{"id":43808,"date":"2022-09-28T19:15:26","date_gmt":"2022-09-29T00:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/?p=43808"},"modified":"2022-09-28T11:41:39","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T16:41:39","slug":"the-gospel-and-student-loan-forgiveness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2022\/09\/28\/the-gospel-and-student-loan-forgiveness\/","title":{"rendered":"The gospel and student loan forgiveness"},"content":{"rendered":"

The federal government recently moved to forgive some portion of collegiate student loans for qualified borrowers. Though this policy ought to be analyzed from an economic and political viewpoint, Christians would be wise to consider it from a biblical standpoint. Should Christians support this policy because of the gospel, as some have suggested? Is student loan forgiveness an accurate application of biblical grace, forgiveness, and justice? <\/span><\/p>\n

More important than getting a federal policy right is getting the gospel right. Scripture is not ambiguous about the only good news that leads to salvation. The gospel is clear\u2014humanity owes the unpayable debt of sin (Romans 3:23; 6:23); Jesus paid the unpayable debt through his sacrificial death on the cross (2 Cor 5:21; 1 Peter 3:18); and Jesus bought the gift of eternal life through his resurrection for all who repent and believe in him for salvation (Rom 1:16-17; 10:9-10; 1 Cor 15:3-4). When attempting to apply the Gospel, the details are especially important. God forgives sin\u2019s debt by paying the cost of the debt himself, which is the life of his Son, Jesus. The gospel isn\u2019t the forgetting of the debt, but the just payment of the debt. Salvation doesn\u2019t abdicate God\u2019s justice, but rather faithfully executes God\u2019s justice upon our Substitute. Thus, the grace of salvation is that we receive an unmerited gift (forgiveness) because the creditor (God) has justly paid sin\u2019s wages at the cross (Christ\u2019s atoning sacrifice).<\/span><\/p>\n

When we get the gospel right, we\u2019re more clearly able to see the disparity between the gospel and the federal policy of student loan forgiveness. For student loan forgiveness to be a faithful replication of the gospel, the creditor (the government) would have to pay the debt in full. Biblical forgiveness and grace can only be granted from the one who lends the debt. However, the reality of student loan forgiveness is that another must pay the debt\u2014present and future generations of taxpayers. <\/span><\/p>\n

While it\u2019s true Jesus taught that it\u2019s better to lend without expectation of repayment (Luke 6:35), he doesn\u2019t call us to lend someone else\u2019s money and then change the terms of the lending agreement. Forcing debt upon a nonpartisan third party is biblical injustice (Lev. 19:15, \u201cYou shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great.\u201d) Biblical justice would be the lender paying the debtor\u2019s debt, not the lender forcing the debt upon another. Scripture doesn\u2019t teach enforcement of payment from a non-compliant third party, but rather for lenders and debtors to interact justly with one another.<\/span><\/p>\n

Christians always pursue justice because the gospel of salvation is the greatest demonstration of justice. But drawing false equivalencies between federal policies and the gospel not only makes for bad policies, but \u2013 infinitely worse \u2013 distorts the gospel. Regardless of our stance on federal policy, we must always correctly understand and articulate the gospel.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Christians always pursue justice because the gospel of salvation is the greatest demonstration of justice. But drawing false equivalencies between federal policies and the gospel not only makes for bad policies, but \u2013 infinitely worse \u2013 distorts the gospel.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9192250,"featured_media":43811,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_selected_social_profile":[]},"categories":[38,5,299,8,295,236,293],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe gospel and student loan forgiveness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""Christians always pursue justice because the gospel of salvation is the greatest demonstration of justice. But drawing false equivalencies between federal policies and the gospel not only makes for bad policies, but \u2013 infinitely worse \u2013 distorts the gospel."\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2022\/09\/28\/the-gospel-and-student-loan-forgiveness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The gospel and student loan forgiveness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\""Christians always pursue justice because the gospel of salvation is the greatest demonstration of justice. But drawing false equivalencies between federal policies and the gospel not only makes for bad policies, but \u2013 infinitely worse \u2013 distorts the gospel."\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2022\/09\/28\/the-gospel-and-student-loan-forgiveness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pathway\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/mbcpathway\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-09-29T00:15:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-09-28T16:41:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Untitled-design-65.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"940\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"788\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeremiah Greever\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@mbcpathway\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@mbcpathway\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeremiah Greever\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2022\/09\/28\/the-gospel-and-student-loan-forgiveness\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2022\/09\/28\/the-gospel-and-student-loan-forgiveness\/\",\"name\":\"The gospel and student loan forgiveness\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2022\/09\/28\/the-gospel-and-student-loan-forgiveness\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2022\/09\/28\/the-gospel-and-student-loan-forgiveness\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Untitled-design-65.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-29T00:15:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-28T16:41:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0dac532fd37790a3d91540e39ec6b341\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Christians always pursue justice because the gospel of salvation is the greatest demonstration of justice. But drawing false equivalencies between federal policies and the gospel not only makes for bad policies, but \u2013 infinitely worse \u2013 distorts the gospel.\\\"\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2022\/09\/28\/the-gospel-and-student-loan-forgiveness\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2022\/09\/28\/the-gospel-and-student-loan-forgiveness\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2022\/09\/28\/the-gospel-and-student-loan-forgiveness\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Untitled-design-65.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Untitled-design-65.jpg\",\"width\":940,\"height\":788},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2022\/09\/28\/the-gospel-and-student-loan-forgiveness\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The gospel and student loan forgiveness\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/\",\"name\":\"Pathway\",\"description\":\"Baptist & Christian News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0dac532fd37790a3d91540e39ec6b341\",\"name\":\"Jeremiah Greever\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0bef429a0cf127979966a063f555ceb0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0bef429a0cf127979966a063f555ceb0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jeremiah Greever\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/author\/jeremiahgreever\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The gospel and student loan forgiveness","description":"\"Christians always pursue justice because the gospel of salvation is the greatest demonstration of justice. But drawing false equivalencies between federal policies and the gospel not only makes for bad policies, but \u2013 infinitely worse \u2013 distorts the gospel.\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2022\/09\/28\/the-gospel-and-student-loan-forgiveness\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The gospel and student loan forgiveness","og_description":"\"Christians always pursue justice because the gospel of salvation is the greatest demonstration of justice. But drawing false equivalencies between federal policies and the gospel not only makes for bad policies, but \u2013 infinitely worse \u2013 distorts the gospel.\"","og_url":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2022\/09\/28\/the-gospel-and-student-loan-forgiveness\/","og_site_name":"Pathway","article_publisher":"http:\/\/facebook.com\/mbcpathway","article_published_time":"2022-09-29T00:15:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-09-28T16:41:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":940,"height":788,"url":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Untitled-design-65.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jeremiah Greever","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@mbcpathway","twitter_site":"@mbcpathway","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jeremiah Greever","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2022\/09\/28\/the-gospel-and-student-loan-forgiveness\/","url":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2022\/09\/28\/the-gospel-and-student-loan-forgiveness\/","name":"The gospel and student loan forgiveness","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2022\/09\/28\/the-gospel-and-student-loan-forgiveness\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2022\/09\/28\/the-gospel-and-student-loan-forgiveness\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Untitled-design-65.jpg","datePublished":"2022-09-29T00:15:26+00:00","dateModified":"2022-09-28T16:41:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0dac532fd37790a3d91540e39ec6b341"},"description":"\"Christians always pursue justice because the gospel of salvation is the greatest demonstration of justice. But drawing false equivalencies between federal policies and the gospel not only makes for bad policies, but \u2013 infinitely worse \u2013 distorts the gospel.\"","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2022\/09\/28\/the-gospel-and-student-loan-forgiveness\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2022\/09\/28\/the-gospel-and-student-loan-forgiveness\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2022\/09\/28\/the-gospel-and-student-loan-forgiveness\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Untitled-design-65.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Untitled-design-65.jpg","width":940,"height":788},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2022\/09\/28\/the-gospel-and-student-loan-forgiveness\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The gospel and student loan forgiveness"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/","name":"Pathway","description":"Baptist & Christian News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0dac532fd37790a3d91540e39ec6b341","name":"Jeremiah Greever","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0bef429a0cf127979966a063f555ceb0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0bef429a0cf127979966a063f555ceb0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jeremiah Greever"},"url":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/author\/jeremiahgreever\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43808"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9192250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43808"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43812,"href":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43808\/revisions\/43812"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}