4. Love Each Other

Love each other

Romans 13:8–10 ESV

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.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Paul starts discussing submitting to authorities in life. He ends by telling believers to pay what is owed to everyone....taxes, revenue, respect, honor. It’s an interesting way to start and then he switches thoughts....Owe no one anything. Who the true blue Dave Ramsey American in me says, AMEN!!!! Let’s get out of debt. Let’s not borrow anything. LET’S NOT OWE ANYONE ANYTHING! But he shifts from the thought of money to love. PAUL!! You did it again. I agree about owing nothing to anyone, but then he says owe love to each other.

We may get out of debt monetarily, but we will never be out of debt when it comes to loving people. It’s not based off of the other person. The reason why we are in debt to love each other is because of what Christ did on the cross. When it comes to debt, someone deserves the payment. We borrow money and pay the debt. The person who gives us the money deserves the payment. They took the risk, they gave their resources, they went first. Jesus is the only took a risk for you and me, the only one that gave up His life, He went first. He asks us to love each other. We owe Him that debt.

If we pay this debt, (Love each other), we fulfill the law. What law? He goes on to say “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.” Paul is teaching what Christ taught.

Mark 12:28–34 ESV

28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 33 And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.

James 2:8–10 ESV

8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

James uses the same thing to show that partiality is a sin. You cannot say you love your neighbor but show partiality. It’s the exact opposite of loving your neighbor. We don’t get to choose who we want to be our neighbors. God orchestrates all relationships.

With what Jesus taught as the foundation, His brother teaching us that our neighbor is everyone we come into contact with and that showing partiality is the opposite of loving them, and Paul teaching us that loving others is the debt we owe…how important is it to be accepting to our group members and choosing to love them because God put them in our lives and we owe it to him?