He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it: and he that hateth suretiship is sure.
To stand as security for a stranger's debt is to invite suffering and painful loss, while refusing to give such surety is safety and a safeguard. The danger is sharpest when the guarantee is made for a stranger or for another person outside one's own responsibility, and the refusal to enter it protects against serious financial harm. Caution in this matter is a sound principle of business that shields people from ruin and at the same time upholds confidence and cooperation among people in society.
The property a believer holds is entrusted by God, and to pledge it to secure the debts of unbelievers is to risk letting it be wrested away by Satan. For that reason God's people are not to enter such financial arrangements or partnerships on behalf of unbelievers, since they may thereby lose the means that have been entrusted to them for God's work.
To stand as security for a stranger's debt is to invite suffering and painful loss, while refusing to give such surety is safety and a safeguard. The danger is sharpest when the guarantee is made for a stranger or for another person outside one's own responsibility, and the refusal to enter it protects against serious financial harm. Caution in this matter is a sound principle of business that shields people from ruin and at the same time upholds confidence and cooperation among people in society.
The property a believer holds is entrusted by God, and to pledge it to secure the debts of unbelievers is to risk letting it be wrested away by Satan. For that reason God's people are not to enter such financial arrangements or partnerships on behalf of unbelievers, since they may thereby lose the means that have been entrusted to them for God's work.