What is the marginal tax rate in the Bible?

 

Recently, J.D. Greear, pastor at The Summit Church wrote, 

I don’t know of anywhere God spells out for us the ideal marginal tax rate, the proper number of refugees a compassionate country should take in, the godly posture toward gun control, whether health care should be nationalized, or exactly what our safety social net should include.

Pastor Greear is engaging in proof texting, something I'm sure he opposes. He slipped into it in a moment of weakness trying to make a point. But as Pastor Greear knows, there are no verses in the Bible that detail God's perspective on those issues. But he also knows that there are no verses that directly address many of the doctrines in our systematic theology books. The most obvious is the Trinity. No verse in the Bible contains the word "Trinity" or spells out the doctrine. Systematic theologians derive the main doctrines of Christianity by studying the whole Bible, comparing verses and distilling them. Political theology does the same. 

What does systematic theology say about marginal tax rates? To answer that, theologians during the Reformation at the University of Salamanca asked first, what is the role of government? From the Bible, they determined that God created government to punish criminals (Romans 13), provide courts to settle disputes (Deuteronomy 17) and national defense. 

People can imagine hundreds of other roles for the government. They just can't find Biblical support for them. Given the limited role of government, and that the New Testament authorizes the state to collect taxes, the theologians determined that the state can collect taxes for performing its God given duties, but if it collects more, it commits theft.  

What about the moral and poor laws in the Torah? Don't they support a safety net provided by the state? Good scholars believe God reserved those for him to enforce and didn't trust humans to enforce them. He trusted human judges only to adjudicate the civil laws, thou shalt not steal, etc. 

On refugees, many Christians resort to Leviticus 19:33-34 and other verses ordering Israelites to take care of strangers and aliens. What they don't consider is the context, the first principle of hermeneutics. God didn't allow idolatry among Israelites so he would never allow idolatrous strangers to exist in his nation. And the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, often translates strangers as proselytes. Those aliens and strangers were likely converts or near converts. That suggests authority by a government to try to protect its culture by limiting immigration. 

What about gun control? Can we distill any principles from the Bible when guns hadn't been invented yet? The Bible never says directly that people have a right to defend themselves against criminals. But what does Thou shalt not murder imply if not the right to self defense? The Bible is clear that murder is an affront to God because we are made in his image and murderers should be executed. If punishing murderers is good, isn't preventing them from murdering even better? And who has the wisdom and authority to tell others what they need for self-defense? That is the sole responsibility of each individual. Gun owners prevent over a million crimes every year, most of the time without firing it. 

What about Jesus' command to turn the other cheek? Yes, don't get angry over insults and slaps. But does anyone really think Jesus intended to overturn the right to self-defense and allow murderers to run amuck with impunity? 

What about loving your enemies? By all means! But love your family and friends first. Why should we love criminals more than our families? If we allow criminals to murder, rape or steal from family members, we violate the Bible commands to  love and care for them. We should never prefer criminals to friends and family.

Should healthcare be nationalized? That violates the Constitution and Christians should obey the supreme law of the land. Nationalized healthcare is part of the social safety net Greear mentioned. Should government care for the poor? Again, it's clear that God didn't intend the poor laws in the Torah to be enforced by the courts, the only government institution. Every mention of caring for the poor refers to individuals doing it. 

Many socialist Christians point to the Sermon on the Mount as authorization for a government social safety net. But Jesus didn't create government policy. His audience was individuals and believers. Jesus wasn't a policy wonk. A chief principle of hermeneutics is to consider the audience. 

Why wouldn't God want the government to take care of the poor? Because it perverts justice, the main purpose of human government. God told judges in Leviticus 19:15, "You shall not do injustice in judgment; you shall not show partiality to the poor nor give preference to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly." 

People tend to see government as all wise and all powerful. But no such entity exists. Government is made up of politicians who are people. That's hard for socialists to accept. According to the Bible, humanity is depraved and has a strong tendency to evil that only Christ can fix. The writers of the U.S. Constitution separated power in government between three branches to limit the evil that any one branch can commit because of their Biblical view of human nature that even atheists subscribed to. 

When the government feeds people, or provides healthcare, politicians will buy their votes by promising to give them more if elected. And that's what we have seen in politics since the election of FDR in 1932. 

Giving the government the power to feed people and provide healthcare as well as regulate business has caused the culture wars that so many despise. The more power government has, the more people will fight to control that power. The only solution to the culture wars is to reduce the power of the government to what the Constitution authorizes in its enumerated powers and let civil society solve all other problems. 

The Bible has a lot to say about politics if people will pay attention. Pastors shouldn't endorse individual candidates, but we should teach the Bible principles founding the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Then members will know which politicians most closely follow those principles.