Jesus on the Law: The Law for Man or Man for the Law?

A few days ago, since engaging Prof. Walter Block on fractional reserve banking (see Answering Block's Bank Impossibility Claim) I have also started reading Jesus Huerta de Soto's nearly 1000 page book Money, Bank Credit and Economic Cycles and so far I'm up to the start of Chapter 3, page 115, where de Soto adresses arguments to legally justify fractional reserve banking. He writes:

The legal doctrines aimed at justifying fractional-reserve banking have been formulated ex post facto. They have not been based on preexisting legal principles that have given rise to certain legal acts.

This reminded me of what I another Jesus, the one from Nazereth once said:

Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." (Mark 2:27, NIV)

So, basically, de Soto is saying that man is for the law, while Jesus of Nazereth is saying the law is for man.

For de Soto, in effect, before one can do a legal act, there must be a legal basis for it. And that seems to be the overtone of the book so far: what contracts that can be made, must have an excuse or justification, the transactional toolbox has a fixed set of tools. Keeping with the metaphor, if you have a hammer, things start looking like nails, too. And the tool that is banging the non-nail of demand debt contracts is controversial (and for me not convincing) macroeconomic theory based on 'credit expansion'. As Prof. Eric Posner commented to me earlier in response to Prof. Walter Block's argument about the allegedly unique nature of fractional reserve banking, this is not an adequate basis for disallowing it: under common law it is up to the parties to make their own bargains, and for the law to uphold rather than veto contracts.

As for Jesus of Nazereth, his attitudes towards banking and earning interest can perhaps also be seen in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25 (note that a talent is a large sum of money):

 ¹⁴"Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. ¹⁵To one he gave five talents^[a] of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. ¹⁶The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. ¹⁷So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. ¹⁸But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.  ¹⁹"After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. ²⁰The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.'
 ²¹"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
 ²²"The man with the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.'
 ²³"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
 ²⁴"Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. ²⁵So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'
 ²⁶"His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? ²⁷Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
 ²⁸" 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. ²⁹For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. ³⁰And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

 We see here that Jesus of Nazereth seemed to expect his audience to understand that:

1. There is an economic benefit of investing money to make it grow rather than storing it.
2. Investing the money in a bank is not to be regarded as an unwise use of money.
3. That money deposited in the bank can be both available for withdrawal at any time and earning interest at the same time.

 The parable of the 10 minas (also monetary units) in Luke 19 has the same message about money and banking:

²³Why then didn't you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?'

 I'll continue to read through the book (this could take a while), but I thought some readers might appreciate these thoughts. Thanks for reading, comments welcome.