The Bible vs. Communism: Clear Principles for a Confusing Age. Series 2/6

Jul 25

Written By Bea

Part 2 of 6: God’s Design for Private Property and Stewardship

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury:

In Part 1 we established that socialism is the deliberate first stage of communism, and that both systems have produced mass death and tyranny. Today we turn to the next piece of evidence: private property.

The Bible does not treat private property as optional or as a temporary social arrangement. It treats it as part of God’s original design for human beings made in His image.

God’s Design: Private Property and Stewardship

From the very beginning, God gave humanity dominion and the responsibility of stewardship over creation:

“God blessed them. God said to them, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” (Genesis 1:28)

“Yahweh God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.” (Genesis 2:15).

Ownership and responsible care of property are not human inventions. They are gifts from God who entrusts resources to individuals so we can be accountable stewards — multiplying, improving, and generously sharing what He has given.

The Eighth Commandment protects this design:

“You shall not steal.” (Exodus 20:15)

If private property did not exist, the command “You shall not steal” would make no sense. Theft presupposes rightful ownership.

Because every person is made in the image of God, they possess inherent dignity that includes the right to own and steward property. When the state seizes the means of production, it commits a form of theft against the individual by taking what God has entrusted to them.

Jesus Affirms Private Property and Faithful Stewardship

Jesus repeatedly used private property and responsible management as the framework for His teaching. Consider the Parable of the Talents:

“For it is like a man going into another country, who called his own servants and entrusted his goods to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his own ability. Then he went on his journey.” (Matthew 25:14–15)

When the master returned, he rewarded the servants who had multiplied what was entrusted to them and condemned the one who buried his talent. The entire parable assumes private ownership, personal responsibility, and accountability for what belongs to another.

Jesus did not call for the abolition of private property. He called for faithful stewardship of it. The same principle appears in the early church: generosity was voluntary, not coerced (Acts 5:4).

Communism’s War on Private Property

Communism begins by abolishing private property in the means of production. Marx and Engels stated this explicitly in The Communist Manifesto: the theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: abolition of private property.

When the state seizes the means of production, it seizes the ability of ordinary people to provide for themselves and their families. History shows what follows:

Forced collectivization in the Soviet Union produced the Holodomor.
Mao’s Great Leap Forward produced mass starvation.
In Cambodia under Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge went even further. They abolished money overnight — declaring the national currency worthless, closing the banks, and forbidding any form of buying or selling. At the same time they abolished all private property: land, houses, businesses, and personal possessions were seized by the state. People were forced out of the cities into collective labor camps and made completely dependent on the regime for food. When the state failed to provide, roughly one-quarter of the population died from starvation, overwork, disease, and execution in what became known as the Killing Fields.

These were not excesses. They were the logical result of rejecting God’s design.

When the state becomes the ultimate owner, it becomes the ultimate authority — and the image of God in the individual is crushed under the collective.

Closing of This Portion of the Case

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury: the Bible affirms private property as a gift from God and calls for faithful stewardship of it. Communism begins by abolishing that gift. One system treats human beings as image-bearers with God-given rights and responsibilities. The other treats them as tools of the state.

We see echoes of this conflict in our own day. Policies that steadily expand government control over housing, wages, and the means of production — even when presented as “democratic socialism” — move in the same direction history has repeatedly shown ends in coercion and loss of freedom. Recent examples, such as proposals advanced by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and DSA-backed candidates for rent freezes and greater state control over wages and housing, illustrate this trend of diminishing private ownership in favor of collective solutions.

The evidence continues to mount. The survivors continue to speak. The only question is whether we will listen.

Next in the Series (Part 3): Generosity vs. Coercion — What the Early Church Actually Practiced.

Previous:
Part 1 of 6: Opening Statement – Socialism Is the Road to Communism

Bea