0607 GOD’S EQUITY OR HIS EQUALITY?

GOD AND EQUITY

We hear a lot about equity these days. The news and the media talk about it in terms of race and gender relations. Equity has to do with impartiality fairness and justice for all people in social policy. “Social equity takes into account systemic inequalities to ensure everyone in a community has access to the same opportunities and outcomes.”

So you may ask, what’s the difference between social equity and social equality? “Social equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome. Social equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities.”

Treating people exactly the same can lead to unequal results. For example, in the oft quoted words of Anatole France from The Red Lily (1894), “the law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread”.

What did Paul mean when he told the Corinthians that 

“Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.””

In order for us all to have equal access, we might need different levels of support. 

Is the lottery fair? In a sense, yes. But overall it is the most unfair thing there is. Free wealth for one person, given to that person at random by everyone else who is part of that group of players.

Equality is when a teacher gives a test and grades blindly as to who is taking the test. Equity takes in mind that some people did not start from the same place in acquiring the knowledge being tested. “Considering where he started, he has done A work.”

Having said all that, Paul is NOT advocating for what we call “social equity” in society as a whole. He is talking about sharing within the church with those members who are in need. He is simply saying that he wants them to help someone else, but not if it will cause a hardship for them. And in support of that goal, he quotes from Exodus how when the Israelites were collecting manna each day, part of God’s supply to them was that when someone went out and collected only a little, it was enough, and when someone gathered a lot, they didn’t have too much.

First, why would God do that? And second, what is Paul saying we should learn from it? 

Why, when He gave them manna every day, would God make it so that no one got manna-rich and no one became manna-poor? Keep in mind that this was a unique time in history when the people of Israel were isolated in the wilderness, and that raising crops or selling goods was very limited for a couple million people in the desert. They were not to have interaction with their neighbors, but eventually were to destroy them, so the only ones left to do business with would be themselves. It’s hard to make a living when you are simply trading stuff you already have among yourselves.

So, God provided the outside income, as it were, by taking care of their daily eating. But what if He did so by delivering, say, exactly 1000 bushels of manna each day? The most enterprising early riser could scoop up all of it and gouge prices on the others, and the whole thing would get ugly very soon. Likewise, the more ambitious would do extra collecting, for personal security and for selling to those who are old, or sick, or who weren’t able to get enough for their daily needs. “Here, I’ll sell you some of what I have in stock.” So instead, God took all motivation and incentive for greed away from the children of Israel, and he made sure everyone had enough for their daily needs. 

Do we apply that unique situation as being God’s intended economic system for the world? No. For just one country? For the church? God-initiated communism, you might say. And the answer to all those questions is NO. God never said to continue this practice once they set foot into the land of Israel. The manna stopped and they were back to free enterprise and farming.

Paul’s point is rather simple, and we should not try to read more into it than was intended. When it comes time for the church to support one another, God’s intent is not for one to give so generously that they are doing without, but that all benefit. This is social equity within the church.

May the Lord bless you and provide for you, even as you are, at his leading, generous with others. Amen.