The Rich & the Poor in Paul's Theology

This article was previously published in Urban Mission, a publication of Westminster Theological Seminary. Used by permission.

Our modern word is a study in socio-economic contrasts. Take South Africa. The average household income in Soweto, a black township on the edge of modern Johannesburg, is estimated to be only a quarter of that of Johannesburg "proper." By the most conservative estimate, between 20 and 49% of the population of Soweto live below the poverty line, with 80% the more likely figure. Hunger, housing shortages, unemployment, lack of health care, high infant mortality, and substandard education mark life for this urban community. (1) Next door in Johannesburg, there is no shortage of health care, education is well-funded, food is plentiful, and decent housing abounds. Life for the affluent white minority remains a stable existence, insulated from the masses of impoverished South Africans.

A typical eastern U.S. city such as Baltimore is not all that much different. So-called downtown revitalization has produced a national aquarium, high-priced shops and restaurants, a convention center, high-rise office buildings, and loft apartments. Yet ringing this center of power and affluence are inner-city neighborhoods with long-neglected high-rise housing projects, slum apartments owned by a local oligarchy, vacant housing owned by "investors" from around the country, limited health care, unemployment exceeding 20%, and hunger. Both Baltimore and Johannesburg/Soweto are a microcosm of the increasingly global disparity between the rich and the poor. By the year 2000, over 20% of the world will live in slums and "squatter" settlements of Two-Thirds World cities. (2)

In 1983, the 1.5 billion followers of Christ received an "annual income totaling U.S. $6.5 trillion and…own(ed) two-thirds of the earth's entire resources." (3) And "whereas 52 percent of all Christians live in affluence and a further 35 percent are comparatively well off, 13% live in absolute poverty." That is, there are over 700 million affluent Christians in sight of 195 million Christians who live in absolute poverty, a condition of disease, malnutrition and illiteracy below any standard of human decency. (4) The economic gap divides cities, and it divides the church. Economic suffering is all around us and cries out for justice.

This article will look at the Pauline materials as they address wealth and poverty. Some of the questions we will look at include: How did Paul handle the gap between rich and poor? What are the responsibilities and privileges of the wealthy? Who are the poor? What is the challenge to the urban church today?

Defining Rich and Poor

Defining who were the rich and poor in the first century is a vital issue. Many now agree that closely related to wealth and poverty in the New Testament period is the issue of social status. First, a small conspicuous minority comprised the upper social stratus, headed primarily by the emperor, but including various other members of the aristocracy. Usually they were not only wealthy and living a life of leisure, but they enjoyed many special privileges, such as favor with the law. Among the lower strata, the intermediate level was comprised of those of moderate substance, such as merchants and craftsmen. The lowest level were those who did construction and piecework at the docks and who owned no property. Many were reduced to begging; some were able to find patrons or benefactors. Even lower on the status scale were slaves. (5)

Wealth, Poverty, and Status in Corinth

The city of Corinth provides a good example of the interrelationship between status, wealth, and poverty in the Christian community.

Many in the Corinthian church were of low status, the throw-away people of the Greco-Roman world (1 Cor. 1:26-31). God chose the lowly as evidence of the treasure of his kingdom. But the social and theological newness of God's reign was not found in the homogeneity of the church, but in how it was composed of a cross-section of urban society. Included in the church were not just the lowly but those of comfortable means such as Crispus, a wealthy ruler of a synagogue (1 Cor. 1:14; Acts 18:8), and Gauis, Paul's personal host and host of the whole church, which indicates he was of some financial means (1 Cor. 1:14; Romans 16:23). Chloe (1 Cor. 1:11), Stephanas (1 Cor. 1:16), Fortuntus and Achaicus (1 Cor. 16:15) were also likely to be people of financial means and status. (6)

Given this background, "many of the problems at Corinth can be understood in the light of the fact that people from different social classes still found it difficult to relate to each other even after their conversion to Christianity. They would be aware that, as far as God was concerned, such distinctions were no longer of any importance (1 Cor. 7:22; Col. 3:4) and yet in reality mutual acceptance still had to be learned through hard experience." (7)

Was there a tendency for those with financial means, social skills, and intellectual gifts to look down on others rather than place their strength in the cross (1:18, 2:1-6)? Perhaps this is part of the self-conceit which Paul confronts in chapters 3 and 4. (8) In the discussion of lawsuits in 6:1-8, it would seem that the wealthier Christians were the ones most adept at making the legal system work for their benefit, and it is to them that Paul addresses his comments. Detachment from possessions is a symbol and mandate of faith because the value system of this world is giving way to a new order (7:29-31).

Gerd Thiessen has argued that in 1 Cor. 8:7-22, the weak are the poor, and the strong are the socially powerful and wealthier members of the Corinthian church. The strong would have been used to meals where meat was served. The poor on the other hand rarely ate meat, and associated its consumption with idolatry. (9) In 1 Cor. 11:17-34, the hosts of the church invited their social equals to a meal, leaving the poor out (11:21). The basic division between the (relatively) poor in I Corinthians 11:17-34 is between the economic "haves" and the "have-nots," with the rich adding humiliation to the lot of the poor. (10)

Servanthood within the body of Christ becomes the common denominator (ch. 12). Love in action will break down the barriers which status and wealth have created as the new community is guided by the Spirit, not Mammon (ch. 13). "Wealth in the body of Christ becomes an opportunity to serve, prestige a call to humility." (11) Finally, economic sharing with other churches, even though many of the Corinthian believers were of little financial means, was to be a regular part of their communal life (16:1-2).

Widows, Wealth, and Justice

Widows, a familiar Old Testament category of those who are poor and vulnerable to exploitation (Lev. 19:10; Zech. 7:9-10), are to receive special attention from the church (1 Tim. 5:3-16). The widow without a relative, who in her need is left to trust in God alone for her sustenance, is to be taken care of financially by the church (1 Tim. 5:3, 5). She is the one who would have fallen through the various secular, kinship, and religious social safety nets. (12) A certain structure is developed to make sure that the poorest were cared for.

The poor are not just those who have lost honor, but include those who are hungry as a result of famine (i.e. Rom. 15:26; Gal. 2:10). In other passages low status is linked with low economic conditions (2 Cor. 11:27; Phil. 2:8; 4:12). Redemption for Paul is holistic, so he sees God concerned for the person in his or her material need and social context (2 Cor. 8:4; 9:1, 12-13; Rom. 15:25). (13)

First Timothy 6:3-10, 17-19 summarizes many of Paul's points regarding wealth. It is clear from the way Paul relates the refutation of false doctrine with economic matters that wealth and poverty are not peripheral matters to the gospel. Godliness is not a means to financial prosperity (6:5). Contentment is found in Christ, participation in God's kingdom, and basic provision (6:6, 8). The Lord is to be glorified through the proper use of possessions (6:17).

Negatively, the pursuit of wealth can be a deadly distraction from the faith (6:9, 10), especially when it is at the expense of others (6:7; Eph. 5:3; Col. 3:5). Pride and self-security are two vital dangers. (14) Rather than pursuing possessions through injustice (6:10), the wealthy are to be rich in good deeds and economic sharing toward the poor (6:18; cf. 2 Cor. 8:21). A proper view of wealth and poverty has a present and future dimension (6:19).

A more in-depth study of Paul's theology regarding wealth would entail looking at the Pauline vocabulary and phrases of riches, wealth, treasure, possessions, abundance, power, nobility, and pre-eminence. (15) It would look more closely at the relationship between work, which produces wealth, and the accumulation of possessions (cf. Eph. 4:28; 2 Thes. 3:6-15).

Hermeneutical dangers abound in reading the New Testament regarding the rich and poor, particularly for affluent evangelicals. One tendency is to spiritualize the poor as being pious. The concept of spiritual poverty, our complete need for God's grace, is obviously very strong for Paul. And in the West, the greatest spiritual and moral poverty may be that which greed and avarice have produced. Abundance has brought emptiness and material wealth has brought spiritual bankruptcy. Paradoxically again, the faith of those who are materially poor and whose lives are rooted in the Scriptures and God's redemption is often expansive and rich, a well of spiritual refreshment from which they drink for their nourishment. Here we think of the insights provided by the writing of Robert Coles. But when Paul speaks of the poor, he is not talking about the spiritually needy, but about the hungry, the broken, and the marginalized.

Paul's Social Status

As a Roman citizen, Paul had the privileges and status of the elite of his society. In addition, he was education by Gamaliel (Acts 22:3). Evidence of his high social status is found in his access to the high priest (Acts 9:1-2) and his occasional exercise of the rights and privileges of his citizenship (Acts 16:37; 22:25). (16) Yet Paul took on the occupation of an artisan working with his hands, an employment despised by the elite and affluent though not by the Jews. (17) This in part explains why he spoke of having no status (1 Cor. 4:10, 12). As an urban missionary and church worker, Paul spent long hours supporting his unique apostolic vocation as an artisan, plying his trade in the workshop as a tentmaker (1 Thes. 2:9; 1 Cor. 4:12; 2 Cor. 11:27, 7). On occasion, it is likely that this placed him near the central marketplace of the city, where he would have spoken of his faith. The life of an urban artisan was not easy:

Traveling and plying a trade were always exhausting and were frequently painful; consequently he could always summarize his experiences in catalogs of sufferings. Paul's travels, like those of other itinerant artisans and teachers, were often punctuated by delays, difficulties, and dangers. Once he was in the city there were days, perhaps weeks, of staying in inns before Paul found lodging in a household; and instead of simply becoming its resident intellectual, as was his apostolic right, he refused to be a financial burden and so found work making tents and other leather products to be self-sufficient. Making tents meant rising before dawn, toiling until sunset with leather, knives, and awls, and accepting the various social stigmas and humiliations that were part of the artisans' lot, not to mention the poverty–being cold, hungry, and poorly clothed. (18)

His acquaintance with the hardships of hunger, oppression, and marginalization are well cataloged in 1 Corinthians 4:11-13 and 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, 6:4-10, 12:10 and 11:23-28. In essence, Paul pursued downward mobility for the cause of Christ, exchanging a high status identity for a low status identification. Paul placed his apostolic identity not in the privileges of the powerful to which he was entitled, but in the sacrificial service of Christ. Through his example, Paul showed us the way to be cross-cultural and to build bridges across the economic gap. given the integrity of his life, Paul was able to teach with authority about contentment (Phil. 4:4,5,11; 1 Tim. 6:6-9), stewardship (1 Cor. 10:31), simplicity (1 Cor. 7:30, 31), work (1 Thes. 4:11), costly urban discipleship (Phil. 2:4-8), and to warn against covetousness (Eph. 5:3; Col. 3:5) and greed (1 Tim. 6:7).

Apostleship and the Poor

In Galatians 2:10, Paul invites us to understand his apostolic ministry in terms of how he "remembers the poor." Paul tells the Galatian readers that in response to the Jerusalem pillars' request to remember the poor, he is already fully engaged in this task, and that it is nothing additional to the exercise of his apostolic office. Relief, solidarity, and love for the poor are integral to his apostolic office.

The offering Paul is collecting is not his attempt to buy Jerusalem's acceptance nor an act of subservience to their leadership. (19) Rather, Paul explains that his purpose in Jerusalem regarding funds for the poor is to meet the needs of his sisters and brothers (Acts 11:29-30).

Whether the Jerusalem church was poor because of famine or difficulties in managing their resources, Paul took the poor to be those who in some serious manner lacked the basic necessities to sustain life (cf. 1 Tim. 6:8). "To remember" the poor for Paul was not a Thanksgiving food basket program or a general bid for cognitive remembrance, but rather a concrete and ongoing action.

His background, provided by the Damascus road meeting with Christ, was with the historic person of Jesus Christ who, in word and deed, proclaimed good news to the poor (Luke 4:16-21, 43). Paul's apostolic message of words and deeds demonstrates the same wholeness of the life and message of Jesus. The collection is the redemptive deed side of the Gospel (Gal. 2:2), the action accompanied by speech–redemptive word alongside redemptive deed.

The importance of Galatians 2:10 for Paul's theology of wealth and poverty is twofold. First, Paul's relief work on behalf of the poor is integral to his apostolic vocation from its initiation, and therefore the formative role it takes in his theology and mission strategy is not surprising. Those most vulnerable to loss of social place and life are near to God's heart, and Paul organizes the church accordingly. Secondly, the collection of Galatians 2 can be understood as a "prototype" collection for the other Pauline collections, as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 16:1-4, 2 Corinthians 8-9, and Romans 15:27-29. (20)

Following the Jerusalem collection model in Galatians 2, Paul directs in 1 Corinthians 16:1-4 that on the first day of the week, "each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made" (1 Cor. 16:2). The "collection" (1 Cor. 16:1) is a demonstration of reconciliation (Jew and Greek) in Christ, the same course of action as undertaken by the church of Antioch (Rom. 15:27). A spiritual exchange is responded to by an economic exchange, all rooted in the riches of Christ.

The multiple dimension of sharing is captured by some of the words and phrases Paul uses for the collection. (21) It is a collection (1 Cor. 16:1, 2), a partnership, fellowship, sharing (Rom. 15:26; 2 Cor. 9:13), a service, relief work (Rom. 15:31; 2 Cor. 8:4, 9:12, 13), service, priestly religious service (Rom. 15:27; 2 Cor. 9:12), a gift of grace, grace (1 Cor. 16:3; 2 Cor. 8:6, 7, 9), and a blessing (2 Cor. 9:5).

In essence, Paul is critiquing the Greco-Roman system of benevolence which held that only those who could offer something in exchange would receive something. (22) The benefactor or patron expected something in return for a favor of food or money, and so most favors were given to those most prosperous, who could be expected to one day return something, whether it be a vote, statue, or honorary degree. (23) People reduced to the lowest straits of destitution were left with begging as a principal means of obtaining income, unless they were Roman citizens and eligible for "public assistance" (the corn dole). In the church, giving away one's resources without a material return is a grace and service modeled after Christ's gift of his life, and an act empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Christology, Wealth, and Poverty

Second Corinthians 8:9 brings together the themes of riches and poverty in the person and work of Jesus Christ. "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich." Drawing on their personal and corporate experience of God's grace (2 Cor. 8:1), Paul stresses the incarnational aspect of God's mercy. Paul's need to speak to this topic suggests that the church had not implemented his earlier suggestions (e.g. 1 Cor. 11:22, 16:1-4) and that class divisions persisted within the congregation.

What are the riches of Christ? John Murray took them to be the riches of the fullness of divine being (Phil. 2:6, 4:19; Rom. 9:23; Eph. 3:8, 16), the riches of divine possession (Psalm 24:1; Col. 1:16). (24)

Jesus abandoned his affluence in the incarnation. Christ's poverty in part consisted of his giving up for a time the riches of his heavenly existence. But we cannot miss seeing his poverty as that of being subject to disgrace and humiliation on the cross (Rom. 15:3), and his subjection to exploitation (Isa. 53:3-12). Jesus incarnated himself in a sin-cursed world (Rom. 8:3-4; Gal. 4:4) and lived among the poor (1 Cor. 1:26f; 2 Cor. 8:2). It is a poverty not unlike the marginalization experience of the Macedonian church (2 Cor. 8:1-2). It is Jesus in his identification with the poor, forming a church: "Not from the world's 'beautiful people,' but from the lower classes, the 'nobodies,' god chose those who for the most part would make up his people." (25) Jesus is the poor one, the servant, the peacemaker who arrives in Jerusalem to bring forth salvation thought his death (Zech. 9:9). He is the suffering servant who gave up so much, oppressed and humiliated for his people (Phil. 2:8).

Through Christ's poverty, the church receives in exchange abundant and lavish riches of grace (2 Cor. 2:4, 5:18, 9:15), which become the foundational resource for mutual sharing. The church of the cross, the suffering church of the marginalized, becomes rich through the incarnation and its ecclesiastical implications. We reject this when we abandon the incarnation as a model for our life and mission. (26)

A New Community of Sharing

The Corinthians had previously allowed social distinctions to divide their church during table fellowship (1 Cor. 10:16, 11:17-34), even though to despise the poor is to despise Christ (1 Cor. 11:22). In Paul's Christological model, within this new community of haves and have-nots called the church, socio-economic barriers are broken down (2 Cor. 8:4, 9:13; Gal. 6:6). The mutuality of the sharing of gifts and resources which the Kingdom demands will move them toward "equality" (2 Cor. 8:13, 14), though not a common community of goods. Economic sharing is to be characterized by spontaneity (2 Cor. 9:12; cf. Phil. 4:18), freedom (2 Cor. 9:7), and generosity (2 Cor. 8:14, 20, 9:5). Equality is not rigid uniformity, but rather closing the gap between rich and poor in the body of Christ so no one lacks. Second Corinthians 8 and 9, using the language of anthropology, show that the reciprocity of resources, both spiritual and economic, worked together to forge a new unity. Theologically, Paul teaches the importance of mutual sharing as part of God's "manna economy." In a manna economy, daily sustenance needs were met, making hoarding futile, all in a spirit of trust for God's provision (2 Cor. 8:15; Ex. 16:18). The church that shares economically is the jubilary community of Christ (Deut. 15:1-11).

The sharing of resources was to be with the poor (Gal. 6:2, 10), other churches (2 Cor. 8:3-4, 11-17, 9:1-5; Rom. 15:25-27), some church leaders (2 Cor. 11:9; Phil. 4:15, 17, 19), and "those who are without" or the "outsider" (1 Cor. 5:12, 13; Col. 4:5; 1 Thes. 4:12). The outsider, the immigrant of the New Testament, is also to experience love for their well-being (Rom. 13:10; 1 Cor. 4:1). (27) Economic generosity is to include "everyone else" (2 Cor. 9:12; cf. Gal. 6:10). All of this is both ministry to Christ and ministry in imitation of him.

This community of sharing was part of what it meant to be the servant people of God (Phil. 1:5, 4:15-16; 2 Cor. 8:1-5). Servanthood was to touch both interpersonal relationships and the communal situation, breaking down barriers of status. (28) Unlike the widespread Greco-Roman professional and religious clubs, the church itself existed not for itself, but for the service of others.

The Economy of God

Second Corinthians 8 and 9 showed us the relationship between God's economic activity and the economic activity of the church. Here we will see how the metaphor or analogy of the "economy of God" is expansive in Paul's letters. Young and Ford summarize the meaning of economy in Pauline thought:

The Greek word from which economy comes is oikonomia, which extended its original meaning of "household administration" to embrace administration in general stewardship, treasureship, management, governing, provision, organization, direction, regulation, sustaining, distribution, planning and adaptation of means to ends. In the New Testament it is used by Paul to describe his own ministry (1 Cor. 9:17) but in such a way that it is inseparable from its content, the gospel as God's way of dealing with the world. This content is in Col. 1:25 summed up as the "oikonomia of God," again inextricably linked with Paul's ministry, and Eph. 3:2 continues this dual focus. (29)

Theologically, economy is used by Paul as a metaphor to understand God's activity, both among the church as God's house and over creation (Col. 1:25; 1 Cor. 9:17; Eph. 3:2; Eph. 1:10, 3:9; cf. Luke 16:2-4). God's plan in history of reconciling all things in Christ (Eph. 1:10) is the cosmic and ultimate economic reality. Here, when we speak of an economy we speak of the management of a household, which broadly means the site of human livelihood. (30)

This economy of reconciliation is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). The fundamental transaction of this new economy is Christ's death and resurrection (2 Cor. 5:14, 15, 21; Phil. 2:6-11). In contrast to the limited goods economy, this economy is distinguished by its layers of abundance (2 Cor. 3:9, 4:7, 9:12, 14; Phil. 4:19). It creates a new set of kinship ties (2 Cor. 12:14-15). (31)

God as the author of creation and redemption is the economist or householder of his world. As image-bearers of God, we are to image him as economists in his household. Every person has gifts and abilities: there are no throw-away people in God's economy. Part of our task as his co-workers (1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor. 6:1) is to see that the Lord's household (persons, resources and gifts) is well managed. (32) To speak of our role in God's economy as household is to embrace the concept of stewardship, which is linked to the related themes of responsibility, authority, and obligation.

Practical Implications

Some practical implications from Paul's theology of wealth and poverty include:

1. The church must show tremendous sensitivity to how issues of status, wealth, and poverty influence the way it functions and the people it serves. When the poor and socially marginalized have lost their voice in the body of Christ, universal or local, then the Church is in grave danger of losing its New Testament identity.

2. Paul's theology and mission practices issue a call to the recovery of an economically heterogeneous(mixed) urban church which is fully committed to justice for the poor. The practical implications for reaching the city are numerous. For example, the local urban church as a gathering of a cross-section of society can play an important role in providing role models and "connections" for inner-city neighborhoods that are economically and culturally isolated. (33) Partnership relationships between rich and poor churches would be formed with the idea of pooling resources for God's mission in the city. One practical step for churches of economic means is to, at minimum, tithe building programs and missions budgets to congregations in poor urban neighborhoods that have programs or projects in need of funding assistance.

3. Paul's model, in imitation of Christ, of downward mobility and relinquishment of an esteemed status for the sake of the Gospel remains a strong challenge to the wealthy to identify with the poor and lowly in our society. John Perkins, Viv Grigg, and others have underscored this in terms of the concept of relocation. Relocation is making a community of need our home. If urban evangelism is to be truly to the whole world, this call cannot be neglected.

4. We must work to have congregations, denominations, and mission boards more exposed to the biblical materials on wealth and poverty. Paul is not neutral regarding poverty and oppression and so neither can we be. Justice, equality, and wholeness are to be woven into the very fabric of ecclesial reality, creating a new community which by its very existence undermines and confronts the racism, sexism, and classism of our urban world. (Gal. 3:26-28).

5. Paul's concern for economic equality challenges us to develop concrete, creative, and grassroots ways of sharing wealth for empowerment, especially among the extremely poor. In Pittsburgh, Robert Lavelle's Dwelling House Savings and Loan has pioneered banking as if people and communities mattered. As a local bank, they have invested in the poor, a "risk" by worldly standards, but one which has proven more than viable and has helped to transform a community! Other Christian community development programs in employment, housing, economic development, education, and health care have made great strides in opening up the table of God's resources to all his people, creating a new urban social order.

6. Given our call to be economists in God's house, we should look to see where God's resources are not being properly distributed in the church and society, beginning with ourselves. Analysis, when linked with commitment to action, will lead to greater clarity and vision in both mission and public policy.

7. Tom Sine puts the challenge of stewardship well:

We need to understand, if we are to be the people of God and follow Christ who identifies with the poor, that it means more than giving out our leftovers. We need to move back to jubilary stewardship models. Jubilary stewardship is based on the assumption that "the earth is the Lord's." If the earth is indeed the Lord's, then it is no longer a question of how much of the Lord's do I get to keep in a world in which 800 million people are not able to survive. We need a whole new theology in all of our churches that understands that we are a part of the international body of Jesus Christ. We are called to lives of greater responsibility and greater celebration under the reign of God. (34)

One resource for the wealthy is the Ministry of Money, an outreach of the Church of the Saviour in Washington, D.C. The Ministry of Money works to create patterns of discipleship, compassion for the poor, and global stewardship through a newsletter, workshops, and "reverse mission" pilgrimages.

Given all that Jesus has done for us on the cross and in his resurrection, and given the condition of our urban world, how can we not embrace the challenge of economic discipleship?