But the distortions of something good must not cause us to think that the thing itself is evil.

It seems that those who are wealthy can too easily slip beyond a level of spending on themselves that is appropriate to their place in life and spend excessively and ostentatiously on themselves while neglecting to give generously to others.

If God gives us a small stewardship with regard to material possessions or abilities and opportunities, then we can glorify him through being content in him, trusting in him for our needs, expecting reward from him, and being faithful to our commitments.

So the New Testament emphasis on helping the poor shows us that there is an extreme kind of inequality that is not good, a point where people are in poverty and should be helped.(Just what “poverty” is will vary from society to society and will also vary over time within any one society.)

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Cor. 5:10). This implies degrees of reward for what we have done in this life.

The ability to earn a profit thus results in multiplying our resources while helping other people. It is a wonderful ability that God gave us and it is not evil or morally neutral, but is fundamentally good. Through it we can reflect many of God’s attributes, such as love for others, wisdom, sovereignty, and planning for the future.

But the distortions of something good must not cause us to think that the thing itself is evil.

Or if I am in charge of a monopoly on a necessary good, so that people can only buy bread or water or gasoline from me and no other suppliers can enter the market, and if I then charge an exorbitant price that depletes people’s wealth, of course that kind of profit is excessive and wrong. That is where earning a profit provides temptations to sin.

If profit were not allowed in a society, then people would not take such risks, and we would have very few goods available to buy. Allowing profit, therefore, is a very good thing that brings benefits to everybody in the society.