In the fifteenth century, the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella financially backed Christopher Columbus’ expedition, provided him ships to sail, and paid crews to man them. They were motivated, at least in part, by profits. Columbus’s voyage across the Atlantic was a business trip.

The Americas were settled through a partnership that linked European governments with the most powerful business leaders of the day. For example, eleven of the thirteen English colonies were founded as proprietorships. Proprietors ran the colonies on a business model, often sharing profits with their company’s stockholders. The “land of opportunity” was an investment opportunity.

The rediscovery of America in 1492 and its settlement over the next couple of centuries was motivated by economic drivers. Joint-stock companies like the Plymouth Company, the Newfoundland Company, the Virginia Company, and the Massachusetts Bay Company came to the Americas to earn profits for their shareholders.

The British government under Queen Anne sent thousands of impoverished Germans to America in 1709. It was an act of mercy but there were economic strings attached. The plan was to employ the Germans in making tar and pitch for English ships, which was something that could not be done in England. This was promoted as a financial boon to England.

The economic motives for settling America were not wrong in themselves. My own ancestors, as is true of many others, came to America for economic reasons. But the greed that was displayed, whether from individuals or companies or governments, was wrong. The Dutch built ships designed to hold as many African slaves as possible. The conditions were inhuman. They knew that a high percentage of the men and women they shipped to America would die along the way, but that, they thought, was just the price of doing business.

Greed is not limited to Western Europeans and Americans. It is a world sin that feeds on fear and insecurity. Greed goes beyond saying, “I must have.” It says, “I must have more.” Greed is a hunger that cannot be filled, an itch that knows no relief.

The human body has been designed in such a way that the gut signals the brain through hormones and along a newly discovered neuron circuit that sufficient food has been received. But in some people, the signaling process is defective. Their stomach does not say, “Enough.”

The soul’s version of this disorder is called “greed.” The greedy person’s soul does not receive the message that the person has had enough. A person may have millions of dollars, but they do not – cannot feel – that it is enough. They are driven to obtain more.

Greed blinds a person to the needs of others. “It will pursue its own interests,” as William Barclay wrote, “with complete disregard for the rights of others, and even for the considerations of common humanity.” Hence, the Dutch indifference to the deaths of the human beings they traded.

St. Paul calls greed “idolatry,” for it involves the worship of the god “More.” The greedy person must have more and is willing to sacrifice to get it, though it is usually other people – including family and friends – that are offered up in this unholy worship.

After mentioning human greed along with other sins, the apostle writes: “On account of these the wrath of God is coming.” It is possible to take the preposition translated “on account of” as instrumental and translate it, “through these the wrath of God is coming.” In other words, human greed and the other sins mentioned may not only be the cause of God’s wrath, but the conduit through which that wrath is expressed.

This puts a different spin on things. God’s wrath is not stored up anger that spills over in brutal retaliation. God’s wrath – his settled hostility against injustice, hatred, and sin – comes to human beings through their own choices. Sin, and the miseries it invariably brings, is the inescapable punishment of sin.

Greed, for example, treats people as objects; it dehumanizes them. No one can dehumanize another without being dehumanized themselves. It is a punishment that fits the crime. Hell itself is but the final result of the dehumanizing process of all sin, which includes greed.