The Protestant Love Ethic

While in pagan mythologies Wisdom and Love are two very different and often-conflicting goddesses, in the Bible, Sophia is both. The evidence is not only in Canticles but in Proverbs. Proverbs is the love book.

Let your fountain be blessed,
and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
a lovely deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight;
be intoxicated always in her love.

Hatred stirs up strife,
but love covers all offenses.

[“Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” — 1 Peter 4.8]

Better is a dinner of herbs where love is
than a fattened ox and hatred with it.

Whoever covers an offense seeks love,
but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.

[“…does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. — 1 Corinthians 13.6]

A friend loves at all times,
and a brother is born for adversity.

[Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. — 1 Corinthians 13.7]

As a book about love, Proverbs stresses peace with and help to others.

Hatred stirs up strife,
but love covers all offenses. [again]

Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense,
but a man of understanding remains silent.
Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets,
but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered.

The beginning of strife is like letting out water,
so quit before the quarrel breaks out.

It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife,
but every fool will be quarreling.

And more conventional “charity” is also covered. Helping the poor is an important concern in Proverbs:

Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner,
but blessed is he who is generous to the poor.

Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker,
but he who is generous to the needy honors him.

Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker;
he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD,
and he will repay him for his deed.

Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor
will himself call out and not be answered.

Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed,
for he shares his bread with the poor.

And yet along with all these imperatives to love and share and promote peace, we find the basics of the market ethics laid out. In fact, in the second section of Proverbs, it is laid out right at the beginning. Proverbs 10.1-5:

The proverbs of Solomon.

A wise son makes a glad father,
but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother.
Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit,
but righteousness delivers from death.
The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry,
but he thwarts the craving of the wicked.
A slack hand causes poverty,
but the hand of the diligent makes rich.
He who gathers in summer is a prudent son,
but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame.

Notice the argument of these first five verses that set up everything that follows:

  1. You can be wise or foolish
  2. You can try to steal, plunder, or cheat but God will not allow you to prosper.
  3. The way of prosperity is faithful work. That is the wise way to go. Don’t be a shameful/foolish son.

In the second of the awesome Keynes v. Hayek rap-videos, “Hayek” pleads:

We need stable rules and real market prices
So prosperity emerges and cuts short the crisis
Give us a chance so we can discover
The most valuable ways serve one another

I know that Hayek’s claim that the market is a means of serving others will meet with mockery and derision by some. But “Hayek” is obviously right and wise. Solomon would agree. Right along with loving your wife and refusing the ways of violence and theft and deceit (“force and fraud” as the Libertarians would put it) is the command to work hard, to save money, and to try with all diligence to become rich if possible.

A slack hand causes poverty,
but the hand of the diligent makes rich.

One gives freely, yet grows all the richer;
another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.

Whoever loves pleasure will be a poor man;
he who loves wine and oil will not be rich.

The reward for humility and fear of the LORD
is riches and honor and life.

Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty;
open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread.

What shows that we live in a foolish age is that we don’t see how all these imperatives to love entail and demand imperatives to work hard and save in order to build wealth. But it is the most obvious thing in the world:

How do you love your neighbor?

You help them out in their time of need.

How else?

Many ways.

And what don‘t you do?

You don’t rob or kill them.

Duh.

But a major point of Proverbs is that decisions to do right and refrain from wrong demand other decisions so that you can become a person who can do right. In this case, if you don’t want to take from others, you need to endeavor to provide for yourself. If it is more blessed to give than receive then it is more blessed to produce than to consume. And if you can’t support yourself, how can you ever help others? You will be too busy begging them to help you, and resisting the urge to steal from them. As the Apostle Paul summarized:  “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need” (Ephesians 4.28).

Supporting oneself is fundamentally an act of loving one’s neighbor. Not everyone is able to do it, but everyone should want to do so. Because everyone is supposed to love.

In other words, if “capitalism” means a free market (rather than a crony kleptocracy), then to oppose capitalism is to oppose love and promote hatred.

Capitalism is the Marxist term for Christian society.

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3 thoughts on “The Protestant Love Ethic

  1. Mark Butler

    Good observations Mark. American Christians for too long have been crusaders who wish to use the law to instill virtue and change the habits of undesirables (contrary to the teachings of Paul and Christ), while ignoring much weightier issues. The FedGov uses the Federal Reserve to fund unjust and unnecessary wars, to inflate the money supply, thus debasing the currency and robbing the poor of their savings. Where was the Christian outcry against unjust weights and measures when Nixon closed the gold window? The book of Amos is largely about God’s anger with the people over their corrupt dealings in the market place – a good portion of which involved debasement of the currency. I’d love to read an exposition of Amos centered around these issues.

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