Comm15-X†5: Rich Young Man (Matt 19); Vineyard Workers (Matt. 20:1–16)

      This continues from Part 14 (Table of Contents in Part 1), a series presenting a new translation of C.F.W. Walther's Communism and Socialism from 1878. — Walther continues his helpful Bible lesson that teaches the true meaning of God's Word, and exposes the misuse of Scripture by some deceptive Communists.  This gives all Christians the ability to be "ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear", 1 Peter 3:15.  This is the "sword of the Spirit" spoken of in Ephesians 6:17, "which is the word of God".

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Translation of Walther's 1878 Communismus und Socialismus by BackToLuther primarily using DeepL online translation service; highlighting and bolding are my emphases, red text within square brackets [ ] are my comments, underlining is Walther's emphasis. Red highlight indicates omitted in 1947 translation.

C.F.W. Walther's Communism and Socialism, (Part 15, p. 47-50)

We now move on. A third passage which is cited in defense of Communism is this [The Parable of the Rich Young Man]: Matt. 19:16-25 (cf. Luke 18:18 ff.): “And behold one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good, but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honor thy father and thy mother: and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The young man said unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to cuter into the kingdom of God. When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?”

When the Communists hear this passage, they say: Here you can see it, Christ has said it out loud, what the rich should actually do: they should sell everything and give to the poor. But here they are obviously making a logical blunder; [1947-65] they are making the mistake in the art of reasoning, which is called in Latin: Fallacia a particulari ad universale, i.e., a false conclusion from the particular to the general [“Hasty generalization” or “Existential fallacy”?]. For example, in the Holy Scriptures it says that Jesus Christ said to his disciples: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” [Matt. 28:19] Would it not be foolish to say: “You see, Christ commands all Christians to go into the world and preach the Gospel?” Christ also says to those who have been healed: “Go shew yourselves unto the priests.” [Luke 17:14] Would it not be great folly to conclude from this that everyone must show himself to the priests? But it is equally foolish to try to prove, in the passage where Christ said to the rich young man: “Sell that thou hast,” that it is Christ's teaching that all the rich must sell all their possessions and give it to the poor.

But why did Christ say these words to that rich man? — That is easy to see. That rich man was a “ruler,” that is, a councillor who was of the opinion that he had fulfilled all the commandments of God. But even though he might have lived most of his life honorably, he was a terrible miser in his heart. Christ knew this, who could see into the heart. Therefore, when he said that he had kept all the commandments of God and now only wanted to know what else was missing from him for perfection: there [page 49] the Lord gives him a right lesson, so that he now would realize where his destruction actually lies, namely, in his shameful heart. Therefore the Lord says to him, “Sell that thou hast and give to the poor,” but when the councillor hears this, he does not want to know anything about Christ and goes away sad. Then Christ said: “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven! it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God!” But the apostles were so dismayed by these words that they cried out: “Who then can be saved?” With this, Christ testifies that although it is impossible for men to be rich and to be saved, with God all things, including this, are possible. [Matt. 19:26] As soon as a person converts to God with all his heart, he not only says farewell to all vices and sins, but also to his wealth, and says to it with all his heart without [1947-66] hypocrisy: “You are no longer my treasure; therefore, if God wants my money and goods from me again, I will gladly give them back to Him; my heart does not depend on them.” And in this case it is possible for a man to be very rich and yet be saved. We have a particularly beautiful example of this in Zacchaeus. [Luke 19:2 ff.] He had become a very rich man, partly through deceit. As soon as he converted to the Lord Jesus, he was ready, if he had deceived someone, to give it back to him fourfold and to give half of his goods to the poor.   

Now if the interpretation of the above passage by the Communists was correct, the Lord Jesus ​​should have said to Zacchaeus: “Half is not enough, you must sell everything and give everything to the poor.” But we do not hear anything about this; on the contrary, the Lord praises Zacchaeus as a true Israelite, even though he only wanted to give half. One should not think that Zacchaeus would not have been willing to give all of it, but he knew that God did not demand this of him, and that he, after he had been converted, would now be able to use his goods much better than if he had suddenly had to give everything away. Because when I give everything what I have to the poor then from that time on I can also no longer give any gift of love and that is why God also does not demand it from me.

The fourth passage, finally, which is also quoted to prove that the principles of Communism are biblical, is the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard. [Matt. 20:1–16] The French Communist Proudhon [see p. 38, Part 10] referred to the fact that, according to this parable, those who worked twelve hours do not get more than those who worked nine, six, and three hours, indeed even only one hour. But it is indeed strange that this parable should be invoked, for there is probably no more anti-Communist passage in all of Holy Scripture [page 50] than just this one. Because first of all we meet a housefather who owns his own vineyard. Secondly, we meet here day laborers whom the housefather has hired. Thirdly, we hear about a wage contact that the housefather makes with his workers and to which he later refers. Fourth, we hear that he hires them for twelve hours' work. And fifth, finally, we hear that the Lord attributes it only to his goodness, not to justice, that he gave the same wages to those who had worked only one hour as to those who had worked twelve hours. So any [1947-67] reason that is taken from this parable for Communism is completely lost.

Now these would be the Bible passages which lead, in part by believers, and in part by unbelievers, for Communism, and which, as we have seen, prove in part nothing and in part the opposite. From this alone we can see that the efforts of the Communists are against Christianity. But we also hear:…

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      I had to laugh as Walther rightly paraphrases the correct teaching of the case of Zacchaeus, that it was notable that he gave willingly, voluntarily, not that he did not give all he possessed. Scripture interprets Scripture!  How was it that the Old Missouri Synod did so much in its early years in building seminaries, educational institutions, and missionary efforts?  They impressed on their members what the Lord had already done for them!