The People’s Misunderstanding of Commerce: A Biblical and Constitutional Foundation
The Video below is a Prime Example of a complete misunderstanding of Commerce
In reality, commerce is the structure by which men and women relate, covenant, and exchange value under divine law.
When properly understood, commerce is moral, jurisdictional, and spiritual. It is rooted in nature and in Scripture, and the framers of the American system understood it this way.
Modern confusion about commerce leads to confusion about jurisdiction, law, and liberty.
1. Commerce: Exchange under Moral Law
The word commerce comes from the Latin commercium: com meaning “together” and merx meaning “goods” or “value.”
At its essence, commerce is exchange governed by moral measure. It is the lawful transfer of value in goods, services, or promises between consenting parties.
“A false balance is abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight.” Proverbs 11:1
Scripture presents commerce as righteous exchange. Honest measure is not only good practice. It is divine order applied to human dealings.
When measure is corrupted by deceit or coercion, commerce mirrors the fall of Babylon in Revelation 18 where the “merchants of the earth” mourn over an unjust system.
2. The Three Levels of Commerce
Commerce operates in three distinct jurisdictions. Each level involves different relationships and therefore different degrees of governmental oversight.
a. Private Commerce
Private commerce is the exchange between private men and women acting under natural rights. It includes family dealings, trusts, and private contracts.
It is governed by common law and conscience, not by statute.
- קנה (qanah)
- Hebrew verb meaning to acquire, to possess, or to create. Used of both God and man.
In Genesis 14:19 Melchizedek blesses Abram as one belonging to God Most High, possessor (qoneh) of heaven and earth.
Qanah implies lawful dominion through creation or rightful exchange. This reflects private commerce under God.
b. Quasi-Public Commerce
This middle realm arises when private individuals use public instruments or privileges such as licenses, banks, or corporate charters.
The actors remain private, yet by operating through public systems they enter a shared jurisdiction with conditional regulation.
- ברית (berith)
- Hebrew noun meaning covenant. A binding relationship that carries mutual obligations and conditions.
When one engages commerce through public benefits, one enters a covenant with that system and consents to its conditions.
This is a hybrid sphere that is partly private and partly public.
c. Public Commerce
Public commerce is trade conducted openly among the people or between nations. It includes corporations, public markets, and interstate or international exchange.
This realm properly invites public oversight to keep the channels of exchange fair and peaceable.
- סחר (sachar)
- Hebrew verb meaning to trade or to traffic. Appears in Genesis 34:10 and Ezekiel 27 where the merchants of Tyre are described.
Sachar implies organized trade across borders and the regulation that follows from complexity and scale.
The Jurisdictional Gradient
| Level | Nature of Exchange | Jurisdiction | Biblical Parallel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private | Covenant and consent | Common law and conscience | Qanah meaning lawful possession |
| Quasi-Public | Use of public privilege | Conditional public law | Berith meaning covenant |
| Public | Open market trade | Full statutory law | Sachar meaning traffic or trade |
3. Greek Terms that Illuminate Commerce
- ἀγορά (agora)
- Greek noun meaning marketplace. From it come agorazō meaning to buy and exagorazō meaning to redeem or to buy out.
Christ “redeemed us” (exagorazō) from the curse of the law in Galatians 3:13. Redemption is portrayed as a just exchange for freedom. - κοινωνία (koinōnia)
- Greek noun meaning fellowship, partnership, or communion. The early believers continued in teaching and fellowship in Acts 2:42.
Koinōnia captures righteous exchange that is communal and purpose driven rather than exploitative.
4. Commerce and the Founders’ Moral Vision
The founding generation viewed commerce through a moral and covenantal lens.
They appealed to the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” in the Declaration of Independence.
This phrase signals that just civil law, including commercial law, rests on the moral order established by God.
James Madison wrote in Federalist No. 42 that regulating commerce was necessary for “harmony and proper intercourse among the States.”
In the language of the eighteenth century, intercourse meant communication and exchange.
To regulate commerce meant to make exchange regular and just between jurisdictions, not to control private industry.
| Level | Relationship | Regulation |
|---|---|---|
| Private | Between individuals | Governed by common law and conscience |
| Quasi-Public | Use of public privilege | Governed by charter or license |
| Public | Between states or nations | Governed by federal authority |
James Wilson taught that all jurisdiction rests on consent. When a person acts privately, he is under moral and divine law.
When he acts through public privilege, he consents to public regulation. First Samuel 8 records Israel’s request for a king.
In accepting a public ruler they accepted taxation and oversight. This is jurisdiction by consent.
5. The Commerce Clause as Jurisdictional Covenant
The Constitution states: “Congress shall have Power to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.”
In the framing era, to regulate meant to make regular. It meant the removal of obstructions and the maintenance of fairness rather than domination.
The purpose was to maintain harmony between states and prevent economic warfare.
Under the Articles of Confederation states had imposed tariffs and restrictions on one another.
The Commerce Clause restored balance. It is a constitutional expression of just weights and measures applied to jurisdictions.
- Private and local commerce remained outside federal reach.
- Interstate and international commerce fell within limited federal oversight to keep the channels of exchange regular and peaceable.
6. The Shift away from the Original Understanding
Over time courts expanded the Commerce Clause beyond its original scope.
In the twentieth century cases such as Wickard v. Filburn treated even personal production as affecting interstate commerce.
This shift blurred the boundaries between private right and public privilege and replaced a covenantal view of commerce with administrative control.
7. The Moral Architecture of Commerce
Scripture and the Constitution agree that lawful exchange requires measure, consent, and truth.
Commerce is covenantal rather than coercive. The proper role of civil government is to preserve balance, not to destroy it.
- Private commerce belongs to individual stewardship under God.
- Quasi-public commerce operates by voluntary consent under limited and specified regulation.
- Public commerce rightly invites oversight to maintain justice among jurisdictions.
This structure mirrors divine order. God governs heaven and earth. Man governs himself under conscience.
Nations govern their relations by covenant.
Conclusion
Commerce, rightly understood, is the sacred structure of exchange that sustains both material and moral life.
It exists wherever people act in covenant and truth. When honest, it is an act of worship. When corrupted, it becomes bondage.
The framers grounded the Commerce Clause in principles found in Scripture. These include the law of just balance, the sanctity of covenant, and the limitation of jurisdiction by consent.
To restore liberty, the people must recover this ancient understanding.
Commerce must again reflect divine order where every measure is true, every covenant is honored, and every act of exchange serves righteousness rather than control.
“A false balance is abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight.” Proverbs 11:1
