One of the most important aspects to becoming a historian as a Christian, is our biblical worldview that we apply to how we see and perceive entrepreneurship and free market. There are a few set principles about the Bible that are key to understanding business as a whole. God has established order, intelligence, and truth in the universe and in history. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. In John 1:14, it states that “We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (NIV). The God of all has created everything on earth, it has established truth through his only son Jesus. In addition to truth, the bible provides principles of ethics that guide our evaluation of people and nations. This can be found in Exodus 20:1-17, here the ten commandments can be found. These commandments are the basis to our ethics that guide our judgment on everything. Finally, the bible teaches all men to recognize their human limitations.
According to Webster dictionary an entrepreneur is “one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risk of a business or enterprise”. However, according to Larry Schweikart, “defining entrepreneurship has proved more difficult for economists and business historians than might appear at first glance, and that definition has expanded or changed over time. We have therefore chosen to examine the context in which the concept of entrepreneurship appeared in a comprehensive frame- work” (Schweikart, 2010). Defining entrepreneurship can be difficult for an overall explanation but can be better defined on the context of the situation.
As entrepreneurs, and most importantly as Christians, we have to connect the principles God has provided us with to the aspects of entrepreneurship and free markets. This can be done by taking a deeper look at our biblical worldview and taking these principals as laws for our lives.
God has established order, intelligence, and truth in the universe and history. God is so gracious to is that he gave us intelligence which can be seen through our learning process. We as humans have evolved because we have the God-given ability to learn from our past mistakes. In addition, God has given us truths for us to base our ideas off of. These truths can be seen through Jesus or basic laws of the universe. Also, God has established order in the universe and history. This can be seen in our free markets and our unrestricted way of doing business. God gave us the gift of order and we as humans have decided to allow free markets in order for an economy to prosper the most.
The Bible provides principles of ethics that guide our evaluation of people and nations. As said previously, these principles can be found in exodus 20: 1-17 as our ten commandments. God gave us these commandments as a basis for our lens that we view the world through. They are to determine all of our decisions so that we may stay close to God. As entrepreneurs and individuals that support a free market, the ten commandments can be directly applied to our businesses and enterprises. These are the standards that people use to evaluate a company. For example, in verse 15, it states “you shall not steal” (NIV). We can clearly see how this can be a standard that determine whether or not people would like to buy products or invest in certain companies. Nobody would like to buy a product or use a service and eventually feel like they have been taken advantage of or have had something stolen from them. As entrepreneurs, if we want to succeed, we have to follow these biblical principles to attract the trust of our customers investors. In addition, biblical ethics guide our evaluation of the way our nation runs, we need a free market so that everyone must work. As it perfectly states in Proverbs 13:4, “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied” (NIV). We can see that the Bible provides principles that guide everyone’s evaluation of a business and nations.
The Bible teaches man to recognize that we have human limitations. Psalm 90 is an excellent example that brings to light our human limitations. We are mortal, we all eventually die on earth, the Bible makes it clear to us that we will one day leave this earth. One way I can apply that to my life is through what I am searching for. As an entrepreneur what am I using my time for? Am I constantly searching for money or am I trying to further the Kingdom of God? Personally, the best part about being an innovator is having the ability to find new ways to help the lives of those around us and to use my product or service to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Overall, it is clear to see that God has given us principles in laws to live by. It is our duty as entrepreneurs and supporters of free market to integrate those principles into our businesses and enterprises.
Bibliography
Schweikart, Larry, and Lynne Pierson Doti. American Entrepreneur: The Fascinating Stories of the People Who Defined Business in the United States. New York: American Management Association, 2010.
Webster Dictionary. Entrepreneurship. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/entrepreneurship.
Bible NIV Translation