In the Lord’s Prayer as recorded by Matthew, there is this: “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For your is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” Jesus did not stop talking there; he said, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you[.]” And in Luke, “And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.”

For a time, I thought the usage of the word “debt” was just a peculiarity of the translators, and that it was really the same word as “sin”. It is not; in the Greek it is “something owed; a debt”.

This led me to further investigate the use of financial-related terms used in the New Testament—especially by the apostle Paul—with some surprising results.