What about charging interest?
Question 12011
The question of charging interest on loans has a long history in Christian ethics, and it is one where the biblical evidence requires careful handling. For centuries, the church debated whether any interest was permissible, and the Old Testament passages on the subject continue to generate discussion among believers who want to handle their finances in a way that honours God.
Interest in the Old Testament
The Mosaic law contains clear prohibitions on charging interest to fellow Israelites. “If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him” (Exodus 22:25). Leviticus 25:35-37 extends the point: “If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him… Take no interest from him or profit.” Deuteronomy 23:19-20 adds an important distinction: “You shall not charge interest on loans to your brother, interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest. You may charge a foreigner interest, but you may not charge your brother interest.”
The context is significant. These laws governed a covenant community in which lending to the poor was an act of compassion, not a commercial transaction. The prohibition was specifically designed to protect vulnerable members of the community from exploitation in their time of need. The person who lent to a poor Israelite was not making a business deal; they were fulfilling a covenant obligation to care for a neighbour in distress. Charging interest in that context was treating a brother’s poverty as a profit opportunity, and the law forbade it.
The Distinction Between Exploitation and Commerce
The permission to charge interest to a foreigner (Deuteronomy 23:20) indicates that the prohibition was not based on a belief that interest is inherently sinful. Commercial lending between parties operating on equal terms was treated differently from charitable lending to the poor within the covenant community. This distinction matters for understanding how the principle applies in a different economic context.
Jesus’ parable of the talents is instructive. The master rebukes the unfaithful servant: “You ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest” (Matthew 25:27). Jesus uses the concept of earning interest on deposited money without any suggestion of moral condemnation. This does not settle every question about lending practices, but it does indicate that the earning of interest within a normal financial system is not treated as inherently wrong in the New Testament.
The Principle That Endures
What does endure from the Old Testament teaching is the principle behind the prohibition: do not exploit the vulnerable. The person who lends at exorbitant rates to someone who has no real choice, who structures terms designed to trap borrowers in cycles of debt, or who uses financial power to extract wealth from those who can least afford it is acting in precisely the way the Mosaic law was designed to prevent. Modern payday lending, predatory credit practices, and loan structures designed to maximise profit from financial desperation fall squarely under the prophetic condemnation of those who “trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end” (Amos 8:4).
The Christian who lends at interest, whether through banking, investment, or personal arrangements, is not automatically violating Scripture. The Christian who exploits another person’s need for financial gain is violating the principle that runs through every biblical text on the subject. Earning a fair return on invested capital within a functioning commercial system is a different thing from squeezing the desperate.
So, now what?
Charging interest is not inherently sinful, but the Bible’s teaching on the subject is shaped by a deep concern for the vulnerable that every Christian should take seriously. Fair commercial lending and investment are legitimate. Exploiting need, trapping people in debt, and using financial power without compassion are condemned. The believer who participates in any form of lending or investment should ask whether the arrangement is fair, whether the borrower is being treated with the dignity that the image of God demands, and whether the return being sought comes at someone else’s genuine expense. Where a fellow believer is in need, the biblical instinct is generosity rather than commercial calculation.
“If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him.” Exodus 22:25