“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” [1]
Living beyond one’s means has become de rigueur in the contemporary world. It is virtually impossible to imagine the average family in this day living within their means—living without either credit cards or a line of credit (often maxed out), or without incurring significant debt; and this contention rests on the assumption that major purchases such as houses or transportation are not included in the indebtedness of a family. Yet, the Word of God clearly calls Christians to live within their means, avoiding unnecessary debt.
There are far too few messages instructing the people of God concerning their responsibility to manage their finances in a godly manner. This lack of sermons is not because God has nothing to say about the wealth He entrusts to us. The few messages addressing stewardship that are delivered in this day are often resented by those listening. This is undoubtedly because many Christians assume that it is “their” money, and they will do with it as they wish. No one will be permitted to tell them what to do with their money! Nevertheless, the Word of God presents the uncomfortable truth that what we possess is not really ours. Rather, we are appointed as administrators of the grace of God, and the administrative duty we have been assigned includes the responsibility to wisely manage the moneys and the goods we have. What we hold has been entrusted to our overwatch by our gracious Lord so that we can serve Him by blessing others.
I have repeatedly observed that the Lord provides in ample fashion for those who order their lives by the principles of the Christian Faith. Moreover, His people are taught to enjoy what they do possess. In part, this is because we who follow the Saviour enjoy the rich blessings He confers on His people. It is also true that those individuals who walk in the light of the Word are not wastrels, squandering what God has entrusted to their oversight on the tawdry baubles of this world—trifles that are destined for dust. They are conscientious, investing what they have for God’s glory, instead of hoarding to their own hurt. They live in the light of God’s love, enjoying His gracious provisions, instead of living in fear of an unknown tomorrow. They act wisely to address their responsibilities instead of adopting a Pollyanna attitude toward the future. These beneficial traits flow from conviction instead of being incidental to their lives.
One verse of Scripture that is overlooked, perhaps because of its simplicity, or possibly because it seemingly occurs unexpectedly, is found in Paul’s Letter to the Romans. In addressing issues surrounding the responsibility of Christians toward the state, Paul abruptly shifted focus to the somewhat broader issue of responsibility within society. However, I contend that he is not really changing the topic of instruction, but rather makes a much needed application. Join me, then, in study of the singular instruction concerning debt and the conscientious Christian.
THE EDICT — “Owe no one anything.” This neglected principle, repeated throughout Scripture, teaches that God’s people are to keep themselves free of debt. An example is provided when we see Solomon cautioning, “The borrower is the slave of the lender” [PROVERBS 22:7b]. Related to this warning is another that is issued in PROVERBS 20:16.
“Take a man’s garment when he has put up security for a stranger,
and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for foreigners.”
Clearly, we are warned against taking on unnecessary debt. Moreover, according to Scripture we must not fall into the trap of underwriting the debt of another.
The Word of God consistently instructs the people of God to move toward independence in financial matters. The alternative is that we are susceptible to becoming slaves to our creditors. The point of these two verses together is that one must regard indebtedness only as a last resort (being wary of those who offer “easy money”) and that the one who would follow God without hindrance must endeavour to get out of debt as rapidly as possible. Debt is debilitating and demoralising. No one can live the happy, prosperous life Proverbs teaches while existing in indebtedness. [2]
The instruction presented in the text is assuredly counter-cultural. We live in a world that employs debt as a means of preserving a strong economy. In our culture, debt permits maintenance of the lifestyle which we assure ourselves is our right as Canadians. From childhood, we are taught that consumption and indulgence are not merely rights, but necessities. Contrasted to the materialistic view that predominates in our culture, the Bible enjoins thrift and conscientious administration of all that God entrusts to us.
Today, school debt can easily total north of a quarter million dollars for a specialised degree! And that is before the graduate has earned an income! In order to complete requirements for an advanced degree in what are identified as the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, Medicine), a student may be compelled to become indebted for what seems to be unconscionable amounts of money. The cost of pursuing advanced studies in the STEM fields can easily run between $50,000 and $70,000 per year. And these are fields that hold the promise of earning a good income throughout the working life of those who graduate. However, even fields that have little prospects of providing an adequate living or making a major contribution to society, can compel the student to go into debt for exorbitant amounts. This indebtedness coupled with the societal emphasis on university degrees as being preferable to training in the trades became the basis for the President of the United States attempting to discount the indebtedness of some of these students even though he would need to circumvent the Congress in that attempt.
We who seek to honour God are responsible to handle wealth wisely, treating what we have as stewards. God entrusts to us moneys and possessions, and we are taught that these are given by our gracious Lord to be enjoyed. Our culture seeks to stop at that point, but God continues by teaching us that what we have received is to be used for His glory. Thus, we have a two-fold mandate—we must enjoy what we have, and we must honour God in administering what He has entrusted to us.
The need for biblical instruction in how we are to handle our wealth arises precisely because we have an intimacy with our wealth unlike any other facet of life, excepting perhaps, family relationships. Wealth represents ambition, hopes, dreams. What we possess is not neutral; our wealth is intimately tied to our particular situation in life. Wealth also represents our sweat and tears, because wealth is difficult to gain and easy to lose. The Wise Man emphasises this truth when he writes,
“Wealth gained hastily will dwindle,
but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.”
[PROVERBS 13:11]
How many are the stories of people who won the lotto, or received a massive inheritance, only to be destitute and homeless within a matter of months or within a very few years at the most! Because these individuals were unprepared to manage what they suddenly possessed, it was easily taken from them.
You’ve no doubt heard the account of the man that vowed, “I refuse to spend money for DNA testing; I will simply announce that I won 649. That way, all my supposed relatives will come find me.” And each one will have her or his hand out! Every dishonourable charity will find you if they imagine you have money. And you will undoubtedly shortly receive a phone call from someone with a Hindi accent telling you that they are from the CRA and demanding that you send them money to settle your account, if you haven’t already received such a call. And if there were no scam artists, you’d squander what you received trying to make friends and influence people.
Wealth assumes a greater place in our lives than we might initially think. Wealth—both the pursuit of wealth and our deference to wealth—exerts undue influence on our decisions. In almost every society throughout the course of history, wealthy people have been accorded respect because of their possessions, and not necessarily because of their character. This is not to say that wealthy people cannot be people of character, but it is stated in order to remind us that there is no correlation between character and what one possesses. Know that character is independent of material wealth! We adulate the wealthy, whether or not they are worthy of such praise and respect. We accord them respect that is not necessarily deserved. In short, we adulate the wealthy simply because they are wealthy.
To be certain, we do respect intelligence, but intelligence is almost always relegated to a secondary importance when compared to wealth. The same holds true for wisdom; the wise are assigned a secondary role to the wealthy. Perhaps beauty competes in our estimate with wealth, but almost unconsciously we are confident that beauty can be purchased by wealth. Hence, even beauty is inferior to wealth. Wealth is equated to power, and power is seductive; it entices us to surrender all thought of resistance.
I fully understand that modern economic principles advocate making wealth through using the wealth of others. Modern industry is built on the concept of leverage, and wise traders employ the use of borrowed moneys to build wealth. I am not certain that I wish to argue against the careful use of sound business principles to grow wealth, but I am quite confident that I am on sound Scriptural ground and advocating sound economic principles, when I caution against debt as a vehicle for the acquisition of goods or as a means of providing for pleasure.
Paul’s intention in the first clause of this verse (“Owe no one anything”) is not to prohibit a proper use of credit; it is an underscoring of a Christian’s obligation to express divine love in all interpersonal relationships. Paul is less concerned with the need to contract a debt than he is with the way in which we handle our debts. The construction of the sentence indicates that Paul was addressing a practise that was ongoing. The present imperative will have a continuous force: “Don’t continue owing. Pay your debts.” [3]
The point that you must understand is that God is not prohibiting His people from borrowing; rather, the LORD is demanding that we pay back what we owe. If we have contracted a debt, we must accept responsibility to repay that debt. We are not permitted, as some have thought to do in recent years, to contract a large debt while pursuing a college degree, anticipating that we will not be required to repay the debt. Worse still is the apparent anticipation that others who have worked hard should be compelled to pay the debt we created! Such thinking has no place in the life of a follower of Christ the Lord! Pay your debts; and don’t expect others to bail you out when you incur debt!
Contemporary society has absorbed the lesson that when thinking of the world of finance, credit is king. We have convinced ourselves that credit will allow us to finance the good life. When Gordon Gekko affirmed for movie goers that greed was good, the public apparently believed what he said. However, that same public appears to have forgotten the old saying that there is no such thing as a free lunch.
Note that the one who fails to repay is identified as “wicked,” according to the Word. I want to come back to the example of college students and the indebtedness they incur. This became an issue during the recent elections in the United States when the President tried to buy votes by declaring forgiveness of student debt. It was a popular move … for students; not so much for pipe-fitters, store clerks, and housewives.
The student who racks up a massive debt borrowing money to attend school, only to petition government to forgive the debt after graduation, is wicked. We understand that government has no money of its own, so there was never a right for government to forgive the debt. Consequently, it will be the welders, the plumbers, and the barbers of the nation that repay the loan. Thus, the student that racks up a debt and then refuses to repay that debt through governmental theft must be recognised as wicked. The individual who borrows to purchase a new truck, and then refuses to pay the lender what has been borrowed is wicked. No Christian should ever allow herself to become wicked.
The conscientious Christian must not imagine that she can live on credit, accumulating greater debt month-by-month, and yet honour God. If maintaining your lifestyle requires you to contract debt on a recurring basis, you are living too extravagantly. The one who wishes to honour God will review his or her lifestyle and make appropriate adjustments to bring the lifestyle into line with what God has entrusted.
Dr. Vernon McGee writes, “You may ask, ‘Do you think we should turn in our credit cards?’ No, but you had better be able to see your way clear in order to pay your debts.” [4] Nowhere in Scripture is found a prohibition against borrowing. However, Scripture does condemn those who do not repay what they have borrowed. The Psalmist identifies the one who fails to repay what is borrowed when he writes,
“The wicked borrows but does not pay back,
but the righteous is generous and gives.”
[PSALM 37:21]
Surely, this admonition applies to nations as it does to individuals. The nations of the West cannot continue to borrow to finance the good life, leaving the headache of repaying what is borrowed to future generations! There must be a day of reckoning.
Throughout the Word of God, we who follow the Christ are instructed to be honest in our dealings. As who accept the Saviour as Master over our life are instructed to keep short accounts in this world. We are taught that the mature Christian is one who is “above reproach” [1 TIMOTHY 3:2]; and such a person will be recognised as one who is “not greedy for gain” [TITUS 1:7]. Certainly, we are to look for this precise quality of care in financial dealings in the life of any who would be elders or deacons. However, this characteristic should mark the character of any Christian who is recognised as mature in her or his walk with the Master.
If you borrow your neighbour’s lawnmower, return it. If you borrow a cup of sugar, repay what you borrowed. You see, this is addressing a lifestyle rather than merely speaking of monetary loans. It is in the daily aspects of handling the wealth and the goods that God entrusts to our oversight that His presence is revealed in His people.
On one occasion I was moving from one house to another, and members of my congregation assisted me in that move. There were numerous items that I had set aside for a garage sale. One of the members, a song leader for the congregation, saw some garden tools which he said he could use. I told him that I was happy to sale them to him for a few dollars. He eagerly grabbed those items and put them in his car, assuring me that he didn’t have any money on him, but that he would pay me when he next saw me. Weeks went by and he still hadn’t given me the money he had promised. When I mentioned it to him, he laughed and said, “Well, it wasn’t worth much anyway.” I never again trusted that man, though he served among us throughout my days with that church.
Paul cautions Christians, “Owe no one anything.” There are some among the professed people of God who even twist the petition in the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors,” turning this plea into a reason to claim absolution from all money obligations. These professing Christians twist the Word just so they can cheat others. They differ not at all from the most despicable lowlife. Paul had to remind his people that Christianity is not an excuse for refusing our obligations to our fellow men; it is a reason for fulfilling them to the utmost.
It is an unfortunate truth that necessitates addressing the issue of others assuming the right to administer what God has entrusted to your oversight. In saying this, I’m pointing to modern governments that assume they have been appointed by God to administer the wealth of the governed. Increasingly, contemporary governments appear to believe that they are responsible to redistribute our wealth. The rise of socialism is an evil that has grown increasingly popular in our country in this day. To be certain, the people of God are taught to be generous and to show compassion for those in need. However, there is no warrant in Scripture for governments to seize the wealth of others in order to compel some sort of equity. In fact, there is no biblical mandate for equity. As far as the issue goes, there is no biblical mandate for diversity, inclusion, or equity.
Generosity cannot be compelled; generosity always flows voluntarily from the transformed heart. Generosity as encouraged in Scripture is voluntary gifting as each individual determines how much to give and to whom they will give what they have decided to give. As an example, when Paul was encouraging the Corinthian Christians to set aside an offering for the saints suffering through a famine in Jerusalem, he was careful to state that what was given was not to result from a command [see 2 CORINTHIANS 8:8]. Paul was quite pointed in explaining, “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” [2 CORINTHIANS 9:7].
There is neither precept nor warrant found within the Word of God that would approve coercion in giving, and assuredly there is no thought of encouragement or approval of government seizing the goods a person has in order to redistribute what has been seized. It is not the business of government to compel benevolence; government will always redistribute what it has seized to favoured groups while taking a healthy portion of the seized goods for the benefit of the government. Let me be somewhat pointed by stating that it is not the responsibility of government to send money it has seized from citizens to other nations which the government has determined has needs. It is not the responsibility of government to supply moneys which it has seized from citizens to relieve suffering even in disaster relief. Perhaps an argument can be made that government has a role in encouraging benevolence, but government has no right to assume the place of redistributing wealth as an act of benevolence.
In 1794, the United States Congress appropriated $15,000 to help French refugees who had fled from insurrection in Saint-Domingue. James Madison, the “Father of the Constitution” stood on the floor of the House to object, saying, “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article in the federal Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.” He also said, “Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.” He was correct!
I understand that I am referencing the history of the United States, but then, I know that history far better than the history of Canada. Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Congress (has) not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but (is) restrained to those specifically enumerated.” Again, citing James Madison, “If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the general welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one.” The United States Constitution wisely authorised Congress to spend money only to carry out the powers and duties specifically enumerated in Article 1, Section 8, not to meet the infinite needs of the general welfare. [5] While Canadians do not have the protection of this constitution, the sentiments hold true nevertheless.
The concept of a wealth tax is foreign to the teaching of the Bible, and it is a detriment to good governance. Government has no business making a determination that the amount someone possesses is too much. The Faith of Christ the Lord will encourage industry in those who hold to the teachings of the Word, just as the Faith will encourage thrift. Then, for those who are able to gather some of the goods of this world, the Faith will encourage generosity. However, what must not be overlooked is that the benevolence and generosity encouraged is entirely voluntary.
THE EXCEPTION — “Owe no one anything, except to love each other.” The Apostle posits one great exception to the debt we have—we owe each other our love. To be sure, we are responsible to love our family and we are to reveal the love of God for this lost world. Loving our family is usually a response that requires no special effort on our part, or at least I would hope that to be the situation for each of us. Loving the lost can be a challenge for us, if only because we are so often confused as to how such love should manifest itself. We are to love the lost enough to tell them of the love of God in Christ Jesus the Lord, pleading with them to turn from sin. However, the primary thrust of the biblical mandate for us to love points us to the need to love our brother Christians.
Love will impoverish us. By that, I mean that love for our family can compel us to spend more than we ever dreamed we would spend. No parent who loves his child will permit that child to suffer when the parent can intervene, even if it means an outrageous expenditure for the child. The parent does this because of her or his love for the child. The parent placed in such a position is simply putting into practise the Apostle’s admonition, “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” [1 TIMOTHY 5:8]. Even a brief focus on news articles we have read provide examples of families that are impoverished through great medical expenses incurred to keep a child alive or to respond to some natural tragedy. This is nothing less than a demonstration of love.
Love for our family will demand that we give, but we who follow Christ are charged to love the brotherhood of believers! I am always amazed when I read the letters of the New Testament. The need to love one another is a prominent theme throughout these Letters. Love is a debt that is never paid in full. A. T. Robertson, who served long as a scholar of the Greek tongue at Southern Baptist Seminary, wrote of our debt to love, “This debt can never be paid off, but we should keep the interest paid up.” [6]
Paul goes on to speak of the one debt that a man must pay every day, and yet, at the same time, must go on owing every day, the debt to love each other. Origen said: “The debt of love remains with us permanently and never leaves us; this is a debt which we both discharge every day and for ever owe.” It is Paul’s claim that if a man honestly seeks to discharge this debt of love, he will automatically keep all the commandments. He will not commit adultery, for when two people allow their physical passions to sweep them away, the reason is, not that they love each other too much, but that they love each other too little. In real love there is at once respect and restraint which saves from sin. He will not kill, for love never seeks to destroy, but always to build up; it is always kind and will ever seek to destroy an enemy not by killing him, but by seeking to make him a friend. He will never steal, for love is always more concerned with giving than with getting. He will not covet, for covetousness (epithumia) is the uncontrolled desire for the forbidden thing, and love cleanses the heart, until that desire is gone.
One noted commentator cited what he informs readers to be a famous saying, “Love God—and do what you like.” Then, based on this extrabiblical concept, this noted commentator opines, “If love is the mainspring of a man’s heart, if his whole life is dominated by love for God and love for his fellow men, he needs no other law.” [7]
I suppose the statement just cited is true enough as far as it goes; nevertheless, the fact that we are fallen creatures without the capacity to even know our own heart means that it is essential that we recognise that adopting such a position can prove dangerous, if only because each of us is capable of exaggerating our ability to love God, to say nothing of claiming love for our fellow man. Not only are we capable of exaggerating our ability to love, but we are quite prepared to exaggerate our desire to love others.
Because of our propensity to inflate our own capacity to love others, we will benefit from hearing and heeding the instruction that has been given by the Apostle of Love in the First Epistle of John. John has written, “Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins” [1 JOHN 4:10 CSB]. Having received God’s love, we can permit it to flow through us to bless others. We will become the conduit to deliver His love to all we meet. Amen.
I will agree that we need to know the love of God, but it seems critical to me that we will benefit from humble assessment of our own capacity to reflect that love. We who claim to have received the love of God truly need to confess to Him that we are in desperate need to witness the effective work of His Spirit in our lives in order to ensure that we reflect that love at all times. Without the Spirit of God working powerfully in our lives, we have no ability to demonstrate the love of God in daily life.
At this point, I believe it will be beneficial to take a moment to comment on the quality of debt weighing down on us as followers of the Risen Saviour. We are not commanded to like one another, nor are we mandated to tolerate one another. We are, however, charged with the responsibility to love one another; and the love we are to cultivate toward others is to reflect the love we have received from God Who redeemed us. The easy casual concept we call love that acknowledges that we share a brief time with others in the services of the church is not in view when God speaks of loving others. Neither may we reduce this love that is commanded to a matter of recognising others as fellow Christians. It means that we love them enough to treat them as God treats us.
How does God treat us? He does not hold our past against us. He does not treat us with disrespect or disdain when we fail to meet His expectations. He does not strike us down or push us away when we disgrace His Name. The Lord seeks to build us up, always working to enable us to grow toward the image of His dear Son. God always seeks our good, forgiving us for our foibles and follies and exalting His Name in us. God sacrifices Himself for our benefit. He always has our welfare in view, even when the progress toward maturity seems impossible or highly improbable. Therefore, if we wish to reflect the love of God that has been shone upon us, we will always focus on building up others rather than using them for our own ends. We will seek the welfare of others rather than thinking solely of how we can use them to advance our own agenda.
In the text we have before us, you will note that the Apostle does not refer to the obligation to love others as a work of supererogation, an outstanding achievement that we look for only in the greatest of saints. Love is a duty resting on the humblest believer. [8] You realise that this means that if you are a Christian, you have no escape from the divine obligation to love others. While the unthinking may dissent, it is still incumbent upon each one who follows Christ to hate the sin and to love the sinner. It is still incumbent for each redeemed individual to love fellow believers and to reveal that love through accepting them in the Saviour.
THE EXPLANATION — “The one who loves another has fulfilled the law” [ROMANS 13:8b]. We might legitimately ask, “What law does Paul have in mind?” Love, not mere external conformity to rules, is the essence of God’s Law [cf. GALATIANS 5:14]. Paul is repeating what Jesus said about the Law being summed up in the commandment to love.
Jesus had responded to a lawyer’s question asking what was the greatest commandment of all. There are 617 positive commands listed under the Old Covenant, so there were a lot of commands to choose from. However, Jesus responded, “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 first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” [MATTHEW 22:37-40].
This lawyer, identified as being counted as a member of the sect of the Pharisees, was perhaps unaware that he had lobbed a softball for the Master to answer. I suppose he was labouring under the delusion that he was challenging Jesus with what he just knew to be an almost unanswerable question. The Pharisees were great at splitting theological hairs fourteen ways without ever having to sharpen their knife; they were prepared to debate almost any question at the drop of a hat. However, any newborn child of God will know that loving God is the greatest of all commandments. Jesus does emphasise in His response to the query that our love for God must be more than a mere response to the grace and kindness that God showers upon us. We are to love Him with our full being. Our heart, soul, and mind are to be fully engaged with God.
We need to take a moment to reflect on God’s love toward us even when we are still in rebellion to Him. Recall Jesus’ teaching during the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said, “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, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” [MATTHEW 5:43-48].
How perfect must we be? We must love even those who persecute us. This doesn’t mean that we are to approve of their sin; it only means that we are to love them enough to tell them of the grace of God and His great salvation.
I suspect that you who are followers of the Christ who are listening at this moment will recall times when you were humbled at the thought that God loves you. You reflected on His grace, and especially on divine grace that was poured out on you, and you unconsciously responded with deep love for the Lord God. I know, however, that maintaining that sense of love and devotion is incredibly difficult. The demands of daily life intrude and you find it almost impossible to keep on loving God. Devotion to Him is definitely hard when you fail to invest time in His Word, or when you fail to speak with Him. I’m not necessarily speaking of asking Him for something, but I’m speaking of simply spending time in His presence enjoying Him for Who He is. As mentioned just a short time ago, loving God is not as easy as it sounds. We are fallen creatures and we need grace even to love God.
The thing is, however, that when we do love God, when we focus on our first priority of loving Him with heart, soul, and mind, we discover that we are compelled to love others by the very fact that we do love God. Take special note that Paul speaks of “the one who loves another.” Our present culture is enamoured of the cult of self-love. There are, sitting before me, people who seriously advocate the need to love themselves before they can love another. You must take note, however, that Jesus’ words are not a command to love oneself, but recognition that we naturally love ourselves!
I am compelled to appeal to VERSES NINE AND TEN in order to apply accurately the explanation Paul provides. These verses explain VERSE EIGHT. The commandments (seventh, sixth, eighth and tenth) against adultery, murder, theft, covetousness, and any of the other commandments are all summarised in the second great commandment that the Master named: “you shall love your neighbour as yourself” [MATTHEW 22:38].
One scholar has observed of this business of love, “God’s love is revealed through the loving acts of His children. Where it is absent, any claim to a family relationship is merely pretence.” [9] How will those living in the world, those with darkened eyes that cannot see the love of God, how will they know that God is love? And the answer is that they will know the love of God as it is revealed through His people as they conduct themselves with grace and love in the world. Isn’t this what Jesus has told us when He taught us, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” [JOHN 13:34-35]. The love of Christ is made known in the world as the people of God reveal His love toward one another.
Okay, that raises the legitimate question of what our love for one another looks like. I suspect that our world is quite incapable of defining love, though even those identified as belonging to this dying world will recognise love when they see it. Generally speaking, I suspect that people tend to think of love as a warm, fuzzy feeling. Perhaps this is a reflection of the fact that we are quite focused on our own response to something as intangible as love. It is the emotional stimulation that comes to mind whenever we are challenged to define love. Our focus is on how we feel and the impact an action will have on our own life. Tragically, and I mean this sincerely, this response is not merely descriptive of the thinking of those in the world, but it generally reflects the thinking that is found even among the professed people of God. We are focused on how we feel rather than who we are in Christ the Lord. I suppose this is to be expected since we are still physical and soulish creatures. We can’t escape ourselves!
I’ve spoken at length about the matter of debt. Conscientious Christians will avoid unwarranted debt, knowing that such restricts freedom to respond to unexpected challenges in the course of life. Simultaneously, those same saints will accept the debt of love imposed upon them because they have known the love of God. And that love is what impels us to ask each one who listens today, “Do you know the love of God? Have you received the grace that delivers from sin and gives you freedom to live as the Living God intended you should live. Believe Christ and be saved. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] Duane A. Garrett, New American Commentary: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Vol. 14 electronic ed., Logos Library System (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001, 1993), 188
[3] Leon Morris, The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Epistle to the Romans (Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI 1988) 467
[4] J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee (Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN 1983) 737
[5] Walter Williams, September 13, 2017, “We’re All to Blame, We're All to Blame, by Walter E. Williams | Creators Syndicate, accessed 6 February 2023
[6] A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, Volume IV (Broadman Press, Nashville, TN 1931) 409
[7] William Barclay, Daily Study Bible (Rev. Ed.): The Letter to the Romans (Westminster Press, Philadelphia, PA 1975), 175-6
[8] See Morris, op. cit.
[9] Robert H. Mounce, New American Commentary: Romans, Vol. 27 electronic ed., Logos Library System (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001, 1995), 245
