This is a question about buying a house with a large mortgage. Is it unbiblical to buy a house with any mortgage at all? Some teach that when you borrow, you become a slave to the lender.

Those who teach this derived the expression from Proverbs 22:7, which says, “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.” So they did not invent the phrase, but they have distorted it.

The verse is making a factual statement, but it does not tell us whether it is wrong to borrow. It does not tell us not to borrow, and it does not say that it is a sin to borrow, but it tells us what happens when we borrow by describing the relationship between the borrower and the lender. If you take out a loan to buy a place, then in a sense you will be working for the bank until you pay off the loan. And if the price of the place falls below the amount you borrowed, then you really will be a slave working for the bank!

A similar relationship is established when borrowing in other contexts. Consider the college students who spend too much on their credit cards, or consider their college loans. Many of them take years to pay off their debts after graduation. They have become slaves to the lenders. This might make you think twice about borrowing, but the verse does not forbid you to do it. It only tells you what will happen.

There are some who teach that because the atonement has redeemed believers from “the curse of the law” (Galatians 3:13), when appropriated by faith, the atonement effects deliverance from all the effects of the curse described in a passage like Deuteronomy 28. It follows that one who walks in faith should not experience or should always overcome the troubles described in the curse.

Then, they cite Deuteronomy 28:44 against borrowing: “He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, but you will be the tail” (Deuteronomy 28:44). This is spoken as part of God’s covenant curse against those who would break his law. They have distorted this, interpreting it as if it says, “If you borrow, then you will become cursed. If you borrow, then you will become the tail and not the head.” The verse does not say this, but given the context it must mean something like, “If you disobey me, then I will put you under a curse, and then you will have to borrow.” The need to borrow is one effect of the curse, and not the cause of the curse.

We can take an illustration from the relationship between the curse and banishment from the land. If we were to imitate the false interpretation, we would declare, “God’s word says that if you are banished from the land, then you will come under a curse, so do not leave the land.” The cause and effect are reversed. The correct interpretation is, “Do not break God’s commandments; otherwise, he will put you under a curse, and as a result of the curse you will be banished from the land.”

If a man is under God’s curse, then he will probably need to borrow. On the other hand, if he needs to borrow, that in itself does not indicate that he is under a curse, since some people are poor even if they are right before God (James 2:5). Then, there are those who borrow large amounts not because they must do it to survive, but because they are carnal and desire to live beyond their means.