, Paul, James and the Old Testament to care for the poor in impressive ways. These dedicated Christians, often very poor themselves, gained a strong reputation for being people who took care of any and all poor people in their neighborhoods.

There are some who say that we should be like the early church, and the church should be the ones to take care of the poor, not the government. That approach sounds very noble and spiritual, but in practical reality, the “Church” in general is too fragmented, with only a few churches doing anything in the way of direct aid. In many rural communities, local churches don’t have the resources to do much for the poor in their area and churches in towns usually require residence in their town. Furthermore, individual Christian commitment to help the poor tends to be weak and sparse. Many active church goers seem to think, “I tithe to the church. That’s all I’m required to do.” However, churches are organizations with little left over to purchase food for a food pantry. Church pantries that do exist are basically “band aids,” which can help in an emergency, but what they give is not sufficient for ongoing support. There are many other needs in modern society that churches are not well equipped to provide for, such as health care and child care for low income families. Trying to care for the poor solely by the Church is an inefficient, scattered type of care, that fails to meet the needs of most of the poor. We need a unified, organized approach to be efficient.

Looking at the Old Testament, we found teachings on the importance of government taking care for the poor, with justice and mercy. Combine these teachings with directives from the New Testament to use “every opportunity to do good,” as a moral responsibility, and we see that it’s quite likely that New Testament Christian leaders, if living today, would give heavy support for using government to provide aid to needy people, whenever possible, as well as encouraging more work from local churches to fill in the gap for help where needed. In our country, as a democracy, we have the opportunity to fulfill these Biblical mandates. Let’s recognize our opportunities, and with prayerful thoughtfulness and wisdom, make good use of our government as well as any available help from local churches.