England Maurice - Business for the glory of God: [the Bibles teaching on the moral goodness of business]

A thoughtful review of the purpose and meaning of business and a fresh way to look at honoring and glorifying God in doing business.

C. WILLIAM POLLARD
Chairman Emeritus, The ServiceMaster Company

What a great reminder that your business life can be a critical part of how you serve God and impact lives for eternity!

DAVE BROWNE
former CEO, LensCrafters;
current CEO, Family Christian Stores

In the often challenging integration of the world of business and a life of faith, Dr. Grudems book provides helpful, easy-to-understand grounding for business leadership.

JAMES FELLOWES
CEO, Fellowes, Inc.

Too often Christians feel guilty about self-interest choice, acquisition of private property, and the profit motive. Wayne Grudem makes clear how they are part of Gods plan for moral lives. What remarkable insight!

STEPHEN HAPPEL, PH.D.
Professor of Economics, Arizona State University

Dr. Grudem clearly shows us how our business activities provide unique opportunities to glorify God. His conclusions are insightful, invaluable, and convicting. Im putting this on my once-a-year refresher reading list to motivate me to a Colossians 3:23-24 work ethic.

MIKE SEARCY
Managing Director, Ronald Blue & Co., Phoenix, Arizona

Effectively refuting the claims to ownership of the sphere of human business activity by corporations, governments, and ideologies, Wayne Grudem succinctly details how business is Gods design for His glory and our good.

DAVID PAYNE
Economist, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C.

This book should be required reading for all pastors who love the business practitioners God has placed in their midst.... And all business persons will be blessed and encouraged by reading Wayne Grudems enlightened application of Gods Word to the enterprise of business. The books content is saturated with Gods glorious intentions for those called to serve the Lord in business.

RICHARD C. CHEWNING, PH.D.
Distinguished Scholar in Residence, John Brown University

A brilliant look at the interconnectedness of economic life with spiritual life, and an essential antidote for those who doubt business as a God-honoring and God-glorifying activity.

BARRY ASMUS, Ph.D.
Senior Economist, National Center for Policy Analysis

Business for the Glory of God: The Bibles Teaching on the Moral Goodness of Business

Copyright 2003 by Wayne Grudem

Published by Crossway Books
a division of Good News Publishers
1300 Crescent Street
Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided by USA copyright law.

Cover design: Josh Dennis

First printing 2003

Printed in the United States of America

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Grudem, Wayne A.
Business for the glory of God : the Bibles teaching on the moral goodness of business / Wayne Grudem.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-58134-517-8 (alk. paper)
1. BusinessBiblical teaching. 2. BusinessReligious aspectsChristianity. I. Title.
BS680.B8G78 2003
261.8'5dc22

2003021248

LB 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03

15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To my father,
ARDEN E. GRUDEM,
who honored and glorified God in his life in business,

and to my mother,
JEAN C. GRUDEM,
whose generosity, kindness, and
faith have been an example to all who know her

CONTENTS

FOR SEVERAL YEARS I have taught classes and done research on the Bibles teachings about a wide range of economic questionstopics like wealth and poverty, saving and giving, work and leisure, buying and selling, borrowing and lending, employers and employees, and use of the earths resources for productive purposes. The Bible says much about these topics, and a thorough treatment deserves a much larger book than this, one that I am still in the process of writing.

But while my larger book was still unfinished, Ted Yamamori, past president of Food for the Hungry, persuaded me to read a paper on the way some of these topics apply specifically to business activity. I agreed and read a paper called How Business in Itself Can Glorify God at the Conference for Holistic Entrepreneurs, which Dr. Yamamori convened at the Regent University Graduate School of Business, October 3-5, 2002. This book is an expanded version of that paper.

I wish to express thanks to many people who have contributed to my thinking or made suggestions on this manuscript, including Barry Asmus, Jerry Brock, David Browne, Diane Hakala, Stephen Happel, David Payne, Steve Uhlmann, and many former students in class discussions. Special thanks is due to David Kotter, a wise and gracious former student (and adjunct faculty member in economics at Trinity College, Deerfield, Illinois) whose knowledge and experience in economics and business have made numerous contributions to my thinking and have significantly influenced what I have written. Yet I have not taken every suggestion from these helpers and friends, and they should not be blamed for any of my mistakes that remain!

I also wish to express appreciation to the administration and boards of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (where I taught from 1981 to 2001) and Phoenix Seminary (where I now teach) for each granting me a sabbatical during which I have continued to work on a larger book on Biblical principles and economic values, a book that I hope to be able to complete in the near future. And I wish to thank Sovereign Grace Ministries, a group of churches that has encouraged me and supported me with funds for additional research assistance in this larger research project. That research has provided much of the background for the brief overviews that I provide in this book.

I have dedicated this book to my father, Arden Grudem, whose work in the business world and whose generosity made it possible for me to follow his wise counsel and obtain much more formal education than he was ever able to pursue, and whose business dealings, from what I have heard from others for my whole life, always served to honor and glorify God. I have also dedicated it to my mother, Jean Grudem, whose amazing generosity, kindness, honesty, self-sacrifice, and faith have also glorified God through her whole life, and have provided a model that strongly influenced my idea of what kind of person I would hope to be.

Wayne Grudem
Scottsdale, Arizona
September 19, 2003

IS BUSINESS BASICALLY good or evil?

Words like profit, competition, money, and even business carry negative moral connotations for many people today. People who work in the business world sometimes labor under a faint cloud of guilt, thinking that their work may be necessary, but that from a moral perspective it is probably neutral at best. Very few people instinctively think of business as morally good in itself.

Recent business scandals regarding dishonest and illegal activities by giant companies such as Enron and by formerly revered accounting firms such as Arthur Andersen have made it more likely that people will suspect that there must be something in business that inherently tends to wrongdoing. And so the idea of business in itself comes under a dark cloud of suspicion. But is that right?