The Debt of Loving others

Loving others like Jesus fulfills the moral law of God (Rom 13:8-10)

Explanation: Paul has reminded believers that even though they are citizens of heaven, they are also earthly citizens and therefore have obligations to civil government. He now reminds them that although they are free in Christ from the demands of the Mosaic law in terms of righteousness, they still have obligations to others in the area of the moral law. Believers are indebted to love others unconditionally!

He demonstrates this by a brief discussion of the Second Table of the 10 commandments. (Paul’s inclusion of the 10 commandments indicate that the moral law is still binding on those under the New Covenant). The First Table deals with our relationship to God while the remaining commandments give Divine instruction on relating to others.

Argument: The word for love in this section is agape, which refers to the love that Christ has for us. It is an unconditional love. When a person breaks one of these commandments, he or she IS NOT displaying unconditional love for the other person. These commandments are broken against another person(s), not just in some generic, vague, undetermined manner that doesn’t matter.

We steal from someone else - we take their stuff

We violate the marriage vows of another

We murder someone when we assassinate their reputation

When we violate the commandments, (the other commandments are covered by the phrase, “and any other commandment”) we are not loving like Jesus.

Application: Believers are called to remember their obligation to others. You owe others the debt of loving them. We will never fully repay that debt, but we are to try to fulfill it. We do this by loving our neighbor as we love ourselves.

We are to love others now (Rom 13:11-12)

Explanation: Paul reminds the Roman Christians that the time to display this unconditional love for others was in the NOW Zone. He realizes these believers were aware of the time factor - he states, “you know the time,” but he wants to emphasize the importance of acting upon that knowledge. The emphasis is seen by his use of the word “kairos” for time instead of the word “chronos.” The word chronos refers to the passage of time as measured in minutes and hours, days, weeks, months and years. The word kairos, however, refers to a season, or an opportune time - a window of possibility that will close.

Argument: Paul builds his case for the limited season of opportunity to love others through the use of the night / day analogy. He tells them that the night is in the past and the dawn of a new day is breaking. Night was the time for acts of unrighteousness, but now that the day is at hand, it is time to get busy for Jesus.

Important to note that Paul IS NOT giving approval to doing acts of immorality when it is night, and to avoid doing them in the daylight. Rather, he is using the night to refer to their past as non-believers. Now that they are regenerated through the power of Christ, they are to live in the day and not to return to the deeds of darkness.

Application: Those in Christ are living in the “daytime” of this present life. Each individual Christian’s “day” will have differing amounts of years. Some may have a season of opportunity that lasts for 60 or 70 years, while other Christians may have a “day” that only lasts 2 or 3 years. You do not know how much time God is going to allow you to remain in this earth in the physical condition to love and minister to others.

Scripture does address Eternity, and as believers we look forward to and anticipate being in glory with Jesus forever. The Apostle Paul is not dealing with the Eternal in this passage - he is addressing our season of opportunity in the here and now. We must develop a sense of urgency in terms of loving others and serving God. In this sense, the Bible always deals with the term today - never tomorrow.

We can only love others when we are submitting to Jesus (Rom 13:13-14)

Explanation: Paul has called the Christian community to action. Notice that he is using the pronoun “us” and not just “you.” He repeats the words, “let us” do these things:

Let us cast off the works of darkness;

Let us put on the Armour of Light

Let us walk honestly

This is the language of accountability. We are to exhort and encourage one another as we love others unconditionally. We are not called to live in isolation, but to be active members of the community. Some have given up on the Church and are practicing spiritual beliefs at an individual level. While a Christian can live by herself and can love others by herself, she will miss out on encouraging others and will not experience the fullness that Christ has prepared for us to receive in community.

Argument: With that being said, it is not possible for any Christian to fulfill the debt of love to our neighbors We remain in the flesh and we live in a fallen world. We will struggle and we will fall short of our own personal expectations in this area.

That is why verse 14 is the Key to the victorious live. We are called to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. As believers we are already indwelt by the Holy Sprit. Those who are saved are regenerated by Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation and are sealed for Eternity. This putting on of Christ in v. 14 is not about regeneration, it is about sanctification - the growth in personal holiness.

Believers are repeatedly instructed in the NT to put on Christ (Colossians 3:10; Ephesians 4:24) and Jesus told His followers to deny self and take up the Cross daily (Luke 9:23). Believers still have the responsibility and the need to clothe themselves in the righteousness of Jesus on a daily basis.

What Paul is telling us is that we are to consciously determine to submit to the things of Christ everyday. We are to live with an awareness of the spiritual and to choose to follow Him as He has revealed Himself to us in the Word. Becoming more like Jesus in the way we treat others does not just happen on its own - we are not robots that are programmed to holy living. But you CAN achieve it when you cooperate with the Holy Spirit and consciously deny the things of this world.