Co-Signing Risks

My son, if you become surety for your friend,

If you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,

You are snared by the words of your mouth;

You are taken by the words of your mouth.

So do this, my son deliver yourself;

For you have come into the hand of your friend:

Go and humble yourself;

Plead with your friend.

Give no sleep to your eyes,

Nor slumber to your eyelids.

Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,

And like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

Proverbs 6:1-5

It would be an oversimplification of the message of Scripture to say that debt is always sin.  However, the reality of the financial burden of debt is a clear and regular message of the word of God.  It is so enticing to help another believer by cosigning on a loan, or taking financial responsibility for them.  This, however, is contrary to godly wisdom.  Giving and lending generously and responsibly is the clear character of the mature believer, but “giving” out of what a person does not have is not generosity, nor is it helping, it is simply pride.  This pride brings a special kind of pain and destruction.  It places undue tension between the borrower and the co-signer, and can ultimately result in great loss on the part of one who pledged what he did not have in order to appear the hero rather than prayerfully waiting upon God to provide what is truly needed.