June 23, 2026
As followers of Christ, we often find ourselveswrestling with difficult financial decisions. One of the most challengingquestions is what to do when someone we care about needs financial help. Shouldwe give them money? Should we lend it? Is there a biblical difference betweenthe two?
Scripture has much to say about money, generosity,stewardship, debt, and relationships. While the Bible doesn't provide a simpleformula for every situation, it does offer principles that can help us navigatethese decisions wisely.
Show Notes
Remember Who Owns It All
Before we discuss lending, we must begin with a foundational truth: God owns everything.
The resources we possess are not ultimately ours. We are stewards entrusted with God's resources for His purposes. This perspective changes how we view every financial decision, including whether to lend money to a friend, family member, or fellow believer.
When we recognize that we are managing God's resources rather than our own, we become more thoughtful and prayerful about how those resources are used.
Is the Bible Against Lending?
Many Christians assume that Scripture views lending negatively. In reality, the Bible assumes lending will occur within communities and families.
Throughout the Old Testament, we see instructions about how lending should be conducted. The concern is not that lending exists, but that it be done justly and lovingly.
The strongest biblical warnings are directed toward exploiting vulnerable people through lending practices. God consistently condemns those who take advantage of others during times of hardship.
Lending itself is not the problem. Predatory lending is.
The Reality of Debt
Proverbs 22:7 reminds us that "the borrower is slave to the lender."
This verse highlights an important reality: debt creates a relationship. Whether the lender is a bank, a credit union, a family member, or a friend, the borrower becomes obligated to repay the debt.
This doesn't necessarily make borrowing sinful. There are circumstances where loans can be helpful and even redemptive. However, debt should never be entered into casually because it carries both financial and relational consequences.
When lending to others, Christians should remember that loans create responsibilities and obligations that can affect relationships for years to come.
Lending Should Promote Restoration, Not Control
One of the clearest examples of abusive lending appears in Nehemiah 5.
During a famine, wealthy Israelites were taking advantage of struggling families. People were mortgaging their fields, vineyards, and homes just to survive. Some even lost their children to slavery because of overwhelming debt.
Nehemiah's outrage was not directed at lending itself but at the exploitation of vulnerable people. This provides an important principle for Christians today: The goal of lending should be restoration, not control.
A loan should help move someone from a place of need toward stability and wholeness. If a lending arrangement places someone under unnecessary burden or creates opportunities for manipulation, it has drifted away from God's design.
Why Relationships Matter
Unlike financial institutions, Christians often have something that banks do not: relationships. A bank primarily evaluates numbers. Credit scores, income, assets, and debt-to-income ratios drive lending decisions. Personal relationships allow us to evaluate something else: character.
When you've walked alongside someone for years, observed their faithfulness, and understand their circumstances, you may be able to make decisions that a financial institution cannot. This doesn't mean every request should be approved. Rather, it means relationships provide valuable context that can help determine the most loving and wise course of action.
Sometimes a Loan Is More Loving Than a Gift
Many people assume that giving is always more loving than lending. Sometimes that's true. But not always. In certain situations, repeated gifts may unintentionally foster dependency rather than growth. A carefully structured loan can create accountability while preserving dignity and encouraging responsibility.
The key question is not whether giving or lending is inherently better. The question is which approach best serves the person's long-term flourishing. Every situation requires wisdom, discernment, and a genuine desire to help.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
If you decide to lend money to a brother or sister in Christ, there are several pitfalls worth avoiding.
1. Don't Cosign Loans Lightly
Scripture repeatedly warns against becoming responsible for someone else's debt. If you do not have the financial capacity to make the loan yourself, cosigning may expose you to risks you are not prepared to bear.
2. Don't Assume Everything Will Go Perfectly
Even when lending to trustworthy people, circumstances can change. Approach every loan with the understanding that repayment may not happen exactly as planned.
3. Don't Overcomplicate the Arrangement
You probably don't need a lengthy legal contract that resembles a commercial loan agreement. At the same time, avoid relying solely on verbal agreements. A simple written memorandum of understanding can help clarify expectations and prevent future misunderstandings.
4. Don't Ignore the Relationship
The relationship is often more valuable than the money. Protecting the relationship should remain a priority throughout the lending process.
Guarding the Lender's Heart
Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of Christian lending is the condition of the lender's heart. Because money is emotional, lending can easily give rise to pride, frustration, resentment, or a desire for control.
We must continually remind ourselves:
When we lend from a posture of stewardship rather than ownership, we are better equipped to maintain humility and generosity.
Lending With Joy
Ultimately, Christian lending should reflect the character of God. It should restore dignity rather than diminish it. It should encourage responsibility rather than create dependency. It should demonstrate generosity rather than control. And most importantly, it should point both the lender and borrower back to the true Provider.
Whether you choose to give, lend, or help in another way entirely, the goal remains the same: to love others faithfully while stewarding God's resources wisely.
Questions to Consider
7 The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.
3 There were also those who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses to get grain because of the famine.” 4 And there were those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king's tax on our fields and our vineyards. 5 Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children are as their children. Yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards.”
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Episode Transcript
Austin
As followers of Jesus, we want to faithfully steward the resources God has placed in our hands. One of the most difficult questions we face is what to do when someone we care about needs financial help. Should we give or should we lend? The Bible has a lot to say about money, generosity, debt, and justice, but it doesn't always give us simple formulas.
Today, we want to explore what Scripture teaches about lending as Christians and how we can help without harming or enslaving those God calls us to love.
So, Spencer, today, as we jump into this idea of Christian lending, we really want to step, take a step back and recognize and remember that God owns it all. We are stewards, and as we participate with God for the life and the renewal of the world, we really need to look broadly at what he says about all topics about money.
And when we think about how do we be generous stewards? We really come back to this first principle, and we really have to start thinking, why is it that scripture talks about money so frequently? So what would you say to that?
Spencer
Well, money competes for our allegiance more so than anything else with God. It's, you know, it's fungible. You you have money and you have influence. You have power. It is storable. And so I think that's one of the reasons. Anything else, you know, in life, it comes and it goes, but but money is there. And we really have to to see that our allegiance can be shifted in that direction very, very easily.
And I love that we look at this from a stewardship perspective in terms of lending, because it shifts the way that we would think about lending to a brother or sister in Christ and other family. Because we recognize it's not ours to begin with. Now, that doesn't mean that we need to just, lend resources. It doesn't declare the interest of any, you know, that we decide on.
It doesn't mean that we should make a gift. It doesn't mean that we should do any of that at all, because we're still stewards, right? So our calling is high and holy. It's really, really, significant to make these kinds of decisions. But if I think about lending to, you know, one of my children versus lending to someone, I have no idea who they are.
That that's a very different proposition. And so if we recognize that these are really the father's funds, these are really God's funds, and we're just helping him make decisions, you know, on this. But the decisions would be lending or giving to his children. You know, if we're thinking about it within the family of faith, I think that reframes it in a helpful way.
Right?
Austin
Absolutely. What I think, too, when we take this idea of, okay, how am I actually entering into relationship with a brother or sister, I think that's really going to help direct our narrative of, and we'll talk about this in a future episode of how to decide when is it time to just go in and help with a gift?
But today we really want to step back and say, okay, what does Scripture say about lending? And when there is a need that arises, what do we do about that? How do we actually help a brother or a sister when maybe a gift is not the most appropriate first step? And I think that's a really hard thing to discern because like you're saying, there's so much nuance and the reality of do I lend to my children versus Joe on the street?
Well, Jo on the street probably just needs a little bit of money, and I should not make a loan to him expecting it to be returned because there's not a relationship there. And likewise, if I've given to the same brother, maybe it's a brother at church for five, six, seven times and he continues to have need. Okay, well, now let's reframe this conversation whether it's hey, can I help you find work, whether it's at my house or whether it's in some other capacity so that the relationship drives, how do I address the need?
Right. Because at the end of the day, money is emotional. Their money, the way that they handle their money is emotional. If I am in relationship with them and I'm giving to them or lending to them, there's an emotion there as well. And so there's so many layers of this. But as we take a big picture idea, let's take a dive in and see kind of what does the Bible talk about lending.
And first, primarily, I think oftentimes people look at it and just say, well, the Bible is really negative about lending. Is that actually the case?
Spencer
Well, I think we look at the biblical narrative and we look particularly in the Old Testament. And that's really followed up and reemphasize, I think you could say in the New Testament, but there's an assumption that lending is going to be done, especially within people who love one another, care for one another, that community. There's an assumption that's going to happen.
So there are special prohibitions in the Old Testament for charging interest to your brothers or sisters. So there's even some special things within that context. And then there's a little bit of a different context as you look at the outsiders, those that we might not have any, relationship with to begin with. Some, some differences even there.
But I think the Bible looks at things and says, well, culturally this is going to happen. There are ways that we can certainly run afoul of that, and then we can put ourselves in danger. And it's very explicit on that as well. But, lending in and of itself, I think there's a recognition that, it's going to happen.
Austin
Right. Well, as we look at Proverbs 22:7, it really becomes important as we think about lending because there is a master slave relationship. It is as a borrower you become a slave to the lender. And so whether you want to believe it or not, even if it you the lender is a bank or it is a friend.
There is a relationship there that puts one above the other in certain ways to where if you lend me resources, I am in debt to you to pay them back. And so you have a hold over a piece of my financial life that I am in some ways enslaved to that that note. And so we really have to think about that prudently.
Spencer
Right. And it's always, you know, when when we borrow funds, we're always presuming on the future. So we're always looking at it and saying, well, I'll have a better, brighter day, that I can repay resources. And that may be reasonable. There's, there's reasons that you would take out a loan. There's reasons that this can be helpful and redemptive.
But to your point, there's always a risk there. And unless you absolutely need to, you don't want to go this path, right? But we do recognize and I think, biblically, you know, the Israelites, had the situation in Jesus's day. They had the situation, cash flow was uneven. And so, you know, it's not, it would not have been unusual for people, to lend to one another to kind of get through a rough patch there.
If they had cattle or grain or other things, you know, that that might have, you know, had had challenges, right?
Austin
Well, and I think as we look at if we look at Nehemiah 5 and we look at 1 to 13 will not read it all, but, you know, we think about that time frame in Ezra, Nehemiah, where the Israelites have lost the law. You know, we look at Ezra and they find the book of the law, and they read it, and people become just distraught with the ways that they have sinned.
And Nehemiah five, what it goes through is it's kind of in that same general time frame, and it's looking at how is lending being done. And verse three said, there were those who have received loans or taken loans out against their brothers or sisters within the family of Jewish faith. In verse three says, there were also those who said, we are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our houses to get grain because of a famine.
So if we look at this, there's there's an actual problem in the world. There is a famine, right. You can't get resources. And they're also saying, and there were those who said, we have borrowed money for the king's tax on our fields and our vineyards. Now our flesh is the flesh of our brothers, and our children are as their children.
Yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves. And some of our daughters have already been enslaved. But it is not our power to help, for other men have our fields and their vineyards. And so they're looking in there saying, we have become so in debt because of a famine, because of an outside crisis. The wealthy within the Jewish family of faith have said, now it's our time to take advantage of this.
We can make these loans, but the poor, the ones that are being the most effective, have to mortgage their fields, their vineyards, their ways of making money so that they can actually buy food. It's a and we look at the outcry that comes from this and it's, it's the reality that the Bible always come back to if we exploit the vulnerable, that is never okay.
And I think when we look at lending, that's where it's often the strongest, spoken of against lending in Scripture. It's when we are predatory, when we're taking advantage of the vulnerable. It's not when a loan is made to someone who has a genuine a general need and needs resources to be able to take it out to meet that need.
Austin
But if you're saying, well, I'm going to put you under my thumb, and expect either, a substantially high interest rate, that's unfair, or I'm going to make you become even more indebted to me than is is just or prudent. That's where really the challenge becomes. And so if we think about the actual goal of lending is to move somebody from a place of a deep state of need to a place of restoration, how do we discern the next step in order to actually start thinking about, okay, how do I lend these resources?
How do I take what is the Lord's that he has put within my hands to manage and help a brother or sister in need?
Spencer
Well, it's it's a dicey situation at times because, like you talked about, there's times that there is deep need and, that we just need to come in and we need to make that gift and we'll talk about it more in the next episode. But there's also times when, when that happens over and over and over again and it's so tough to discern.
You know, we look at the history of development in places like Haiti, you know, and there's just been gift after gift after gift. And things don't change because there's not an empowerment of ability and those kinds of things. So I think as we look at it, and we kind of come to things, I think the church is very, very well positioned to be able to help people, move along that spectrum where they don't have a level of dependance financially anymore.
And, you know, you think about this when we look at the large institutions of the world, the banks of the world, those, chief lending, institutions, there's going to be a level of impersonality you know, about that you're not going to have, a close relationship. Now, you might have a good relationship with a banker that's great.
You might have a high opinion of the actual institution where you do your banking, and that's fantastic. There's no way, though, that as they look at a capacity to loan you money, that they're going to look at much beyond your credit score, the assets that you have with them, the income that you have it. It's just these financial figures.
Yeah. And so there is a person ultimately that's going to make a decision, but they're going to be heavily data driven. And oftentimes there's not going to be allowances for personal character. Now, if you're, a business owner and, you know, you're, you're asking for a loan for, you know, some kind of expansion or something like that.
It may be heavily, driven by the relationship, but in most circumstances, you know, they're just going to be looking at some of those data pieces. So, you know, two examples come to mind. You know, in own personal life, we had, a friend who, based on some things that had happened in his family, completely outside of his control, he had debt that was assigned to him.
It was somewhat fraudulently assigned to him. Nothing that he could have done. Now, the only way that he could get a loan to purchase a vehicle, which he needed, a vehicle, was for it to be, at, crazy interest rate. It was like 25% or something like that. He was paying so much interest there. Well, you know, knowing him, knowing his character, knowing exactly how things had happened, it was easy for us to come in and say, oh, well, actually, you know, we're just going to give you a no interest loan.
You'll have this paid off in no time. And let's go from there. So, you know, because of that relationship that was already there very easy. In another circumstance, you know, we had a situation where, there was a building, you know, that needed to be purchased. And we, we knew the, the situation quite well. But the bank was, was requiring a number of different hoops to be jump through that didn't have any real bearing, you know, on the situation.
But we're going to require tens of thousands of dollars, for this, individual to, to move through it. And we said, well, that's again, that's not going to be helpful, you know, to, the growth of the church, to this person in particular, being able to expand and do some different things in that space. And so, it was easy enough to come in and say, well, in this situation, actually, we will charge an interest rate, but it'll just be an interest rate that the bank would charge.
But we're going to recognize that because of the relationship, this is going to be great. And it was I had all kinds of different people tell me that this was not a good idea, you know, CPA and others and all trying to look out for me, you know, in terms of best interest. But I knew that the relationship was very, very good in both of those circumstances and just said, why would I not, you know, go in this direction?
So it's the relationship, I think, that can drive, you know, us in this direction. And it provided that we have, you know, a deep enough relationship there, we can navigate some of the challenges around the logistics or around the expectations and make sure we're all on the same page.
Austin
Right? Absolutely. Well, I think the reality is, oftentimes alone can be more loving than a gift because it helps hold some accountability. Right? So if we know, hey, we've made a gift two, three, 4 or 5 times when the situation is it changing okay, maybe it is is actually more loving because maybe what they need is a partner to come in and say, hey, I want to walk alongside you.
And the best way that we can do this is actually to be done via a loan, and I'm going to charge a little bit of interest. I'm not going to be predatory, but I need you to feel that there is a weight of responsibility to this. And I think there are of obvious situations where it's like, if I'm learning to a business if and my my friend may run the business, but I'm loaning to him as an institution, that's very different than purely lending to an individual.
And so I think we have to always be looking at what is the entirety of the picture here. Is my friend, has he shown faithfulness? Has he shown faithfulness to you, our relationship to the gospel, to the desires that he has for this business venture? Okay. Yeah, I have seen it. I've walked through it. Okay. Because I'm lending to a business though, I'm going to treat this like a business relationship versus I'm lending to an individual.
We've been in similar circumstances where we've seen friends who have had car notes that are very high interest rate, when it shouldn't have been a high interest rate. So for us to be able to come in and say, hey, let's offer you a 0% rate, you just pay us down for the next couple of years. And it's been such a gift to see how people respond to that, because I think a lot of those times it's like, yeah, I had no idea what I was doing coming into the dealership and the terms that they offered me, I didn't know that I could negotiate them, or I didn't know that I can go to a bank
and try to find better rates. And then they've been paying on this for a year or two years. And so we've seen them be able to pay at that high rate. Okay. Well let's just cut it. You pay us the same thing without interest. And then the load that comes off of them at that point, the love that they feel, the care that they feel of, hey I'm seen and I'm known and I'm, I'm desired to have financial wholeness by this person.
It really depends a lot of those relationships.
Spencer
Yeah. And, and I think one of the reasons that that that is the case is because money is taboo, you know, in our culture. So actually, you know, unearthing those areas, you know, talking through and then having someone come alongside provide that support can be really, really helpful. But again, this is not something that we would say, well, you just, you know, bumped into somebody at church and now you're, you know, in this conversation about lending them, you know, $100,000, you no, these are like long term relationships.
And, you know, there's got to be, a capacity of walking alongside someone and having seen, you know, that character within them because, you know, I think equally what you would see in, everything the Bible says about, lending in this whole process, you don't want to cosign, you know, with people. So if you don't have the funds to make the loan, you don't want to be putting yourself on the hook with someone else, even if it's someone that you tend to trust, usually.
So, there are, you know, circumstances here where, again, if you if you said, okay, well, they can get a really low interest rate and I'm, I'm completely willing to pay every dime. You know, to me, that probably would be, you know, more a really, really close relationship. And, maybe, you know, a son or daughter or something like that, but I'm like, okay, well, yeah, I could understand.
You'd cosign, you know, there for most of us, though, it's far more helpful to think about it as, okay, could I just go ahead and make this loan because now I can administer it. Now I can, you know, make sure that, you know, I have the conversations with people, you know, should things go sideways.
Austin
So I guess to just to take a next step in how do we think about this? What are some mistakes to avoid if we lend to brothers and sisters? Obviously, you talked about Cosigning, but what other things that we really should think about as, okay, don't do this. If I'm going to, step into a relationship with a brother or sister via a loan.
Spencer
I think first, again, you want to be at a point where you say, I know I could lose all of this. You don't want to be engaged with someone who you think is, has kind of shady character there, but you want to recognize, okay, these are the Lord's funds. I think you can go, one of two directions that neither is, is quite helpful
on either side, if you go to extremes, one would be, you try to get a legal document put in place that is so stringent and is kind of at the same level that a bank might go to because, you know, it's, you know, the old joke is that the banks only lend to the people that don't need the money, you know, and that's not fair to our, our banking friends, that are out there, who do great work.
But, you know, banks really do a nice job of engaging attorneys and covering themselves. They are going to be very, very diligent. And, you know, you take out a loan and you might have the 150 pages, you know, of, of, you know, legal fees and signatures that you need all over the place and depending on what bank or credit union you work with.
So I don't think we want to go to that level. You know, if you need that level of protection, you probably don't need to be going this path I would think. The other side of things, though, is saying, oh, we're we're good. You know, we talked about it and, you know, we all know what's what it's going to be.
It's going to be, you know, we're going to pay back, you know, over five years, and they're going to pay whatever it is, $1,000 a month. And, you know, so I'm lending, you know, $60,000 and, and have no level of documentation. That's also not good. Yeah. Because invariably people forget what I said when it started, what the terms were, you know, what the general understanding is.
So, not having anything documented is also a problem, you know? So, I think, what you want to do is have somewhere in the middle there, you want to have some kind of a memorandum or letter of understanding. You want to have everybody sign it. You want to walk through it, you probably want to even review it every year or two, you know, to make sure everyone's still on the same page.
But this just serves more as a hey, we're on the same page here. You could, you know, make it legally binding. I wouldn't necessarily dissuade you from doing that. I probably just wouldn't go, you know, quite to the 200 page, you know, version of it, you know, do something a little simpler. We've also seen circumstances, you know, where it's it's just, a letter of understanding.
It's a memorandum of understanding. It's not going to be legally binding. You know, it's it's just let's let's stay on the same page. So I think at least at that level, it's quite helpful.
Austin
And one of the things we do want to just touch on very briefly is if you have a 0% loan that's especially at a small dollar value, then you probably don't need to report anything to the IRS. Obviously, make sure that you're checking rules and regulations. But the reality here is that memorandum of understanding is actually it's particularly helpful for most situations for these small dollar loans.
And so again, we're not going to get too much into those tax ramifications. But let's come back to guarding the lender's heart. This reality that if I make a loan to a brother or sister in Christ, what are some of those things that we really need to be aware of within our own hearts as we are the lender?
Spencer
Well, this really comes back to the start where we talked about stewardship. You're not the owner. And so if we have that proper perspective, we are not replacing God as the provider. We shouldn't have any pride, because the funds were given to us. It wasn't as though, just based on who we are, you know, we did everything, and now we're, you know, solving all of this person's problems or something like that.
We also shouldn't use it for control. So if any of it, any of the elements there, if it starts moving to, a situation where you sense that you're, you know, taking control or you're frustrated or, you know, there's a level of pride in here. We just need to recognize that those emotions can come, but then we need to walk things back and say, okay, well, am I starting to get frustrated because I didn't specify terms with that person?
Or maybe because I haven't talked with them in six months, or because, you know, there's a lot there that if you are the lender, I think you need to come in with a level of spiritual maturity and a perspective, that guards, you know, helps to guard your heart. I mean, you know, Proverbs 4:23, above all else, guard your heart, for it's the wellspring of life.
What we need to be prepared, that we might lose those funds. And that is not going to be the worst thing that can happen. You know, the worst thing that can happen is, in these situations typically is that the relationship, you know, deeply phrase that this person, walks away, you know, from relationship, walks away from faith, walks away from, you know, community, those kinds of things rather than, oh, okay.
They missed a few payments. We're back on the same page. We're helping out or, you know, even there's something like happens in Nehemiah five famine. Okay, maybe we just need to make that gift. Yeah. You know, the nobles, the king. Maybe the king just needs to say, you know what? I don't need the the tax. You know, at the at that same level, this year, everyone needs to work together, you know, in those kinds of circumstances within the community to make sure there's wholeness.
Austin
Well, I think as we finish out the reality of there, there should be this space where I enter with joy with a brother or sister. It should bring relief and joy on their end as well. There should be a mutuality of respect, just like you're talking about. And I think asking the the following questions as we enter potential loan agreements and arrangements with our brothers and sisters, does it restore the dignity of that person?
Does it really bring wholeness and life to their situation? Are we helping meet a need in a way that's actually going to restore them to joy with the Lord? Does it reflect God's generosity? Is this lending relationship maybe there needs to be a level of accountability that God puts on us as well, that we are showing the generosity of God to enter into relationship with us, even when we're broken, even when we're needy.
Does it reflect that generosity of the Lord? And then does it point people back to the truth that God is their provider, not just my provider as I am able to lend, God provides for me and through me can provide for them. And we all look back and say God is our provider. Thanks be to God that he has resources that we can share.
So clients, if you have questions about lending to a brother or sister in Christ, we would love to have that conversation with you. We would love to talk through what are ways that you can do that? What are maybe pitfalls in these potential relationships, in these potential loans? Until next time, take care. If you found this episode valuable, share it with a friend and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so that you don't miss the next episode.
Disclosures
This content was provided by Second Half Stewardship. We are in Knoxville, Tennessee and you can visit our website at www.SecondHalfStewardship.com. The information in this recording is intended for general, educational and informational purposes only, and should not be construed as investment advisory, financial planning, legal, tax, or other professional advice based on your specific situation. Please consult your professional advisor before taking any action based on its contents.
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