Daily Thoughts from Romans – Love Debt (13:8-14)

Daily Thoughts from Romans – Love Debt

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 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.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.  (Romans 13:8-14 ESV)

We may owe taxes to the government but we are to have no greater debt to others than to love them and thus fulfill the last four of the ten commandments, indeed all the laws about relationships with others.  “Love your neighbor as yourself” sums them all up.

And another motive for doing so is the coming of Christ and the coming of the kingdom at which time darkness and its works will be judged.  If we are children of the light, and we are, we must not participate in darkness, but instead wrap ourselves in Jesus Christ who will enable us to overcome the desires of the flesh.

Salvation is closer, nearer than when we first believed.  This is historically true, of course, but it is spiritually true in that Jesus’ coming, the King’s coming, to announce the kingdom and then his death at the hands of men, which purchased our salvation, has removed the impediments to the coming of the kingdom.  Had Israel as a nation embraced Jesus as their Messiah the kingdom would have come sooner (Acts 3:17-26), but since Israel’s heart became hardened it necessitated her removal from the land yet once again and a historical process to bring her to her current statehood once more in anticipation of her conversion (chapter 11 of Romans).  That is what God is waiting for.  His covenant is unconditional, meaning He must bring Israel to Himself (Deuteronomy 30:6) so she can fulfill her obligation to the covenant God made with Abraham and enter the kingdom.

In the meantime, we must fulfill our obligation as children of light and cast off the works of darkness, putting on the armor of light, putting on Jesus and living lives of holiness as a witness to Israel and the world that our God rules in our lives and will rule the earth in righteousness.  To fail to do so is to witness to the world that our Savior is not real, a failure that will merit His discipline and displeasure.