Is Socialism Biblical Neighborliness?

The following post is edited from a transcript of the above video.

We are just days away from the 2024 presidential election at the time of recording, and I’ve got to talk about something Tim Walz said.

Tim Walz is the current governor of Minnesota and is the running mate of Vice President Harris. Normally, we don’t discuss politics here, but when politics swerves into the domain of the Bible, we’ve got to talk about it. Here’s what he said: “One person’s socialism is another person’s neighborliness.”

Is this true?

Defining ‘Neighborliness’

Well, let’s define our terms, starting with neighborliness. Being neighborly is simply showing kindness especially in a way that benefits others.

The reason this swerves into the Bible lane is because the reason the world—and especially the West—understands the concept of neighborliness the way we do is because of a parable of Jesus recorded in the Book of Luke (10:25-37).

In the parable, two men—a priest and a Levite—should have had compassion a fellow countrymen who was beaten and left for dead on the roadside, instead they pass by on the other side of the road, ignoring the man and his critical needs. However, a Samaritan—someone the crowd would not have cheered for—had compassion on the man, bandaged his wounds, and set him up for medical care. This is Jesus’ illustration of what it means to be neighborly.

Defining ‘Socialism’

Let’s define the second term: socialism. Socialism is the system of political organization where property and the means of production are owned collectively—as opposed to capitalism where both property and the means of production are owned privately.

According to its proponents, socialism is more fair and equitable than other economic systems. After all, it was socialism’s founder, Karl Marx, that said, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”

Well, the beaten man did have a need and the Samaritan had the ability, so that’s socialism, right?

And isn’t greater material equality a good thing? Jesus did say, “The one who has two shirts must share with someone who has none, and the one who has food must do the same.” (Luke 3:11) Sounds like socialism to me!

And what about the crème de la crème, the pièce de résistance—not sure why the best superlatives are French, but they are—the number one socialist Bible passage: Acts 2:44-45.

“Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need.”

There it is—the Bible supports collectivism, Jesus was a Marxist, and Tim Walz was right, socialism is neighborliness!

Not so fast…

Why Socialism Isn’t Biblical

At first glance, these verses do seemingly show support for socialism—I’ve seen people sincerely cite them as evidence that socialism is not only biblical, but God’s ideal political philosophy. But, with a deeper examination of these passages, they actually prove the opposite.

Did the Samaritan care for the beaten man? Yes.

Did Jesus say we should help the poor? Yes.

Did the early church sell their property to support those in need? Yes.

But even in that last question, I slipped in the key difference between all these things and socialism…

Did you catch it?

“Their property.” The early church didn’t dissolve property rights, they still owned their property. And only those who—because of their own generosity and not by compulsion—wanted to support those who had needs, sold their property.

Let me further prove this point. That passage is in Acts 2. In Acts 5, we have the famous passage about Ananias and Sapphira being struck down by God for lying before the church. Here are Peter’s questions to Ananias:

“Why has Satan filled your heart to LIE to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the proceeds of the land?” (5:3)

Here’s what was happening: Ananias and Sapphira—a married couple in the early church—saw that everyone was selling their real estate and donating the proceeds to the church. They decided to do the same, but keep back some of the money for themselves—all while telling the church they gave 100%. They were clout chasers. Their sin wasn’t giving less that 100%, it was lying about it. Peter continues:

Wasn’t it yours while you possessed it? And after it was sold, wasn’t it at your disposal? Why is it that you planned this thing in your heart? You have not lied to people but to God.” (5:4)

It was Ananias and Sapphira’s property—they could have done what they chose. They could have kept it all as far as God was concerned—but they lied about it in front of the whole church—and apparently God wanted to make an example of them right at the start of the church in Acts.

Paul says this to the church in Corinth—I like to call it the Golden Rule of Giving: “Each person should do as he has decided in his heart—not reluctantly or out of compulsion, since God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Cor 9:7)

You should never feel pressured to give by a church and you should never give to a church that is pressuring you—that’s between you and God.

But even more broadly than that, you should never give to any charity because you feel pressured. If you feel pressured or guilted into giving, that’s not charity, that’s extortion.

What does this have to do with socialism and neighborliness?

Being neighborly isn’t something you do under force, it’s something you do on your own free will from a generous heart. Socialism isn’t from your own free will, it’s by compulsion of the government. You’re not being generous when the government is “generous” with your tax dollars. Generosity is only when you cheerfully give under no outside pressure.

The Good Samaritan didn’t help the man through paying taxes to Rome and then some Roman bureaucrat gave him government-run healthcare. No, the Good Samaritan took his own private funds and willingly cared for the injured man.

Jesus didn’t command His followers to pass a law that redistributed wealth among the society under force by way of a handout by Caesar. No, he commanded His followers to take the initiative to give a hand up to those who were less fortunate.

So, no, one person’s socialism is not another person’s neighborliness. Anything done by force is not neighborly. It’s neighborly if I politely ask my neighbor for an egg and they give me one freely. It’s not if I ask them while pointing a gun at them. We don’t call they neighborly—we call that robbery.

Socialism isn’t supported anywhere in the Scripture and anyone using the Bible to convince you it is—is either ignorant or is actively twisting the Scripture to deceive you. Bold claim? Not really. The founder of communism—which is the goal state of socialism—said this: “Communism begins where atheism begins.”

Why Authoritarians Hate God

That’s why the Soviet Union worked so hard to stamp out all religious belief. Even to this day, you can see  the remnants of the Iron Curtain when looking at religious survey data.

What did the USSR stand for? “Union of Soviet Socialist Republics” Even Communist China is doing their best to stamp out Christianity and replace it with worship of the government.

Why? Because if you want to lead an all powerful government, you can’t have your people believing that there’s an even higher power than you. You must get rid of God before you can become god. It’s not by accident that the more socialism that a culture embraces, the more atheistic it becomes. We see it across Europe and we see it here in the United States.

Most people view the political spectrum as left versus right—and that’s helpful, but incomplete. Here’s another way to view it: the authority spectrum.

Almost all the way to the right, there’s the perfect amount of authority—or proper government—that protects citizens and that’s about it. To the right of that is too little authority—or anarchy—and that’s no bueno. But, the vast majority of the spectrum is the government taking too much control for itself and becoming increasingly tyrannical.

There’s a lot I could get into here—and if you’d like me to make a whole video on what the Bible says about the appropriate role of government, I’d love to—just let me know in the comments below. But for the purpose of this post, the greater authority a government takes if itself, the more it tries to squeeze God out. That’s why many of the famous tyrants of history oppose the God of the Bible: Stalin, Hitler, Mao, the Kims of North Korea, etcetera. Because, if Jesus is the King of Kings, those people have an authority over them that even they are accountable to.

The truth is, you can start a socialist commune today right here in the good ole US of A. In the 1970s there were around three thousand active communes around the country. Today that number is down to about twelve hundred—it got as low as 600, but has seen a resurgence as of late. Here’s the thing: if you want to live a communal lifestyle, you are free to do so. That’s the key—free to do so. But the moment you are compelled to do so, that’s tyranny.

Yes, care for people.

Yes, support the poor with a hand up.

Yes, use what God has entrusted to you to benefit your community.

But, do it through uncoerced generosity, not through government compulsion.