Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJames Hastings Dictionary of the NT: Debt, Debtor
Subjects in this Topic:
The Acts and the Epistles give few glimpses of the trade of the time (cf. Jam_4:13 ff., 1Th_2:9; 1Th_4:11, 2Th_3:8 ff., Act_19:24 ff., 1Co_7:30, Rom_13:7 ff., Rev_18:4-20). This may seem all the more remarkable since Christianity touched the commerce of the Roman world at so many points and used the fine Roman roads (see article Trade And Commerce). The allusions to debt are quite incidental, and come in generally in the metaphorical use of words.
1. Literal use.-The word ‘debt’ signifying a business transaction is found in Phm_1:18 ( ὀöåßëåé ), where St. Paul delicately refers to money or valuables stolen from Philemon by Onesimus. St. Paul here uses the technical language of business- ôïῦôï ἑìïὶ ἐëëüãá . We meet ἐëëïãÝù in pagan inscriptions and in an Imperial papyrus letter of the time of Hadrian (Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East2, 79f.). Dibelius (‘Kol.’ in Handbuch zum NT, 1912, p. 129) quotes various examples, as ὑðὲñ ἀññáâῶíïò [ ôῇ ô ] éìῇ ἐëëïãïõìÝí [ ï ] õ (Grenfell and Hunt, ii. 67, 16ff.). In the rest of St. Paul’s half-humorous sally with Philemon ( ἔãñáøá ôῇ ἐìῇ ÷åéñß ) he probably has in mind ôὸ ÷åéñüãñáöïí (Col_2:14). The debtor could have another to write for him if unable to write himself (cf. specimen of such a note by an ἀãñÜììáôïò from the Fayyûm papyri [Deissmann, op. cit. p. 335]). The common word for ‘repay’ is ἀðïäßäùìé (cf. Rom_13:7), but St. Paul here uses ἀðïôßóù , ‘which is much stronger than ἀðïäþóù ’ (Deissmann, p. 335 n. [Note: . note.] ; cf. also Moulton and Milligan, in Expositor, 7th ser., vi. [1908] 191f.). St. Paul thus gives Philemon his note of hand to pay the debt of Onesimus. In Php_4:18 St. Paul uses, perhaps in playful vein again, the technical word for a receipt, ἀðÝ÷ù , in expressing his appreciation of the liberal contribution sent to him by the Philippians (cf. ἀðÝ÷ù for a tax-receipt on an ostracon from Thebes [Deissmann, p. 111]). The term åἰò ëüãïí ὑìῶí (Php_4:17) has the atmosphere of book-keeping (cf. also åἰò ëüãïí äüóåùò êáὶ ëÞìøåùò in Php_4:15). In Rom_4:4 we find the figure of credit for actual work as a debt- êáôὰ ὀöåßëçìá . This is simply pay for work done (wages). The word ὁ ìéóèüò , hire for pay, is the common expression (cf. the proverb in 1Ti_5:18 and ìßóèùìá (hired house) in Act_28:30).
In Jam_5:4 the curtain is raised upon the social wrong done to labour by grinding employers who kept back ( ἀöõóôåñÝù ) the wages of the men who tilled the fields. James rather implies that there was little recourse to law in such cases, but consoles the wronged workers in that God has heard their cries. There was imprisonment for debt, as was the case in England and America till some 50 years ago, but it was only with difficulty that the workman could bring such a law to bear on his employer. In Rom_13:6-8 St. Paul expressly urges the Roman Christiana to pay taxes, a form of debt paid with poor grace in all the ages. Christianity is on the side of law and order, and recognizes the debt of the citizens to government for the maintenance of order. ‘For this cause ye pay tribute also’ (Rom_13:6), öüñïõò ôåëåῖôå . In Rom_13:7 he urges the duty of paying ( ἀðüäïôå ) back in full (perfective use of ἀðü as in ἀðÝ÷ù above) one’s taxes. öüñïò is the tribute paid by the subject nation (Luk_20:22, 1Ma_10:33), while ôÝëïò represents the customs and dues which would in any case be paid for the support of the civil government (Mat_17:25, 1Ma_10:31). So Sanday-Headlam, Romans, in loco.
In Rom_13:8 St. Paul covers the whole field by ìçäåíὶ ìçäὲí ὀöåßëåôå . We are not to imagine that he is opposed to debt as the basis of business. The early Jewish prohibitions against debt and interest (usury) contemplated a world where only the poor and unfortunate had to borrow. But already, long before St. Paul’s time, borrowing and lending was a regular business custom at the basis of trade. Extortionate rates of interest were often charged (cf. Horace [Sat. i. ii. 14], who expressly states that interest at the rate of 5 per cent a month or 60 per cent a year was sometimes exacted). Jesus draws a picture of imprisonment, and even slavery, for debt in the Parable of the Two Creditors (Mat_18:23-35; cf. also Mat_5:25 f.). But the point of view of St. Paul here is the moral obligation of the debtor to pay his debt. In few things do Christians show greater moral laxity than in the matter of debt. Evidently St. Paul had already noticed this laxity. He makes this exhortation the occasion of a strong argument for love, but the context shows that liberal financial obligations ( ὀöåéëÞ , common in the papyri in this sense) are in mind as well as the metaphorical applications of ὀöåßëù .
2. Metaphorical uses.-The examples in the apostolic period chiefly come under this heading. The debt of love in Rom_13:8 is a case in point. It may be noted that ἀãÜðç can no longer be claimed as a purely biblical word (cf. Deissmann, op. cit. p. 70). None the less Christianity glorifies the word. The debt of love is the only one that must not be paid in full, but the interest must be paid. For other instances of ὀöåßëù see Rom_15:1-27, 1Co_5:10. In Rom_13:7 ὀöåßëù covers all kinds of obligations, financial and moral (cf. also 1Co_7:3 [conjugal duty]). The metaphorical me of ὀöåéëÝôçò appears in Rom_1:14, Gal_5:3 etc. The metaphor of debt is found in various other words. Thus, when St. Paul speaks of Christians being ‘slaves of Christ,’ he is thinking of the obligation due to the new Master who has set us free from the bondage of sin at the price of His own blood. The figure need not be overworked, but this is the heart of it (cf. Rom_6:18-22, Gal_2:4; Gal_5:1, 1Co_6:20; 1Co_7:23, Rom_3:24, 1Ti_2:6, Tit_2:14; cf. also 1Pe_1:18, Heb_9:12). (See Deissmann, op. cit. pp. 324-44 for a luminous discussion of the whole subject of manumission of slaves in the inscriptions and papyri, as illustrating the NT use of words like ἀðïëýôñùóéò , ëõôñüù , ëýôñïí , ἀíôßëõôñïí , ἀãïñÜæù , ôéìÞ , ἐëåõèåñüù , ἐëåýèåñïò , ἐëåõèåñßá , äïῦëïò , äïõëåýù , êáôáäïõëüù , etc.) The use of ἀðïäßäùìé with the figure of paying off a debt is common (cf. Rom_2:6; Rom_12:17, etc.). ἀññáâþí (Eph_1:14) presents the idea of pledge (mortgage), earnest money to guarantee the full payment (Deissmann, op. cit. p. 340). In Heb_7:22 in the same way ἔããõïò is surety or guarantor. It seems clear that äéáèÞêç in Heb_9:16 f. has the notion of a will (testament) which is paid at death. Deissmann (op. cit. p. 341) argues that ‘no one in the Mediterranean world in the first century a.d. would have thought of finding in the word äéáèÞêç the idea of “covenant” St. Paul would not, and in fact did not,’ That sweeping statement overlooks the Septuagint , however. Cf. article Covenant. The figurative use of ἐëëïãÜù occurs in Rom_5:13.
Literature.-articles in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) , Dict. of Christ and the Gospels , Jewish Encyclopedia , and Catholic Encyclopedia , and Commentaries on the passages cited; A. Deissmann, Bible Studies, Eng. translation , 1901, and Light from the Ancient East2, 1911; A. Edersheim, LT [Note: T Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (Edersheim).] ii. p. 268ff.; E. Schürer, History of the Jewish People (Eng. tr. of GJV).] ii. i. 362f.
A. T. Robertson.