Neither Poverty Nor Riches: a Few More Quotes

From the book Neither Poverty Nor Riches: A Biblical Theology of Material Possessions by Craig L. Blomberg:

• “Thus it is clear that the man [the rich fool in Luke 12] is condemned not just for being rich. Still, it is important for professing Christians today to ask themselves how many unused surplus goods, property or investments they accumulate without any thought for the needy of our world. If the parallels become too close, presumably Jesus would say that their professions of faith are vacuous.” (119)

• “Self-justification or rationalization of one’s attachment or material possessions continues to trouble those in every age of human history, including those who, like most Pharisees in Jesus’ day, are also generous in giving to charity. Only God knows a person’s true motives.” (123)

• “The parables always contain a spiritual dimension relating to Christian discipleship, forgiveness, salvation by grace, and the like, as the primary foci of God’s kingdom or dynamic reign. But this discipleship will inevitably produce a tangible impact in the area of stewardship of material possessions.” (126)

• “There is no indication in any of Jesus’ stories that this kind of stewardship can ever be quantified or that any economic reversals would ever lead to pure egalitarianism. But it is clear that Jesus believes there extremes of riches and poverty that are intolerable in the circle of his followers.” (127)

• “The principles of the Sermon on the Mount/Plain are meant not as a constitution for government or merely as a guideline for individuals, but as a manifesto for those already willing to follow Jesus in the context of ‘church’.” (128)

• “Both versions of the sermon begin with the beatitudes, and the beatitudes commence with Jesus declaring the ‘poor’ to be blessed. The Greek word ptochos is the term that referred to someone not just below the poverty-line but utterly destitute.” (128)

• “All of this suggests that Jesus was not commanding, either in his day or in ours, that his followers necessarily give all beggars everything they demand. What is best for them is not always what they request. But to the extent we can determine people’s genuine physical or material needs, we should be concerned to point them towards the kind of help that stands a reasonable chance of remedying the situation.” (130)

• “Jesus is not teaching that we can never store or safeguard possessions, but we must scrupulously determine which are really necessary.” (131)

• “Thus, when we come to Mark 10:21b, we must be sure to read all of it. The command to sell everything and give to the poor cannot be separated from the accompanying, climactic command, ‘Then come follow me.’ The only charity that counts is what comes as the price of discipleship.” (139)

• “Zacchaeus comes to salvation not by his stewardship, but by his encounter with the Son of Man.” (141)

• “The good news of the gospel is consistently holistic, according to the teaching of Jesus. Material sustenance without spiritual salvation proves meaningless, but the liberation that God in Christ grants regularly includes a physical or material dimension to it as well. The only way God’s people can consistently obey all of his commands is as the entire Christian community worldwide, and any local expression of it, increasingly captures the vision of sharing its resources with the needy in its midst.” (145)

• “Nevertheless, there is a clear emphasis in Jesus’ ministry and teaching on meeting the needs of the outcasts and have-nots of this world.” (145)

• “It goes too far to say that one cannot be rich and be a disciple of Jesus, but what never appears in the Gospels are well-to-do followers of Jesus who are not simultaneously generous in almsgiving and in divesting themselves of surplus wealth for the sake of those in need.” (145)

• “The covenant model that assumes material reward for piety never appears in Jesus’ teaching, and is explicitly contradicted throughout.” (145)