Is Christianity Socialist?

News commentator Tucker Carlson recently had Nathan Apffel on his show. Nathan is supposedly a Christian and a director. He has recently been working on a project called The Religion Business which exposes the fraud and corruption in megachurches and religious organizations. During the conversation on the show Nathan had said something that was somewhat controversial and went viral all week:

Nathan: “I would actually argue and this is a bold statement, the democratic republic is the greatest government experiment in the history of humanity.”
Tucker: “I've enjoyed it.”
Nathan: “Yeah , so we’ve enjoyed it. I love America , you love America.”
Tucker: "I do.” 
Nathan: “Capitalism should not be anywhere near christianity.”
Tucker: “Ugh, you think?” 
Nathan: “Christianity is, I don't like the word socialist with the weight it carries, but christianity is socialism at its core.”
Tucker: “Non authoritarian.”

This is a very bold statement to make and one that should be examined. Is Christianity socialist at its core? We in America have only known capitalism. This is what we grew up in and could easily just assume it to be right without knowing for sure. Is capitalism evil? Sinful? Should we as the church be practicing and supporting more socialism? What does the bible have to say about this? Well Nathan continues to tell Tucker why the bible teaches Christianity is socialist at its core: "[Socialism] is the marker to build social capital. You look at that early church of Acts and it transformed Rome within a couple hundred years, the greatest super power of its time to where Constantine was like ‘I’m a Christian’ hanging out with these dudes with no money, they had no buildings, but somehow the love of their neighbor transformed the greatest super power of its time. That's dangerous”

So Nathan's argument is that the book of Acts teaches us how the New Testament church were socialists. Before seeing if this is true, let us define our terms. Socialism at its core means that you give for the collective good. You do not own anything. You work, you earn and everyone pools together to distribute evenly and “fairly” for everyone’s benefit. Most of the time it is the governing body that collects, distributes and decides who gets what. Webster’s dictionary defines socialism as, “any of various egalitarian economic and political theories or movements advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.” And that appears to be what is happening here in the book of Acts. The church collects from the people to give to others. I can see why Nathan would think this about what the church was doing here in Acts. On the surface socialism appears to be loving, caring and giving. Everyone gives, everyone receives. No one is left out. This type of philosophy can appear to support biblical teaching. Doesn’t the bible teach that we should give to those in need? Do we not remember Jesus' famous parable of the good Samaritan? On top of this, with the work that Nathan has been doing exposing large churches and televangelists exploiting people for their money, I can see why he thinks capitalism is wrong. There are so many false teachers out there using Christianity as a way to make millions and avoid paying taxes. And isn’t greed a sin? Doesn’t the bible teach us to be content? Isn’t the love of money and the pursuit of money the root of all kinds of evil? And doesn’t capitalism fuel such evil?

But this is all surface level. The real root of the matter is not so simple. Socialism at its core is evil and should never be embraced by Christians. So let us start with the scriptures that Nathan used to support his argument. In Acts we are told, “And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.”(Acts 2:45) Now the first thing to understand is that for socialism to work, there is an underlying principle that you do not own anything. Everything belongs to the government. This is because for the government to be able to give to those in need, the government needs to own it all to divy it up. If we allow personal possession, then one person could have more than the other. And we can’t have that in the eyes of socialist thinking. That would be bad to have more than your neighbor. But notice something that Nathan failed to mention is in this verse: “their possessions”. The people owned their own property. They had their own possessions that they earned, not because the government gave it to them. This is not socialism. John Piper on this verse says, “It didn’t remove but rather presumed the ownership of private property. Indeed, all of the Bible, the Old Testament and the New Testament, assumes both the legitimacy — and, I think, the necessity — of personal ownership.”

There is something else that is in this verse that Nathan fails to highlight and that is how the items were distributed. Everyone was giving not because they were told to. They were not giving because it was the law of the land. They were not giving because it was a high tax system. The governing officials were not knocking on their door collecting the stuff to be given later to someone who needs it. They were not even giving because their Apostles told them to! They were giving because they wanted to! In fact, there is no mention here in this passage about any collecting by a governing body. No, what scripture is saying is that now that these people were Christians and were overwhelmed by the love of God, they wanted to give freely out of a love to their neighbor! See in socialism you give because you have to. You are forced to. It's the law. That is not Christianity. Christians give because they want to! Because they love to! Because they have been so impacted by the love of God that they want to spread that love to their neighbor! Understand that the Bible teaches us to love our neighbor, not to have the same amount of stuff as our neighbor. Christians give freely out of love. Socialists give out of coercion. And this is what the bible has to say about that: “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7) Christianity is not socialism.

Even when looking at the parable of the good Samaritan, this is a perfect teaching against socialist thought. For the Samaritan was generous out of love for another human in need. He decided for himself to give out of what he had to someone else. No one forced him to. No government official came by to collect from the Samaritan and then gave it to the guy lying on the road. Also the Ten Commandments teach against socialism. How can you have the command of “You shall not steal” and “You shall not covet” if you do not own anything? Piper again states, “Thou shalt not steal” makes no sense where no one has a right to keep what is his.”

At the core of socialism is the idea that the government can provide a “utopia” for us all. That if we all just share and share alike, there will be peace, tranquility and no one will have need. But this couldn't be further from the truth. When studying socialism and the history of the philosophy it was born with the intent of eradicating the spiritual out of society. And this is why socialism fails. It doesn’t solve the core issue of man. This is why socialism has failed wherever it has been fully practiced. On the surface it is appealing because it seems to show charity to those in need. But it will always eventually lead to exploitation and laziness. In fact, knowing the nature of man better than anyone else, this is why God commands that we provide for ourselves and are not dependent on others. “For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” (2 Thessalonians 3:10), “and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.” (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12). This is because with man being sinful, he will take advantage of other people doing the labor and become lazy and exploit others. Socialism stifles creativity. It smothers human flourishing. Even in our Christian work, we are taught to earn on our own as we build treasures in heaven (see Matthew 6:19-21).

In fact, this is what happened with the early settlers of our country. When they first started, the pilgrims had a small socialist type of set up. Everyone worked and pooled together for the good of the group. But William Bradford saw quickly how people were taken advantage of. Not everyone pulled their wait evenly and it was disastrous. He then changed up everything and gave everyone their own parcel of land and everyone had to earn for themselves. He said in his journals, “The experience that was had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years, and that amongst the Godly and sober men, may well convince of the vanity and conceit of Plato’s and other ancients; — that the taking away of property, and bringing into a common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing; as if they were wiser than God. For this community (so far as it was) was found to breed confusion and discontent and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. Let none object this is man’s corruption, and nothing to the curse itself. I answer, seeing all men have this corruption in them, God in his wisdom saw another course fitter for them.”

But what about all the corruption and evil in capitalism? People are being exploited all the time for greed that is bread through free enterprise. I admit there are flaws in capitalism as well. But capitalism is more in line with what the bible teaches than socialism ever would. No system is perfect. The issue with capitalism is not the system, but man himself. That is the whole point, we don’t need a better system. No economic or political system will ever solve what the problem really is…sin. It is our sinful heart that causes all these problems. And it is only the gospel that can solve that. People need to be transformed in their heart, not their pocket book. Charles Spurgeon lived around the time when socialist thought was forming and gaining traction. He said in a sermon, “For many a year, by the grand old truths of the gospel, sinners were converted, and saints were edified, and the world was made to know that there is a God in Israel. But these are too antiquated for the present cultured race of superior beings! They are going to regenerate the world by Democratic Socialism, and set up a kingdom for Christ without the new birth or the pardon of sin. Truly the Lord has not taken away the seven thousand that have not bowed the knee to Baal …” And like I mentioned earlier, socialism looks to eradicate the spiritual. Spurgeon said in another sermon, “Great schemes of socialism have been tried and found lacking. Let us look to regeneration by the Son of God, and we shall not look in vain.” The Gospel is the answer, not better economics. Realize that this is another thing Nathan got wrong when talking to Tucker Carlson. Rome didn’t change because of Christian charity, it changed because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. “To attempt national regeneration without personal regeneration is to dream of erecting a house without separate bricks.” Charles Spurgeon