Debt
Debt
(debitum)
That which is owed or due to another; in general, anything which one person is under an obligation to pay or render to another. In a wide sense of the word this obligation may arise from a variety of sources. Thus we say that one who has received a favour from another lies under a debt of gratitude to make him some return for it. The superfluous wealth of the rich is due to the poor; it is a debt to the payment of which, according to the expression of many Fathers and theologians, the poor have a right, not of justice but of charity. We here take the word in the ordinary and strict sense, according to which it signifies something which is due to another in justice. We treat the matter, too, from the ethical rather than from the legal point of view, and so we consider debts of honour as true debts though they cannot be enforced in the civil court.
A debt arises not merely from a contract of borrowing; something may be due to another in justice for many different reasons, but all these may be reduced to two. When one has wilfully caused unjust damage to another, he is bound to make good the loss which he has inflicted, and when he finds himself in possession of what belongs to another, he must restore the property to its owner. Justice requires this, that each one should have his own, and one who has suffered loss unjustly at the hands of another has not his own, as long as the loss is not made good, any more than one whose property is unjustly detained by another. A state of indebtedness, then, of one to another arises from either of these two roots, as theologians call them. A debt must be paid to the owner of the property or to one who has the right to receive payment for him. Sometimes, however, the true owner is unknown, and then payment must be made to the poor or to charitable purposes. At any rate, one who is the unjust cause of wrong to another cannot be allowed to become a gainer by injustice, and inasmuch as society is injured by injustice, if reparation cannot be made to the individual who has been wronged, it must be made to society, and this cannot be done better than by paying the debt to charitable purposes or to the poor. In general, debts must be paid as they become due, or at the time and in the manner agreed upon. If the debtor is unable to meet his obligations at the proper time he will be made a bankrupt, his property will vest in the official receiver or trustee, and will be distributed among the creditors in proportion to their claims. Certain debts, however, have priority over others by law. In England the order among these is as follows: rates and taxes; the wages or salary of any clerk or servant not exceeding fifty pounds in respect of services rendered during four months prior to the receiving order; wages of any labourer or workman not exceeding twenty-five pounds for services, whether time- or piece-work, rendered during two months prior to the date of the receiving order. If the assets are sufficient for the purpose these debts must be paid in full before all others, otherwise they will abate equally among themselves. In the United States the National Bankruptcy Act of 1898, as amended in 1903, gives priority to certain debts in the following order: all taxes legally due and owing by the bankrupt to the United States, State, County, District, or Municipality; costs of preserving the estate subsequent to filing the petition; the filing fees; the costs of administration; wages due to workmen, clerks, or servants which have been earned within three months before the date of the commencement of proceedings, not exceeding three hundred dollars to each claimant; and finally debts owing to any person who by the laws of the States or of the United States is entitled to priority. Similarly, the debts of a person lately deceased must be paid by the executor or administrator in the order prescribed by law. According to English law funeral expenses and the expenses of probate or taking out administration come first. Then the debts of the deceased in the following order: Crown debts; debts having priority by statute; debts of record; debts by specialty and simple contract. Similarly also in the United States, after costs of administration and funeral expenses the debts due to the general government come next. Then follow other debts similar to those mentioned above as having priority in English law, but the order is not identical in all the States.
In certain circumstances the obligation of paying a debt ceases. This will be the case when a creditor freely condones the debt, as of course he may do if he chooses. Moreover, physical or moral impossibility excuses the debtor from paying the debt as long as the impossibility lasts. If a man has no money and no means of getting any, he is excused on the ground of impossibility from paying his debts. Even if he could not pay without reducing himself and his family to beggary, it will be held morally impossible for him, as long as those conditions last, to satisfy his obligations. Even justice must take account of other virtues and obligations. (How far a discharge in bankruptcy excuses from payment of debts in full out of subsequently acquired property is laid down in the article BANKRUPTCY.) The popes have sometimes for just cause used their authority as the supreme heads of Christian society to grant partial remissions or compositions for debts due to unknown creditors. One of the clauses of the Bulla Cruciayœ granted to the Spanish dominions confers such a privilege on the recipient on certain conditions. When a debt is barred by lapse of time, the civil authority refuses its help to enable the creditor to recover what is due to him, but the debtor is not freed in conscience; he is still under a moral obligation to pay his debt. Finally, it may be mentioned that by ecclesiastical law those who have incurred heavy debts which they are unable to pay are prohibited from entering a religious order, at least if they have been reduced to that state through grave fault of their own.
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BALLERINI, Opus Morale (Prato, 1892), III; LEHMKUHL, Theologia Moralis (Freiburg, 1898), I; SLATER, A Manual of Moral Theology (New York, 1908), I.
T. SLATER. Transcribed by Douglas J. Potter Dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IVCopyright © 1908 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat. Remy Lafort, CensorImprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Debt
(, neshi’, 2Ki 4:7; , mashshaah’, Pro 22:26; , noshe’, a creditor, 1Sa 22:2; elsewhere, , hand, Neh 10:31; , loan, never debt, Mat 18:27; , Mat 18:22, a due, as rendered Rom 13:7; , something owed, Mat 6:12; Rom 4:4). The Mosaic law very strongly recommended willingness to loan (Deu 15:7 sq.; comp. Psa 37:26; Mat 5:42). Interest (, usury), however, could only be exacted by capitalists from foreigners, not at all from Israelites as co-religionists (in Neh 5:11, a percentage is mentioned; but it does not appear whether this was in money, Heineccii Antiq. Rom 2:15; Rom 2:19, as generally among the Romans, or a yearly rental; comp. Appian, Civ. 1:54); also a vendue of loaned natural products (see, however; Baba Mezia, v. 1) was forbidden (Exo 22:25; Lev 25:37 sq.; Deu 23:20). The agrarian regulation of the state, secured each one, in the last resort, from the rapacity of the creditor; probably by this very arrangement moneyed men were restrained from depending upon loaned money for a subsistence, and were. thus induced to turn their attention to agriculture or other useful occupations. See LAND. In this way, however, wholesale business, which was incompatible with the isolation-system of the Jewish law-giver, was rendered rare, or rather impossible (see Michaelis, Syntagm. commentt. 2:1 sq.; Mos. Recht, 3, 87 sq.; Jahn, Bibl. Archeol. II, 2:325 sq.; on the Talmudic prescriptions, see Selden, Jus. Heb 6:9). Usury incurred the deepest scorn (Pro 28:8; Eze 18:8; Eze 18:13; Eze 18:17; Eze 22:12; Jer 15:10; Psa 15:5; Psa 109:11), but no other civil penalty was annexed to it (according to the Talmud, it involved a forfeiture of redress; on the whole subject, see Marezoll, De usuraria pravitate, Lips. 1837).
Written notes of obligation (, signatures; Gesenius, Thesaurus, p. 921, finds such evidences of debt in the or , q. d. note of hand, Deu 15:2 : the Talmudic precepts on such paper are given in the Mishna, Baba Bathra, c. 10) were, at least in the post-exilian period, regularly in vogue (Tob 1:17; Josephus, Ant. 16:10, 8; War, 2:17, 6; comp. 18:6, 3; Luk 16:6 sq.). Distraint was allowed, but under certain restrictions (Exo 22:16 sq.; Deu 24:6; Deu 24:10 sq.). See PLEDGE. Severity against debtors being regarded as imperious among the Israelites (comp. Job 22:6; Job 24:3), especially in the collection of debts, the law scarcely enjoined anything directly on the treatment of bankrupts; it is merely indicated that he who was totally insolvent might be sold into temporary bondage in order to satisfy the debt by his wages. (On the rigor towards this class among the Romans, see Heineccius, Antig. jur. Rom. 3, 30, 2. They were often subjected to the harshest usage as slaves, Livy, 2:23; 6:36; Gell. 20:1, 19; Appul. Ital. 9, p. 40, ed. Schweigh. In Athens, before Solon’s time, the creditor could even lay claim to the person of his debtor, Plutarch, Vit. Sol. c. 15; later, there prevailed a summary process of seizure, which the creditor himself was authorized to execute [see Schlager, De delictore, etc. Helmstadt, 1741]. Yet certain mitigations, not unlike the Mosaic, existed; see Heffter, Athen. Gerichtsverf. p. 455 sq. On the Egyptian legislation, see Diod. Sic. 1:79; Wilkinson, 2:49 sq.) This rule was often still further exercised in practice with such hard-heartedness as to involve wife and children in the poor debtor’s fate (2Ki 4:1; Neh 5:5; Isaiah 1, 1; Mat 18:25); nay, the sureties likewise were exposed to the same mode of reparation (Pro 20:16; Pro 22:26 sq.; Pro 27:13). Debtors were liable to punishment by imprisonment (Mat 5:26; Mat 18:30), probably a Roman usage. The Talmudic rules concerning debt are mild (Baba Mezia, 9:13). On the Sabbatical year (q.v.) all pecuniary obligations were cancelled (Deu 15:1; Deuteronomy cf., 9). SEE LOAN; SEE DEBTOR; SEE USURY; SEE CREDITOR, etc.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Debt
The Mosaic law encouraged the practice of lending (Deut. 15:7; Ps. 37:26; Matt. 5:42); but it forbade the exaction of interest except from foreigners. Usury was strongly condemned (Prov. 28:8; Ezek. 18:8, 13, 17; 22:12; Ps. 15:5). On the Sabbatical year all pecuniary obligations were cancelled (Deut. 15:1-11). These regulations prevented the accumulation of debt.
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
DEBT
Because debts place a person under obligation to his creditors, Paul sometimes used the word debt to refer to a persons spiritual obligations. Paul considered that his obligation to preach the gospel was a debt he owed to people everywhere (Rom 1:14; 1Co 9:16). He believed also that Gentile Christians, having received the gospel by way of the Jews, owed a debt to their Jewish brothers. The Gentiles had an obligation to help the Jews in their poverty (Rom 15:27).
More frequently, however, the Bible uses the illustration of debt to refer to something bad, such as sin in general (Mat 6:12; Mat 18:32-35) or bondage to the sinful human nature (Rom 8:12). Debt in this sense is a reminder of the difficulties of life in the everyday world, where debts can easily bring a person to ruin. The poor can easily be exploited, and for this reason Israelite law aimed at protecting them from greedy money-lenders. (For details see LENDING.)
Fuente: Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
Debt
DEBT
1. In OT.Loans in the OT period were not of a commercial nature. They were not granted to enable a man to start or extend his business, but to meet the pressure of poverty. To the borrower they were a misfortune (Deu 28:12; Deu 28:44); to the lender a form of charity. Hence the tone of legislation on the subject.
Usury is forbidden in all three codes (Exo 22:25 [JE [Note: Jewish Encyclopedia.] ], Deu 23:19, Lev 25:36 [H [Note: Law of Holiness.] ]); it was making a profit out of a brothers distress. In Dt. it may be taken from a foreigner. Pledges were allowed, but under strict limitations (Deu 24:10, Job 24:3). In Deu 15:1-23 is a remarkable law providing for the letting drop of loans every seventh year (see Driver, ad loc.). Its relation to the law of the Sabbatical year in Exo 23:10 (JE [Note: Jewish Encyclopedia.] ), Lev 25:1 (H [Note: Law of Holiness.] ) is not clear, but the cessation of agriculture would obviously lead to serious financial difficulties, and debtors might reasonably look for some relief. This consideration makes for the modern view, that the passage implies only the suspension for a year of the creditors right to demand payment. It must be admitted, however, that apart from a priori considerations the obvious interpretation is a total remission of debts (so the older, and Jewish commentators). Foreigners do not come under the law. The other codes have no parallel, except where the debt may have led to the bondage of the debtors person.
Historically the legislation seems to have been largely ignored. In 2Ki 4:1-7 a small debt involves the bondage of a widows two sons (cf. Isa 50:1, Mat 18:23), and Elisha helps her not by invoking the law, but by a miracle. In Neh 5:1-19 mortgaged lands and interest are restored under the pressure of an economic crisis. Nehemiah himself has been a creditor and taken usury. There is an apparent reference to Deu 15:1-23 in Neh 10:31. In later times the strictness of the law was evaded by various legal fictions: Hillel introduced a system of contracting out. That loans played a large part in social life is shown by frequent references in the Prophets, Psalms, and Proverbs (Isa 24:2, Psa 15:5; Psa 37:21, Pro 19:17; Pro 28:8). Jer 15:10 shows that the relation between debtor and creditor was proverbially an unpleasant one. In Psa 37:21 it is part of the misfortune of the wicked that he shall be unable to pay his debts; there is no reference to dishonesty. Pro 22:7, Sir 18:33 warn against borrowing, and Sir 29:1-28 has some delightful common-sense advice on the whole subject.
2. In NT.Loans are assumed by our Lord as a normal factor in social life (Mat 25:27, Luk 16:5; Luk 19:23). Luk 6:34-35 suggests that the Christian will not always stand on his rights in this respect. Debt is used as a synonym for sin in Mat 6:12 (cf. the two parables Mat 18:23, Luk 7:41; and Col 2:14). The context of these passages is a sufficient warning against the external and legalistic view of sin which might be suggested by the word itself. Christ does not imply that it is a debt which can be paid by any amount of good deeds or retributive suffering. The word is chosen to emphasize our duty of forgiveness, and it has a wide meaning, including all we owe to God. The metaphor of the money payment has ceased to be prominent, except where it is implied by the context.
C. W. Emmet.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Debt
General references
Rom 13:8
Security for
Exo 22:25-27; Deu 24:6; Deu 24:10-13; Neh 5:3-4; Job 22:6; Job 24:9; Pro 11:15; Pro 22:26; Amo 2:8 Debtor; Creditor; Surety
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Debt
“that which is owned” (see Note, below), is translated “debt” in Mat 18:32; in the plural, “dues,” Rom 13:7; “(her) due,” 1Co 7:3, of conjugal duty: some texts here have opheilomenen (eunoian) “due (benevolence),” AV; the context confirms the RV. See DUE.
a longer form of No. 1, expressing a “debt” more concretely, is used (a) literally, of that which is legally due, Rom 4:4; (b) metaphorically, of sin as a “debt,” because it demands expiation, and thus payment by way of punishment, Mat 6:12.
“a loan” (akin to danos, “a gift”), is translated “debt” in Mat 18:27 (RV, marg., “loan”), of the ten thousand talents debtor. Cp. daneizo, “to lend,” and daneistes, “a money-lender, a creditor.”
Note: In Mat 18:30, opheilo, “to owe,” is translated “debt” in the AV (RV, “that which was due.”). See DUE.