Chapter 7: Loans, Interests, and Debts
God’s Instructions on Loans, Interest, and Debts
Individuals or firms may need money for their
household or business. The money that they borrow (or lend) is called a loan
and the extra money that is charged for the cost of borrowing is called interest.
And the money that they should pay back is called a debt. Even in Moses’ time,
God made provisions for loans. God in Exodus 22:25 instructs the Israelites
through Moses: “If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you
shall not be to him as a creditor, and you shall not exact interest from him”;
and in Deuteronomy 23:19-20: “19You shall not lend upon interest to
your brother, interest on money, interest on victuals, interest on anything
that is lent for interest. 20To a foreigner you may lend upon
interest, but to your brother you shall not lend upon interest; that the LORD
your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land which you are
entering to take possession of it.”
When a fellow Israelite is
poor and wants to borrow money, the Israelites were supposed to lend money
without charging any interest. God prohibited the Israelites from charging
interest to their fellow Israelites – brothers, relatives, and friends,
although they may charge interest to foreigners. Leviticus 25:35-38 states: “35And
if your brother becomes poor, and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall
maintain him; as a stranger and a sojourner he shall live with you. 36Take
no interest from him or increase but fear your God; that your brother may live
beside you. 37You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor
give him your food for profit. 38I am the Lord your God, who brought
you forth out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and, to be your God.” God’s
instruction for the Israelites regarding loans and interest is consistent
throughout the Torah. M. Douglas Meeks explains that high interest charged in
the ancient countries often forced debtors to sell themselves into slavery.[1]
God probably did not want to see anyone of his people to become a slave again
in the land of Canaan, the land of flowing milk and honey, where he was leading
them.
Psalm 37:21states: “The
wicked borrows, and cannot pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives.” Some
borrowers may want to take advantage of the lender’s good will by not repaying
their debts. Even so, God encourages his people’s generous lending even if they
know some people will not pay back their money. Psalm 112:5 states: “It is well
with the man who deals generously and lends, who conducts his affairs with
justice.” God loves those who give or lend generously and blesses them (2
Corinthians 9:7).
It is interesting to know
that God gives examples of a righteous person and an unrighteous person in
connection with a lending behavior among several in Ezekiel. An example of a
righteous person in Ezekiel 18:8 is: “He does not lend to them (=the hungry and
the naked) at interest or take a profit from them”; and in Ezekiel 18:17 is:
“He withholds his hand from mistreating the poor and takes no interest or
profit from them” (NIV). An example of an unrighteous person in Ezekiel 18:13
is: “He lends at interest (to the poor and the needy) and takes a profit”; and
in Ezekiel 22:12 “You take interest and make a profit from the poor. You extort
unjust gain from your neighbors” (NIV). A righteous person is willing to help
his/her poor and needy neighbors, lending money without interest whereas an
unrighteous person wants to take advantage of his/her poor and needy neighbors,
lending money at interest and making a profit, which seems to be quite normal
today.
Debts Are Forgiven
A lender expects the money
that he lent to be paid back. The borrower should make every effort to pay back
the money that he borrowed. What if the borrower cannot pay it back? The lender
may want to know why the borrower does not or cannot pay back the money.
However, God does not want the lender to treat the borrower – the fellow
Israelite – too harsh. And at the end of every seven years, the debts shall be
forgiven. Deuteronomy 15:1-3 states: “1At the end of every seven
years you must cancel debts. 2This is how it is to be done: Every
creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite. They shall
not require payment from anyone among their own people, because the LORD’s time
for cancelling debts has been proclaimed. 3You may require payment
from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your fellow Israelite owes you”
(NIV). How can any lender forgive his/her borrower’s debt fully at the end of
the seventh year? It is because all money/wealth belongs to God not to any
individual. So, when God commands us to forgive other people’s debts, we are to
do so as we are only the delegated or entrusted owners of God’s wealth or
money. God always pardons our debts and wants us to live the life of
forgiveness of others’ debts (Matthew 6:14-15).
Jesus on Loans and Interest
Jesus in Matthew 5:42 says: “Give to him who
begs from you, and do not refuse him who would borrow from you.” Jesus advises
you to lend money to someone when he/she wants to borrow money from you. Of
course, when you do not have money, you cannot lend money, however, when you
have money, Jesus tells you not to refuse. Yet, this is very difficult as you
may also think about a situation that the borrower cannot pay it back. Jesus
commands us to do what we cannot do with our natural human mind but can do with
the love of Jesus, who loved us unto death even when we were still sinners
(Romans 5:8).
Jesus in Luke 6:34-36 goes
one step further: “34And if you lend to those from whom you hope to
receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive
as much again. 35But love your enemies, and do good, and lend,
expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will
be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. 36Be
merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” How many of us are willing to lend
money to our friends without expecting to be repaid? Only a few at most. Then,
how many of us are willing to lend money to our enemies – those people whom we
do not like or even hate – without expecting to be repaid? Probably close to none.
Jesus tells us to do good to our enemies, including lending money to them
without expecting to be repaid. Jesus teaches us the absolute goodness – do
good all the time to people although they may hurt us or exploit us.
Jesus instructs us that we
may lend money or give whatever kind of grace that we have to our enemy – not
just fellow Christians – even when we do not expect to get anything back from
him/her. Our reward may not be earned on earth but will be accumulated in
heaven. And this is a way that we show God’s mercy to our enemy through us. By
doing so, we may win their souls, bringing them to God. Jesus’ teaching here
may be connected to Paul’s saying in Romans 12:20: “If your enemy is hungry,
feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing you will heap
burning coals upon his head.” Our good conduct may make them feel shame on what
they did to us. However, how many of us can do this absolute goodness to those
who try to hard us?
Debts and Sins
When you borrow money from someone and cannot
pay it back on time, you may feel guilty as if you commit sin. That’s why the
Bible refers sin to debt. Sometimes, debts make you (debtor/borrower) a slave
of the creditor/lender. Proverbs 22:7 states: “The rich rules over the poor,
and the borrower is the slave of the lender.” The borrower may be forced to do
anything by the lender until he pays back his debt.
When Peter asked Jesus about
forgiveness of sins – how many he should forgive his brother when his brother
sins against him, Jesus took the parable of unmerciful servant in Matthew
18:21-35. The servant owed his master 10,000 talents (one talent is equivalent
to 5,000-6,000 denarii and one denarius is equivalent to an average worker’s
one day pay), which is literally unrepayable amount of money although the Bible
does not tell how this servant owed this enormous debt to his master. Knowing
that his servant could not repay this enormous amount of debt, the master took
pity on him, canceled the debt, and let him go free. The servant who was once
summoned to his master but then was released met his fellow servant who owed
him 100 denarii, which was not a small amount itself; but comparing with 10,000
talents of his debt that was just canceled by his master, it was almost
nothing. The servant demanded his fellow servant/debtor to pay it back right
away. Then, he put the debtor into prison until he could pay the debt. Having
heard this story, the master called the servant in. The master was very much
angry about this servant’s lack of mercy and turned him over to the jailers to
be tortured until he should pay back all he owed, which was impossible. The
servant who owed his master 10,000 talents may be each one of us, who could not
repay the debt of our sins and trespasses.
Our Master canceled all the
debts that we owed when we accepted Jesus as our Savior and when Jesus begged
forgiveness of our debts to God on behalf of each one of us. But at the same
time, God wants us to forgive our debtors in our daily life. Jesus in Lord’s
prayer in Matthew 6:12 (compare with Luke 11:4) teaches his disciples how to
pray to God: “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Jesus
tells us that we should forgive our debtors first to be forgiven our debts by
God.
Jesus in Matthew 6:14-15
says: “14For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly
Father also will forgive you; 15but if you do not forgive men their
trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Matthew uses
debts and sins/trespasses interchangeably. To be forgiven our sins/debts by
God, we should first forgive other people’s sins/debts before we ask God to
forgive our sins/debts. Jesus makes the order of forgiveness clear. Although
our relationship with God is more important than with other people, our
relationship with other people should be resolved before we try to have a good
relationship with God. When we want to be reconciled with God, we should first
be reconciled among people (Ephesians 2:14-18).
Debt of Love
Paul in Romans 13:8-10 says: “8Let
no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for
whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9The commandments, “You
shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You
shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in
this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10Love does no
harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law” (NIV). Paul
considered himself a debtor even after he had confidence that his debts/sins
that would lead him to death were all forgiven. What was his remaining debt?
Paul felt that he still owed the debt of love to God who had sent Jesus Christ
to the world to forgive all people’s debts by letting him die on the cross.
Jesus appeared in the form of light to Saul/Paul while he was on his way to
Damascus to persecute Christians (Acts 9:1-9). When Jesus called Saul/Paul to
send him to the Gentiles, he became a debtor of love.
[1]
M. D. Meeks, God The Economist. Fortress Press, 1989
(1946), 85-86. According to Meeks, “the legal codes of the Near East allowed
enormously high interest rates” (p. 85).
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