# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_September 1864_S262
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

262 Martin Chemnitz on Usury.

they found themselves, usury was without doubt in common use. Paul,
however, while he chastises other vices, makes no mention at all of
usury, etc. Answer: Paul, in his letters to the Corinthians, makes no
mention of murder, poisoning, perjury, etc., which vices were without
doubt found in that great city. Are we then to say that these are
therefore no sins? For Paul answers, in both letters to the Corinthians,
that concerning which disputes had arisen among them and about which he
was asked for counsel. And yet, when in 1 Cor. 6:10 he condemns thieves,
robbers, and the covetous, he doubtless includes usury along with them,
the species under the genus, as happens in the Ten Commandments.

5. The rule of love is: All that you wish that men would do to you, do
that to them. If, then, one who himself is sometimes accustomed to pay
usury demands the same from others, he does not sin against love;
further, if he considers that he would be willing to pay something above
the capital to others, were he to find himself in a like situation.
Answer: According to the will corrupted by sin, when it departs from the
manifest Word of God, the law of love is not to be judged in such a way
that something is thereby conceded against the express testimonies of
Scripture. If someone entangled in a lawsuit wished to escape danger by
false testimony, would it therefore be no sin to assist another by
perjury? This too is a disguised pretext. For there is no one who would
not rather be supported in his need by a loan given free of charge. But
how one is to deal with people of the third estate has been shown above.

6. The laws of bondage were very harsh. And Paul advises Philemon to
set his slave free; further, at 1 Cor. 7:21, it says: If you can become
free, use that rather. And yet it is not said of the one who keeps his
slaves in bondage that he sins. Thus he who lends for nothing does
better, but he who lends at usury does not sin either. Answer: Let one
show such testimonies of Scripture concerning usury as concerning
bondage, and the argument will have to be granted. But merely to argue,
from a passage that contains something similar, against a truth on which
Scripture expresses itself clearly — this is no such foundation on which
the conscience either should or can rest.

7. It is the office of the authorities to make ordinances concerning
external matters, and Christians may with good conscience avail
themselves of political regulations. Insofar, then, as the civil laws
permit usury, it can be practiced without sin. Answer: Political
ordinances that correspond to the natural law stand on a different
footing than those which conflict with God's revealed Word — for
example, if the laws should say that mere fornication is no sin. But how,
and to what end, the civil laws permit usury, in such a way that they
nevertheless do not establish anything contrary to the divine law, has
been discussed above under I.