When profits are consistently achieved ethically, sustainability is achieved for the owner, employees, and the community. Hence, a third purpose for business can be stated this way: Business exists to create profits, which provides the business sustainability that allows the owner to fulfil the other five purposes. Profits are a good indicator on excesses in the other purposes: If one of the other purposes gets out of balance, profits will suffer. When profits suffer, the owner should look to see if another purpose is being over- or under-emphasised.
Matthew 25:14-30
The Scriptures have much to say about economic profits. God expects an economic return on His economic-based entrustments to us. The parable of the five talents from Matthew 25:14-30 instructs us:
14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 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.’ 21 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.’ 22 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.’ 23 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.’ 24 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, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 26 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? 27 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. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 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. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Observations about Matthew 25:14-30
This parable should not be allegorised to be mainly about spiritual gifts when a more plain reading makes better sense and creates fewer questions. The New International Version translates “talents” as “bags of gold.” D.A. Carson (1984:516) writes: “The departure and the property are integral parts of the story and should not be allegorised [to refer to the Ascension and the gifts of the Spirit], though doubtless some early readers after Pentecost read these into the text.” We see the master giving his servants real money. The faithful servants used that money to create more financial wealth. The newly created wealth was given back to their master. The master rewarded those who created wealth with more of the master’s presence and were given more management and stewardship responsibilities.
The overall focus of the parable is faithfulness
Because God gives certain stewards the ability to create wealth (Deuteronomy 8:10-18), the amount of wealth created is less important than the fact that wealth is created. For a business owner entrusted with the ability to create wealth, not creating profit is an abdication of that owner’s stewardship responsibility, while creating profit is living out God’s entrustment to the owner.
This parable illustrates that profits are a renewable resource
The master assumed the servants could create more profit and trusted the servants to do this. Any argument about economics that assumes a fixed pie—a zero-sum game—is not consistent with this passage. Profits have been and always will be a renewable resource given the right political and economic systems.
It is biblical to hold to the notion that profits are good when earned legally and ethically
Profits are a social, economic, and spiritual good. Christian business owners should not be ashamed to run profitable businesses. Without the wealth-creating engine of business, nonprofit entities would not exist. All non-profit organisations are supported, ultimately, by profitable businesses. Non-profit corporations are not strengthened by injuring for-profit businesses.
More Biblical Passages on Profits
Several familiar stories in the Bible could not have occurred without the presence of profit. For example, the good Samaritan (Luke 10.30-37) could not have taken place without the Samaritan having the financial ability to pay for the wounded man’s care. At some point in the life of this Samaritan, a profitable business existed in the Samaritan’s life.
Recall Boaz in the book of Ruth. Boaz was a man of means, employing servants and owning fields from which his servants harvested. Boaz purchased from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion, and Mahlon, and in the transaction, acquired Run, Mahlon’s widow (Ruth 4:1-12). Boaz had the financial ability to make these purchases. Boaz had margin. Boaz knew how to create profit. Having profit and savings enabled Boaz to fulfill his duties.
One last example is Joanna and Susanna in Luke 8:1-3. Joanna and Susanna financially supported the ministry of Christ. These funds may have come from savings or perhaps family inheritance. These women may have scaled back personal spending to give more to Christ’s ministry, but either way, Joanna and Susanna had access to funds, and at least a portion of those funds were used to support Christ’s ministry. Those funds, at some point, must have come from a profitable business, though, with Joanna’s husband being the household manager for Herod, some of the funds may have come from a large salary earned by Chuza.
Profits are a result of hard work
Consider Proverbs 14:23: “In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.” Consider also Proverbs 21:5: “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.” These two verses in Proverbs teach that in order to achieve economic profit, diligence will be needed. Creating profits will require hard work. And the hard work will need to be committed over a sustained period. Profits come to those who persist in hard work.
Profits are sometimes withheld as a result of sin
This principle is best illustrated in Haggai 1:1-10:
“In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. This is what the Lord Almighty says. “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.’ Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai. “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”Now this is what the Lord Almighty says. “Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” This is what the Lord Almighty says. “Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord. “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”
When a business owner persistently disobeys God, the owner runs the risk of God calling for a drought on the owner’s businesses and productivity as a way get the owner’s attention. Taylor and Clendenen (2004:131-132) write:
“They [Israel] had expected much in return for their hard labor and sustained efforts, but their anticipations had not come to fruition. Instead, the return for their work had been poor agricultural conditions resulting in failed crops, spiraling inflation accompanied by miserably low incomes, and a standard of living that plunged many of them into despair and depression. No doubt some of them were led to ask, as people of faith have often asked with regard to disappointing circumstances, “Why has the Lord not prevented all of this?”…After all, the return to the land had been undertaken in the belief that the Lord was finally bringing to an end the disciplinary hardships of the exile and was at long last renewing his magnanimous blessing upon a restored covenantal people. But those optimistic expectations were not being realized in any tangible sort of way. Instead of prosperity there was economic depression; instead of abundance there was deprivation; instead of joy there was frustration over present difficulties and anxiety with regard to the future. A heavy cloud of discouragement cast its darkening shadows over the people. Haggai’s reply was not that the Lord had somehow been passively removed from their plight or had carelessly failed to notice what was going on. Rather, according to Haggai, it was the Lord who had actually caused their misfortunes! In a vivid anthropomorphism Haggai says that what little advantage the people were able to collect from their labors the Lord himself “blew away” (nāpaḥtî). And why had he done so? It was because of their decision to leave the temple in ruins while they expended tremendous efforts on their own dwellings.”
Hence, this Haggai passage illustrates that when Christian business owners place God’s house—God’s agenda, wants, and desires—second to the owner’s agenda, wants, and desires, then the owner is sinning and God will respond in kind.
Profits created through wickedness and oppression do not last.
Consider Job 20.12-23:
“Though evil is sweet in his mouth, though he hides it under his tongue, 13 though he is loath to let it go and holds it in his mouth, 14 yet his food is turned in his stomach; it is the venom of cobras within him. 15 He swallows down riches and vomits them up again; God casts them out of his belly. 16 He will suck the poison of cobras; the tongue of a viper will kill him. 17 He will not look upon the rivers, the streams flowing with honey and curds. 18 He will give back the fruit of his toil and will not swallow it down; from the profit of his trading he will get no enjoyment. 19 For he has crushed and abandoned the poor; he has seized a house that he did not build. 20 “Because he knew no contentment in his belly, he will not let anything in which he delights escape him. 21 There was nothing left after he had eaten; therefore his prosperity will not endure. 22 In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress; the hand of everyone in misery will come against him. 23 To fill his belly to the full, God will send his burning anger against him and rain it upon him into his body.”
The wicked man enjoys sin for as long as possible—“getting out of it everything he can” (Reyburn, 1992:375)—it will taste sweet in his mouth. But once wickedness is fully baked into the owner’s life (“yet his food is turned in his stomach”), that initial sweetness becomes bitter and perhaps even poisonous. Such wickedness will result in the owner giving back what the owner has attained. Why? Because the owner has oppressed the poor. The owner has left them destitute and wrongfully taken the homes of the poor. Because the owner’s greed knew no rest, the owner will not retain or save anything the owner’s heart desires. The owner will continually be discontented, empty, and full of cravings that can never be satisfied. Reyburn (1992:380) writes: “This line is idiomatic; “to know no quietness in the belly” is the equivalent of saying “his insides are never at ease,” that is, “he is always gluttonous, greedy, piggish.” This line may be rendered, for example, “His appetite is never satisfied,” “He can never get enough,” or “He always wants more than he gets.”
When Christians avoid profits that were attained through oppressive ends, they prosper. Proverbs 28:16 says: “A ruler who lacks understanding is a cruel oppressor, but he who hates unjust gain will prolong his days. Isaiah 33:15-16 says: “He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil, he will dwell on the heights; his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks; his bread will be given him; his water will be sure.” Those who have a visceral disdain for profits gained unjustly and who keep from doing so will endure, be secure, and be resourced well by God.
Using religion to create personal wealth is an abomination in the sight of God.
There are numerous examples of people creating profits through religious activities. For example, in Numbers 22:16-17, Balaam is given the opportunity to get rich by placing a curse on Balak’s enemies. This is tantamount to using a religious position to create profit. The same temptation to get rich was offered to Peter and John in Acts 8:18–24, when Simon sees the positive effects in others who have received the Holy Spirit and thinks he can buy that ability to give the Holy Spirit to others. In 1 Samuel 2:12-17, Eli’s sons (who were thought to be the heirs apparent of Eli’s priesthood) were extorting money from the offerings people were bringing to the temple to be presented to God. Later, in verse 22, the reader learns that Eli’s sons were having sexual relations with women who served in the temple. Whether the sex was consensual or not is a detail not revealed, but either way, the sons were using the privilege of a high religious position to oppress others.
The end result is death in both the 1 Samuel and the Acts 8 story. Eli’s sons did not repent in 1 Samuel and God put them to death in battle (1 Samuel 4.11). Ironically, Eli also died the same day—God put an end to Eli’s dynasty because of the sin of Eli’s sons. In commenting on Timothy 6:4-5, Arichea and Hatton (1995:145) wrote that “the people who use religion for personal gain are the same people who display the negative attitudes of envy, dissension, slander and evil suspicions; they are the same people whose minds have become corrupt and who no longer have the truth.” God detests the use of religion for personal gain. It is an abomination to Him. When religious leaders personally profit using money entrusted to their ministry, then they are sinning and, frankly, do not deserve to be in ministry.
Bill English, Publisher
Bible and Business
Sources:
Arichea, D.C. and Hatton, H. 1995. A handbook on Paul’s letters to Timothy and to Titus. New York: United Bible Societies (UBS Handbook Series).
Carson, D. A. 1984. Matthew. In: F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House
Reyburn, W. D. 1992.A Handbook on the Book of Job. New York: United Bible Societies
Taylor, R. A., & Clendenen, E. R. 2004. Haggai, Malachi Vol. 21A, Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers
