Is going into debt a sin? This question sometimes comes up when Christians consider how they are to handle money God’s way. Many Christians have noticed that the Bible speaks negatively about debt in places like this:

To consider debt as a type of slavery is to hold a low opinion of it. And so, Christians have wondered, “Am I sinning when I use my credit card? Is my mortgage a sin?”

I believe the answer to this question is both “no,” and “yes,” depending on the situation.

Let’s start with “no.” There are two main reasons that I don’t think we can deem the act of borrowing to always be sin:

A) THE BIBLE DOESN'T SAY THAT BORROWING IS A SIN.

That is, unless you count Romans 13:8. However, you’d have to read Romans 13:8 out of context to come up with that interpretation. The verse just before it makes it clear that sometimes Christians do “owe” things to people, and therefore they ought to pay them. And so, verse 8 seems to be a riffing off of that verse, saying something to the effect of, “Make all the payments that are required of you until you have no more obligations, except for the giving of love, to which you are forever obligated.”

B) THE OLD TESTAMENT REGULATES LENDING AND BORROWING.

Exodus 22:25 commands God’s people to not charge interest when they lend to the poor, and Deuteronomy 24:10-13 gives regulations for what a person was and wasn’t allowed to do when accepting collateral for a loan. It seems that God would not instruct His people on how to lend if it was always a sin to borrow.

However, just because something isn’t always a sin doesn’t mean that it’s never a sin. There are some things that are wrong in some situations that aren’t wrong in every situation. (For instance, it’s generally true that it’s not a sin to date a girl named Katie. However, it is wrong to date a girl named Katie if your wife’s name is Brenda.)

Here’s another verse that I think could be applied to the idea of debt:

We are not to be conformed to the worldly patterns of our time on this earth. I believe this includes the way that people of this age handle debt. Americans are up to their eyeballs in it. And Christians aren’t supposed to be just like their non-Christian neighbors. For instance, just because a bank will approve a mortgage that costs 30% of your annual income doesn’t mean that every Christian ought to go out and agree to a home loan payment that costs 30% of their annual income. Depending on your situation, that might be a wise move, or it might not be.

It’s not the bank’s job to determine how you are to steward God’s money that He has entrusted to you. The bank isn’t going to care if you set aside money in your budget to give to the poor and/or your church. However, God does. So, the bank can’t be the one who ultimately determines what you can afford. That’s between you and God.

In summary, I do not believe that every form of borrowing is only and always wrong. However, I do think Christians need to be especially careful in this area. You do not want to get into any situation where you are a slave to some lender if you don’t have to be. After all, you are God’s slave first (see Matthew 6:24.) All that you own is His, and you are accountable to Him for what you do with all of it.