For Christians, the arrival of Jesus Christ changed the world. For believers, he came to take away the sins of humanity, even if you don’t believe that his historical influence is extraordinary. he inspired the world’s largest religion with over 2 billion adherents. The western calendar is even measured in years since his birth. And yet, despite that, few people agree with what he taught.
Was Jesus a socialist or a capitalist? A lot of people like to say Jesus was a communist or Jesus was a socialist. I believe Jesus is a capitalist. Jesus will say thank you for making money and putting people to work. Was Jesus a socialist no, you nitwits? Liberals have the traditional Jesus who hated the rich. Jesus says the rich shall be poor, and the poor shall be rich. And conservatives made up a completely new Jesus. My lord and savior was most decidedly a conservative.
Let’s start first of all with the fact that Jesus was pro-life. Jesus did not believe in government coercion to redistribute wealth or demonize the wealthy. Actually, that’s not what this is talking about either. It has nothing to do with an economic system. Let’s Find the Answer
Was Jesus A Socialist or Capitalist?
Now, that seems like a strange question maybe for us to talk about as Christians, but that Has become an actual Christian controversy. Some say, “No, Jesus was a socialist.” And some saying, “No, he was a capitalist.” It becomes part of their Christianity.
And it’s very interesting because I did a lot of research for this program, and in doing the research, two passages are used repeatedly to prove one Or the other of the arguments. And there are actually two parables that Jesus gave together, one and then the other, right At the same time. They’re in the Olivet Prophecy.
In the first of these parables, he tells the story of a man, a master, who goes off for a while. But before he leaves, he gives each of his servants talents. Talent was a measurement of money. He gives one 5; one 2; and one-one talent; and he leaves. And then he comes back and says, “Hey, what did you do with the one I gave you?” And the one who had five talents said, “Look, I’ve produced another five.” And he rewards him.
The other one says, “You gave me two and now, I have four.” And he rewards him. And then the one who had one came to him and said this. He says, “Lord, I knew that you were a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you’ve not scattered seed. And I was afraid and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there it is. Here, you have what you gave me.” And the Lord says to him, “You wicked and lazy servant.” This is used to say, “Well, this promotes capitalism.”
Well, you know, it’s interesting when you look at how Jesus introduces this parable. He says, “The kingdom of heaven is like this parable.” He’s talking about the kingdom of God. He’s talking about the values of the kingdom of God. I think it’s a bit of a stretch to say that this is teaching capitalism.
So now, let’s look at the next parable he gives, which is a parable about Jesus’ second coming. And He separates people into two groups: the sheep and the goats. And the sheep receive a reward, and the goats are punished.
And here’s what the criteria he gives. He says, “For I was hungry,” to those who received the reward,” and you gave me food. I was thirsty as well as you gave me a drink. I was an unfamiliar person, and you took me in. I was nude, and you clothed me. I was sick and also you saw me. And also, I was in prison, and you concerned me.
And the righteous say, “We don’t remember doing that. When did we ever do this to you, the Master?” As well as he says, “Surely I say to you because you did it to among the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me. And so this is used to say, “See. We should have a social consciousness. We should care for poor people. Therefore, He’s a socialist.” That’s not what he’s talking about either. It has nothing to do with an economic system. This has to do with the return of Jesus Christ, the gathering of Christians, and how they’re being judged.
Obviously, in the one parable, he says, “Not everybody is the same.” God gives different abilities, talents, and opportunities to different people in His service. What we do in His service is how we’re being judged. That’s what that’s about.
The other parable is about how we as Christians are to love and take care of poor people and destitute people and how all of a sudden, the economic system is talking about a lifestyle, a Christian lifestyle of doing this hands-on interaction with people. So the use of these two parables to say Jesus was one or the other of these economic systems or supported one or the other isn’t true.
Why Was Jesus Not A Socialist?
Let’s tackle this question was Jesus, a socialist, and here’s my argument No, you nitwits, no, he was not a socialist. And if that’s it, that’s the end of the show. We’ll just leave it there because I don’t want it’s hard. It’s hardly a statement that warrants a response because it’s so absurd, but I realize this is a popular idea even among some Christians, so I guess maybe I should elaborate a little bit more net.
So if I had to elaborate, then this is what I would say. I’ll give you three reasons why Jesus is not a socialist and why this whole idea is completely ridiculous, and I’m gonna move pretty quickly through the first two reasons. I think they’re self-evident, and I want to focus more on the third.
So, first of all, Jesus did not endorse any economic or political system. So that’s the first way we know he wasn’t socialist because he never said anything about any kind of government system or economic system, which means that he wasn’t a socialist.
Still, he wasn’t a capitalist either. To say that Jesus was a capitalist would also be ridiculous. You do, on occasion, hear that you don’t hear that claim nearly as often as you hear that Jesus was a socialist, but I have heard in response to that Jesus was a socialist argument I have sometimes heard people say, well no, he was really a capitalist well it wasn’t that either Jesus it’s very glaringly obvious when you read scriptures that or the least the way that appears is Jesus doesn’t care that much what’s an economic system you’re living under that’s not really his point.
We’ll get to his point here in a minute, but he wasn’t concerned with that. He wasn’t concerned with making these reforms to political systems. That’s not what he was worried about. He could have, and in fact, I think that most people in his time expected him to do that either they expected him to come in and be a political revolutionary, and he wasn’t that.
And now we have 2000 years of Christianity, and we have the scripture, you know that we can go back and reference to see very clearly that he was not a political revolutionary.
Yet still, somehow, even people today are as surprised and, I guess, disappointed as people were back in Jesus’s time that he is not a political revolution. That’s not what he was about.
