A brief magazine article, memories of past readings, and a comment on one of Jollyblogger’s posts brought my mind back to the subject of bankruptcy.

As far back as I can remember in my Christian life, I have heard what I considered to be an over-emphasis on the payment of debts even when debts have been forgiven or dismissed legally. Many of the books I read on Christian financial stewardship stressed this point and most of them pointed to Rom 13.8:

Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.” (NASB)

A recent article in Christian Counseling Today by Ron Blue referred to this verse, too. It seems to be a required proof-text for anyone discussing a Christian view of money.

It is instructive, as always, to examine the context of this verse. As the passage shows, verse 8 is not primarily concerned about establishing fiscal policy for Christians but rather stressing the need to love one another:

7 Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.
8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
9 For this, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,’ and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’
10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

The aforementioned comment makes the valid point that Christians who have “misappropriated” (which is the spiritually correct way to say “stolen”) need to make restitution. If the principle established in the Old Testament is followed, the amount stolen plus an additional twenty percent is to be repaid (Num 5.6-7). The comment is discussing a situation where someone has stolen and has the ability to repay; the same could be said for incurred debt: if the person has the ability to repay, they are to repay.

I am talking about a different situation, one where the individual is in debt but not able to repay for whatever reasons. What always seems to be overlooked, at least in my readings of Christian financial experts, are the principles established in Lev 25. Beginning at verse 8, God explains to Moses the concept of the Year of Jubilee, a command to be observed every fifty years. Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown remark,

This most extraordinary of all civil institutions, which received the name of “Jubilee” from a Hebrew word signifying a musical instrument, a horn or trumpet, began on the tenth day of the seventh month, or the great day of atonement, when, by order of the public authorities, the sound of trumpets proclaimed the beginning of the universal redemption. All prisoners and captives obtained their liberties, slaves were declared free, and debtors were absolved. The land, as on the sabbatic year, was neither sowed nor reaped, but allowed to enjoy with its inhabitants a sabbath of repose; and its natural produce was the common property of all. Moreover, every inheritance throughout the land of Judea was restored to its original owner.” – emphases mine

God was concerned with the rights of land owners and did not want any family or tribe to be perpetually deprived of their land. The land could be sold but it was understood by all that it was a temporary sale: the person could buy it back at any time, a kinsman redeemer could (and should, if possible) purchase it for his kin, or the land would be returned at the Year of Jubilee.

In Deu 15, Moses reveals God’s concern with perpetual or chronic debt among His people. Moses says,

1 At the end of every seven years you shall grant a remission of debts.
2 “This is the manner of remission: every creditor shall release what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother, because the LORD’S remission has been proclaimed.”

This is a remarkable passage, to say the least. Debts were to be forgiven, i.e., not held against the debtor and not to be repaid. In God’s economy, debts could be forgiven and eliminated.

Certainly – and thankfully, I think – we do not live in a theocracy and the laws of the Bible do not dictate the behavior of Christians in such matters. We are to be subject to the laws of the land and, perhaps influenced by the nation’s Christian heritage, the United States does provide escape from debt. If a person has the ability to repay the debt, that is required, although the debt is sometimes lessened or restructured. When an individual is unable to repay, however, the debt is legally discharged and unsecured debt is eliminated.

It has puzzled me over the years why Christian leaders have stressed – almost legalistically at times – that debts have to be repaid no matter what. According to these experts (who often lack theological training), to fail to do so is to sin and reflects spiritual bankruptcy on the part of the person filing. Failure to repay a debt for any reason is sin, and financial bankruptcy is to them irrefutable proof of spiritual bankruptcy. But I question – no, I reject – that conclusion.

God is a God of grace; capitalism knows nothing of grace. When I hear the Christian financial leaders demanding repayment of debts, I hear capitalism drowning out the grace of God.

This is not to encourage financial irresponsibility or deny the stewardship Christians are given with their money. It is, however, to balance the legalistic, capitalistic demands of some that debt always has to be paid. Period.

Certainly if one is financially able to pay a debt, they should do so; in those cases where a person is unable to repay, they should be allowed to apprehend the grace of God made possible through our government without having to bear the stigma of being spiritually bankrupt, too.

Christians need to recognize the need to file bankruptcy as discipline from God and a message to change their relationship to money. At the same time, however, they need to recognize the grace of God and that He is, once again, shown to be a God of new beginnings.


2 Cor 1:13