With the popularity of Eastern religions like Hinduism and Buddhism, it’s not surprising to hear people talking more frequently about karma. The word comes from Sanskrit and just means “deed,” but it expresses the principle of cause and effect whereby a person’s actions determine what will happen to them. Understanding how the Bible introduces the concept of karma helps us see its weaknesses and where its remedy lies.
Karma is taught by a wise man with a dramatic vision
In the Bible, the principle of karma is first articulated by a man named Eliphaz. He’s from Teman, a city in Edom which was renowned for its wisdom. When Job faces his tragic losses, Eliphaz is one of three friends who travel to comfort him. Eliphaz always speaks first and longest, so he seems to be a leader and comes across as an authority. He describes a dramatic vision he experiences in the dead of night (Job 4:12-17), and the message he discerns from it sounds a lot like karma.
Karma says, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire”
In Job 4:8, he says, “Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off? As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.” In Eliphaz’s logic, bad things don’t happen to good people. We’re all like farmers: we get the harvest for the crop we’ve sown. He continues in Job 5:6-7, saying, “For affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground, but man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.” He’s saying that we can read our circumstances and know their causes. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Nobody suffers without having done something to deserve it.
Karma crushes the innocent sufferer
People usually like to talk about karma when everything is going well in their lives because it allows them to take credit for their circumstances. And it’s true that we can invite painful consequences through our foolish decisions. But karma can be devastating for the person whose suffering is undeserved.
Eliphaz invokes karma as the explanation for Job’s tragic circumstances even though God has said of Job, “There is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil” (Job 1:8). What we realize is that the cause and effect principle of karma fails to explain much of life.
Karma fails to explain the nuances of life, and it offers no hope
You reap what you sow is generally true, but that’s different than saying it’s always true. Sometimes, you knock yourself out to sow seed in a field, and a flood destroys everything and leaves you with a loss. Sometimes, you study hard, and you just can’t get it. And other kids who seem to do a lot less end up with the grades and the jobs. Often, you train a child in the way they should go, and when they’re older, they don’t depart from it. But sometimes you do everything you can, and they still walk away. Or as Jesus shows us, sometimes, you can live a life perfectly pleasing to God and still end up nailed to a cross for it.
Karma doesn’t account for the fact that while we often reap what we sow, sometimes we reap what Adam sowed. We face the collateral damage of a world that’s broken due to sin. It doesn’t account for grace either. The Bible teaches that we can reap what Jesus sowed. When we trust in Him, we can receive the benefits of His perfect life because He gave Himself as a substitute for us.
So when your coworker tells you that “karma will get them” or you find yourself keeping score in your own life, remember Eliphaz. Remember how easily words of “you reap what you sow” can hurt hurting people. And remember that suffering isn’t always a verdict on our decisions. There are other causes for suffering and other reasons to hope. Because of Jesus, God’s grace can lift us above the consequences of our own actions. Karma has no mercy. Grace does.
In awe of Him,
Paul
