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The Authority to Conduct Business
by Gerald R. Chester, Ph.D.
What does business have to do with the Kingdom of God?
The pedestrian view is that business is about buying and selling in the physical world to make a profit so that people can live self-satisfying lives.
The pedestrian view of the Kingdom of God is a little more nebulous; it seems to refer to the realm of the spirit. And, for most, there is minimal, if any, connection between the spiritual and physical worlds.
Efforts to connect business and the Kingdom of God are reflected by concepts such as the greater good or the common good. These phrases imply that business should serve a purpose beyond enabling self-satisfying lives, that is, a purpose found in serving the good of humanity as a whole. Some see the greater good as a mission of igniting social change. Others argue that business should be conducted to glorify God, which can include the former ideas.
These views illustrate the different ways of thinking about the relationship between the physical realm of business and the spirit realm of the Kingdom of God. While there appears to be some truth in these perspectives, could there be something even more profound?
If you believe God created the universe and that the Bible provides a record of the creation event, then the Bible must answer the question of the connection between business and the Kingdom of God.
By the term kingdom, I am referring to the authority of a king to exercise his will and ways over his realm of dominion. In the matter of creation, clearly God, the Creator, is the King and therefore in charge of his creation.
The first verse in Scripture, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” suggests that everything in the physical realm originated by God’s fiat. Furthermore, Scripture reveals that God is a spirit being (John 4:24); this means that physical reality came from spiritual reality. Therefore everything in the physical world finds its legitimacy and definition in the spiritual reality of God.
Consequently the proper way to understand business and its connection to the Kingdom of God must be in light of the purpose of the Creator. That is, why did God create business and how did he intend for business to function? These questions are critical to properly understanding business and therefore the authority to conduct business. To seek to conduct business outside the authority of the Creator is rebellion.
The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were vexed by his teaching. On one occasion they asked him, “By what authority are you doing these things?” They were referring to his teaching and miracles (Matthew 21:23). These leaders understood that everyone lived under the authority of the Creator and what that authority meant. The common Greek word in the New Testament translated authority is ἐξουσία, which means “power or right of choice.” Hence, any person operating under authority has been granted the “power or right of choice” by someone in authority over them.
Created human beings conduct business by the authority of the Creator. This authority is derived from the Creator and is expressed in the Creation Mandate (sometimes called the Dominion Mandate or Cultural Mandate) recorded in Genesis 1:26–28. The Creation Mandate is a summary statement of the reason that mankind exists, namely, to rule God’s physical creation. There is no other created being—animate object—that is given this charge. Furthermore, the Creation Mandate states that mankind was uniquely created in the image of God. To be created in his image suggests that, to some degree, mankind reflects the attributes of God.
Theologians distinguish the attributes of God into two categories—incommunicable and communicable. The former attributes are unique to God and therefore not part of the image of God communicated to man. For example, God’s omniscience, omnipresence, and eternal being. The latter category, communicable, refers to divine attributes that are communicated to mankind such as love, rationality, purpose, and sovereignty. Of course, mankind cannot reflect communicable attributes to the degree that God does, but nevertheless, mankind can, through the empowerment of the Creator, reflect these attributes well enough to rule the earth according to the ways of God.
Therefore mankind is to do everything as a regent or representative of God. This means that the authority to do anything, and indeed everything, is derived from God and must reflect God.
In the Creation Mandate, mankind was charged and given authority to rule over the earth by growing and mastering the earth. Business is then a context in which people conduct the work of mastering God’s universe in obedience to the Creation Mandate. Therefore business is not primarily a vehicle to make money to live self-serving lives. Nor is the primary purpose of business the greater good or social change, as noble as these objectives might be. Rather, business is primarily a vehicle of obedience to the Creation Mandate and secondarily it is a means by which God provides physical benefits for mankind individually and collectively.
The authority for business is from God and is expressed in the Creation Mandate. Therefore business can only legitimately function in alignment with the will and ways of God, that is, in obedience to the Kingdom of God. Alignment with God is then the primary purpose of business.
Those who make business primarily a vehicle to facilitate self-satisfying lives are deceived. And those who contend that business is primarily about the common good or facilitating social change fail to see the more profound reality. And even those who argue that business is about glorifying God can misunderstand this truth if they don’t connect it to the Creation Mandate.
The most profound view of business and the Kingdom of God is expressed in the Creation Mandate, which gives us the authority to conduct business according to the will and ways of God. When the authority for business is properly grounded in the Creation Mandate, individuals will have the resources needed to live well, facilitate the common good of mankind, effect social change, and glorify God.
There is, indeed, a connection between business and the Kingdom of God. To ignore this connection is to ignore the purpose of business as defined by the Creator. Those who fail to understand this connection can never, in the final analysis, enjoy business success. Such people are like the religious leaders of Jesus’ time who performed their work without divine authority and empowerment, and therefore were not respected nor were they successful or effective (Matthew 23:13; 7:28–29).
The opposite will be true of those who understand the connection between business and the Kingdom of God. They will be like Jesus; they will function in business with divinely ordained authority and power that will be obvious to all. Consequently, they will be respected, successful, and effective. May this indeed be your reality.
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