Is Wall Street Meeting God's Expectations?

What if God was an analyst?

Earlier this week on MarketWatch, I looked at how scripture is used to reinforce, justify or vilify economic activity from taxation to bank fees.

In researching that column, one passage in the New Testament kept coming up. More than any other, it addressed the financial world. In fact, it is probably the most cited scripture on Wall Street when it comes to validating the investing and trading with the spiritual life.

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Many financial advisers have seized on the Bible.

Perhaps not incidentally, the passage comes from Matthew, whose profession is one of the few among the disciples that was identified. Matthew was a tax collector before he followed Jesus, according to the scriptures.

Not to make light of it, but who better to pass on financial guidance than someone whose legacy institutions include the Internal Revenue Service?

Even those without a biblical background are probably familiar with Matthew 25: 14-30. It's a parable about a master who, depending on the translation, leaves his "talents" or "money" to three slaves before the master embarks on a journey.

When he returns, two of the slaves have invested and earned a profit. The master is ecstatic, and he gives them promotions and more wealth.

The third slave is worried. He buries the money in the ground. The master is angry.

"Why didn't you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it," the master tells the third slave, according to the New Living Translation of the Bible.

You don't have to sing in the Sunday choir to get the drift. The message is that God wants us to do something with what we have. He wants us to prosper, multiply and take a little risk.

Nor is it a stretch to think, based on this passage, that almost any Wall Street profession—lender, trader, broker—is practicing what the Bible preaches. Many financial advisers have seized on the Bible, some even on Matthew 25, to market their services. There's even a registered investment fund called "Matthew 25."

What's more, the interpretation of this passage seems to become more finance-focused over time. Older versions of the bible refer to the master leaving "talents." More recent interpretations say the master left behind "money."

There is just one problem. Almost everyone I asked, religious, academics and atheists, said that Matthew, and by extension, God, wasn't talking about money.

The story "advises the faithful to invest wisely about as much as the parable of the mustard seed advises us to plant mustard seeds," said Harald Thorsrud, an associate professor of philosophy at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Ga.

"Anyone who finds a justification for profit-seeking here will likely find such inspiration anywhere," Mr. Thorsrud said.

Kevin Macnish, an assistant professor of theology at the University of Leeds told me that "God's economy is different from man's."

"God values tending the poor, the sick, widows and orphans—the unfortunate and marginalized in society—and so we can store up for ourselves treasures in heaven by investing in these people, rather than in making money."

Of course, if an individual has a knack for making money, that could be their gift to those less fortunate, Mr. Macnish said. "We all have different things and amounts to give."

Myles Alexander, a pastor and program director at Kansas State University, agreed and added that a deeper interpretation of the parable asks: "Who is the master, and who is the slave?"

Rev. Alexander argues the master is Jesus, "the slaves are Jesus' followers who are entrusted with the treasure of the good news, or gospel," he said "It is up to Jesus' followers to multiply the good news in his physical absence. Jesus will hold them accountable when he returns."

Such interpretations aren't limited to theists. Jen Hancock, an author of several books on secular humanism, said the parable is one of three in Matthew that teach Christians what is necessary to get into heaven. None of them, including Matthew 25 is a financial guide.

Matthew 25 "is about making sure you multiply the good you do," Ms. Hancock said. "That is why the guy who didn't use his given talent to multiply his talents was shunned."

The problem, she said, is that Matthew 25 "has nothing to do with how you should manage your money. To interpret this as financial advice, you would have to take it out of context and decide it wasn't meant to be read as a parable, even though it is clearly presented as a parable."

And as for the slave who buried his talent or money, most of those I asked seemed to think he didn't make a fatal mistake. Rev. Alexander said some theologians consider the "master" to be Caesar. In that reading, the slave's explanation makes more sense: "I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. And I was afraid."

Mr. Macnish said the slave was only admonished because he "hid" his talents or money. "Instead of making the smallest, safest investment out of what little he had, the servant hid it," Mr. Macnish said. "This would be equivalent, to my mind of spending all of one's time and money on oneself rather than giving any of it to charity."

In other words, scholars of Matthew 25:14-30 generally agree that the passage isn't about investing at all, unless you count "working toward an eternal reward" as an investment. Nor is the passage a recommendation on risk-taking. The scholars I interviewed also agreed that the slave was admonished for keeping his money or talents hidden, even putting it to work modestly—say, investing in Treasurys—would have been OK.

God, it seems by these accounts, is a flexible analyst. He is less worried about us meeting expectations. He is worried more that we have expectations of our own.

Write to David Weidner at david.weidner@dowjones.com

Corrections & Amplifications
An earlier version of this column misstated the chapter of Matthew in which the "Parable of the Talents" is found. It is chapter 25.