Blog Action Day: Justification and Poverty

I could cure poverty myself if I had a dime everyone told me that the Bible says,

God helps those who help themselves.

This is a proverb by Benjamin Franklin from Poor Richard’s Almanac, not the Bible. The reason so many people mis-attribute it to the Bible is because it justifies their lack of interest in the marginalized in society- especially those overwhelmed by poverty. If God, their logic goes, will only help people who help themselves, I don’t have to either. It becomes the fault of the helpless person and they are relieved of any obligation to help.

The fact is, the Gospel of Jesus Christ says the exact opposite of Franklin’s proverb. If God waited for us to be able to help ourselves, no one would ever be helped. This is what the apostle Paul argues in the beginning of his epistle to the Romans (Paul quotes many places in the Old Testament to prove his point- Romans 3.10-18):

As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

John says something similar, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4.10, see also verse 19). God graciously helps us when we cannot help ourselves.

This is why caring for the poor and downtrodden has always been important to the church (James 1.27). Helping those in poverty is an illustration of the central message of Jesus Christ. It should remind us of our spiritual poverty (Matthew 5.3) and the gracious help we received even though we didn’t deserve it.

Unfortunately Christians in the United States are quick to forget this connection. Statements like Franklin’s proverb exemplify an value of self-made men who were able to pull themselves up from their boostraps. The fact that people in the United States are able to do such things is not only one of the greatest things about it but also the reason why so many people have come and continue to come. The fallacy, however, is that since some are able to do this all should be able and if they are not able to it must be their fault.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ stands against such thinking. It reminds us that we were helped when we couldn’t help ourselves. It gives us a motive to help others even if they can’t help themselves.