Sin of usury

The Bible prohibits usury and although the passages supported in support of this injunction (Ex. 22:25; Lev. 25:35-38; Deut. 23:19-23) appear to be only applicable for loans by Jewish lenders to Jewish borrowers, the Church said they apply to all loans citing Lk. 6:30 et al. Martin Luther in two separate treatises condemned usury in no uncertain terms.

What is usury? The Biblical injunction is against the payment of interest for any loan. Luther agreed although his strongest condemnations were reserved for those who charged excessive interest and excessive was probably interest in excess of six percent interest.

In legal terms, usury was initially charging interest in excess of the rate allowed by law. Today in many jurisdictions, usury is charging and collecting interest in excess of the contract rate. Regardless of how we define usury, usury is still a sin defined as charging any interest on a loan. Using this biblical definition of usury, the sin is widespread and deserving condemnation particularly in light of the sub-prime mortgage meltdown and the effects of the meltdown on banking and financial institutions and upon individuals.

For numerous reasons, usury is no longer a sin in the eyes of most individuals. No one has suggested that the words of scripture have not been properly translated. Even those who base their theology on Sola Scriptura have not said that usury is still a sin.

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Gospel of Luke