The word poverty is usually thought of in its sociological sense. It describes the state of a man who for one reason or another is lacking in, or is even entirely without, the material necessities of life; who, therefore, having to rely on the assistance—voluntary or other—of his fellows, has to do without a great many things. He may even have to go without those things most essential to him, which would be available had he adequate means. There are, however, also much to the fore in this world, still other instances of destitution and privation. Even a rich man can be poor in health. He can suffer from intellectual poverty, in contrast with which a poor man in the financial sense of the word may be rich. With all his wealth he may suffer from spiritual poverty and from poverty in his relations with those around him, whereas in comparison a financially poor man may be a veritable Croesus.
I have been asked, not for my own opinions, but for the Christian views on this subject. Therefore I open my Bible and immediately light on the calm and almost disconcerting assertion that poverty, taken in the sociological sense—usual in this world—exists in this life of ours, has always existed and will always exist. Although the Bible is certainly no lacking in pictures of material wealth, those who possess and enjoy such wealth can be seen at a glance to be really very 'poor people'. Throughout the Bible, however, the fact that there are both rich men and poor, in either sense of the word, appears to be a kind of divine ordering of events, which ordinance must serve as a basis for all further thought—just as in this world we have to accept the facts of illness, war and other such human deeds of violence, without question and without concerning ourselves with ideas of an essentially 'better future'. Let us not rejoice or be angry too soon! Without that staring-point in mind, however, we can comprehend nothing.
ERROR MSGAll the more striking is the fact which dominates the picture, namely, the unmistakable and definite sympathy towards poverty seen in the Old and New Testaments, also the sympathy with those who, according to that divine ordinance, in this life are poor in one way or another, but above all in the material sphere. If in accordance with God's will there are also rich people, if especially in the Old Testament, He includes among His blessings the gift of riches to one man, H in no wise takes up a neutral position between the poor man and the rich man. The rich may take care of their own future, He is on the side of the poor.
First, there is no place in the Bible where the rights of the rich are proclaimed, where God appears as the Lord and Saviour of the rich and of their wealth, where the poor are exhorted to preserve the wealth of the rich and remain poor themselves merely for the sake of the rich. There are, however, many places in the Bible where the rights of the poor are proclaimed, where God declares Himself to be the upholder and avenger of these rights, where the rich are commanded not to forget the rights of the poor, not to alter or ignore them just when they feel inclined to do so, but rather to be rich only for the sake of the poor and for their benefit. We cannot but recognize the high principles and radical spirit of the Bible on both these questions.
Secondly, there is no place in the Bible where anything in the nature of praise is accorded to riches, where the rich are upheld and exalted. There are, however, many places where the poor are extolled as blessed, where they are called the chosen of God, where the words 'the poor' are synonymous with 'the righteous'. The gospel was proclaimed to the poor, while on the contrary the rich are often shown in suspiciously close proximity to the mighty evildoers, whose pride goes before a fall. Because of their wealth they at least run a great risk.
hotel a AnversaJust because they are rich men, they will in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven (as hardly as a camel can go through the eye of a needle, as we know), but to this end they must themselves sell all and become poor. In this respect the distinction made in the Bible is as sharp as a knife: the blessings of wealth cannot claim to be on equal footing with the blessings of poverty.
Thus the Bible is on the side of the poor, the impecunious and the destitute. He whom the Bible calls God is on the side of the poor. Therefore the Christian attitude to poverty can consist only of a corresponding allegiance. This allegiance is, however, only the reflection, the likeness, the testimony of a much more comprehensive distinction. If one should wish to withdraw from that allegiance, then one cannot comprehend, nor be in sympathy with, that all-embracing distinction to which it testifies. By 'poverty' we—and the Bible too in these connections, which have already been mentioned—mean financial, or some such form of poverty as is found in this world. Why then does poverty stand thus illumined, and wealth lie in the shadows? It is possible to give two answers to this question:
First, because poverty as seen from the background of human existence, that is, from the point of view of the coming Kingdom of God, and of the future life, is not a natural condition of life in this world, but is part of the evil which dominates that life. It is perhaps the most striking result of human sin. God's ordinance, whereby the rich and the poor live together side by side, is only temporary. His coming Kingdom will put an end to poverty.
Why, then, should this end not be proclaimed here and now, since the Word of God has already been heard? Why should God not here and now reveal Himself to and dwell with those who suffer from this evil which has been ordained to disappear? Why should he not comfort and encourage the poor, simply because they are poor in this world, with the realization that their rights are the very mirror of His eternal justice? And why should He not give the rich of this world to understand anything other than that the rights of the poor—those who in this life are lacking in wealth and all things necessary—must be sacred to them for the sake of His righteous judgment and of the approaching release from poverty?
The other side of the question is this: that here and now not wealth but poverty is the mark of our present life and of the future Kingdom promised to both rich and poor. For this Kingdom is not still in the future, but has come already. Christ was born: the Son of God, eternally rich, Himself the source of fullness of life for everyone. But the Kingdom is come in poverty because it is now become a reality to us men, who—rich or poor—are all greatly poverty-stricken in comparison with the abundant riches of the Kingdom. Christ was born in poverty in the stable in Bethlehem, and He died in extreme poverty, nailed naked to the Cross. He is, then, the companion, not of the rich men of this world, but of the poor of this world. For that reason He is here and now always to be found in the company of the hungry, the homeless, the naked, the sick, the prisoners. For that reason those who are rich must cleave to them, if they would be close to Him. Therefore, in order that they themselves may be blessed, the rich must become poor, or at least in all earnest be ashamed of their wealth; if they have to part with that wealth, whether gradually or all of a sudden, they must not show surprise, nor horror, nor yet try to ward off poverty. Not wealth but poverty is the mark of Heaven, the mirror of eternal salvation.
For Christ, in whom eternal salvation has come to those who in this world are rich or poor, is the Christ of poverty for all who are poor, all who are truly destitute and suffer any privation: such a one is the conqueror, who makes all poor men rich, and only such a one! In great humility did the most High God become the Lord of mankind. Man will have to follow the example of this humility, will have to confess his poverty, in order to grow rich in Him.
Karlstad albergo extraOne of St. Paul's sayings sums all this up: 'Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, although He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.' That is, briefly, the Christian attitude to poverty.
Published in Utrecht accommodationAgainst the Stream: Shorter Post-War Writings 1946-52 New York: Philosophical Library, 1954.