What was in the mind of God regarding economics before the fall of man? Or, stated in other words, what was the divine theory of economics in an environment free from sin?

Given that God created Adam and Eve in a sinless state and initially placed them in a garden to rule His physical creation,¹ was there even a need for economics?

Life in the Garden of Eden was simple. A perfect climate eliminated the need for clothing and shelter, and a perfect food supply facilitated efficient food production and distribution. Daily work activities involved expanding the garden and mastering the technological wonders of God’s creation that would help mankind represent God in managing the physical universe. As the garden was expanded, stewardship of the finite resources of God’s creation would have been required. Economics is about stewardship.

The Creation Mandate² stipulated that mankind was created and commissioned to rule the physical universe by means of multiplication (growing in numbers) and mastery (exercising dominion). Even though there was no death before the fall of man,³ the need for multiplication implied that the work of expanding the rule of God through human agency could not be accomplished by Adam and Eve alone. And the command to master implied, at least in part, that the expanding rule of God through human agency would be facilitated by discovering ways (technology) to more efficiently rule.

Therefore, the task of multiplying and mastering creation intimates a need for trading goods and services, that is, economic activity. Given this commission (the Creation Mandate) and the context (a sinless environment), what were the traits of the requisite economic system?

A pedestrian definition of economics is:

Economics is the social science that describes the factors that determine the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek οiκονομία derived from οiκος (oikos, "house") and νόμος (nomos, "custom" or "law"), hence "rules of the house.”⁴

A definition of economics from a Christian worldview is:

Economics is the social science that describes the factors that determine the stewardship of time, talent, treasure, and technology (T4) through production, distribution, and utilization of goods and services to facilitate mankind’s role of ruling the physical universe (individually and organizationally) in accordance with the Creation Mandate.

The major difference in the two definitions is a broader sense of what economics covers, namely T4, and the reference to the Creation Mandate. T4 stipulates the scope of economics and the connection with the Creation Mandate provides a biblical basis for economics.

There were also economic implications associated with the nature of man as created by God. Mankind was not created to be either fungible or self-sufficient. Rather each human being was created by God with unique abilities.⁵ This uniqueness was implied in the reality that mankind was created in the image of God.⁶

Historically, the Christian church embraced a Trinitarian concept of God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Trinity is one God subsisting in one essence and embodied in three persons. Each person is ontologically equal, that is, in essential nature and being each is fully God. But each person has different work assignments, that is, there is a division of labor. This pattern of ontological equality and division of labor manifested in the Trinity is also a pattern in mankind. For example, males and females are ontologically equal but have different work assignments in human reproduction. Reproduction can only be accomplished by a male and female working together.

Furthermore, just as the division of labor is essential to the work of multiplication, the division of labor is essential to the work of mastery. Each person is created uniquely for a specific work assignment in the metanarrative.⁷ This division of labor intimates that mankind must function interdependently in fulfilling the Creation Mandate.

Given these realities, economics in the garden before the fall of man had to addressed the following activities:

• Food production. This is the most basic economic activity, which, in a sinless context was easy to perform. There was nothing to disrupt the farming process—no weather issues, crop failures, plant disorders, or blights caused by pests. Furthermore, harvesting, processing, storing, and distributing food would have been flawlessly executed. The only challenge would have been to expand the garden, requiring an increasing number of people and technological efficiencies.
• Mining. In addition to food production, there were mining activities. In the Creation account, special mention was made of gold, bdellium, and onyx stone.⁸ There was surely an economic purpose for these materials in the role of fulfilling the Creation Mandate.
• Families. The family unit was defined as a man and woman.⁹ The purpose of families was to facilitate both the multiplication and mastery of Creation according to the Creation Mandate. In other words, the family unit was designed to be the core of reproductive, economic, and educational activities.
• Education. Adam and Eve were created in a state of maturity, at least at some level. They would, however, reproduce babies who were not mature. Though sinless, the babies would still need to be trained to find and fulfill their roles in the metanarrative consistent with the Creation Mandate. The ability of parents to unilaterally provide all the educational requirements for the family was limited by virtue of division of labor and the uniqueness of each person. Parents would, therefore, need to find others who specialized in various fields of knowledge to help fill in gaps in educating and training their children.

Given these activities, human interdependence would clearly be required, which means that at least some of the work activity would have required economic transactions—payment for products or services rendered.

An economic transaction is an exchange for something that each party values more. For example, if one person has grain and another person has apples, and the person with grain values apples more, and likewise the person with apples values grain more, then an economic transaction can occur. This is known as "bartering."

Bartering could have been used in the pre-fallen state, but bartering is limited. Suppose the person with grain valued apples more than grain but the person with apples did not value grain more than apples. For a transaction to occur in this scenario, there would need to be a universally accepted monetary system to facilitate the trade. It would appear that in the Garden of Eden before the fall of man, the best candidate for a monetary system was gold. Perhaps the reason there is specific mention of gold in the garden is that, when bartering failed, gold was intended to be the basis for a universally accepted monetary system.

Though the pre-fallen state was short lived and there was no human reproduction prior to the fall of man, it is still helpful to consider economics in a sinless state. Perhaps as those living in a fallen world, it would be wise to more carefully consider the nature of pre-fall economics as a guide to developing economics in light of the fall of man. Such discussions certainly would be illuminating and, perhaps, help fallen man avoid many mistakes.

From a Christian worldview, one of the mistakes that fallen man may be making today is the economic presumption of fiat monetary systems instead of commodity-backed systems. To presume to build monetary systems based on human ideas that are not supported by Scripture raises questions about biblical legitimacy of such systems.

As citizens assigned to represent God on the earth, the Christian community should be advocating practices that reflect the intent and purpose of the Creator. Accordingly, Christians should engage in seeking the Lord to discern His ways of economics including His intended monetary system. Furthermore, Christians should understand that sound biblical theology is the basis for sound economics and should love God's creation enough to want to contend for truth in all areas of life, including economics. He who has an ear to hear, let him hear.

_________________________________
1 Genesis 1–2.
2 Genesis 1:26–28.
3 Genesis 3.
4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics.
5 Psalm 139:14.
6 Genesis 1:26.
7 The overarching story of history.
8 Genesis 2:11–12.
9 Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:4–6.

Walking in Financial Freedom