For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” Now to one who works, his wages are not reckoned as a gift but as his due. And to one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness. So also David pronounces a blessing upon the man whom God reckons righteousness apart from works:
“Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not reckon his sin.”
- St Paul Letter to the Romans 4:3-8
He Is Risen!
A quick meditation, to cap off our series on Usury before a long form post to wrap it all up.
And, I will say, I think the strongest argument against Usury as it struck me during Mass on Easter Sunday.
And the simplest, for all that.
God, Our Lord, has never charged Usury for our Debts against Him.
He asked only an exact accounting.
And continues to do so, to this day;
At least, according to the theologies that believe in the sacrament of confession - we make penances for our sins, and that is the whole point of purgatory and hell.
To be absolutely Just.
An exact accounting - no Usury.
So, if God doesn’t get to charge Usury….
After thousands of years since Adam fell.
Or over a lifetime,
Or an eternity…
What gives us the right?
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
- St Paul Letter to the Romans 6:1-4