Here’s a charge I gave at a recent Business Makers Summit in Nashville.
Introduction
The most valuable resource in the universe is people. This is because people are made in the image of God. And this means in part that people are makers like God. God creates, and so those who bear His image create, invent, discover, build, design, and produce. But all such things presuppose minds and ideas. As George Gilder has insisted, in the beginning was the Word, and therefore words and ideas are at the heart of all creation, production, all business.
Adam Smith got a lot right about division of labor and specialization and free trade, but where his work has needed development is in understanding what drives productivity. Adam Smith and capitalism are often accused of defending selfishness and greed. In Wealth of Nations, Smith is (in)famously quoted as saying, “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages.” Many critics of capitalism have latched on to this one quote out of context accusing capitalism of inherent greed and selfishness, and even some defenders of capitalism have embraced the charge.
What Adam Smith Actually Meant
But this is to actually get Adam Smith very wrong, and it has attempted to put a very bad idea at the heart productivity. What Adam Smith was addressing was the inability of individual workers and businessmen to serve all the needs of the world. Later in the same book as Smith describes his famous “invisible hand,” he explains, “As every individual, therefore, endeavors as much as he can both to employ his capital in the support of domestic industry, and so to direct that industry that its produce may be of the greatest value; every individual necessarily labors to render the annual revenue of the society as great as he can. He generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry, he intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention.” While many critics seize upon this and say, “see! He says individuals only seek their own gain and then some magical invisible hand somehow makes it help the public good,” if you are reading carefully, he is primarily underlining the limits of creaturely knowledge. He is not saying, as critics and even some defenders claim, that capitalism works because God overwrites greed and selfishness for good.
But if we read further we find that Adam Smith had a deeper and far more Christian understanding of “self-interest” and “personal gain” than you might initially think. For example, in his previous book, Theory of Moral Sentiments, Smith opens by noting that however selfish humans may be they still care very much about what other people think and what they are going through. Human personal interest is often closely wrapped up with the interests of others; men are naturally sympathetic and this sympathy is part of their self-interest. Furthermore, he says that it is in every man’s self-interest to be moral and upright, not least because there is a God who will judge all men. It is in man’s self-interest to be moral and virtuous because he will stand before His Maker and give an account one day. Finally, in another place, Smith says that one element of justice is propriety and giving proper attention to objects which deserve our attention (like a beautiful painting or poem). It is in our self-interest to give proper justice to the objects and persons around us. He writes, “what is called justice means the same thing with exact and perfect propriety of conduct and behavior, and comprehends in it… every other virtue, of prudence, of fortitude, of temperance… the perfection of every sort of virtue.”
While Adam Smith may not have always defined his terms as carefully as we might hope, it is at least arguable that what he meant by “self-interest” includes these considerations of virtue, justice, answering to God, and sympathy for others. At the same time, no finite human being can act beyond their immediate sphere of influence and knowledge. A mere man cannot possibly aim at helping everyone in the world or sympathize with everyone or give proper attention to everyone. All of our virtues must be practiced in our immediate vicinity. Self-interest and self-love certainly must not be self-centered or greedy or selfish, but if the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor “as yourself,” this actually requires some sort of self-awareness and self-interest. But the Bible goes further: A husband is to love his wife as he loves himself, as he loves his own body (Eph. 5). And Paul insists that it is in a man’s own self-interest to love his wife like this because a man who loves his wife like this loves himself. All of this imitates the love of God: in the same place, it says Christ has laid His life down for His bride the church in order to present her “to Himself” spotless. As paradoxical as it may seem, Christ died in an act of supremely selfless self-interest. It is simply a glorious grace that His self-interest included our salvation.
Capitalism as Gift-Giving
So this is the fundamental idea of capitalism and creativity and all productivity: self-giving. It’s the exact opposite of the selfishness and greed that many accuse us of. Just as God created in the beginning, and all things were created as pure gifts, so too true human ingenuity, entrepreneurship, and productivity imitates the Creator by creating in order to give gifts to others.
The free market is truly free because it is the free exchange of gifts. It truly is more blessed to give than to receive, but that doesn’t mean we must refuse all gifts. Wise businessmen know that in order to keep giving the gifts they most want to give, they have to receive gifts in return. This is what a payment is. It is the gift given by the consumer in exchange for the gift we have given them.
While incentives certainly matter, and there are certain laws of incentives that tend to come true over time, human beings are not fundamentally materialistic appetites. We are embodied souls, covenantal beings. And covenants are made and kept and renewed fundamentally through the exchange of gifts.
But in order to be a good gift giver you must be a constant student. You must be constantly learning. A husband must dwell with his wife with understanding and knowledge to know how to love her well (1 Pet. 3:7). Likewise, you must be studying your resources, your abilities, your assets, and you must be studying God’s world, studying opportunities, needs, difficulties, challenges, and of course this includes studying the people you want to serve – what are their needs, challenges, difficulties.
In the beginning was the Word, and that means that in the beginning was knowledge, wisdom, understanding. In the beginning was good ideas, creativity, imagination. It is of course true that demand invites some supply. But in God’s world supply has always been the driving force of demand. God created a world for which there was absolutely no demand. And so it is that the true entrepreneur invents, discovers, produces, designs what no one yet knows that they need. And he does it because he has come to understand something surprising, unexpected about the way God made the world and about what the people need he hopes to serve. And the entrepreneur lays his life down, sacrificing great time, energy, and resources for the good of others. In other words, love drives good business.
Love provides goods and services that meet real human needs. Love offers those gifts to others on the free market in exchange for free gifts in return. This kind of Christian love requires risk. Your love may be returned or it may not. If you receive enough gifts in return, you are enabled to continue giving those gifts.
Conclusion
I don’t mean for this to be overly philosophical or vague. It is in this context that I want to say to you business leaders, business makers: go hard. The world wants you to feel bad for working hard, for making money, and for growing your businesses. And too often Christians unfortunately add to that criticism. But understood rightly, business is nothing less than loving your neighbors well. Paul tells Titus that he must make sure that those who have believed in God must be careful to maintain good works – which are good and profitable unto men (Tit. 3:8). What are Christians supposed to be constantly giving themselves to? Maintaining good work that is good and beneficial to others. In order to “maintain” your good work, you have to have spread sheets, good record keeping, good products, quality services, good employees, good customer service, a good price point, and so on.
And what is all of that? The Bible calls it love. When you work as to the Lord, when you work to truly bless others with quality products and services, you are loving your neighbors. So the charge is to love as many neighbors as you can. Give as many gifts as you can. And make as much money as you can in order to keep creating, producing, and blessing others. This is to imitate your Maker, and this pleases Him greatly. This is good and virtuous and just. And when you do, you are becoming the fullest version of what God created you to be. Or we might say, with Adam Smith, it is in your best self-interest.
Photo by Jorge Vasconez on Unsplash
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