The key to business is honesty and integrity. These are essential if commerce is to be carried out in an orderly fashion. Without having standards of weights and measurements, the market place would be literal chaos. There has to be agreed upon standards. This presupposes that the universe is orderly. This is because 1 Corinthians 14:33 is true, "For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints." If God is not disorderly, then by definition, He is orderly. God prohibits all cheating and shorting anyone. We are to be truthful in our dealings with others. Stealing and lying are closely tied together. Stealing has an element of deception in it, and all lying is deceptive. James gives the following advice in James 5:12, But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation." Our words are to be reliable and not exaggerated. Someone should be able to rely upon our actions and our speech.
Application
To properly understand the Bible, we need to use what is known as applied theology.
Leviticus 19:35-37 reads, "Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure. 36Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt. 37Therefore shall ye observe all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: I am the LORD." This establishes the law of honesty. If we say that we are selling a pound of something, it should be a pound. If not, it is theft and deception. To not give a pound is untrustworthy. It is cheating. It is corruption. We are not to take advantage of others.
Isaiah 1:22 says, "Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water." Gary North, in his book, Honest Money, points out that to make silver have dross was to add cheaper metals to silver. In other words, it is no longer pure silver. Wine mixed with water is not pure wine. The business owner charges more for his goods, but the buyer ends up getting less. Gary North says in the above referenced book, "Corrupt money testifies to corrupt people." Debasing a currency is a direct violation of just balances and just weights. Increasing the money supply which leads to inflation is dishonest. The people’s money now has less purchasing power. It is thievery, even if the government does it.
Selling using many words will somewhere contain some deception as Proverbs 10:19 says, "In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise." John Wesley had in his discipline for the Methodist people the following was prohibited, "The using many words in buying and selling." When we are selling something, we must represent the true condition of what we are selling. We are not to try and fluff and hedge trying to hide defects and potential problems, saying too bad once the goods have been purchased. This is what warranties are all about. It is testifying that the purchased goods are what they profess to be and they will operate within a given time frame, as specified. If not, the seller is to make them good. These business practices are actually biblical and go back to this case law of Leviticus.
Deuteronomy 25:13-16 reads, "Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. 14Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small. 15But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 16For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the LORD thy God." The Amplified Bible says about divers weights, "..true and false weights..." Here it is right out in the open. To use true and false weights is to deceive the buyer. It is theft and lying. We are to be trustworthy when using scales and balances. A yard is to be measured a full yard. Cheaters prosper short term, but as these verses make apparent, never in the long run. They will cheat enough people that they will be out of business very quickly. A business only prospers long term by being aboveboard.
It is not good when the Lord considers something to be an abomination in His sight. An example is found in Proverbs 20:10, "Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the LORD." God hates dishonesty and the dishonest. The two cannot be separated from each other. You cannot have one without the other. God is truthful in all of His dealings with man. He expects us to follow suit. The devil is a cheat and fraud. He wants to defraud us, even in our business dealings. The old saying is true, "Cheaters never prosper."
Proverbs 11:1 says, "A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight." God detests the corrupt, but He delights in those who have integrity in their business dealings. Ethics are extremely important in the marketplace. The Lord Jesus Christ said in Luke 16:11, "If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?" If someone cannot be upright in his business dealings, when it comes to the real value in life, they will fail and swindle. Trust is a fragile thing. It is hard to get back once it has been broken.
Conclusion
Proverbs 16:11 reads, "A just weight and balance are the LORD’S: all the weights of the bag are his work." God is always forthright in all of His dealings. We are to do likewise in all of our business affairs.
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