World Poverty: “Do Good to the Poor.” Part I.

Jesus said that society will always have the poor and that it is right to “do good to them” (Mark 14:7). There are a number of questions that arise when considering “doing good” to the poor: Who is to do good to the poor? Is it the responsibility of the individual, church, government, or a combination of helpers? What is “doing good” and can one harm the poor by trying to help them? What are biblical guidelines for providing responsible care for the poor and needy?

It is the responsibility of Christians individually and corporately as the church to help the poor. Christians are to follow the model of Christ who tirelessly extended the hand of truth and the hand of compassion (see 3.6.12 blog article for Jesus’ Two Hands Ministry Model). The first century church clearly demonstrated its care for the poor as recorded in the New Testament.

Christians in the second century carried on the Two Hands Ministry Model of Jesus by helping those in need. Sociologist, Rodney Stark writes, “In about 170, Dionysius of Corinth wrote to the Roman church: ‘From the start it has been your custom to treat all Christians with unfailing kindness, and to send contributions to many churches in every city, sometimes alleviating the distress of those in need, sometimes providing for your brothers in the mines.’”*

When great epidemics swept over Rome during the second and third centuries, Christians demonstrated their love and faith in God by ministering to those deathly ill, often at the cost of their own lives. The great epidemic of the second century first struck the army of Verus in 165 and spread across the empire. Stark states, “The mortality was so high in many cities that Marcus Aurelius spoke of caravans of carts and wagons hauling the dead from cities.”** It is estimated from a quarter to a third of the Roman empire perished during the fifteen year epidemic, including Marcus Aurelius himself.

Roman Emperor Julian grudgingly admitted that the church was doing a better job than the Empire in caring for the poor. Writing to a pagan priest, Julian complained, “The impious Galileans [i.e., the Christians] support not only their poor, but ours as well, everyone can see that our people lack aid from us.” ***

Stark quotes Dionysius’ Easter letter from around 260 in which he praises the heroic nursing efforts of local Christians. “Most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains. Many, in nursing and curing others, transferred their death to themselves and died in their stead…. The best of our brothers lost their lives in this manner, a number of presbyters, deacons, and laymen winning high commendation so that death in this form, the result of great piety and strong faith, seems in every way the equal of martyrdom.”****

*Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries (New York: HarperCollins Publishers,1996), 9.

**Stark, 76. ***Stark, 82, ****Ibid.