your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.
Do not forsake the work of your hands."
Grudem admits in the preface that the book was originally a paper with a similar title, presented in 2002 at the Conference for Holistic Entrepreneurs at Regent University Graduate School of Business (Grudem, 2003, p. 9). From the introduction, Grudem has no qualms with dealing with negative viewpoints of business. His first line asks “Is business basically good or evil?” (Grudem, 2003, p. 11). This is bold and necessary, because modern culture does pose this question, and it is often answered negatively. Grudem deals with this immediately. He states “Words like “profit,” “competition”, “money” and even “business” carry negative moral connotations for many people today” (Grudem, 2003, p. 11). Many people are under the misconception that work, while necessary, is only a neutral act in itself, and business scandals such as Enron lend themselves to the idea that business is “inherently” wrong (Grudem, 2003, p. 11).
After posing the aforementioned difficult questions, Grudem jumps into the concept of people wanting to serve God and bring Him glory with their lives, and proposes that business itself is a way to do those very things. He states “that many aspects of business activity are morally good in themselves and that in themselves they bring glory to God---though they also have great potential for misuse and wrongdoing” (Grudem, 2003, p. 12). In addition to worship, evangelism, giving, moral living, and faith, the author proceeds to list eleven aspects of business,including employment, borrowing and lending, and profit.
Mr. Grudem then guides the reader to see that another way to bring glory to God is by imitating Him and His attributes. God declared that everything He saw and made was very good in Genesis 1:31. We are told by the Apostle Paul to “be imitators of God, as beloved children” in Ephesians 5:1. Grudem ties these scriptural truths together and shows how God’s will can beaccomplished in our “instinctive drive to work, to be productive, to invent, to earn and save and give…” (Grudem, 2003, p. 13). We humans are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). As God’s image bearers, we have the potential to take aspects of business, through choices and actions in our lives, and use them to reflect God’s goodness, mercy and love through them. Unfortunately, there is also the temptation, because of our fallen human nature, to use an activity such as business for evil.
Grudem does not shy away from this fact, but proceeds to challenge the reader in each chapter with a different aspect of business, and how it is good in and of itself, while being honest that it can be used for evil if temptation is given into. Grudem’s declaration, that God created us in a certain way that “we would want to imitate His character” and “that we would take spontaneous delight in seeing reflections of His character in our own actions and in the actions ofothers” is crucial (Grudem, 2003, p. 15). God worked and created the garden in the beginning, and gave the pre-Fall mandate for humans [multiply, fill, and subdue]
In regards to employment and specifically, negative views on it, Grudem swiftly deals with criticisms such as Marxist philosophy against humans employing other humans by quoting Jesus directly. In Luke 10:7, Jesus said “the laborer deserves his wages”. Based on this statement, Jesus approves of the idea of employees earning and being paid wages. Grudem states that other parables given by Jesus involve masters and servants, and people earning wages for work, thus implying no hint of evil or wrong (Grudem, 2003, p. 31).
Additionally, concerning employment, the author states that the hiring of one person by someone else is also necessary “for greater production of goods” (Grudem, 2003, p. 32). This is a wonderful occurrence that is unique to humans alone. That people, working together, can build, make, produce and create amazing contraptions such as ships, airplanes, steel mills, houses, personal computers and so on, is a God-given ability that brings Him glory. Through employer/employee relationships, both have the opportunity to demonstrate “honesty, fairness, trustworthiness, kindness, wisdom and skill, and keeping our word…” (Grudem, 2003, p. 32). If this relationship works properly, both parties mutually benefit, thus allowing “love for the other person to manifest itself” (Grudem, 2003, p. 33). This fulfills the second commandment, which is “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). Grudem states the mutual and beautiful result when he says “As in every good business transaction, both parties end up better off than they were before” (Grudem, 2003, p. 33). This is indicative of God’s intentional design in the employee/employer relationship, in that when humans rightly administer the gift of employing someone, His image can be displayed and glorified through love for one another out of obedience to Him and His love.
Earning a profit is another aspect of business that can bring glory to God by displaying attributes of His image. Profit is “selling a product for more than the cost of producing it”(Grudem, 2003, p. 41). It is an indication that one has made a product that is useful and shows that the work invested adds value to materials used. Profit also demonstrates efficiency, because materials used when costs are lower results in higher revenue. In Genesis 1:28, the “creation mandate” to “subdue” the earth states: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue itand have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth”. Grudem affirms that the efficient use of the earth’s resources fulfills this creation mandate. As humans, if we utilize the earth’s resources in a way that produces something of value to other human beings, we are doing good to others by providing them with this product.
Grudem also establishes how God encourages the exercise of profit through the parable about ten minas in Luke 19:13-17. In this story, Jesus describes a nobleman who gives his servants a mina (equal to three months’ wages) and urges them to “engage in business until I come” (Luke 19:13). After earning 10 minas more, the master exceedingly rewarded the servant who earned a good profit, by blessing him with authority over ten cities (Luke 19:17). Grudem goes on to write that “good stewardship, in God’s eyes, includes expanding and multiplying whatever resources or stewardship God has entrusted to you” (Grudem, 2003, pp. 42-43). He also explicitly correlates that our money and possessions cannot be excluded from the application of the parable, and that they should be used to bring God glory. This demonstrates that profit seeking and resource multiplication is a fundamentally good pursuit.
There is the assumption that profit seeking is a form of exploitation, which Grudem deals with. First, in the aforementioned parable, the servant who did not earn a profit was reprimandedfor not putting the mina in the bank to at least collect interest (Luke 19:23). This demonstrates the expectation of a return from the original investment of the nobleman, who represents Jesus. Second, the entrepreneurial endeavor is full of significant risk. The savvy business person who attempts to invest time, money, skill, and labor to produce a product should be rewarded when it results in an item that benefits the rest of us. Grudem states “it is the hope of such reward that motivates people to start businesses and assume such risks” (Grudem, 2003, p. 44). He also avows that if profit were not possible, people simply wouldn’t attempt such risks, and we would not have these items to buy in our society. Therefore, allowing profit is a very good thing, and itis the reward for the risk.
Finally, another aspect of business that can be used for the glory of God is the subject of borrowing and lending. In Deut. 24:10, the Bible states “When you make your neighbor a loan of any sort, you shall not go into his house to collect his pledge”. Wayne Grudem artfully gives this example as a process of regulation in lending, and reminds the reader that it is a prohibition against taking advantage of the poor. This passage, and others such as Ex. 22:14 and 2 Kings 4:3, demonstrate the assumption that people will borrow things. Grudem goes on to say that the processes of borrowing and lending “are not prohibited by God, for many places in the Bible assume that these things will happen” (Grudem, 2003, p. 69). In fact, Jesus even seems to support the practice (in regards to depositing money to a bank to earn interest) when he states “Why then did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I might have collected it with interest?” (Luke 19:23; also Matt. 25:27).
Grudem further describes that lending is a temporary transfer of control of property that an owner chooses to do with assumption of risk. He also explains that act of borrowing offers a variety of choices between using an item and purchasing it outright. These two processes offerthe lender and borrower a variety of choices, which “multiply the usefulness of all the wealth of a society” (Grudem, 2003, p. 70). A valuable reference book at a library can be lent out to 300 people, affording each of them the opportunity to utilize its benefits without buying it. Through microloans, poor in developing countries can borrow money and start profitable businesses and work their way out of poverty. Consequently, these are just a few ways that the process of borrowing and lending multiply the usefulness of available wealth, such as goods and services, and money, in the world. Through borrowing and lending, God’s wonderful attributes can be reflected by the demonstration of “trustworthiness and faithful stewardship, honesty, wisdom, and thanksgiving” (Grudem, 2003, p. 73).
Wayne Grudem confidently and successfully tackles the subject of how business can be used to glorify God. Fearlessly, Grudem brings up opposing arguments to business used for God’s glory, and refutes them with scripture. He demonstrates, through all the chapters ofBusiness for the glory of God, that the aspects of business, such as employment, profit, and the process of borrowing and lending, are all unique and wonderful ways that we as Christians can spend our lives reflecting the image of God in us. This image, endowed by our perfect Creator in the beginning of the world, challenges us to create, work, accomplish, help, and strive to make this world a better place. Grudem, whose mastery of systematic theology is well displayed, seems to joyfully direct us to not only worship and tithe as a form of praise to God, but to endeavor to go and continue God’s work. He challenges us to use God’s resources well, by reflecting His love in all of our being, and delight in His image as we imitate our Master.
New American Standard Bible. (2000). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
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