Forgiven?

We have been given the capacity to be compassionate toward those who have sinned against us. Rather than be caught up in a spirit of bitterness or anger, we can respond with a charitable heart. Luke chapter 17 states:
3 Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.
4 And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, 'I repent,' you shall forgive him."
5 And the apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith."

The element here is choice.  Jesus willingly gave His life on a cross, submitting to death so that we might be forgiven of our sins.  Because of our sin, we deserved to die - and we were incapable of paying that penalty. But, Jesus became our substitute, qualified to do so because He, as the Son of God, was sinless.  The power of forgiveness can wipe the slate clean and restore relationships - we can overcome our past sins, mistakes, and failures, and walk in confidence in God's love.

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There is a relevant story in Matthew chapter 18 as Jesus illustrated principles surrounding forgiveness.  He is teaching us that we should be willing to forgive others because He has forgiven us. He taught:
23 Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.
25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made.
26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, 'Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.'
27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.
28 But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me what you owe!'
29 So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.'
30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt.
31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done.

The White House has announced its student loan forgiveness plan, which, according to The Daily Citizen, in which...

...the Federal government will be forgiving $10,000 in student loans for borrowers earning less than $125,000 annually – or for couples making up to $250,000. The plan will also continue the pause on repaying student loan debt through December 31, 2022, for “one final time.”

The administration also announced that the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) would provide up to $20,000 in debt cancellation to Pell Grant recipients.

An important note here: "The plan comes after elected officials on Capitol Hill have been debating for months over whether the executive branch has the authority to unilaterally cancel student loan debt."

Jason Yates, CEO of My Faith Votes, in a statement, said: "By accepting government-funded student loan ‘forgiveness,’ we are creating a society that doesn't value hard work or take personal responsibility. The Bible repeatedly admonishes this attitude, calling it lazy and foolish. Following this debt ‘relief’ trend to its inevitable conclusion, the American people will be burdened with heavier taxes, unbearable inflation and an early economic grave.”

One could say that the timing of this announcement is rather dubious, just over two months before a critical mid-term election.

The Washington Stand, the news website of Family Research Council, stated:

Claremont Institute Lincoln Fellow and Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham responded by tweeting two Bible verses:

• “The wicked borrows and does not pay back” (Psalm 37:21); and
• “It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay” (Ecclesiastes 5:5).

She could have cited a seemingly endless array of scriptures commanding believers to uphold contracts and keep our word.

The article noted seven areas of concern in which the plan is "immoral," including the first: "It incentivizes the bad behavior of borrowers."  It also reinforces bad behavior of college administrators and the government.  Ben Johnson, the writer of the article, also contends that the plan, "creates a system of false measures." He states, "Opposition to false weights and measures runs throughout the Bible." and relates, “Diverse weights are an abomination to the Lord, and dishonest scales are not good,” the Lord declares (Proverbs 20:23). He says that, "loan forgiveness baptizes students who defaulted on their loans in taxpayers’ money, washes away their fiscal transgressions, and transfigures them into creditworthy borrowers — while leaving the banks who will sign off on those loans none the wiser."

Of course, I recognize that many former college students today are struggling to pay off the debts of college. And, many have worked hard to pay for college, fallen short and taken out a loan, and have worked hard to pay the loan off.  Those are people who are chafed at not receiving this financial blessing.

And, isn't forgiveness, even forgiveness of debt, a Biblical concept?  I have seen comments on social media that liken President Biden's forgiving of financial debts with Jesus forgiving our sins.  Writing at The Federalist, Kylee Griswold offers this nugget:

For the federal government, there’s really no such thing as debt “cancellation,” just redistribution. Loans don’t just evaporate; somebody has to pay for them. In this case, that somebody is you, and the price tag is hundreds of billions of dollars, maybe upwards of a trillion.

Thus Biden’s plan could more accurately be described as welfare for the college-educated at the expense of taxpayers who either didn’t indulge in higher education or who already paid their debts. Where exactly is the biblical justification for this?

She goes on to write:

The Gospel isn’t “literally based on forgiving debts.” On the contrary, it’s actually based on the fact that those debts have been completely paid.

Theologians call it “penal substitutionary atonement,” but it describes a simple enough message that even children can understand: Because of our sin we are debtors to holy God. The payment for that debt is eternal death, a recompense we cannot possibly satisfy in our lives. But God’s divine forgiveness does not occur at the expense of divine justice, meaning a just God cannot and will not “cancel” sin without a payment being made for it.

Tom Gilson of The Stream writes:

In sum: The one worldview that teaches the possibility of complete forgiveness before God also teaches that it would be impossible without God Himself bearing the pain of it.

This is the way of all forgiveness: You can’t call it forgiveness when you’re shoving the pain of it off onto someone else. Someone’s got to bear the pain...

Samuel Sey of the Slow to Write blog, states:

We Christians, however, should understand justice. We should understand that debt is a matter of justice. We should know that like every justice issue, the Bible has addressed Christian ethics on (student) debt.

Therefore one of the reasons why we Christians shouldn’t support student loan forgiveness is because it promotes wickedness. The Bible says, “the wicked borrows but does not pay back.” (Psalm 37:21)

Joe Biden’s plan will force many Americans into sin. This will force many Americans into disobeying God’s explicit commandments about debt. (Romans 13: 7-8)

Another reason why Christians shouldn’t support student loan forgiveness is because it’s partiality. Biden’s plan would only apply to individuals who earn less than $125,000 a year.

This is an example of a debate that did not have to happen, but now that it is happening, we can attempt to view the whole landscape of higher education through a Biblical lens.  Fact is, the high cost of college tuition, compounded with the availability of student loans, has created an unsustainable scenario.  But, there are alternatives: families can save for college in advance, using a tool known as the 529 college savings plan.  Or, what about scholarships - those come in all shapes and sizes: some are achievement-based, others are affiliated with various organizations.  If a student is entering a chosen profession, as an upcoming guest will highlight, he or she could find a school that offers a program that is tailored toward learning those skills. It's all a matter of developing a sense of God's call upon a person's life. 

And, as people attempt to view this issue spiritually, there will be those that talk about the Biblical concept of forgiveness in the same breath as loan forgiveness.  And, we do see instances in the Bible of debts being forgiven and these are used as positive examples. I think that a key element is choice - if the holder of the debt chooses to forgive it in order to show compassion toward the debtor, that is his or her prerogative.  However, in the White House case, as I understand it, the government is choosing to use money that is not its own in order to pay off debts.  There's a big difference.  We owed a sin debt, Jesus forgave it and removed it, but He is the one who paid the price - the debt was owed to God, and God Himself chose to forgive; the price was the life of His Son.  We can be thankful that He loved us so much that He chose to lay down His life - praise His name!