America is witnessing a resurgence of ideas that many assumed had been relegated to history.

Openly socialist candidates are winning elections. Socialist rhetoric is becoming increasingly mainstream. Class warfare is replacing free-market principles as the preferred language of many activists and politicians. And a growing number of young Americans are embracing ideas that previous generations would have recognized as fundamentally incompatible with liberty.

These are not ideas developing in a distant or abstract place. They are taking root here in the United States—in our cities, our universities, and our public debates. Even here in Oklahoma, we are not insulated from these ideological currents. That reality has become unmistakable in recent policy debates, including discussions around minimum wage and school choice, where arguments rooted in class resentment are no longer theoretical or distant—they are actively shaping the arguments and direction of policy in real time.

This cultural shift should concern us for many reasons. But perhaps the most overlooked concern is a moral and spiritual one.

As socialism gains influence in American culture, parents and pastors must teach with renewed clarity that envy, jealousy, and covetousness are not political virtues—they are sins. A free society cannot survive when resentment is celebrated and covetousness is mistaken for compassion.

An Old Sin in a New Package

Envy is nothing new, and it is not subtle in its effects.

From Cain's jealousy of Abel to the warnings found throughout Proverbs, Scripture repeatedly teaches that envy is destructive to both individuals and societies.

“A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot.” (Proverbs 14:30)

“For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.” (James 3:16)

“Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” (Galatians 5:26)

Envy is not merely wanting what someone else possesses—it is resentment toward them for possessing it. At its core, envy says not simply, “I want more,” but, “You should not have what you have.”

Greed says, “I want more.” Envy says, “You should not have what you have.” Scripture condemns both.

The Commandment That Exposes the Heart

The Tenth Commandment is clear: “You shall not covet.” It is unique because it exposes the heart.

Unlike many of the other commandments, this prohibition reaches beyond our actions and addresses the desires of the heart. A person may never steal his neighbor’s property and yet still violate God’s law by coveting it. God is not only concerned with actions; He is concerned with desires.

Before societies begin demanding what belongs to others, they often begin by nurturing envy toward those who have it.

A person who covets may never commit theft, but he has already allowed sinful desires to take root in his heart. The command against covetousness reminds us that sin often begins long before it manifests itself in outward behavior.

This is one reason the issue before us is not merely economic or political. It is spiritual and moral.

Socialism is often presented as a debate about taxes, wealth, and public policy. Christians should certainly engage in those discussions. But beneath those policy debates lies a deeper question: What attitudes toward our neighbor are being cultivated?

The Tenth Commandment reminds us that God cares not only about the outcomes we pursue but also about the motives that drive us to pursue them.

When Envy Becomes Political

Every society must decide whether it will encourage gratitude and personal responsibility or cultivate resentment and grievance.

Increasingly, America’s political discourse is moving in the wrong direction.

For years, progressives sought to divide Americans primarily along racial lines. Today, many on the far left are increasingly turning toward class as an additional means of division.

The message is familiar: the wealthy are the problem, success should be viewed with suspicion, those who have prospered probably do not deserve what they have, and the struggles of some are caused by the prosperity of others.

The result is a worldview that encourages citizens to view one another not as neighbors, but as competing economic classes. Rather than celebrating hard work, entrepreneurship, innovation, and opportunity, class warfare cultivates resentment toward those who have succeeded.

This is one reason socialism has historically depended upon envy as a political force. It channels dissatisfaction into resentment, resentment into grievance, and grievance into demands for government action.

Compassion and Coercion Are Not the Same Thing

Christians are commanded to care for the poor. Scripture could not be clearer on this point. We are called to generosity. We are called to charity. We are called to love our neighbors and help those in need.

But there is a profound difference between voluntary compassion and government coercion.

A Christian who freely gives his time, money, and resources to help a struggling family is demonstrating love of neighbor.

A church that feeds the hungry, provides shelter, and assists a widow is exercising Biblical compassion.

But socialism does not call individuals to generosity. Instead, it relies upon government power to compel redistribution, using the authority of the state to seize and then transfer resources from one citizen to another.

Compelled redistribution is fundamentally different from voluntary charity. Virtue cannot be outsourced to the government, and generosity is only generosity when it is freely given.

The Christian model begins with transformed hearts that willingly serve others. The socialist model relies upon coercive power to accomplish social ends. Those are not the same thing.

When Envy Threatens Liberty

This is not merely a theological issue. It is also a civic one.

Freedom requires virtue. A free society depends upon citizens who respect the rights, property, and God-given freedoms of others.

When envy becomes normalized, those foundations begin to erode. People become less concerned with creating value and more concerned with gaining access to what others have created. Success is no longer viewed as something to pursue, but as something to correct. Opportunity is no longer celebrated but increasingly subjected to redistributionist demands.

The result is an ever-expanding government empowered to take, regulate, redistribute, and control. This is how liberty erodes—not only through law, but through the moral imagination of a people.

History repeatedly demonstrates that socialism does not lead to greater freedom. It leads to greater dependence on government and less room for individual initiative, responsibility, and liberty.

At its core, socialism is incompatible with the principles that have made America prosperous and free—principles that have lifted more people out of poverty than any other economic system in history.

What Parents and Pastors Must Teach

This is why the responsibility of parents and pastors has become urgent. Not because these sins are new, but because they are being newly normalized.

The answer is not merely teaching economics.

We must teach the dignity of work and the goodness of responsibility.

We must teach gratitude as a discipline of the heart.

We must teach contentment in a culture that constantly manufactures dissatisfaction.

We must teach generosity as a joy, not an obligation.

And we must teach clearly that envy, jealousy, and covetousness are not social virtues. They are sins that distort the soul and, when scaled into public life, distort entire societies.

People are being discipled every day by social media influencers, activists, celebrities, educators, and politicians who tell them that someone else’s success is the source of their unhappiness.

Parents and pastors must offer something better.

A vision of life where human flourishing is found not in resentment, but in responsibility. Not in coveting what others have, but in loving what God provides. Not in compelled redistribution, but in voluntary generosity flowing from transformed hearts.

We must affirm that every person is made in the image of God. We must affirm the dignity of work, the virtue of personal responsibility, the blessing of contentment, and the joy of generosity. And we must be clear that envy, jealousy, and covetousness are sins—not merely private struggles, but destructive forces when elevated into public ideology.

If we fail to teach this clearly, we should not be surprised when envy moves from the hearts of individuals into the language of culture and the policies of a nation—and ultimately into the expectations of a generation.

The stakes are generational.

The future vitality of both the Church and our nation will depend, in part, on whether we faithfully teach that gratitude is a virtue, contentment is a blessing, generosity is a joy, and envy is a corrosive force that damages both individuals and societies.

Photo Credit: InformedImages, via Wikimedia Commons