Jesus did not teach socialism

I’ve run into some avowed socialists online who claim Jesus was a socialist or at least taught doctrines compatible with socialism. Jesus healed the sick, fed the hungry and told his followers to do likewise. Apparently, for some, that implies socialism. If we’re going to make progress discussing this, we need to define our terms

Despite the rhetoric of compassion from modern enthusiasts, socialism is not defined by the belief poor people should be taken care of by those who have the means to help them. With the exception of a few outlying psychopaths, everyone believes this is a moral obligation (including capitalists and libertarians).

Socialism is the belief a central government can and should act as the highest representation of humanity. At this particular point, its claims are in direct competition with Jesus Christ, the God-man who has been exalted to a position of authority over the whole world.

As the highest expression of collective humanity, government thus has a higher, previous ownership of whatever any particular human may own. Your rights end where the collective has a need that includes needing what you have.

This often is summarized by the statement that under socialism, the state owns or controls the “means of production.” This is code-language meant to tell you you only own what they allow you. Even that, frankly, can be taken back on a whim.

Nothing in the teaching of Jesus supports any of this. Yes, he commanded people to share their possessions with the poor. This is not the same as commanding some to remove wealth from others and distribute as they see fit.

Jesus also commanded his gospel should be preached throughout the world. Oddly, no socialist wants the government to be involved in any of that. He is suddenly able, on this point, to discern not every command in the Bible is given to the centralized government.

It must be honestly admitted there is one parable in which Jesus spoke favorably of the redistribution of wealth. But this instance doesn’t help the socialist’s case, because the redistribution is in the wrong direction. It is the parable of the talents (when a “talent” was a unit of gold or silver weight, and thus a measure of money) and at the end of it, the master takes the talent that belongs to the poorest of his servants, then hands that talent over to the servant who had the most.

What makes matters worse for the one who wants Socialist Jesus on his side is the more wealthy servant was praised by his Lord for turning a profit. He increased his wealth by going out and doing business. The poor servant was labeled “lazy” by Jesus and had his single talent removed as a punishment for his failure to make money. (See the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:13-30.)

So, no, Jesus was no socialist. Still, he did command his people to be generous and share their possessions with the poor. That command was not given to a government, but to his individual followers. That’s you and me. Let’s work to be found obedient in this area.

Gordan Runyan is the pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Tucumcari. Contact him at

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