Foundations of the Free Market, 6

Continued from "Foundations of the Free Market, 5"

So far, I have shown that God created man with a purpose of taking dominion over the world. The division of labor has provided a multitude of legitimate ways to participate in the dominion mandate.

Now I will address the appropriate Biblical means to accomplish man's appointed task. You will find it in its most profoundly brief form in the Eighth Commandment:

Thou shalt not steal. (Exo 20:15)

This succinct command is pregnant with implications for the free market. First and foremost, God allows people exclusive rights to property. (i.e., If no one owned anything, then theft would exist, if at all, only as a theoretical concept.)

Scripture sets forth numerous ramifications of the right to property, including

1. The right to the fruit of one's labors (Luke 10:7; II Tim. 2:6)
2. The right to negotiate the compensation for one's labor (Matt. 20:13, which also teaches the validity and enforceability of contracts)
3. The right to true weights and measures in the marketplace (Prov. 20:23)
4. The right to dignity regardless of possessions (Prov. 17:5)
5. The right to justice regardless of possessions (Exodus 23:3, 6)

These expanded applications of the Eighth Commandment along with many more in Scripture teach that you have a right to own property, to labor and to enter into contract with others freely and without coercion.

Thus, an exclusive right to property also implies the right to dispose of that property as one sees fit. You may cooperate with others to give, trade, sell or buy property. Wherever such an exchange takes place, you have a market. Wherever the exchange is voluntary (free from coercion), you find a free market.

There is a book that each of my home-educated children has read. It is called The Law, and it was written by Frederic Bastiat. The book logically and systematically demonstrates that the command "Thou shalt not steal" precludes intrusions into the market place by civil authority.

Bastiat rightly identifies socialistic redistribution of wealth as "legalized plunder". Uncoerced enterprise in a free market is the only economic system that preserves and protects the rights established by the Eighth Commandment.

You may click on the link to download a pdf copy of The Law.