THE CHRISTIAN LIFE – LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR (Romans 13:8-10)
INTRODUCTION:
Obedience has been the topic of our study in Romans 13, obedience to the Word of God. Obedience is the heart and soul of faithful, disciplined, Spirit-controlled living. It is through obedience to the Lord Jesus that Christians receive blessing, joy, and spiritual power. Jesus Christ was our perfect example of obedience during His life on this earth. Over and over, He said that His purpose on earth was to do the will of the Father who sent Him. Even as He prayed in the garden of Gethsemane hours before His arrest and crucifixion, He prayed that if it be possible that the awful ordeal ahead of Him might not have to be endured. He prayed in Matthew 26:39, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” (Matthew 26:39b, NASB95)[1] Then returning to the disciples and finding them asleep we read in Matthew 26:42, “He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.’” (Matthew 26:42, NASB95)[2]
To obey requires an exercise of the will under the encouragement and power of the Holy Spirit. This is the only way that we can be faithfully obedient to the Lord. The power given to us to live an obedient life requires that we take advantage of that power, it is available to us so that we may overcome our own personal will to submit to Christ’s will by obeying His Word. I understand that every Christian will disobey the Lord on occasion, but when we do our conscience will not rest until we repent and become obedient again to God’s Word. As a disciplined, obedient, Spirit-controlled Christian our greatest desire, our deepest longing should be to be obedient to the Lord Jesus, to submit to His will and His alone. As we allow the Holy Spirit to do His sanctifying work in us, part of that work is to enable us to obey Jesus Christ.
As we began the practical section of the book of Romans which began in chapter 12, Paul has been teaching us the right relationship of the believer. First, the believer’s right relationship with God (Romans 12:1), then the believer’s right relationship with other believers (12:3-8), then with everyone (12:9-21), then with human government (13:1-7). Beginning in verse 8, Paul focuses again on our right relationship to others, a right relationship that can be summed up by love. As we will learn, not only is our relationship to others summed up by love, but that love for God and love for others is the key to faithful obedience, and that love fulfills God’s law.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles this morning to Romans 13:8-10. In these verses we will learn who we are to love, and how love fulfills the law. Please stand, if you are able, in honor and respect for the reading of God’s Word.
Romans 13:8-10,
“Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 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.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Romans 13:8–10, NASB95)[3]
THE UNPAYABLE DEBT (Romans 13:8)
Paul begins this section on the Christian’s right relationship to others by writing, “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.” (Romans 13:8, NASB95)[4] Paul had just finished writing concerning the Christian’s obligation to pay taxes. Continuing on with this theme of rendering to all what is due them, he writes owe nothing to anyone. Now Paul is not saying that we should not borrow or lend money, that is not his point in this passage, and I could point to other passages in the Old and New Testaments that do not condemn the borrowing and lending of money, but instead teaches that it should be done fairly and not for taking advantage of one another.
Paul’s point in this verse is not so much about money as it is about another form of debt that we each have that can never be repaid. Paul writes that we always have a debt to love one another. As much as it is a Christian’s obligation to pay taxes to whom they are due, it is also the obligation of the Christian to love one another. The church Father Origen wrote, “The debt of love remains with us permanently and never leaves us. This is a debt which we pay every day and forever owe.”[5]
Our obligation to love one another applies first other believers. We are told throughout the New Testament to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus said in John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34–35, NASB95)[6] In his first epistle, John’s theme is love and he constantly reminds us throughout the letter that we are to love one another. For example, in 1 John 4:7 he writes, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7, NASB95)[7] Peter also wrote about our love for one another, he wrote in 1 Peter 1:22, “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart,” (1 Peter 1:22, NASB95)[8] Paul has already spoken of it in this epistle and he writes about love in several other of his epistles, our Scripture reading this morning was a whole chapter penned by Paul on the kind of love we are to have for one another, 1 Corinthians 13.
This debt of love that Paul says that each of us owes to love one another is not just speaking of believers, but we are also to love unbelievers, and not just those who are friendly and likeable, but also those who are unlovely or even hostile. Jesus said in Matthew 5:43-44, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” (Matthew 5:43–44, NASB95)[9] Back in chapter 12 of Romans Paul had written in verse 14, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” (Romans 12:14, NASB95)[10] We are to love our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we are to love those around us who are not believers. How do we love one another? By doing good. This is what Paul wrote to the Galatian believers in Galatians 6:10, “So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.” (Galatians 6:10, NASB95)[11]
Paul puts a high priority on this love that we are to have for believers and non-believers alike, this love is so immeasurably important because as Paul writes, “…for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.” (Romans 13:8b, NASB95)[12] Paul repeats this truth in verse 10, and when we get there, I will speak about what this means. As I already mentioned, this love that Paul speaks about is much more than just an emotion or a feeling. The word that Paul uses for love is again the Greek word agapē. From our Scripture reading this morning in 1 Corinthians 13 we learned what this agapē love is and what it is not. There Paul wrote in verses 4-7, “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:4–7, NASB95)[13] This kind of love always looks for a way to do or show our love to those whom we love, and this doing or showing our love to them does not depend on whether they deserve our love or not. Sometimes because of circumstances or because we do not live close together, the only way we can show our love for someone may be to pray for them or if need be forgiving them for some wrong against you. This may be the greatest way of loving them especially if we are praying for their salvation. But when possible, when the opportunity arises to do good, to minister to the needs of others in practical ways we should be doing those practical acts of kindness. That was what Paul was saying in Galatians 6:10, “…while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people…” (Galatians 6:10b, NASB95)[14]
There are many practical ways in which we can demonstrate agapē love to those around us, both believers and non-believers. We can minister to their physical and financial needs; we can live and teach God’s truth before them. For those who are not saved, the most important truth we can share with them is the gospel of salvation. We can show this love through humility, compassion, kindness, forgiveness, and patience. The greatest way that this love can be shown to others is the willingness to sacrifice one’s own needs and welfare for the needs and welfare of others, even to the point of forfeiting life if necessary. Jesus said in John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13, NASB95)[15] Jesus was the supreme example of this love as Paul had written earlier in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8, NASB95)[16] John reminds us in 1 John 3:16, “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” (1 John 3:16, NASB95)[17]
Is it possible to love others with this same selfless love that Christ loves us with as shown in His sacrificial death on our behalf? It is if we keep in mind that God the Father provides us with every resource that we need to obey His commands and to follow His example to love. We have a never-ending supply of love, God’s own love poured out in our hearts, to draw from in which we can love others with the love of Christ. But to love in this way we must submit to the Holy Spirit, which means we must surrender to Him all our hatred, pride, bitterness, our natural urge to get revenge, and anything else that stands between us and the ones we are called to love. Paul told the Thessalonians that no one needed to teach them about love, because they had been taught by God. God teaches us of His love and the love we are to have for others through the Holy Spirit. To love this way requires us to submit to the Spirit willingly and allow Him to love others through us. Paul in writing to the Philippians implored them in Philippians 2:1-2, “Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.” (Philippians 2:1–2, NASB95)[18]
Paul has declared that we have an unpayable debt, that debt is to love one another, to love our neighbor. Though this debt is unpayable, we have a never-ending supply of love to pay towards this debt, that never-ending supply is from God Himself and is produced in the life of the believer by the indwelling Holy Spirit. We are the willing recipients of God’s love that He has lavished on us, as the recipients we also must be the willing givers of God’s love to others. When we love our neighbor as God loves us, we have fulfilled the law.
LOVE FULFILLS THE LAW (Romans 13:9)
Paul having just written that loving you neighbor fulfills the law now illustrates this point by giving us 5 Old Testament quotes from the Law of Moses. Paul writes, “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.’” (Romans 13:9, NASB95)[19] The first four commands that Paul quotes are from the 10 Commandments, but not in the order that they are listed in Exodus 20 or Deuteronomy 5. The fifth command is from Leviticus 19.
The point that Paul is making by quoting these commands found in the Law of Moses is that the godly love that he has been writing about does not break these laws. The person who practices godly love does not commit adultery. Love shows regard for another person’s purity and values the virtue of others. As with any other form of sexual immorality, adultery is not pure love, but comes from impure, sinful lust.
The same is true of murder or stealing. If you love others with God’s love you would never think of taking their life or of stealing what rightfully belongs to them. Love does not take from others, either their lives or their property.
To covet is less obvious, if you are coveting someone else’s things the only ones who may know are the Lord who knows all things and the one who is doing the coveting. Paul’s point is that if we are loving with God’s love, we will not covet because God’s love has nothing to do with unrighteousness.
Jesus taught in Matthew 15:19, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.” (Matthew 15:19, NASB95)[20] If our heart’s desire is to be like Christ, to be obedient to His will revealed to us in His Word then our heart will seek after righteous living and not all the sinful thoughts and actions that it pursued before salvation. If we love God and desire to love others with God’s love then we do not need to be concerned about breaking the laws that Paul has quoted or any other commandment, including the other two of the Ten Commandments that refer to our relationship to other people, the other two are honoring your father and mother and not bearing false witness. Paul sums up all the laws that refer to our relationship with others by quoting this saying from Leviticus 19:18, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Romans 13:9b, NASB95)[21] If we truly love others, then we will not want to do them any harm. Jesus declared concerning the quote Paul made from Leviticus in Matthew 22:37-40, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37–40, NASB95)[22]
Paul in our passage does not mention the greatest and foremost commandment or any that refer to our relationship to God, because in this passage his point is our relationship with other human beings, which three times in three verses he refers to as our neighbors. A neighbor is anyone with whom we have contact, especially if that person is in need. Jesus is the one who defined who our neighbors are in the parable of the good Samaritan or as I have heard it called the parable of the two bad Jews.
To love your neighbor as yourself is to show the same concern for their needs and welfare as you would for your own. Paul put it this way in Philippians 2:3-4, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3–4, NASB95)[23]
LOVE IS THE FULFILLMENT OF THE LAW (Romans 13:10)
Paul sums up these verses on loving others by writing, “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Romans 13:10, NASB95)[24] When a Christian regards others as more important than himself and looks out for the interests of others, then that person will do no harm to his neighbor, meaning he will do no wrong to anyone. The person who loves God and seeks to love others with God’s love will do good, not harm, to those he comes in contact with, he will desire to show love in all that he says and does.
Paul writes that this kind of love for others is the fulfillment of the law. In other words, Paul is teaching that living by love and living by the law are inseparably related. Only by loving others with God’s love can we truly obey God’s law. But wasn’t the law done away with at the cross? Paul made very clear earlier in this book, back in chapter 8, that as far as judgment and penalty are concerned, the one who has repented and put his or her faith in Jesus Christ for salvation is free from the law. He wrote in Romans 8:1-2, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” (Romans 8:1–2, NASB95)[25] Paul does not stop here though, but goes on to immediately explain in verses 3-4, “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:3–4, NASB95)[26] The moral and spiritual demands of the law reflect God’s own eternal character and will and because of this these demands are still valid. The difference for a person who has come to Christ by faith is not in “the requirement of the Law” but in the way that requirement is now “fulfilled in us” and Paul says that it is fulfilled in us by walking according to the Spirit, who enables us to obey God’s Word by His own power and righteousness and love that is at work in us and through us. As we walk according to the Spirit’s power and love others with the same love that God lavishes upon us, that love then is the fulfillment of the law.
Jesus said during the early part of His ministry in Matthew 5:17-19, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:17–19, NASB95)[27] Shortly after this in chapter 7 of Matthew Jesus gave us what is known as the golden rule, He said in Matthew 7:12, “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12, NASB95)[28] James said it this way in James 2:8, “If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.” (James 2:8, NASB95)[29] Love, therefore, fulfills the golden rule given by the Lord Jesus and the royal law given by the Lord through James. When we love others the way the Lord loves us we will be a reflection of Christ to others.
CONCLUSION:
Paul said in the end of 1 Corinthians 13, “But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13, NASB95) Think about it, love can control a temper and can guide our reason. Love like God’s love seeks to overcome the worst qualities and develop the best. When we surrender to the Holy Spirit, He by guiding us and empowering us transforms redeemed men and women to become more and more like Jesus Christ. When we become more and more like Jesus, we will love more and more like Jesus. What is in your life today that is getting between you and loving your neighbor? As I have said over and over as we have talked about obedience these last several months, to be obedient, to obey God’s Word, which commands us to love our neighbor, even that neighbor that may be hostile or unfriendly, if we are to be obedient to the Lord and love that person it requires some humility on our part, we must swallow our pride, our self-righteousness, and surrender our all to the Lord Jesus. Only when we do this can the Holy Spirit use us to love the unlovely, only then can He guide us to regard one another as more important than yourself and to not concern yourself with your own interests only, but also the interests of others. Surrender is hard, but obedience without it is even harder. What are you willing to sacrifice to be completely pleasing to the Lord in all you do? I know that I need to grow in this area of loving my neighbor, this message has convicted me and shown me areas of my life where I need to surrender my pride and love others the way God loves me. I want to be found faithful, disciplined, obedient and Spirit-controlled when the Lord Jesus calls me home, my prayer is that you want that to be true of you also.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[5]MacArthur, John, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Romans 9-16. Chicago, IL : Moody Pub., 1994
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[11]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[12]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[13]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[14]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[15]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[16]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[17]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[18]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[19]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[20]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[21]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[22]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[23]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995. (emphasis added)
[24]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[25]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[26]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995. (emphasis added)
[27]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[28]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[29]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.