Romans 13:8–9 “Owe
no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has
fulfilled the law. For the commandments are summed up in this word: ‘You shall
love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
Having
just celebrated the birth of our Messiah, the Anointed One, Christ the Redeemer,
we are now heading into 2017, we may ask: “Why did our Heavenly Father God send
his Son Jesus into the world?” Because, “All
have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, not having rendered to Him
the perfect obedience He demands from His creatures.” Therefore, the only
way we can have peace with our Creator is by the righteousness of
another—Christ, whose obedience is imputed to us when we trust only in Him for
salvation. Do we truly understand the magnitude
and severity of our situation? Our salvation from hell-fire and
damnation is enough to celebrate with praise, honor, glory, and adoration to
our Almighty Maker. Yet God does not only justify us, or declare us reconciled
and righteous in His sight. He also regenerates our heart and changes us from
the inside out, then we pursue holiness not in order to secure a right standing
with the Lord, but to thank Him for the right standing He has granted us by
grace alone. He purposed to give us this right standing by electing us in
Christ before the foundation of the world. The outworking of all this is seen
in continual transformation by the renewing of our minds and the Lord’s process
of Sanctification, which produces sincere love in our hearts toward others.
One
commentary on Romans 13:8-9 explains that Paul emphasizes this idea of
obligation when he commands us to “owe no one anything, except to love each
other”. He does not mean that Christians are not allowed to go into any kind of
financial debt; rather, the point is that the only perpetual obligation that
believers have is to love one another. In other words, there is one debt that
believers will be repaying from the point of conversion into all eternity, and
that is to love the brethren. Without a doubt, the Apostle leans on the words
of Jesus Himself, who said love of God and neighbor are the two greatest
commandments (Matthew 22:34–40). Paul does not mention love for the Lord
explicitly in this passage; however, Scripture assumes that true love for neighbor
manifests itself only when we have true love for our Creator and Savior. Reformer
John Calvin comments, “The whole law is fulfilled when we love our neighbors;
for true love towards man does not flow except from the love of God, and it is
its evidence, and as it were its effects.”
Notice
that Paul in Romans 13:9, which speaks of love as the fulfillment of the
moral law, specifically the Ten Commandments. True, biblical love has objective
moral content. We cannot justify actions merely because they feel loving.
Instead, godly love conforms to the Lord’s standards. It does what pleases Him.
The key point is that as disciples of Christ, we must define love by what the
Lord has revealed and not by what happens to feel right to us at the moment. This
side of heaven, our fleshly heart’s desires can deceive us, but God’s Word
teaches us only the truth. Our desires must align with God’s desires. As we
consider our love for others, a desire to act in conformity to the commands of
the Lord will show us that what we are experiencing is the godly kind of love
that the Lord demands. Is such love evident in your and my heart? That is my New
Year’s resolution.
In
Christ, Brian
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