Whether It Is a Sin to Take Usury for Money Lent?
Objection 1: It would seem that it is not a sin to take usury for
money lent. For no man sins through following the example of Christ.
But Our Lord said of Himself (Luke 19:23): "At My coming I might have
exacted it," i.e. the money lent, "with usury." Therefore it is not a
sin to take usury for lending money.
Obj. 2: Further, according to Ps. 18:8, "The law of the Lord is
unspotted," because, to wit, it forbids sin. Now usury of a kind is
allowed in the Divine law, according to Deut. 23:19, 20: "Thou shalt
not fenerate to thy brother money, nor corn, nor any other thing, but
to the stranger": nay more, it is even promised as a reward for the
observance of the Law, according to Deut. 28:12: "Thou shalt
fenerate* to many nations, and shalt not borrow of any one."
[*_Faeneraberis_--'Thou shalt lend upon usury.' The Douay version has
simply 'lend.' The objection lays stress on the word _faeneraberis:_
hence the necessity of rendering it by 'fenerate.'] Therefore it is
not a sin to take usury.
Obj. 3: Further, in human affairs justice is determined by civil
laws. Now civil law allows usury to be taken. Therefore it seems to
be lawful.
Obj. 4: Further, the counsels are not binding under sin. But, among
other counsels we find (Luke 6:35): "Lend, hoping for nothing
thereby." Therefore it is not a sin to take usury.
Obj. 5: Further, it does not seem to be in itself sinful to accept a
price for doing what one is not bound to do. But one who has money is
not bound in every case to lend it to his neighbor. Therefore it is
lawful for him sometimes to accept a price for lending it.
Obj. 6: Further, silver made into coins does not differ specifically
from silver made into a vessel. But it is lawful to accept a price
for the loan of a silver vessel. Therefore it is also lawful to
accept a price for the loan of a silver coin. Therefore usury is not
in itself a sin.
Obj. 7: Further, anyone may lawfully accept a thing which its owner
freely gives him. Now he who accepts the loan, freely gives the
usury. Therefore he who lends may lawfully take the usury.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Ex. 22:25): "If thou lend money to
any of thy people that is poor, that dwelleth with thee, thou shalt
not be hard upon them as an extortioner, nor oppress them with
usuries."
_I answer that,_ To take usury for money lent is unjust in itself,
because this is to sell what does not exist, and this evidently leads
to inequality which is contrary to justice. In order to make this
evident, we must observe that there are certain things the use of
which consists in their consumption: thus we consume wine when we use
it for drink and we consume wheat when we use it for food. Wherefore
in such like things the use of the thing must not be reckoned apart
from the thing itself, and whoever is granted the use of the thing,
is granted the thing itself and for this reason, to lend things of
this kind is to transfer the ownership. Accordingly if a man wanted
to sell wine separately from the use of the wine, he would be selling
the same thing twice, or he would be selling what does not exist,
wherefore he would evidently commit a sin of injustice. In like
manner he commits an injustice who lends wine or wheat, and asks for
double payment, viz. one, the return of the thing in equal measure,
the other, the price of the use, which is called usury.
On the other hand, there are things the use of which does not consist
in their consumption: thus to use a house is to dwell in it, not to
destroy it. Wherefore in such things both may be granted: for
instance, one man may hand over to another the ownership of his house
while reserving to himself the use of it for a time, or vice versa,
he may grant the use of the house, while retaining the ownership. For
this reason a man may lawfully make a charge for the use of his
house, and, besides this, revendicate the house from the person to
whom he has granted its use, as happens in renting and letting a
house.
Now money, according to the Philosopher (Ethic. v, 5; Polit. i, 3)
was invented chiefly for the purpose of exchange: and consequently
the proper and principal use of money is its consumption or
alienation whereby it is sunk in exchange. Hence it is by its very
nature unlawful to take payment for the use of money lent, which
payment is known as usury: and just as a man is bound to restore
other ill-gotten goods, so is he bound to restore the money which he
has taken in usury.
Reply Obj. 1: In this passage usury must be taken figuratively for
the increase of spiritual goods which God exacts from us, for He
wishes us ever to advance in the goods which we receive from Him: and
this is for our own profit not for His.
Reply Obj. 2: The Jews were forbidden to take usury from their
brethren, i.e. from other Jews. By this we are given to understand
that to take usury from any man is evil simply, because we ought to
treat every man as our neighbor and brother, especially in the state
of the Gospel, whereto all are called. Hence it is said without any
distinction in Ps. 14:5: "He that hath not put out his money to
usury," and (Ezech. 18:8): "Who hath not taken usury [*Vulg.: 'If a
man . . . hath not lent upon money, nor taken any increase . . . he
is just.']." They were permitted, however, to take usury from
foreigners, not as though it were lawful, but in order to avoid a
greater evil, lest, to wit, through avarice to which they were prone
according to Isa. 56:11, they should take usury from the Jews who
were worshippers of God.
Where we find it promised to them as a reward, "Thou shalt fenerate
to many nations," etc., fenerating is to be taken in a broad sense
for lending, as in Ecclus. 29:10, where we read: "Many have refused
to fenerate, not out of wickedness," i.e. they would not lend.
Accordingly the Jews are promised in reward an abundance of wealth,
so that they would be able to lend to others.
Reply Obj. 3: Human laws leave certain things unpunished, on account
of the condition of those who are imperfect, and who would be
deprived of many advantages, if all sins were strictly forbidden and
punishments appointed for them. Wherefore human law has permitted
usury, not that it looks upon usury as harmonizing with justice, but
lest the advantage of many should be hindered. Hence it is that in
civil law [*Inst. II, iv, de Usufructu] it is stated that "those
things according to natural reason and civil law which are consumed
by being used, do not admit of usufruct," and that "the senate did
not (nor could it) appoint a usufruct to such things, but established
a quasi-usufruct," namely by permitting usury. Moreover the
Philosopher, led by natural reason, says (Polit. i, 3) that "to make
money by usury is exceedingly unnatural."
Reply Obj. 4: A man is not always bound to lend, and for this reason
it is placed among the counsels. Yet it is a matter of precept not to
seek profit by lending: although it may be called a matter of counsel
in comparison with the maxims of the Pharisees, who deemed some kinds
of usury to be lawful, just as love of one's enemies is a matter of
counsel. Or again, He speaks here not of the hope of usurious gain,
but of the hope which is put in man. For we ought not to lend or do
any good deed through hope in man, but only through hope in God.
Reply Obj. 5: He that is not bound to lend, may accept repayment for
what he has done, but he must not exact more. Now he is repaid
according to equality of justice if he is repaid as much as he lent.
Wherefore if he exacts more for the usufruct of a thing which has no
other use but the consumption of its substance, he exacts a price of
something non-existent: and so his exaction is unjust.
Reply Obj. 6: The principal use of a silver vessel is not its
consumption, and so one may lawfully sell its use while retaining
one's ownership of it. On the other hand the principal use of silver
money is sinking it in exchange, so that it is not lawful to sell its
use and at the same time expect the restitution of the amount lent.
It must be observed, however, that the secondary use of silver
vessels may be an exchange, and such use may not be lawfully sold. In
like manner there may be some secondary use of silver money; for
instance, a man might lend coins for show, or to be used as security.
Reply Obj. 7: He who gives usury does not give it voluntarily simply,
but under a certain necessity, in so far as he needs to borrow money
which the owner is unwilling to lend without usury.
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