Charles Colson
How Now Shall We Live? (p 385), Tyndale Publishers, 1999
One of the unique traits that makes humans unique, different from animals, is our ability to use our skills and talents to shape material things to reflect our individuality - and when we do this, we create property. Material things in and of themselves are not property; they become property only when humans creatively find ways to use them productively. An example is a sticky, black, smelly substance that was nothing but a nuisance until humans developed technology for refining it - then, suddenly, oil became a source for wealth. Seen in this light, the defense of the right to property is not a defense of material things per se, but rather of the dignity of human creativity, ingenuity, and inventiveness.
Job 28:1-11
New International Version
“There is a mine for silver
and a place where gold is refined.Iron is taken from the earth,
and copper is smelted from ore.Man puts an end to the darkness;
he searches the farthest recesses
for ore in the blackest darkness.Far from where people dwell he cuts a shaft,
in places forgotten by the foot of man;
far from men he dangles and sways.The earth, from which food comes,
is transformed below as by fire;sapphires come from its rocks,
and its dust contains nuggets of gold.No bird of prey knows that hidden path,
no falcon’s eye has seen it.Proud beasts do not set foot on it,
and no lion prowls there.Man’s hand assaults the flinty rock
and lays bare the roots of the mountains.He tunnels through the rock;
his eyes see all its treasures.He searches the sources of the rivers
and brings hidden things to light.
Comment: (One)
I suspect this extends beyond "material things" to things intellectual, relational, and things spiritual, for example. How much black stuff lies in the mind and spirit of man waiting for a nobler purpose?
Having said this, I feel the earth has yet to see in great measure the transformation of nature that will take place under the proper service of godly people. I like the way Young’s Literal Translation puts Genesis 2:5 "and no shrub of the field is yet in the earth, and no herb of the field yet sprouteth, for Jehovah God hath not rained upon the earth, and a man there is not to serve the ground" Who knows what will happen as we learn to serve the ground and make productive property out of all things material just as God made man out of mud.