Romans 13:8-9 - The Sum of God's Commandments

Romans 13:8-9 - ⁸ Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹ For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Message: Owe nothing to anyone except owe love to everyone.

Time: Written in AD 57 from Greece, to the Christians, both Gentile and Jewish in Rome

What the Lord is Saying:

Following my responsibility toward God, Society, Government -- I have a responsibility toward our my neighbor. He has mentioned in the previous verse that my giving to the government is what is due, but right after this, he says I am to owe no one anything. But, instead I am to love one another. Many of the commandments speak of my duty toward my neighbor - adultery, murder, stealing, coveting - with the reminder that all of these can be followed if I simply "love my neighbor as myself." 

Owe no one
I do not think this means that I can never go into debt. Again, in verse 7, I have a responsibility to pay (the government) what is due them, so if I take a loan out, I have a responsibility to make regular payments and always pay what is due. I think the issue here is the problem that often comes from taking on debt is we take on too much and then can't pay it all and then we put ourselves in a bad situation and the person we are indebted to as well. If I get to a point where I can not pay my bills then I have acted frivolously with my money. So, I think I need to try to not go into debt. It is better to may for things in cash or pay my bills. 

At various times, I have had the ambition to pay for everything with a Credit Card because the credit card companies often provide you with cash rewards or travel rewards by paying for things with cash. My concern with this is it is easy to get carried away with spending and buying more than is needed and using the credit card is a very easy transaction, to the point that it is easy to not think about what you are doing. And so using it requires a great amount of discipline. There is great discipline in setting aside money and only buying what I can afford. I must be careful I do not put myself in a tough situation. 

Love one another
My one main responsibility toward every person is to love them. I have a debt to people to constantly pay them with love, to constantly find ways to discharge that debt and relinquish it from myself to that person. This is my overriding focus toward others. The reason I am not to get into a situation where I owe someone something is because I am not to put them in an ill situation. I am not to injure another person. If they loan me something and I am not able to pay them back then they are hurt as well. Love is something I must discharge as well at all times to my brother. Without love I could injure another person. No one ever said of another person, "he loved me too much." Love is not something that a person can receive too much of. 

Fulfilling the Law
When I pay someone back, I take away all the burden that is due; in the same way, love fulfills all the purpose of justice and truth. 

The Law is often talked about by Paul as something that is there to show us that we cannot fulfill it. Romans 7 states that I would not have known sin if the Law had not said, "You shall not or you shall." The law open up my eyes. The law cannot be fulfilled on my own. I need a Savior. But, Paul here makes the statement that by loving, in love, the law is fulfilled. People often say, "Jesus loves me." The pinnacle of our faith is love. I am where I am at right now because of the love Jesus has for me. He accepts me. He looks past my sin and sees me. He forgives me. He understands that I cannot make myself worthy. He took care of my need for justification before God. He has complete love for me. What draws me to Jesus is His amazing love for me. This is to be my focus in life. I am to love one another. 

One of my chief desires is that my children know that I love them; that their mother loves them. But, love does not mean a blanket acceptance to everything in their life. It is tragic that people often treat love and acceptance as the same thing. Jesus loves us, but he hates sin. 

All fulfilled in loving one another
It is amazing to see the power that I have with love. It is amazing to see the impact that we have with love. Love should be the calling card of the Christian. Love is what testifies of their being a God. Love impacts people like nothing else. No matter what sin has ever been committed, love can come in and rescue that sin. 

"If this command were fulfilled, it would prevent all fraud, injustice, oppression, falsehood, adultery, murder, theft, and covetousness." - Albert Barnes

If there is one thing that each of my days should be about, it is this. I need to love people more.

Note: It is funny. I spent time on this and then went to get ready for the day and asked my wife for something regarding my son and helping out with a project this weekend when his desire was to go be with his friends out of town at the Lake. I asked for my wife's opinion, but then I didn't want it because it wasn't what I wanted to hear. She gave me her perspective and I shot it down because she didn't agree with me. And then I made it about my pain. I brought guilt into the equation. I did not love. I got caught up in the moment and didn't love. I started reacting and didn't love. I am a wretched man. I don't know how to truly love people. My selfishness got in the way of my love.

Promise: Love heals all wounds.