What Does Jesus Say about Debt?

The Bible talks a lot about debt.  The Bible has a lot of warnings against taking out or having debt.  Don’t take my word for it; read God’s Word and gain wisdom.

The Most Powerful Argument Against Debt

In this post I’m not going to list out all the Bible verses on debt.  You have heard the saying before; Actions speak louder than words.  I am going to tell you Jesus’ most powerful argument against debt.

Today I want to tell you a story.

There once was a group of people who were in prison.  They owed a debt they could not pay.  They were slaves in chains awaiting death row.  And then a Man came.  He was a Free Man and wanting all people to be free.  But the debt must be paid.  The Man said, “I will pay the price.  It is my gift to them.  I will give Myself for them.  I will die, so they may go free.”  Those people, they were bought with a price.  The death penalty paid for their debts with blood.  But when an innocent Man dies for the lives of others, he cannot be kept in bondage, and so, He lives.  The people had a new Master; after all, if Someone purchases you, you are theirs.  And the Man says, “Yes, you are Mine.  But I do not want you as slaves.  I am adopting you as My sons and daughters.”

This is the story that Jesus told… with his actions.

That, my dear readers, is the most powerful argument against debt by Jesus’ own example.

This is what it’s like to be freed from the biggest debt you will ever owe!  So it begs to be asked: If Jesus cared so much for you, why would he want you in debt ever again?

A free individual, a slave of Christ, in service to only one Master {the King},

Naomi

Related post:  The Dangers of Debt

In case you don’t like following all the links {as I don’t :P}, here are the verses typed out:

²³ Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.²⁴ So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, ²⁶ for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. ²⁷ For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.  Gal. 3:23-29

¹⁸ For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. ¹⁹ They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. ²⁰ For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. ²¹ For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. ²² What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”  1 Peter 2:18-22

²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 6:23

³ This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴ who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  1 Tim 2:3-4

¹³ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—  Gal. 3:13

⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  Eph. 2:8-9

¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ² For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. ³ For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh,could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,^[c] he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.  Rom. 8:1-4

¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰ for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.  1 Cor. 6:19-20

²⁴ He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.  1 Peter 2:24

¹³ And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴ by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.  Col. 2:13-14

But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.  Isaiah 53:5

²² But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.  Rom. 6:22

³ In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. ⁴ But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. ⁶ And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.  Gal. 4:3-7

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From the closing…

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.   ¹³ For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.  Gal. 5:1,13

⁶ We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷ For one who has died has been set free from sin. ⁸ Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. ¹⁰ For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. ¹¹ So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.  Rom. 6:6-11

¹⁶ Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷ But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, ¹⁸ and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. ¹⁹ I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.  ²⁰ For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ²¹ But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. ²² But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 6:16-23

The rich rules over the poor,
    and the borrower is the slave of the lender.  Prov. 22:7

²⁴ “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.  Matt. 6:24

For more on the topic of debt in the Bible, this is a good article by Focus on the Family and this is also good by Christian Personal Finance.