Daily Bread Romans 13
Daily Bread Romans 13
Love Fulfills God’s Requirements
8 Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law. 9 For the commandments say, “You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.” These—and other such commandments—are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.
11 This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living. 13 Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy. 14 Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.
Observation:
Paul goes from the practical implications of theology yesterday, with his “therefore”, to today getting really practical in what it means to offer our selves as a living sacrifice (Romans 12;1). Paul starts the chapter by telling the Romans to obey the governing authorities for they have been established by God to keep order and peace.
He reminds them that if they are living within the laws of the land (and paying their taxes) that they have nothing to worry about. But if they live outside the law they will have plenty of reason to fear.
Then in these last two paragraphs he starts out by saying “owe nothing to anyone” (pretty good advice for us today!). He goes on to say our only debt should be to each other to fulfill God’s second greatest commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself.” He is saying if you want to measure how your love for God is working, look at how you are treating your neighbors (including the members of your family).
All the second table of the Ten Commandments (commandments 4 -10) are about how we love our neighbor. When you commit adultery, you are surely not loving your spouse. Ie. who would want to be cheated and lied to. Paul concludes by urging them to live this way in preparation for the day Jesus will return. He uses the metaphor of putting on the clean clothes of Christ and removing the dirty clothes of immorality, drunkenness and quarrelling and jealousy. Meaning just like what we choose to wear each day, each day we choose to act like Christ or return to our old way of living.
Since the day of Jesus’ return is closer now then ever before, Paul wants them to be focused on things that we can proud of when He comes back. If we waste our time in loose living, we will have a ton of regret when Jesus comes in to set up a new heaven and earth. On that day our life and how we invested our lives will be revealed.
Prayer: Jesus help us to choose to put You on each day, by choosing to do those things which You modeled when You lived on earth. This includes loving others as we ourselves would want to be loved. May our love for You be matched by our love for our neighbor, starting in our own families. Until you return help us to be faithful to this core mission. In Your name we pray, Amen.
Love Fulfills God’s Requirements
8 Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law. 9 For the commandments say, “You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.” These—and other such commandments—are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.
11 This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living. 13 Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy. 14 Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.
Observation:
Paul goes from the practical implications of theology yesterday, with his “therefore”, to today getting really practical in what it means to offer our selves as a living sacrifice (Romans 12;1). Paul starts the chapter by telling the Romans to obey the governing authorities for they have been established by God to keep order and peace.
He reminds them that if they are living within the laws of the land (and paying their taxes) that they have nothing to worry about. But if they live outside the law they will have plenty of reason to fear.
Then in these last two paragraphs he starts out by saying “owe nothing to anyone” (pretty good advice for us today!). He goes on to say our only debt should be to each other to fulfill God’s second greatest commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself.” He is saying if you want to measure how your love for God is working, look at how you are treating your neighbors (including the members of your family).
All the second table of the Ten Commandments (commandments 4 -10) are about how we love our neighbor. When you commit adultery, you are surely not loving your spouse. Ie. who would want to be cheated and lied to. Paul concludes by urging them to live this way in preparation for the day Jesus will return. He uses the metaphor of putting on the clean clothes of Christ and removing the dirty clothes of immorality, drunkenness and quarrelling and jealousy. Meaning just like what we choose to wear each day, each day we choose to act like Christ or return to our old way of living.
Since the day of Jesus’ return is closer now then ever before, Paul wants them to be focused on things that we can proud of when He comes back. If we waste our time in loose living, we will have a ton of regret when Jesus comes in to set up a new heaven and earth. On that day our life and how we invested our lives will be revealed.
Prayer: Jesus help us to choose to put You on each day, by choosing to do those things which You modeled when You lived on earth. This includes loving others as we ourselves would want to be loved. May our love for You be matched by our love for our neighbor, starting in our own families. Until you return help us to be faithful to this core mission. In Your name we pray, Amen.
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