A Study of the
Book of Romans
Romans # 29
“Living
Under The Law Of Love ”
Romans 13:7-14
Last week we examined
in the first seven verses of chapter thirteen we examined “Living Under Authority.”
This section of the chapter dealt with how a Christian was to relate to human government.
First, The
Believer Is To Be Obedient To The Lord’s Commands Concerning Debts 13:7-10
Paul deals with three
kinds of debt that even believer must deal with.
With Regard to Your
Public Debt –“ Pay Your Taxes”
(v. 7)
“
Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom
fear, honor to whom honor.”
We will not spend a
lot of time with this first one because we covered it in the last lesson. I will just say,
a Christian should also be a good citizen, they should be responsible in paying their
taxes.
With Regard to Your
Private Debt – “Pay Your Bills”
(v. 8a)
“Owe
no one anything except to love one another.”
There are three
principles that we need to understand about what the Bible teaches concerning debts.
· The Bible does
not prevent borrowing money.
The phrase “owe no one anything” in verse eight is interpreted by
some to mean that a Christian is never justified in going into debt of any kind.
Apparently the godly missionary, to China, J. Hudson Taylor would never incur any debt
based on this verse. But this does not seem to be
the clear teaching of this scripture.
Warren Wiersbe
writes: “The Bible does not forbid borrowing or financial
transactions that involve paying interest. What the Bible does forbid is the charging of
high interest, robbing the brethren or failing to pay your honest debts….No one
should get into unnecessary debt or sign contracts he
cannot
maintain, …but to make Romans 13:8 apply to all kinds of obligations involving money
is stretching the point.” [Warren Wiersbe.
“Be Right” (Wheaton, Ill: Victor Books, 1984) p. 147]
Dr. John
MacArthur in his commentary writes, “… Jesus approved
of financial borrowing for the purpose of investment…. Most families could never
afford to buy a home without taking out a mortgage. When borrowing is truly necessary, the
money should be repaid as agreed upon with the lender, promptly and fully.” [John MacArthur. The
MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Romans 9-16. (Chicago: Moody, 1994 p. 246]
· The Bible does
prevent borrowing more money than you can repay.
(Psalm 37:21) “The
wicked borrows and does not repay.”
Probably everyone in
this room will receive in the mail at least one new offer for a credit card this week and
many of you will receive several. I have said that I think the credit card companies and
the company that makes paper shredders are in cahoots. After all if it were not for the
credit card companies most people would need a paper shredder.
Because of the ready
availability of credit cards it is easy to get in debt. I’ve even heard of people who
get credit cards just to pay off the balance on the last card they got to pay off the
balance on the credit card before that. We’re talking about a terribly vicious cycle
here. I did some study on this. The average credit cardholder in America has seven credit cards. Did you know the
average unpaid balance in America at any moment on credit cards, consumer credit cards is
$400 billion, and six out of every seven people who use credit cards are in trouble with
them and cannot pay their balances each month? There are problems out there and you need
to be aware of them. That’s why last year there were 800,000 personal bankruptcies
declared in America. Why is it? Because people are not paying attention to what Romans
13:8 says, to “pay your debts. Don’t let any debt remain
outstanding.”
· We should pay what
we owe when it is owed.
“The problem for many Americans, including the government, is that debt
financing has become a way of life, and those who borrow are frequently enticed, misled
and trapped into borrowing more money than they are able to repay…..The difficulty is
that our consumer-oriented culture has deceived many people into living beyond their means
on the assumptions that they will have more money in the future so they can buy on credit
now, enjoy their possessions and pay later.” [James Mongomery
Boice. Romans: The New Humanity (Romans 16-14) Vol 4 (Grand Rapids, Baker Books,
1994) pp. 1682-1683 ]
With Regard to Your
Primary Debt – Love One Another (vv.
8b-10)
“except to love one
another for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.”
The apostle
declares that all Christians have one debt that is perpetual – we have a constant
obligation to “love one another.” The main point
being that love is a continuing debt, a debt which can never be fully paid. We he says
that believers are to, “love one another” the
word “another” is an interesting word. There are
two words in the Greek language that means another. One of the them (allos)
means another of the same kind. I wish
could tell you that is what it said here. I wish it said, “You love other people who were just like you,
people who act like you, think like you, talk like you, smell like you. Those are the kind
of people you love,” because that would be a lot easier. The word he uses here
for another is (heteros), which means, another of a different kind. Thus the meaning of the
verse is, “Love others who are different than
you.” You love people who don’t think the way you think, act the way you
think, their face is a different color, they may not be the same social class you are. It
means you love them. They don’t have to be just like you.
After declaring
that love fulfills the law (v. 8b)Paul illustrates his point buy quoting five specific Old
Testament laws. In verse nine we read, “For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You
shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You
shall not covet,” and if there is
any other commandment, are all summed up
in this saying, namely, “You shall love your
neighbor as yourself.” (10) Love does no harm to a
neighbor; therefore love is the
fulfillment of the law.
Not only is The
Believer is to Be Obedient to the Commands Concerning Debts …
Secondly, The
Believer Is To Be Observant Of The Lord’s Coming. 13:11-14
This whole
section has to do with understanding what time it is.
It’s Time to Wake Up (vv. 11-12a)
“And
do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now
our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. (12) The night is far spent, the
day is at hand….”
The problem is
that many who claim to be Christians are asleep. The Encyclopedia Britannica defines sleep
as “a state of inactivity, with loss of
consciousness and a decrease in responsiveness to events taking place.” It is easy to see that this also applies
spiritually as well.
What does Paul
mean when he says, “knowing the time?” In the New
Testament, there are two words for time. One is the word (chronos). We get our word chronology from that. That
would refer to a specific time. There is
another word for time, used here it is the word (kairos), which means a season of time, a period of time, in which
we find ourselves. Let me illustrate that. If I were to say to you, “It is almost time for hot weather,” you
know I’m not talking about a certain date and time. I’m not necessarily talking
about May 22 at 2:00 in the morning. When I say it’s almost time for hot weather, I’m
talking about a season of time, Summer, that’s
coming. That is the word used here. When it says know the present time, it is not talking
about a date on the calendar or a time on the clock. It is talking about a season of time.
Do you know what time it is? The season that he is “the end of time” - referring
to time of Christ’s return.
In verse twelve
he clarifies even more when he says, “The night is far spent,
the day is at hand….” The day that is at hand is the day of Christ
return. If when Paul wrote these words over 2,000 years ago, he thought that the return of
Christ was imminent, how much more so is that true today!
Something unbelievers
mock and say, “Well you Christians have been
talking about Jesus coming back forever, and still he is not here.” Peter said (2
Peter 3: 3-10) “… scoffers will come in the last
days, walking according to their own lusts, (4) and saying,
“Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things
continue as they were from the beginning
of creation.” (5) For this they willfully forget: that by
the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the
water, (6) by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with
water. (7) But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are
reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. (8) But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one
day is as a thousand years, and a
thousand years as one day. (9) The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is
longsuffering toward us not willing that any should perish but that all should come to
repentance. (10) But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in
the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will
melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.”
Paul goes on to
say that the certain knowledge of the Lord’s soon return should cause us to live
differently.
It’s Time to Stop Living in Darkness
(vv.12-13) “The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast
off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. (13)
Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in strife and
envy.”
Paul now list six
deeds (Works) of darkness – literally it is three pairs.
Revelry (komos) came to be used of any kind of wild
partying.
Drunkenness –
this probably does not need any explanation.
Lewdness - literally means “beds” which is why the
KJV uses the term chambering – it refers to any immoral activity that takes place in
the bedroom.,
Lust (aselgeia) scholars say this is one of the
ugliest words in the Greek language and it refers to brazen, shameless sin. It is used
almost exclusively to describe especially lewd sexual immorality.
Strife
(dissension) the word literally refers to any kind of behavior that drives people apart such as gossip and rumors.
Envy (jealousy)
- this is anger at the success of other or anger at your failures when compared with
others.
It’s Time to
Put On Our Armor
(v. 14) “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the
flesh, to fulfill its lusts.”
To “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” means to become more like Him, to receive from Him daily by faith all that we need to live out the Christian life.
When the apostle ends this section with the warning “make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” it is with the realization that more times than not, the sins we commit develop from wrong ideas and lustful desires that we have allowed to linger in our minds.