If you are carrying huge financial debt, such as a student loan, you might fantasize about the possibility of having that debt erased by an anonymous donor.
Maybe you hope a rich relative will pay for it or for the government to announce that all loans have been forgiven and everyone starts with a clean slate. Nice as that would be, there is a bigger debt that all of us carry, one which has been paid for.
Where Does the Bible Say, ‘Our Debt Has Been Forgiven’?
When Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, he told them to ask God to “forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). The Greek word for “debt” used here was “opheiléma,” which means “a debt, offense, sin.”
Scripture frequently reminds the reader that a Christian is one who confesses and repents of their sins, offenses, and debts, and who has confidence in the forgiveness of God through the saving work of Christ.
These sins are wiped clean every time we bring them to the Lord and sincerely ask to be transformed by the Holy Spirit.
When we believe in Christ for salvation, this is like signing a contract to say that we are morally bankrupt, unable to pay the cost of our trespasses, and we require someone else to pay those debts for us.
Christ made payment in full; we confess that our only way to be free from debt is through Christ’s one-time, completely sufficient sacrifice.
The forgiveness God offers leads to eternal peace, and the certainty of salvation rather than freedom from financial suffering, although they sometimes go together.
Is There a Financial Aspect?
At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lord's release has been proclaimed (Deuteronomy 15:1-2).
In the Old Testament, when God gave the law, he created a Year of Jubilee in which debts were forgiven. Tim Thorburn says, “Debt is one of the invisible killers that drives people to despair and beyond. To be helplessly in debt is to be hopelessly down and out.”
God was protecting his people from abuse by those with financial control, and he was also giving his people a chance to be free from the suffering caused by debt.
Then as now, whether an act of nature destroyed the harvest or addiction led to economic ruin, many people have succumbed to the pressure by turning to drink, violence, or suicide.
The individual, his family, and the community were all affected and all released from immediate suffering by this forgiveness of debt.
The Lord also told Israel not to borrow at this time. This was a chance for the financially irresponsible to recognize that they had just been shown mercy and, in gratitude and humility, to change their habits.
This was no mere transaction in which contracts were erased; God’s work here was supposed to affect the heart.
Here is the emotional side of debt relief in Luke 7:41-42. “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” (Luke 7:41-42).
Jesus alludes to that element of desperation from which the debtor is saved. Surprise leads to relief and, ultimately, to joy. One can start to think straight, acknowledge personal responsibility for debt, if there is any, or for potentially sinful reactions to the stress.
Christ’s outrageous generosity elicits not only thanks but love and a desire to turn away from sin and to be changed.
Even though God’s law was related to the forgiveness of economic debt, the Christian looks back and sees that Jesus wanted the same thing to happen in hearts laden with sin.
With some breathing room, it would be possible for the sinner to see and think clearly and then respond to forgiveness with humility, gratitude, devotion, and good sense.
Bringing one’s burdens to Christ and trusting him with them is the same as acknowledging that we need help to avoid letting the sins pile up and overwhelm us, to the point where we can no longer see or hear him in our lives.
If Not Money, Then What Debts?
Thorburn talks about the debt motif in Matthew 18:22-34, “The Parable of The Unforgiving Servant.” A servant is forgiven a colossal sum of money by his king but refuses to extend this same mercy to someone who owes him far less money.
Thorburn explains that we, like Jesus, should be outraged by the merciless servant. “But why the outrage and anger? [...] The guy does owe him and should pay it back. [...] What makes his behavior outrageous is the context of his action: ‘I cancelled all that debt of yours … Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’” We must have mercy on others and forgive them.
That does not mean we trust an abuser; we do not lend unwisely, but we are called to forgive. This is a hard teaching because some sins are so weighty. Child abuse, rape, murder: how is one supposed to forgive these?
The Lord is not dismissing these actions but saying that the debt has been paid for the victim and the abuser at the same time. As for the judgment of debt, Christ shifted our focus back to one’s attitude to the fact that Jesus paid for everything.
Christ was tortured and killed because we owed God our lives and were unable to pay for our sins. He covered the full cost of our bankruptcy, which is an immeasurable amount, and he was treated unjustly in the process. “We owe so much we haven’t got any hope of repaying it even if we tried,” commented Thorburn. He urges us to remember, but we are forgetful people.
This is one reason why God established the sacrificial system early on, with payment at regular intervals. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life” (Leviticus 17:11).
Our Debts Are Truly Forgiven?
Then, Jesus came, and we “were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19).
Anyone carrying the weight of student debt or some other loan might believe God is punishing them. Is this the cost of their sin? Has God truly forgiven them?
Financial debt is sometimes a result of forces beyond someone’s control, such as medical expenses or disability.
Financial suffering can also emerge from unaffordable habits such as drinking, gambling, or shopping.
Debt can arise out of poor money management, a bad work ethic, or becoming unemployable due to inappropriate behavior in previous jobs.
Yet either way, the Lord has not required money or goods from his people as compensation for their debts. Financial suffering might or might not be a consequence of “debt,” but it is not a punishment.
Christ already took that at the cross, and his sacrifice was sufficient for all people, for all sins, for all time.
Christ came and made full atonement, replacing the system of blood sacrifice. Blood had to be spilled so that God’s people understood the severity of breaking his laws and rejecting his authority, but “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). The debt is paid.
We Must Remember
One easily forgets that the Lord required blood but did not take ours. A life was taken as soon as Adam and Eve first sinned. “The Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21).
Instead of taking their lives, God provided a poignant way for his people to remember the cost of sin, which was the first instance of death and killing in the entire Bible.
Christ went willingly, knowing we will sin throughout our lives. When we ponder his sacrifice, this should change our hearts and open our eyes.
We will see sin as Satan’s currency, lent at rates no one can afford to pay, and from which no one will be freed unless he or she comes under the protection of Christ’s precious blood.
For further reading:
What Does the Bible Say about Debt?
Will God Help Me Solve My Financial Problems?
How Did Jesus View Wealth and Poverty?
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/zimmytws
Candice Lucey is a freelance writer from British Columbia, Canada, where she lives with her family. Find out more about her here.