BIBLICAL BRIEFS 61
Usury is excessive, unauthorized profit, mainly due to unreasonably high-interest rates, or gained profit by exploiting a fellow’s distress. God condemns it without a ceremony of words (Eze. 18:13), especially with regard to fellow believers (Lev. 25:36) and the poor (Ex. 22:25). Profit as such is an essential and necessary economic principle with which the Bible has no problem – Jesus says that man must earn profit from trading (Luke 19:15). The women of Proverbs 31, for example, as a prototype of the Bride of Christ, is praised for her ability to make a good profit (verses 11 & 18). God, however, unquestionably condemns what Tit. 1:11 refers to as “shameful/dishonest gain”. Because of an insatiable love for money (Ecc. 5:10) and the enticing “glory of … riches” (Est. 5:11), believers are deceived, and “their heart goes after their gain” (Eze. 33:31). Wealth as such comes ONLY from the Lord – He gives “you power to make wealth” (Deut. 8:18). Therefore, “let not a rich man boast of his riches” (Jer. 9:23). But: “But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. “(1 Tim. 6: 9-10). Because man cannot “serve God and Mammon” (Luke 16:13), God determines in Jer. 17:11 that those who gain riches by unjust means, when their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them, and in the end, they will prove to be fools. Together with Mark 13:22, it states that the temptation of wealth kills the seed of God’s Word in our hearts, and those people become barren for God’s working in their lives. Usury is a violent way of gaining profit (Eze. 22:12) and “it takes away the life of its possessors” (Pro. 1:19). It is interesting that Micah 4:13 prophesies that the Bride will possibly dedicate “their unjust gain and their wealth to the Lord”. But in order to obtain that inheritance and authority, 1 Tim. 6: 6 must be true of your life: “But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment”. Usury shows an attitude of the heart. Luke 16:11 spells out the implications of usury: “Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you?”
Dr. Tom Gouws
