On August 24, the Biden Administration announced a much-anticipated plan to forgive some of Americans student loan debt. The new changes could “provide relief to up to 43 million borrowers, including canceling the full remaining balance for roughly 20 million borrowers,” according to a White House fact sheet.
As expected, traditional media and social media have descended on the announcement as vultures on roadkill.
Those supporting the announcement talk about undue burden, equity, and just plain fairness- all of which seem like legitimate reasons for canceling student debt– at least to our Babylon-based world system where everyone “is doing what is right in their own eyes.”
The boldest supporters of this plan display their Christian faith and their Bibles to support their arguments.
Here is one argument along this line:
Conservative Christians are fully enraged at #studentloanforgiveness, missing the irony that their entire professed religion is based on the idea of a canceled debt.
Way to lose the plot, kids.-
Now, I do not personally know the author of this comment. Nor do I know his faith or his heart or where he stands before God, but I do know that he has missed some extremely important Biblical plot points himself.
As a student of Torah, I have learned that when you really want to know what God thinks about a particular subject, you have to look for the big God patterns and you have to consider context. All too often, insincere, biased, or intellectually lazy Biblical arguments spill out of the mouths of those who fail or refuse to consider the big God patterns and fail to consider the intended audience of the Biblical discourse.
As most of us know, almost every modern or historical human belief or preference can be supported by a random Bible verse pulled out of context. For instance, one can argue that the Bible supports polygamy if you just read the story about Jacob and his multiple wives. If you fail to take into account the pattern of monogamy portrayed in the metaphor of the Bridegroom and the Bride and the Biblical emphasis on faithfulness and fidelity within a marriage, you could conclude that God thinks polygamy is a good idea. And in the case of Jacob, you would have to also completely ignore the dysfunction and excessive misery within the family that was caused by this multiple-wives situation.
So, let’s return to the argument that we as Christians should support the government’s move to cancel debts because Jesus canceled our sin debt.
I first noticed that in this argument, the President’s actions regarding student debt are being compared to Jesus’ actions on the cross to pay for our sin.
This seems to be a rather big stretch no matter where your starting point is.
So let’s look at some Biblical patterns:
Forgiveness of sin/debt is costly.
Let’s look back in the beginning to see if there is a big God pattern related to forgiving or covering debt. We read in the book of Genesis that when Adam and Eve sinned, they had to cover themselves with the skin of animals. God had to kill one of His innocent creatures– a costly fix for both God and the animal.
Later, the Israelites had to voluntarily offer their flawless animals to God on the altar for remission of sin. These animals were quite valuable, and each Israelite believer had to decide if he or she would obey God or not. The sacrifice had to be costly to the believer; therefore, the decision had to be made by the believer. Sacrificing your neighbor’s animal was not an option set up by God.
Even Jesus had to voluntarily give up his life for our lives. He freely submitted to His Father’s will even when His “flesh” desired otherwise. His decision was costly.
According to big Bible patterns, there is a cost in forgiveness. Forgiveness isn’t FREE. Somebody pays. In the case of Jesus, He volunteered to pay the price. In the case of the Israelite believer, the cost of sacrificing the flawless animal was high.
When the government forgives student loan debt, it doesn’t cost “the government” anything. In fact, it could be argued that those politicians who claim the mantle of righteousness for the “forgiveness” of debt assume they will benefit handsomely from this ruse.
God is all about setting choices before us and making us responsible for our own choices.
There were two trees in the garden, but only one was good for food. Although he warned them against it, God did not stop Adam and Eve from eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and evil. He did, however, hold them responsible for the consequences of this action.
The Torah is replete with reminders that each person must constantly make choices for which he or she is fully responsible.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have placed before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So, choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, (Deuteronomy 30:19)
The Biblical pattern is that each person must make his or her own choice about obedience or disobedience to God. Each person must decide for himself what action to take. Each of us stands alone before God in the end, and He judges us on our actions, not the actions of others or even the actions of others done on our behalf.
Commandments are for people, not governments
The prayer Jesus taught us to pray says” and forgive us our debt as we forgive our debtors.” The Greek word used for debt can mean debt or offense of sin. It is important to understand that this prayer is one Jesus taught to His disciples, those who claim to follow Him. It is very personal. A believer who says this prayer accepts the responsibility of forgiving debts just as his own debt is forgiven. The Roman government had no involvement whatsoever in this dialogue with God. Forgiveness of debt is the responsibility of each person who is owed, be it forgiveness of sin or offense or even financial debt. When the government forgives debt owed to the American people, they are engaging in fraud, because they have no right or responsibility to do so. It is not their debt to forgive.
I have seen those arguing in support of government loan forgiveness quoting Jesus’ parables and even the laws of the Year of Jubilee. In each case, they have missed the point that these stories and these laws are for people, not for governments. Governments won’t be judged before God; people will. Making arguments based on changing the plain context of the Biblical lesson or law is poor exegesis.
It is important to remember that when the Biden Administration forgives billions of dollars in student loans, this action does not fall under the Biblical category of “love your neighbor” or “forgive your debtors” because it is not the government’s money. Now, if you decide you want to loan someone money for their college tuition, great! And if you decide to cancel the debt this student owes you, Great!! That is your choice. That would be Biblical.
The Biblical lesson that is being missed is that forgiveness costs the one who forgives, not someone else.
When our president forgives debt that is not owed to him, it would be like God saying, “You know, someone has to pay for sin. How about I make your son the sacrifice for sin.”
Wait, what?
There has also been a lot of “love your neighbor as yourself” justification for supporting the government’s decision to forgive student loans. But this is misappropriated self-righteousness. In America, we long ago abdicated most of our “love your neighbor as yourself” responsibilities to the government. Then we try to ride on the coattails of supposed government charity. We must remember: The “government” is incapable of charitable behaviors because charity starts and ends in human hearts.
Whenever we are forced to grapple with any particular topic in our society, it is best to recognize the big God patterns in the Bible and keep the Bible in its original context. Otherwise, we are left debating “whatever is right in our own eyes.” And we all know how that turns out.
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