Romans 13: Week 4

Romans 13 - Week 4

 

What are the subjects of chapter 13?

Rom 13:1-7:      Obey governing authorities

Rom 13:8-10:    Loving your neighbor  is the fulfillment of the law

Rom 13:11-14:  Put on Christ – in your behavior -  in hope of His imminent return


Rom 13:8-14 8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 9 For this, "YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET," and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

11 Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. 12  The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

 

How are things going with YOU and YOUR NEIGHBORS these days?

Young people, how’s it going with the kid who sits next to you in English class

Is there any resemblance at all between that word “love” and the way you conduct yourself behind the wheel of a car?

Where’s the love when it comes to your co-workers,

The people in your life that serve you in different ways….

The lawn guys

The billing clerk at the dentist

The kids at dunkin donuts who are half asleep when you give your order…

“Love one another” – this is the key thought of Rom 13:8-10.

This is also the overarching exhortation given to the saints in the Gospels and throughout the New Testament epistles.

Joh 13:34-35
4 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  35 " By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

1Th 4:9-12
9 Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; 10 for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more,

Heb 13:1
1 Let love of the brethren continue. 2

2Pe 1:5-7
5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

Rom 13:8-10
8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 9 For this, "YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET," and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

The term “neighbor” is literally “another of a different kind” (heteros). There is another Greek word allos for another of the same kind.

So this passage is referring to one’s neighbor in the widest possible terms, believer or not. Different  beliefs, different politics, different race, different values.

The quotation at the end of verse 9 is from Lev 19:18.

Lev 19:18
18 ' You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.

By the way, this statement in Lev 19:18 is quoted in several places in the New Testament.

Mat 19:16-20
16  And someone came to Him and said, "Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?" 17 And He said to him, "Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments."  18 Then he said to Him, "Which ones?" And Jesus said, "YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER; YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY; YOU SHALL NOT STEAL; YOU SHALL NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS;  19 HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER; andYOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."  20

Love, and not righteousness, is the active principle of Christianity.

And check it out -  the person who loves has exhibited righteousness. 

Gal 5:13-14
13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."

Rom 13:8-10
8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 9 For this, "YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET," and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Pay up all your debts. Be indebted in this matter alone – love.  Your constant obligation before you is to love one another.

Notice that only love, not human rule-keeping, can fulfill the law.  Sin and love cannot co-exist.

Love, not law-doing, is the fullness (Greek, pleroma) of law.

The one who loves has (without being under it) exhibited what the Law sought.

So love is shown to be the fullness (not “the fulfilling”) of the law.

It is only those not under law that are free to love others.

 

Let’s talk about it. Let’s show how loving somebody automatically would mean not breaking laws and would go beyond anything the law requires into doing other things for the person.

We can start with the specific laws mentioned in Rom 13:9

Only those not under law show its fullness. 

The believer is a “new creation” and is to walk by that infinitely higher rule of life, and not by the Law. Yet in so doing , in loving, he has fulfilled the lower law.

Those who have been touched by God’s self-giving sacrificial love for them will love others in the same way:

1Jo 3:16-19
6 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? 18  Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. 1

Again, it is love, not law-keeping, that is the fullness of the law.

Gal 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

 

How would a person’s relationships change if he went from thinking about what people in his life owe him, to what he owes to the people around him (ie, LOVE!)?

Thinking about the people you come in contact with every day – be honest now….. – do you think more about what they owe you…or more about what you owe them?

Take the test tomorrow and over the weekend with the different people that you come across- or come across you!

 

 

 


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