What Does The Bible Say About Inflation?

Did Jesus Christ deal with inflation while he walked among us before his death on the Cross? 

Scripture and history make it clear that he did. 

Jesus lived under the rule of the Roman Empire, some of the greatest pioneers and innovators of both inflation and theft. 

Before we tell you how Jesus PERSONALLY dealt with inflation during his time on Earth, let's examine what Scripture tells us about inflation...

James 5:3: Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days.

Isaiah 1:22-23: Your silver has become dross, your best wine mixed with water. Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow's cause does not come to them.

Haggai 1:6-7: You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways.

Unfortunately, we do not have a verse that says, "Inflation is bad and you guys really ought to abolish the Federal Reserve". That would certainly make the research for this article easier. 

However, we do have Scripture that reveals God's awareness of how the value of our gold, silver, and harvests can erode or devalue. We also have several texts where specific instructions are laid out for how to weigh, price, or measure certain transactions (Proverbs 11:1, Ezekiel 45:9-12, Deuteronomy 25:13-15). 

Jesus was not a stranger to inflation or tricks used to devalue people's wealth. 

The Roman Empire famously debased their currency by "clipping" their coins. Essentially, the Romans would reduce the amount of gold or silver in their coins but assign it the same face value without telling their citizens. 

Emperors continued to debase their gold and silver coins in order to finance their military expansion.

This of course led to inflation and serious price controls. It can even be argued that inflation is what ultimately led to the fall of the Roman Empire. You can read about this thesis from our friends, the Foundation for Economic Education, on their website by clicking here.

So when we read Scripture that gives us an odd amount of specificity when it comes to scales, weights, and measurements, it doesn't require a big leap of imagination to see that God despises inflation schemes.

Leviticus 19:35: You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity.

Proverbs 16:11: A just balance and scales are the LORD’s; all the weights in the bag are his work.

Inflation robs the time, energy, and wealth of the poor, working-class, families, and the elderly who can no longer work. 

This is simply a more complicated, covert, and sinister method of stealing. 

Sound Money, preserving our wealth, protecting the poor from inflation... these are all things God commands of us. It's time for Christians to stand up to the ugly practice of inflation and demand it be stopped.