FIRST QUARTER 2023
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #5
FEBRUARY 4, 2023
“DEALING WITH DEBT”

 

“I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise” (Romans 1:14, NKJV).

When I was in middle school, I had a Bible teacher who also happened to be the principal of the school. His name was Walt Marshall. He was a good teacher and principal. Aside from his phenomenal ability to play golf with one partially paralyzed arm, I also remember him well for his counsel to drink warm water in the morning for health benefits and a particular question he once put on a Bible quiz for us. True or false: Money is the root of all evil. I was in such a confident hurry to quickly answer the quiz questions based on my great knowledge of the Bible that I overlooked the trickiness he had inserted, or rather left out, of the question. And got it wrong. As in every aspect of the gospel, the right answer hinged on the missing words, “the love of…”

Before we can successfully deal with financial or other types of debt that we encounter here in this world, we must first see how much we are in debt to God for everything we are and have — for the salvation revealed in the gospel. And once we appreciate how much He gave as the expression of His love toward us, we will both return that love, and express it toward others in practical ways so that they, too, can experience that love.

That is what happened to Paul. He saw himself ever in debt, in servitude to Christ, and thus indebted to all men to share the good news with them.

This is the context in which it is best to consider the practicalities of dealing with debt that the lesson this week brings to the table.

Paul had learned to be content in whatever situation he was placed, so there is no record that he needed to borrow to meet his needs. He also knew how to work and support himself. Thus, he could say: “Owe no one anything except to love one another” (Romans 13:8). And in the light of this love, he could both counsel that those who don’t work, don’t eat, as well as raise large sums of money from the new Gentile believers for the hungry believers in Israel.

Whether the cause of debt is ignorance, greed (of the borrower or the lender), or misfortune (e.g., Job), the solution is always trusting God and acting on our belief that He loves and cares for us. Christ is our redemption, our self-denying Saviour, and the One who has borne all of our sorrows. When we believe how rich we already are in Him, the stress of getting out of or avoiding debt here on earth is resolved, and we choose to gladly serve God rather than money. He will supply all of our needs, through the riches provided in Christ Jesus. Why would we then love the things of the world, and place ourselves in debt to gain what is passing away?

Since money is simply a tool to support the work of the gospel in one way or another, the judgment as to when to borrow and when not to borrow, and how to get out of debt is simplified. The gospel is “not I, but Christ” at its core, so borrowing wisely for the benefit of others as well as the denial of self to avoid unnecessary debt become second nature when we inherit the mind of Christ. 

And to the extent we lend, we do so with the best interests of our brothers and sisters in mind.

“Now godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6).

The following articles are referenced for your edification.

 

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September 24, 1891

"The Christian a Debtor" The Present Truth 7, 20.

E. J. Waggoner

 

Romans 1:14, 15.

"I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.”

The apostle Paul had no sympathy with those who would say, "The world owes me a living." For such a person he had only the sharpest rebuke. His command was "that if any would not work, neither should he eat." 2 Thess. 3:10. In the language quoted above, we have the sentiment of the true missionary-one who has given his life to the service of others.

But Paul did not take any credit to himself for his labour for others. He considered that he was simply working out a debt. To the Corinthians he wrote: "For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of; for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is me if I preach not the gospel!" 1 Cor. 9:16. The question is, How did Paul become a debtor to all men? and, Did any obligation rest upon him that does not rest upon every follower of Christ? The answer to both questions may be found in the Scriptures.

In the very beginning of his epistle to the Romans, Paul declared himself a servant of Jesus Christ. As we have already learned, this means that he was the life-long bond slave of Christ, yet his service was a willing service of love. He had given himself wholly to Christ, and was so closely identified with Him that he was counted as a son and a brother. This is the position of every Christian. "Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price." 1 Cor. 6:19, 20. First of all, then, the Christian owes himself and all that he has to Christ, because Christ has bought him with His own blood.

But the fact that we owe ourselves to Christ, and that if we acknowledge that obligation, we are to identify ourselves so completely with Him that the service will not be ours but His (1 Cor. 15:10), makes us debtors to all men. For Christ "died for all;" and in carrying out His work for men, he assumed an obligation to all men, although no man had of right any claim upon Him. Paul says that although He was in the form of God, He "made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant." Phil. 2:6, 7. And we are expressly exhorted to have this mind in us. Jesus himself said: "Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant; even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." Matt. 20:26-28.

Christ gave His life "for the life of the world" (John 6:51); therefore, everyone who yields himself to Christ, to become identified with Him and His work, becomes, like Him, a servant, not alone of the Lord Jesus, but of all for whom He became a servant. In other words, the Christian is Christ's servant; but as Christ's work is for the world, he who becomes a sharer of that work must become the servant of the world. Paul felt this to the utmost. He felt that he owed service to everybody that was in need; and so, he did. The servant owes his service to the one who pays for it. Christ had bought the service of Paul by the sacrifice of himself; and when Paul recognized that debt to Christ and gave himself to the discharge of it, the Lord turned his service in the direction in which he himself labored. The only way to be a servant of Christ is to serve those for whom he died. Wesley had some of the same spirit that Paul had, when he said, "The world is my parish.”

The second great commandment in the law is, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Our neighbor is everyone with whom we come in contact who is in need. Says Paul: "As we therefore have opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." Gal. 6:10. "As we have opportunity." That indicates that we are to seek occasion of serving men, and so Paul did.

To the Romans Paul said in another place: "We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not Himself." Rom. 15:1-3. Thus, again we learn that the work of Christ is to be the example for us; and He "went about doing good." Acts 10:38. Again Paul says: "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Gal. 6:2.

The trouble with too many who profess to be followers of Christ is that they do not feel any great sense of obligation. Sometimes they talk about "getting a burden" for the work, but what is that burden? It is nothing else but a sense of the debt which we owe to Christ, and consequently to the world. If a man owes a great deal of money, and has no means with which to pay it, he will necessarily feel as though he had quite a load upon his shoulders-a burden. So, all that is necessary to enable a man to have a burden for souls is for him to realize how much Christ has done for him.

The one to whom much is forgiven will love much. Paul felt himself to be the chief of sinners, and so when he felt the pardoning love of God, he felt that he owed much service. And he never forgot how much had been forgiven him, nor how great was his dependence upon God, and so he always felt the burden of debt resting upon him. Those who have felt the burden of their sins, and who know that they are removed, will not have to strive to get a burden for souls. They will feel, like Paul, that necessity is laid upon them, and it will be the joy of their lives to discharge that obligation. — E. J. Waggoner, September 24, 1891 Present Truth United Kingdom, p. 312.

 

"Studies in Galatians. Gal. 5:3" Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 77, 34, p. 537.

 

"FOR I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.”

 

"Debtor to do the whole law." It is curious that men, in considering this statement, have made it mark a distinction between two laws, and have made it exclude the law of God from the subject under consideration, by allowing to the word "debtor" only the sense of "obligation."

They know, by the scripture, that it is the whole duty of man to fear God and keep his commandments. They know that there cannot be any other scripture to contradict that. They know that every man is under obligation to keep the whole law of God, whether he is circumcised or uncircumcised. And, allowing that this term implies only obligation, — that if he is circumcised, he is under obligation to do the whole law, — they conclude that this must exclude the law of God: they conclude that it must be some law that no person is under any obligation to do unless he be circumcised; and that therefore the "whole law" here under consideration must be only the whole ceremonial law of sacrifices and offerings.

On the other hand, there are those who hold themselves under no obligation whatever to keep the law of God, who bring in this text to support them in their disobedience and opposition. They will have it that only those who are circumcised are under any obligation to keep the law of God, and that it was only by being circumcised that the obligation comes; and they know that they are not under any obligation to be circumcised. From this they argue that they are under no obligation to keep the ten commandments.

But both of these are wrong; both of them fail to see the thought that is in this verse. And the cause of this failure is in their allowing to the word "debtor" only the sense of “obligation."

It is true that the word signifies "obligation." But, in this place, and in every other place in its connection with men's moral obligations, the word has a meaning so much broader and deeper than that of mere obligation that the sense of mere obligation becomes really secondary.

The word "debtor" in this verse—Gal. 5:3—signifies not only that a person is in debt, and under obligation to pay; but that, beyond this, he is overwhelmingly in debt, with nothing at all wherewith to pay. If a man is debtor, and so under obligation, to pay one thousand dollars, and yet has abundance, or even only the ability to pay the one thousand dollars, that is easy enough. But if a man is debtor, and so under obligation, to pay fourteen million dollars ($14,000,000) and has not a single cent wherewith to pay, and is in prison besides, and has no ability whatever to make a cent wherewith to pay his debt, to that man the word "debtor" signifies a great deal more than mere "obligation to pay.”

And that is precisely the case here. That is the thought in this verse. That is the meaning embodied here in the word "debtor." This because the word "debtor," when used in connection with morals, implies, and can imply, only sin: that the man is a sinner.

This word "debtor" in Gal. 5:3 is precisely the word that is used in Luke 13:4, —"Those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?"—where the word "sinners" is in the text, is "debtors" in the margin.

It is the word used in the Lord's prayer (Matt. 6:12). "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors;" and which, in Luke's version of the prayer, plainly expresses the thought of sin, in the words: "Forgive us our sins; for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us." Luke 11:4.

It is the same word also that is used by the Saviour in Luke 7:41, 42: "There was a certain creditor which had two debtors; the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they nothing [with which] to pay, he frankly forgave them both."

It is the same word also that is used in the parable in Matt. 18:23-35. Indeed, from the verse, Luke 13:4, where the word "sinners" is used in the text and "debtors" is in the margin, the reference is direct to this parable in Matthew 18. That is the parable in which it is said that when a certain king "had begun to reckon" with his servants, "one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents,"—about fourteen million four hundred thousand dollars, — and he had nothing with which to pay. Then the lord "forgave the debt." But, when the servant found one of his fellow servants who owed him about fifteen dollars, he would not forgive him the debt, but cast him into prison until he should pay the fifteen dollars. Then the king called up his debtor, "and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise, shall my Heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses." Matt. 18:23, 35.

That thought of delivering the debtor to the tormentors until he should pay all that was due to his lord, belongs with the word; for "the use of the word involves the idea that the debtor is one that must expiate his guilt." And "sin is called hopheilema, because it involves expiation and the payment of it as a debt, by punishment and satisfaction."

From these scriptures the attentive reader can begin to see that in the words of Gal. 5:3, — "he is debtor to do the whole law,"—there is far more suggested than that he is merely under obligation to accept the claims of the law upon him, and do his best to meet them. All this shows that he is not only under obligation to recognize the binding claims of the law of God, but that he is actually debtor to render to that law all the claims that it has upon him. And in this it is further shown that, of himself, he must everlastingly be debtor; because he has absolutely nothing wherewith to pay, and of himself has no means of acquiring anything with which to pay.

And this indebtedness lies not only in his obligation to do the law from this time forward; it also lies in obligation to make satisfaction for all that is past, — for all the accumulations of the past, up to the present time.

Accordingly, of himself, every man is everlastingly a debtor in all that is implied in this thought in Gal. 5:3, and the kindred texts that we have here cited; because "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." And whosoever would be circumcised in order to be saved and thus seek to be saved by works of self-righteousness, thereby takes upon himself the obligation to pay to the law of God his whole debt, from the beginning of his life unto the end of it. And in that, he also takes upon himself the obligation to expiate all the guilt attaching to his transgressions, and accumulated thereby.

That is what it is to be "debtor to do the whole law." That is what is stated in the words: "I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law." He is not only debtor; but, by that transaction, he himself voluntarily assumes of himself to discharge all that is involved in his indebtedness.

Now it is true that every man in the world is, of himself, that kind of a debtor. It is also true that any man to-day who seeks justification by his own works, even in the doing of the ten commandments, or of anything else that the Lord has commanded, does thereby assume, and bind himself to pay, all that is involved in the indebtedness. But he cannot pay. There is not with him the first element of any possibility, in himself, to pay any of the debt. He is overwhelmed and lost.

But thanks be to God, whosoever has the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ, whosoever depends only on the Lord Jesus and that which Jesus has done, though he be of himself debtor just like any other man, yet, in Christ, he has wherewith abundantly to pay all the indebtedness. Christ has expiated, by punishment and satisfaction, all the guilt of every soul; and by the righteousness of God which he brings, Christ supplies abundance of righteousness to pay all the demands that the law may ever make in the life of him who believes in Jesus.

Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift of the unsearchable riches of Christ. Oh, believe it! Oh, receive it! Poor, overwhelmed, lost "debtor," "buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed." "Yea, come, buy. . . without money and without price.” — A.T. Jones, August 21, 1900, Adventist Review and Sabbath Herald, p. 537.

 

 

 

May 21, 1902

 

"Restoration from Babylon. The Fear of God against Unbrotherliness" The Signs of the Times 28, 21, p. 4, 5.

BY ALONZO TREVIER JONES

 

THE time spent in the building of the wall of Jerusalem after the coming of Nehemiah, noted in the preceding study, was so far only about a month. Nehemiah's attention had been so engaged in the work of pushing forward the work on the wall, and in warding off the schemes of the enemies, that he had not had time or opportunity to look into the individual and social conduct and condition of the people. And now there came to his knowledge that which was almost as surprising to him as was to Ezra the knowledge of the mixed marriages.

In the thirteen years that had elapsed between the coming of Ezra and that of Nehemiah to Jerusalem, though the evil of the mixed marriages had been largely corrected, other wrong and weakening things had been indulged. And Nehemiah was surprised and greatly offended by "a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews. for there were that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many; therefore, we take up corn for them, that we may eat and live." That is, they had put to pledge the honor of their children, for the grain which, in food, they and their children must eat. "Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth. There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute [the State taxes], and that upon our lands and vineyards. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and [some] of our daughters are brought unto bondage [already]: neither [is it] in our power [to redeem them]; for other men have our lands and vineyards.”

Thus, on the part of many there was the spirit and practice of speculating on the necessities of their brethren; for this money was not simply loaned, but loaned at interest and profit. This spirit, in the nature of things, only increased the natural selfishness of the heart, and cultivated hardness and oppressiveness of brother to brother. It really destroyed all true brotherliness, and supplanted it with the spirit of sordid gain; the whole thought became not, how can I do most to help my brother? but, how can I make most off of him? not, What can I do most to help him? but, What can I do most to help myself through his necessities?

For these reasons, this that they were doing was plainly forbidden by the Lord; and in it all they were going directly contrary to the Scriptures which they professed to obey. In the Word of the Lord, it was plainly written to all: "If thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee, then thou shalt relieve him; yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee. Take thou no money1 of him for increase; but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee. Thou shalt not give him thy money upon money, nor lend him thy victuals for increase. I am the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God. And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee, thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant; but as a hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee." Lev. 25:35-40. "Thou shall not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of anything that is lent upon usury. Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to in the land whither thou goest to possess it." Deut. 23:19, 20. "If thou lend money to any of My people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury." Ex. 22:25. "Lord, who shall abide in Thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in Thy holy hill? — He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. . . . He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent." Ps. 15:1, 2, 5. "If a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right. . . . and hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment; he that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment between man and man, hath walked in My statutes, and hath kept My judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord." Eze. 18:1-9, 12, 13, 16, 17. And among the "abominations" that had destroyed "the bloody city," Jerusalem, and taken the people captive to Babylon, was this: "In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbors by extortion, and hast forgotten Me, saith the Lord.”

All this was written in the Scriptures which these very people professed to believe, and in which they even boasted; and yet they disregarded it all, and made the poverty and necessity of their brethren only opportunity for traffic in loaning money and victuals for usury and increase! No wonder that the righteous Nehemiah declares, "I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words." And, "Then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I set a great assembly against them. And I said unto them, we after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found nothing to answer."

"Also, I said, It is not good that ye do: ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies? I likewise, and my brethren, and my servants, might exact of them money and corn: I pray you, let us leave off this usury. Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive yards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them. Then said they, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do as thou sayest.

"Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they should do according to this promise. Also, I shook my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, that performeth not this promise, even thus be he shaken out, and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the Lord. And the people did according to this promise."

Nehemiah could safely and consistently appeal to all the people upon this issue; for, though he was an exceedingly rich man, and had the best of opportunities to lend money at big interest, and make gain of the people, he not only did nothing of the kind as a speculator, but he did not use nor even collect what was his due as governor. For twelve years he supported himself and his whole household and retinue as governor, also a hundred and fifty Jews and rulers, besides others, at his own expense from his own personal funds. And he says: "From the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even unto the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelve years, I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor. But the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bare rule over the people: but so, did not I, because of the fear of God. Yea, also I continued in the work of this wall, neither bought we any land: and all my servants were gathered thither unto the work. Moreover, there were at my table a hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers, beside those that came unto us from among the heathen that are about us. Now that which was prepared for me daily was one ox and six choice sheep; also, fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days store of all sorts of wine: yet for all this required not I the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon this people.”

With such an example as this of mercy and brotherly kindness ever before them, those who had been trading upon the bondage and necessities of the people were enabled to keep their promise to quit it all, and to deal with their brethren as though they were brethren indeed. This reform was a success. Nehemiah, because of the fear of God, had from the heart manifested the very spirit and essence of the divine principle. "All thing whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." Also in the same fear of God he could pray, "Think upon me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people." And that prayer . . . and will be certainly answered to the soul, because it is also a divine principle that "with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.”

And now, as then, let all the people say, "Amen." A.T. Jones, May 21, 1902 ATJ, Signs of the Times, pp. 324, 325.

["The Wall Finished, and the Full Temple Service Restored," is the title of the next article of this series.] {May 21, 1902 ATJ, SITI 325.2}

 

~Todd Guthrie