LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 315

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THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS
to your brother, interest on money, interest on food, interest on
anything that is lent for interest. You may charge a foreigner
interest, but you may not charge your brother interest, that the Lord
your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land that
you are entering to take possession of it” (Deut. 23:19–20); and
WHEREAS, The King and prophet David spoke of the moral law
that calls our hearts to repentance when he writes is Psalm 15, “O
Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy
hill? ... who does not put out his money at interest and does not take
a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never
be moved”; and
WHEREAS, The King and prophet Solomon spoke of the vain
usurious gain saying, “Whoever multiplies his wealth by interest
and profit gathers it for him who is generous to the poor” (Prov.
28:8); and
WHEREAS, The prophet Ezekiel describes the righteous Israelite
saying, “If a man is righteous and does what is just and right … does
not lend at interest or take any profit, withholds his hand from
injustice, executes true justice between man and man, walks in my
statutes, and keeps my rules by acting faithfully—he is righteous;
he shall surely live, declares the Lord God” (Ezek. 18:5, 8–9); and
WHEREAS, The prophet Ezekiel describes the sin of the leaders
of Israel saying, “In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take
interest and profit and make gain of your neighbors by extortion;
but me, you have forgotten, declares the Lord God” (Ezek. 22:12);
and
WHEREAS, Our Lord Jesus Christ revealed the full scope of the
moral law by prohibiting the taking of any gain not only from the
poor, or our brothers, but even to our enemies when he taught in the
sermon on the plain saying, “And if you lend to those from whom
you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend
to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and
do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will
be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the
ungrateful and the evil” (Luke 6:34–35); and
WHEREAS, The practice of taking gain by interest was not
considered a mere element of the Mosaic Covenant but a practice
of Christian love is clearly taught by many of the church when we
hear them speak thus:
His money he will not give on usury, and will not take interest
… this is a righteous man. He shall surely live, saith the Lord.
These words contain a description of the conduct of Christians,
a notable exhortation to the blessed life, which is the reward of a
life of goodness—everlasting life. (Clement of Alexandria)
If anyone takes usury, he commits robbery and no longer has life.
(Ambrose of Milan)
I would not have you be lenders of money on usury; and I would
not have you be such for this reason, because God would not
have you. Whence does it appear that God would not have it so?
It is said in another place, “He that puts not out his money to
usury.” And how detestable, odious, and execrable a thing it is,
I believe that even usurers themselves know. (St. Augustine)
If thou hast lent thy money on usury to man, that is, if thou hast
given the loan of thy money to one, from whom thou dost expect
to receive something more than thou hast given, not in money
only, but anything, whether it be wheat, or wine, or oil, or
whatever else you please, if you expect to receive more than you

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have given, you are a usurer, and in this particular are not
deserving of praise, but of censure (St. Augustine)
I would not have you become usurers, because it is repugnant to
the law of God. (St. Augustine)
Even as a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough, even so
usury, when it comes into any man's house, draws all his
substance, and changes it into debt. (St. John Chrysostom)
Lending money at interest is a mortal sin. And it is not a sin
because it is prohibited, but rather prohibited because it is as such
a sin. (Sir Thomas Aquinas)
Some think there is no usury but in money. This the holy
Scriptures foresaw, and therefore takes away the increase or
gains in any manner of thing, and requires that you receive no
more than you gave. (St. Jerome)
Forasmuch as many enrolled among the Clergy, following
covetousness and lust of gain, have forgotten the divine
Scripture, which says, He has not given his money upon usury,
and in lending money ask the hundredth of the sum [as monthly
interest], the holy and great Synod thinks it just that if after this
decree anyone be found to receive usury, whether he accomplish
it by secret transaction or otherwise, as by demanding the whole
and one half, or by using any other contrivance whatever for
filthy lucre’s sake, he shall be deposed from the clergy and his
name stricken from the list. (17th Cannon of the Council of
Nicaea)
He who lends expecting to get back something more or
something better than he has loaned, is clearly a damned usurer.
(Martin Luther)
According to God’s Word, usury is a mortal sin that excludes
one from the kingdom of God when it is knowingly committed.
(C.F.W. Walther)
and
WHEREAS, Moses instructs repayment in Exodus stating, “If a
man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five
oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep” (Ex. 22:1); and
WHEREAS, Jesus utilizes the parable of the talents that commends
the servants who use the vast sums of money, which was entrusted
to them by the master, to trade with and increase the money by 100
percent and condemns the failure of the servant who did not at least
put the money in the bank where it would earn interest; and
WHEREAS, Paul instructs the Romans to “owe no one anything,
except to love each other” (Rom. 13:8); and
WHEREAS, Paul writes to the Thessalonians: “For you yourselves
know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when
we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for
it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might
not be a burden to any of you” (2 Thess. 3:7–8); and
WHEREAS, Jesus asserts that the laborer deserves his wages; and
WHEREAS, The economic system today is significantly different
from the systems present in the Scriptures; and
WHEREAS, The value of currency changes over time so that
repayment of debts with interest can actually result in loss for the
loaning party as inflation changes the value of individual currencies
of nations; and
WHEREAS, The management of loans requires labor; and
WHEREAS, Our own Synod never completed its conversation of
the practice of usury that was brought to the forefront of the 1869
2023 Convention Workbook