Business is the Quintessence of Exchange and Transacting

Business is the quintessence of exchange and transacting. In the Greek, business means to gain by means of one’s activity or investment; specifically, it means to earn, gain, or make a profit. As he sought to make the message of God clear, the Apostle Paul drew from BUSINESS, government, warfare, athletics, and labor. Exchange and transaction in business includes such things as the issuance of a title deed, the credit and debit side of a ledger, the forfeiture of what was thought to be a gain, the earnest money paid down in the transference of property, a receipt marked “paid in full,” a last will and testament, or a broken contract. In warfare, business takes place as well; it is the soldier, his weapons, his armor, his shield, and his wages. The business of government involves the commonwealth, its citizens, and their responsibilities and privileges. All of these dealings (business) appear in the Apostle Paul’s writings. He used dichotomies such as the slave and the skilled artisan, the finished product and the possibility of that work being rejected by an employer because of its failure to meet specifications to make useful illustrations. For Paul, these illustrations were familiar to Roman citizenry, and were ideal mediums to preach the gospel. In the realm of athletics, he used symbols such as the racecourse, the runners speed, the crown of oak leaves that graces the brow of the winner, the desperate, agonizing efforts of two wrestlers, and the concerted team work of one group of athletes against another to epitomize the relentlessness of the exchange occurring in business. Paul was a scholar and a man of books who was trained in Greek schools; yet he spoke and wrote the language of the average person as he preached the Word of God. Paul understood that life is business.