God’s System of Fairness

The companion podcast is here.

Recently on Faith Radio, I suggested that God’s system of fairness and our system of fairness in America are two different things.  I stuck my neck out just a bit because I was speaking out of my intuition, not my research.  Then I committed to having researched this topic of fairness enough that I could speak to it on-air the following week.  Hence, in this post, I’ll do a brief review of how America thinks of fairness and then compare it to what I believe the Bible has to say about fairness.

How Americans View Fairness

In America, the concept of fairness is closely linked to the concept of equality. Danah Boyd at The Message writes:

“In the United States, fairness has historically been a battle between equality and equity. Equality is the notion that everyone should have an equal opportunity. It’s the core of meritocracy and central to the American Dream. Preferential treatment is seen as antithetical to equality and the root of corruption. And yet, as civil rights leaders have long argued, we don’t all start out from the same place. Privilege matters. As a result, we’ve seen historical battles over equity, arguing that fairness is only possible when we take into account systemic marginalization and differences of ability, opportunity, and access.”

Fairness and Equity are American Values boasts the Huffington Post. But The Atlantic notes that People don’t Actually Want Equality, They Want Fairness: “…in his just-published book, On Inequality, the philosopher Harry Frankfurt argues that economic equality has no intrinsic value. This is a moral claim, but it’s also a psychological one: Frankfurt suggests that if people take the time to reflect, they’ll realize that inequality isn’t really what’s bothering them.

People might be troubled by what they see as unjust causes of economic inequality, a perfectly reasonable concern given how much your income and wealth are determined by accidents of birth, including how much money your parents had, your sex, and the color of your skin. We are troubled as well by potential consequences of economic inequality. We may think it corrodes democracy, or increases crime, or diminishes overall happiness. Most of all, people worry about poverty—not that some have less, but rather “that those with less have too little.”

Difficult to Define Fair

It appears that while we value fairness and equality as a nation, we also have a hard time defining what constitutes fair given that we accept some inequality and unfairness in the real world as being within an acceptable continuum.  The Guardian noted as much in their article The Science of Inequality: Why People Prefer Unequal Societies?:  “…people appear to view the equal distribution of resources as a moral good; they express anger toward those who benefit from unequal distributions. This outrage is sufficiently strong that subjects will pay to punish unequal distributors.”

Yet, in the real world, studies show that we are less giving or altruistic in our fairness…one might expect that when people are asked to distribute resources across a real-world group of people, they would choose an equal distribution of resources across all segments of society. But they do not. A recent study by Norton and Ariely received well-deserved media attention as it showed that people both underestimate the amount of inequality in our society, and prefer a more egalitarian society to the one they think they live in…the authors describe their studies as examining “disagreements about the optimal level of wealth inequality”, and report the finding of “a surprising level of consensus: all demographic groups – even those not usually associated with wealth redistribution, such as Republicans and the wealthy – desired a more equal distribution of wealth than the status quo”.

An article by Ariely was titled: “Americans want to live in a much more equal country (they just don’t realize it)”…These summaries are accurate: participants in these studies did prefer more equality than the current situation. But the results also suggest that they were not particularly worried about large inequalities [emphasis added]. Instead, these subjects claimed that, in the perfect society, individuals in the top 20% should have more than three times as much money as individuals in the bottom 20%…When they were given a forced choice between equal and unequal distributions of wealth, and told to assume that they would be randomly assigned to be anyone from the richest to the poorest person (that is, a “veil of ignorance”), over half of the subjects explicitly rejected the option of an equal distribution of wealth, preferring inequality. Thus, the data suggest that when it comes to real-world distributions of wealth, people have a preference for a certain amount of inequality.

This preference for inequality materializes in 16 other countries, across people on both the left and right of the political spectrum, and in teenagers. As Norton puts it: “People exhibit a desire for inequality – not too equal, but not too unequal.”…How can this preference for inequality in the real world be reconciled with the strong preference for equality found in laboratory studies? We suggest this discrepancy arises because the laboratory findings do not, in fact, provide evidence that an aversion to inequality is driving the preference for equal distribution. Instead, these findings are all consistent with both a preference for equality and a preference for fairness – because the studies are designed so that the equal outcome is also the fair one .” [emphasis added]

So it appears that, within an acceptable range (which is difficult to define and one that has different spectrum across different people and cultures), inequality is thought to be fair – or at least relatively fair. And studies that purport to measure fairness are inherently assumption biases.

I’ve always asserted that freedom is messy and not fair.  In a laisse-faire society (which we do not have), we should expect some unpleasant messiness and inherent unfairness.  Freedom is messy in the sense that it allows people to make poor choices – choices which place burdens on society.  And in a free society, equally talented and smart people will make different choices about work, debt, family and so forth, resulting in different outcomes.

When asked if people prefer freedom over fairness, David Callahan asserts that Americans want freedom first: “…Which value has more traction in America, freedom or fairness? The answer is clearly freedom. But before saying more on that score, let me also say that Americans care enormously about fairness, too. It’s that just when push comes to shove, and Americans perceive a trade-off between these two values, they’ll tend to go with freedom.”  Yet Callahan pointed to no research to support his claim.  But he is in good company.  Take a moment and watch this Youtube video of Milton Friedman discussing Fairness vs. Freedom on the Phil Donahue Show.

It seems to me, most often, that fairness is used as the rational – at least in part – to right wrongs – to set right a situation or inequity that was tolerated by past generations. Fairness is closely linked to justice.  An injustice is thought to be an unfairness. Righting the injustice is tantamount to bringing fairness to a situation.  The means by which fairness is brought to bear on an unfair situation is less important to most Americans than the belief that fairness – justice – needs to be achieved.  This is a moral as well as a pragmatic issue for most Americans.  Outcomes often trump process.

To sum up, American value fairness and equality.  But what constitutes fairness is elastic and can mean different things to different people in the same situation.  And when push comes to shove, Americans will value freedom over fairness, though most will work to accomplish both.

As a Christian and a business owner, I’ll ask two simple questions:  A) what is God’s system of Fairness and how does a Christian Business Owner use God’s system of fairness in his or her business?  It is to these two questions to which we turn our attention.

Fairness Starts with the Sovereignty of God

I start with the notion that God is greater than man.  Not just a bit greater, but infinitely greater.  God is omnipotent, omnipresent, immutable, omniscient, righteous, transcendent, one, loving, infinite, incorporeal, incomprehensible, impeccable, holy, good, and independent.  (These are just some of the attributes of God).  Note that we humans are none of these things in the way God is.  For example, we might be loving people, but we cannot love as God loves both in terms of intensity and purity.

I say all this to assert the following:  whatever ideas we may have about fairness – what fair is – is not nearly as important as what God says fairness is.  God gets to define what fair is because He is God. We have no business questioning Him or evaluating His decisions.

In Romans 9, we find Paul making this same assertion – that God, in His Sovereignty – should not be questioned even though His decisions might be considered unfair by us:

⁶ It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. ⁷ Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” ^g 8 In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. ⁹ For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son. ¹⁰ Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. ¹¹ Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: ¹² not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” ^n 13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” ¹⁴ What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! ¹⁵ For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” ¹⁶ It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. ¹⁷ For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” ¹⁸ Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. ¹⁹ One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will? ²⁰ But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? [emphasis added] “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” ²¹ Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?”

Romans 9.6-21

Hence, we can see that even though God’s hardening of some for His own purposes might be “unfair” from our perspective, we are not to question God’s decisions and ways, precisely because we are humans and He is God.  If God chooses to harden some for His glory, who are we to question Him?

In the same way, God’s forgiveness is also fair or just, as John notes in 1 John 1.8-9:

⁸ “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

1 John 1.8-9

The point which God made here is that if we confess our sins, it is fair (just) for Him to forgive our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  Why would He need to say that? Well, not only to remind us of the glorious truth that our sins can be totally and completely forgiven, but also to assert that what Jesus endured on our behalf was totally unfair to Him.  Even though God directed Christ to endure the cross and Christ did so voluntarily, what man did to God was fully unjust – completely unfair – and that is why we are reminded that when God forgives our sin, His act is “just” or “fair”, because Christ bore the penalty for our sin and endured the full wrath of God for our sin.

When you’re on the positive end of an unfairness, the unfairness won’t bother you nearly as much as if you’re on the negative end.  Since it was God who was on the negative end of the cross and we are on the positive end, it’s easy for us to forget just how unfair God’s forgiveness is to Him.

This bleeds into God’s system of justice, which is substitutionary, rather than individual.  You see, in America, when a person commits a crime, that person must pay for his/her crime.  If it is a speeding ticket, a check is written by the one who committed the crime, and the matter is settled.  If it is murder, then the one who committed the murder will spend years – perhaps a lifetime – in prison for his/her crime. In some states, s/he will be put to death.  The courts won’t allow someone else to serve out the murder’s sentence.  The individual who commits the crime pays for the crime.  Even if he confesses his crime in court and asks for forgiveness, the court will still sentence him to time in prison because an American court cannot forgive a crime without being unjust. Someone must pay.  There is no one available to the courts to pay for this person’s crime.

In God’s system of justice, forgiveness, confession and justice are intertwined (See Justice is Never Enough).  If a person commits murder and does not accept Christ as Savior and Lord, then that person will pay for his crime in Hell.  However, if a person commits murder, then confesses his sin to God and accepts Christ as the Savior and Lord of his life, then the payment for his murder is transferred to Christ, who bore all of God’s wrath on the cross, so the payment is satisfied and that person can spend eternity with God, never having to pay for his murder himself.  But either way, the penalty for the crime is paid, either by Christ or by the offender.

Only God, who is sovereign over all, can create a substitutionary system of justice and have the sovereignty to declare what is and isn’t fair completely on His own.

God’s System of Fairness can be Learned

Left to our own devices, we will not learn God’s ways of fairness.  But His system of fairness can be learned, as we read in Proverbs 2.1-11:

¹My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, ² turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding— ³ indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, ⁴ and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, ⁵ then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. ⁶ For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. ⁷ He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, ⁸ for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. ⁹ Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. [emphasis added] ¹⁰ For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. ¹¹ Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.

Proverbs 2.1-11

Note that God promises we can learn what is fair if we A) accept God’s words and store up his commands within us and B) apply ourselves fully to seek out insight and understanding.  Again, starting with God – learning His words and storing up (“treasure” = “store up”) His commands while we also strive to find insight and understanding is the way that we will learn God’s system of fairness. To my knowledge, it is not taught didactically in Scripture.  It seems to be more learned through experience and a study of the Scriptures.  Perhaps a better way to say it is that when we allow God to transform our minds, we will be more able to understand what is fair in God’s mind.

What Can We Learn About Fairness from the Bible?

In spite of the Proverbs passage, we can learn some of how God thinks about what is fair by simply reading the Bible.

The Last will be First and the First will be Last – This is Fair

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. ² He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. ³ “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. ⁴ He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ ⁵ So they went. “He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. ⁶ About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ ⁷ “ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ ⁸ “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ ⁹ “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. ¹⁰ So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. ¹¹ When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ¹² ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ ¹³ “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. ¹⁵ Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ ¹⁶ “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Matthew 20.1-16

We learn several things here, all of which are fair in God’s system of fairness:

1. Our reward from God is entirely dependent on His generosity – this is fair
2. Reversing expected order by God is entirely fair
3. Keeping your word is fair
4. Similar agreements need not be equal in order for them to be fair

We are Rewarded for Faithfulness

Take a look at the parable of the Talents:

¹⁴ “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. ¹⁵ To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. ¹⁶ The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. ¹⁷ So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. ¹⁸ But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. ¹⁹ “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. ²⁰ The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’ ²¹ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ ²² “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’ ²³ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ ²⁴ “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. ²⁵ So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ ²⁶ “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? ²⁷ Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. ²⁸ “ ‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. ²⁹ For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. ³⁰ And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Matthew 25.14-30

What can we learn about fairness from this parable?

1. God rewards faithfulness more than sheer productivity – this is fair
2. God punishes unfaithfulness – this is fair too
3. Those who knew God best were able to be faithful to Him
4. There is an eternal perspective to present-day events which helps inform our concepts of fairness

How Can we Use God’s System of Fairness in our Businesses?

May I offer several ideas for you, the Christian Business Owner, to consider?

First, some Federal and State regulations are in conflict with God’s system of fairness.  Since His system is not spelled out verse by verse, I think you’re on thin ice to disobey these regulations based on your Christian conscious – but this will be your decision.

Secondly, reward faithfulness as much as you reward productivity.  It seems to me this more closely approximates God’s generosity toward us. For example, you might decide to give $100 commission for selling a widget to your sales team.  But you might also decide to give them $20 if they genuinely tried to make the sale and the customer’s denial was totally outside their control.  In this case, you might reward them for their faithfulness to you, the company and the sales process.  To my way of thinking, this would honor God.

Thirdly, let your staff get to know your heart and your passions.  It is nearly impossible for your staff to properly steward your business if they don’t know you well.  If you love them, honor them and are generous with them, they are more likely to steward well the entrustments you have given them.

Lastly, as the Christian Business Owner, you need to draw close to God so that you can understand what is truly fair and unfair in your day-to-day operations.  As a Christian Business Owner, you’re constantly making tradeoff decisions, so understanding what is fair is essential to good leadership and good employee relations.

Summary

In this post, I have attempted to scratch the surface of how Americans view fairness and how God’s system of fairness is so different than ours.  An exhaustive look at this topic would require a book – one which I don’t plan to write.  But to the extent this is helpful to you, I’ll be glad to have stirred your thinking.

Bill English, Publisher
Bible and Business