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Biblical Perspective on Clutter and Material Possessions

The biblical perspective on material possessions emphasizes stewardship, moderation, and the potential for possessions to become a source of sin. While God provides material goods for human use, there are warnings against covetousness and excessive accumulation.

The Old Testament acknowledges material wealth as a part of patriarchal prosperity, with figures like Abraham and Job possessing numerous camels and other goods [6]. However, the Mosaic law also established regulations concerning "clean" and "unclean" items, which could affect social privileges and a person's standing within the community [7, 8]. For instance, certain animals were deemed unclean [1, 7]. The prophet Ezekiel speaks of the destruction of "pleasant houses" and the plundering of riches as a consequence of judgment [4]. Jeremiah similarly links the pollution of the land with "detestable things" and "abominations" [5]. The story of Achan in Joshua illustrates the danger of coveting and taking forbidden plunder, leading to severe consequences [2]. Proverbs 11:24 suggests a paradox where scattering can lead to increase, while withholding more than is appropriate can lead to poverty [3].

In the New Testament and subsequent Christian thought, the emphasis shifts towards using the world without abusing it. John Calvin, in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, cautions against intemperance and luxury, noting that while "ivory and gold, and riches, are the good creatures of God, permitted, nay destined, by divine providence for the use of man," there is a "slippery place" where one can fall into excess [16, 17]. Augustine of Hippo addresses the loss of temporal goods, asserting that for those who love God, "all things work together for good" [10]. He also warns against coveting what belongs to others, citing the commandment "Thou shalt not covet anything that is thy neighbor's" [11]. Augustine further clarifies that seeking the kingdom of God first does not mean neglecting necessary provisions for oneself or those under one's care [13].

Thomas Aquinas identifies covetousness as a special sin, distinct from other sins, because it involves an inordinate desire for useful goods like riches [15]. Early Christian traditions, such as the Essenes described by Josephus, practiced a form of communal living where possessions were shared, and stewards managed common affairs, reflecting a detachment from individual ownership [9]. Some early Christian thinkers, like Clement, even suggested that possessing more goods than necessary could be considered a sin, as "possessions are sins" [12]. The apostle Peter speaks of an "inheritance" that is "incorruptible," contrasting it with earthly possessions [14].

Sources

  1. Leviticus “Nevertheless a spring or a cistern in which water is gathered shall be clean: but that which touches their carcass shall be unclean. -- Leviticus 11:36”
  2. Joshua “When I saw among the plunder a beautiful Babylonian robe, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them and took them. Behold, they are hidden in the ground in the middle of my tent, with the silver under it.” -- Joshua 7:21”
  3. Proverbs “There is one who scatters, and increases yet more. There is one who withholds more than is appropriate, but gains poverty. -- Proverbs 11:24”
  4. Ezekiel “They shall make a plunder of your riches, and make a prey of your merchandise; and they shall break down your walls, and destroy your pleasant houses; and they shall lay your stones and your timber and your dust in the midst of the waters. -- Ezekiel 26:12”
  5. Jeremiah “First I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable things, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations. -- Jeremiah 16:18”
  6. Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Camel, The — Unclean -- Le 11:4; De 14:7. Found in deserted places -- Eze 25:5. Characterised by The bunches on its back. -- Isa 30:6. Its docility. -- Ge 24:11. The dromedary a species of, remarkable for swiftness -- Jer 2:23. Abounded in the east -- 1Ch 5:21; Isa 60:6. A part of patriarchal wealth -- Ge 12:16; 30:43; Job 1:3. Kept in numbers by kings -- 1Ch 27:30. Used for Riding. -- Ge 24:61. Drawing chariots. -- Isa 21:7. Carrying burdens. -- Ge 37:25; 1Ki 10:2; 2Ki 8:9. Conveying posts and messengers. -- Es 8:10. War. -- Jdj 7:12; 1Sa 30:17. Of the rich adorned ”
  7. Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Clean — The various forms of uncleanness according to the Mosaic law are enumerated in Lev. 11-15; Num. 19. The division of animals into clean and unclean was probably founded on the practice of sacrifice. It existed before the Flood (Gen. 7:2). The regulations regarding such animals are recorded in Lev. 11 and Deut. 14:1-21. The Hebrews were prohibited from using as food certain animal substances, such as (1) blood; (2) the fat covering the intestines, termed the caul; (3) the fat on the intestines, called the mesentery; (4) the fat of the kidneys; and (5) the fat t”
  8. Smith's Bible Dictionary “Smith's Bible Dictionary: Uncleanness — The distinctive idea attached to ceremonial uncleanness among the Hebrews was that it cut a person off for the time from social privileges, and left his citizenship among God's people for the while in abeyance. There is an intense reality in the fact of the divine law taking hold of a man by the ordinary infirmities of flesh, and setting its stamp, as it were, in the lowest clay of which he is moulded. The sacredness attached to the human body is parallel to that which invested the ark of the covenant itself. It is as though Jehovah thereby would teach m”
  9. Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, CHAPTER 8, section 2: a good thing, as they do also to be clothed in white garments. They also have stewards appointed to take care of their common affairs, who every one of them have no separate business for any, but what is for the uses of them all. 4. They have no one certain city, but many of them dwell in every city; and if any of their sect come from other places, what they have lies open for them, just as if it were their own; and they go in to such as they never knew before, as if they had been ever so long acquainted with them. For which reason ”
  10. Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 10.--THAT THE SAINTS LOSE NOTHING IN (part 1): LOSING TEMPORAL GOODS. These are the considerations which one must keep in view, that he may answer the question whether any evil happens to the faithful and godly which cannot be turned to profit. Or shall we say that the question is needless, and that the apostle is vaporing when he says, "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God ?"(3) They lost all they had. Their faith? Their godliness? The possessions of the hidden man of the heart, which in the sight”
  11. Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 4: Augustine — Anti-Manichaean, Anti-Donatist — CHAP. 59.--133. PETILIANUS said: "It is written, 'Thou shalt not covet anything that is thy neighbor's.'(1) You plunder what is ours, that you may have it for your own.": 134. AUGUSTIN answered: All things of which unity was in possession belong to none other than ourselves, who remain in unity, not in accordance with the calumnies of men, but with the words of Christ, in whom all the nations of the whole earth are blessed. Nor do we separate ourselves from the society of the wheat, on account of the unrighteous men whom we cannot separ”
  12. Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 8: Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts, Epistles, Apocrypha, Decretals — CHAP. IX.--POSSESSIONS ARE TRANSGRESSIONS.: "Will you be so good as to explain this matter also? I remember Clement saying to me, that we suffer injuries and afflictions for the forgiveness of our sins." Peter said: "This is quite correct. For we, who have chosen the future things, in so far as we possess more goods than these, whether they be clothing, or food or drink, or any other thing, possess sins, because we ought not to have anything, as I explained to you a little ago. To all of us possessions are sins.(3) The de”
  13. Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 6: Augustine — Homilies on the Gospels — CHAP. XVII.--56. For in the case of those who are seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, i.e. who are preferring this to all other things, so that for its sake they are seeking the o (part 1): 57. In the use of this passage, however, we must be very specially on our guard, lest perchance, when we see any servant of God making provision that such necessaries shall not be wanting either to himself or to those with whose care he has been entrusted, we should decide that he is acting contrary to the Lord's precept, and is anxious”
  14. 1 Peter (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on 1 Peter 1:4: To an inheritance--the object of our "hope" (Pe1 1:3), which is therefore not a dead, but a "living" hope. The inheritance is the believer's already by title, being actually assigned to him; the entrance on its possession is future, and hoped for as a certainty. Being "begotten again" as a "son," he is an "heir," as earthly fathers beget children who shall inherit their goods. The inheritance is "salvation" (Pe1 1:5, Pe1 1:9); "the grace to be brought at the revelation of Christ" (Pe1 1:13); "a crown of glory that fadeth not away." incorruptible--not”
  15. theology (Catholic (Scholastic)) “Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Second Part of the Second Part (Secunda Secundae), Of the Vices Opposed to Liberality, and in the First Place, of Covetousness, Art. 2: Article: Whether covetousness is a special sin? I answer that, Sins take their species from their objects, as stated above (FS, Question [72], Article [1]). Now the object of a sin is the good towards which an inordinate appetite tends. Hence where there is a special aspect of good inordinately desired, there is a special kind of sin. Now the useful good differs in aspect from the delightful good. And riches, as such, come under the ”
  16. CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 65: us to use this world without abusing it, and to buy possessions as if we were selling them ( 1 Cor. 7:30, 31 ). But as this is a slippery place, and there is great danger of falling on either side, let us fix our feet where we can stand safely. There have been some good and holy men who, when they saw intemperance and luxury perpetually carried to excess, if not strictly curbed, and were desirous to correct so pernicious an evil, imagined that there was no other method than to allow man to use corporeal goods 2032 only in so far as”
  17. CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 74: who are full, who laugh now, who “lie upon beds of ivory and stretch themselves upon their couches;” “join house to house,” and “lay field to field;” “and the harp and the viol, the tablet and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts,” ( Amos 6:6 ; Isa. 5:8 , 10 ). Certainly ivory and gold, and riches, are the good creatures of God, permitted, nay destined, by divine providence for the use of man; nor was it ever forbidden to laugh, or to be full, or to add new to old and hereditary possessions, or to be delighted with music, or to drin”
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