More on Lending

Exodus 22:25 “If you lend money to any of My people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a moneylender to him; you shall not charge him interest.”

Here is a prohibition against lending to poor Christians at interest. Calvin made a distinction between lending to alleviate poverty and want, and lending as a business arrangement, in which latter he thought interest was acceptable. I doubt it. Fiat money and legal tender laws combine to make obedience to this command tricky. In an inflationary economy the inflating agency (the government) can steal the value of the money you are paid back, so that receiving only the principal means you have actually not been repaid. Repayment stated in goods is a potential corrective for that, or repayment of the principal after correction for inflation.


Read more on lending by Dr. Terrell here.