I have been told bankruptcy might be my only realistic option, and it feels like breaking my word to everyone I owe. Can a Christian actually do that?

“At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the LORD'S release.”

Moses gives Israel a law no surrounding nation had: every seventh year, debts were released. God built into the national calendar an assumption that some people would end up owing more than they could ever repay, and that a society should not let a debt define a person permanently. Release was not framed as a moral failure of the debtor. It was framed as ordinary justice.

“The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.”

Jesus tells this parable to Peter, who wanted a limit put on forgiveness. The servant owes an amount no labourer could repay in several lifetimes, and his promise to pay it all is sincere but impossible. What moves the king is not the repayment plan; it is the man standing in front of him. Jesus assumes debts beyond repayment exist, and that mercy rather than pretence is the response.