Who Is Responsible for the Poor? What Sodom, the Prophets, and Jesus Say About Power

Two prominent public figures recently debated a question that has quietly shaped much of modern evangelical thinking.

One argued that caring for the poor and the immigrant belongs primarily to individuals and churches, not to government. The other disagreed. While the political debate quickly became predictable, the underlying theological question deserves far more careful attention.

This article is not about defending Democrats or Republicans. Neither party has demonstrated a consistent biblical vision of justice. Both have often protected the powerful while leaving the vulnerable behind in different ways.

The real question is much older.

So who is responsible for the poor? Scripture's answer is broader than our politics allows. God holds everyone responsible according to the authority entrusted to them—individuals, congregations, judges, kings, and nations alike. The prophets never assign the vulnerable to private charity alone or to government alone. Responsibility scales with power (Luke 12:48).

When God judges a nation, what does He hold that nation responsible for?

If the answer is "nothing," then the modern evangelical position may be correct.

If the answer is "quite a lot," then perhaps we have inherited more from modern political philosophy than from Scripture.

The Forgotten Indictment of Sodom

When most people think of Sodom, one particular sin immediately comes to mind.

Yet centuries later, God Himself summarized the city's guilt through the prophet Ezekiel.

"Sodom's sins were pride, gluttony, and laziness, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door. She was proud and committed detestable sins, so I wiped her out, as you have seen."

— Ezekiel 16:49-50 (NLT)

Notice what Ezekiel does.

He does not excuse the city's other sins.

Neither does he begin with them.

Instead, God first exposes a society characterized by pride, abundance, complacency, and the neglect of those who lacked the necessities of life.

Even more striking is who stands accused.

Not merely wealthy citizens.

Not isolated individuals.

Not even the religious leaders.

Sodom itself.

A city.

A social order.

A public community.

The indictment is corporate.

God Speaks to More Than Individuals

One of the quiet assumptions many believers carry is that God only evaluates personal morality while governments remain morally neutral.

The prophets know nothing of such an idea.

And this is not an argument resting on Ezekiel alone. Listen to the prophets themselves.

Isaiah confronted rulers who legislated injustice—not merely people who behaved unjustly, but people who wrote injustice into law:

"What sorrow awaits the unjust judges and those who issue unfair laws. They deprive the poor of justice and deny the rights of the needy among my people. They prey on widows and take advantage of orphans."

— Isaiah 10:1-2 (NLT)

Amos denounced an economy and a court system rigged to favor the wealthy while crushing the poor:

"You trample the poor, stealing their grain through taxes and unfair rent. Therefore, though you build beautiful stone houses, you will never live in them. Though you plant lush vineyards, you will never drink wine from them. For I know the vast number of your sins and the depth of your rebellions. You oppress good people by taking bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts."

— Amos 5:11-12 (NLT)

And what did God want instead of Israel's religious performances?

"Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living."

— Amos 5:24 (NLT)

Jeremiah carried God's command directly to the throne of Judah:

"This is what the LORD says: Be fair-minded and just. Do what is right! Help those who have been robbed; rescue them from their oppressors. Quit your evil deeds! Do not mistreat foreigners, orphans, and widows. Stop murdering the innocent!"

— Jeremiah 22:3 (NLT)

Notice the audience.

These words were not delivered to private citizens about their personal generosity. They were delivered to judges, lawmakers, and kings about the exercise of public power.

Again and again, God addresses cities, kingdoms, courts, princes, and empires.

The biblical pattern is unmistakable.

Power never reduces accountability.

It enlarges it.

John Calvin, no utopian about politics, called civil office the most sacred and by far the most honorable of all callings.¹

Not because government saves anyone.

Because it answers to the God who does.

Government is never presented as humanity's savior.

Neither is it portrayed as morally indifferent.

Its authority exists under God's authority.

The Difference Between Charity and Justice

Private generosity matters.

Scripture commands it repeatedly.

Followers of Christ are called to extraordinary compassion toward the poor, the woman raising children alone, the child no one is coming for, and the immigrant.

But Scripture speaks of something larger than private charity.

It also speaks of justice.

Justice concerns the ordering of society itself.

Whether courts are honest.

Whether workers are exploited.

Whether the elderly and the single parent receive protection.

Whether immigrants receive fair treatment.

Whether the poor are crushed beneath systems that benefit the powerful.

These are not merely personal questions.

They are public ones.

Nicholas Wolterstorff notes that Scripture's command against murder is grounded not in God's law but in the worth of the human being.²

A worth belonging to everyone who bears the image of God.

That distinction matters.

Justice is not optional charity. It is what image-bearers are due.

Charity asks,

"Will I help?"

Justice asks,

"What kind of society are we creating?"

Scripture insists both questions matter.

The Responsibility of Power

One remarkable feature of the biblical story is that God never allows those who possess authority to excuse themselves.

Kings cannot blame merchants.

Merchants cannot blame priests.

Priests cannot blame citizens.

Citizens cannot blame kings.

Each answers for the authority entrusted to them.

Jesus Himself taught,

"When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required."

— Luke 12:48 (NLT)

That principle applies beyond individuals.

Throughout Scripture, rulers are judged according to how they exercise public trust.

Calvin, on Romans 13, wrote that the right of government is ordained by God for the well-being of mankind.³

Authority is a trust.

Not a possession.

The measure of a civilization is not merely its prosperity.

It is how that prosperity reaches those who possess the least power.

The Machinery We Added

Modern political debates often begin with questions Scripture never asks.

Should government be larger?

Should taxes be higher?

Should markets be freer?

Those questions have their place.

But the prophets begin elsewhere.

They ask whether justice is being done.

Whether the vulnerable are protected.

Whether those with authority have become comfortable while suffering grows at the gates.

Some believers insist that government has no responsibility toward the poor.

Yet the prophets repeatedly hold governments accountable for exactly that.

Others imagine government can solve every social problem.

Scripture rejects that illusion as well.

Neither state nor market is humanity's hope.

Only God is.

Yet because rulers answer to God, governments cannot claim moral neutrality regarding the vulnerable.

Abraham Joshua Heschel spent a lifetime with these prophets and distilled them to a sentence:

Few are guilty, but all are responsible.⁴

That single sentence dismantles much of our modern machinery.

Beyond Politics

None of this tells us exactly how a twenty-first-century nation should design welfare programs, tax policy, immigration systems, or healthcare.

Faithful believers can disagree about those prudential questions.

But they cannot honestly say Scripture leaves governments with no responsibility toward justice.

That claim simply cannot survive the witness of the prophets.

The Bible does not permit governments to hide behind private charity.

Neither does it permit individuals to hide behind public programs.

Responsibility belongs to everyone according to the authority entrusted to them.

The poor are not someone else's problem.

Neither are they merely the church's problem.

Nor merely the government's.

They are God's concern.

And because they are God's concern, they become the concern of every person and every institution entrusted with power.

The Question That Remains

Perhaps the wrong question has dominated our conversations.

Instead of asking,

"Who should help?"

Scripture asks,

"Who will answer to God?"

The answer, from Genesis to Revelation, is remarkably consistent.

Individuals will.

Families will.

Congregations will.

Judges will.

Kings will.

Cities will.

Nations will.

Empires will.

Power never excuses responsibility.

It only enlarges it.

Footnotes

1. John Calvin. Institutes of the Christian Religion, IV.xx.4. Translated by Ford Lewis Battles. Edited by John T. McNeill. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960.
2. Nicholas Wolterstorff. Justice: Rights and Wrongs. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008.
3. John Calvin. Commentary on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans, on Romans 13:1. Translated by John Owen. Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1849.
4. Abraham Joshua Heschel. The Prophets. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2001.