The Obligation of Love and the Power of Hope (Romans 13:8-14)

“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 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.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:8-10, ESV).

The Obligation of Love

Having introduced the guiding principle of love [ἀγάπη] at 12:9, Paul now transitions from his discussion of Christian duties toward secular rulers to relations with people in general (cf. 14:15).¹ He illustrates his point with representative and familiar commandments from the Decalogue, in no particular order (Ex. 20:13-15, 17; Deut. 5:17-19, 21; cp. Luke 18:20), summarized by quoting Lev. 19:18 (cf. Matt. 19:19; 22:39). 

But if Christians are free from the Mosaic law, in what sense do they “fulfill the law”? There is a clear distinction between doing the law, on one hand (Rom. 10:5; Gal. 3:10, 12), and fulfilling the law, on the other (Rom. 8:4; 13:8, 10; Gal. 5:14). For those who naively desire to live under the ordinances of the old Jewish law, consistency demands that they keep the whole of it (Gal. 5:3), whereas in Christ the law is fulfilled by the ongoing applicability of love,² “uniting our moral instincts with our highest religious principles.”³

The Law of Moses served its designed purpose in bringing adherents to the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 9:4-5; Gal. 3:19-29); thus, Christ’s church is what God intended the people of Israel and all others to become (Gal. 6:16; cf. 3:6–4:7). Accordingly, Christians are not under the old-covenant system but fulfill its law by living out God’s purpose. Paul stresses love, not as a rule to be obeyed but as an overarching principle characterizing a new way of life (cf. Rom. 12:9; 14:15; Gal. 5:13–6:10).⁴ Thus, “the debt of love, unlike those debts which we can pay up fully and be done with, is an unlimited debt which we can never be done with discharging…. a debt which is owed to every man without exception.”⁵

The Power of Hope

“Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Romans 13:11-14).

Paul reminds his readers of what they are already “knowing” [εἰδότες – past and present] concerning “the time” [τὸν καιρόν], the limited period of life on earth, anticipating the age to come (cf. 8:18; 14:8-12).⁶ Multiple metaphors in quick succession illustrate the importance of being spiritually alert and prepared right now: “sleep” vs. “awake,”⁷ “darkness” vs. “light”⁸combined with the military image of “armor,”⁹ as we “walk properly.”¹⁰ On the negative side we avoid “drunkenness,”¹¹ sexual perversion (cf. 1:24-32),¹² “quarreling” and “jealousy” (cf. 1:29),¹³ and making “provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (cf. 1:24; 6:12, 19; 7:5, 8, 18, 25; 8:4-8, 12-13).¹⁴

Alternatively, sanctification means to “put on [‘clothe yourselves with’]¹⁵ the Lord Jesus Christ.” This begins when a penitent believer is “baptized into Christ Jesus” (6:3; cf. Gal. 3:27), becoming “dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (6:11), possessing “the spirit of Christ” and “conformed to the image of [God’s] Son” (8:9, 29).¹⁶ “The reference is not simply to a once-for-all change of clothing at baptism [as can be argued for Gal. 3:27], since the exhortation is to those long since baptized …. What Paul implies, then, is the intensity of dedication and application in living out the life of Christ …”¹⁷

--Kevin L. Moore

Endnotes:

     ¹ Paul also speaks of the love of God, Christ, and the Spirit (5:5, 8; 8:35, 39; 15:30).

     ² The churches of Galatia were told that followers of Jesus are to fulfill “the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2). Scholarly opinions as to what this refers to range from a loosely-defined “law of love” to a continuance of the Mosaic law filtered through the teachings of Christ. But note the thoroughly antithetical thrust of Galatians, i.e., the true gospel vs. a false one (1:6-12; 2:5, 14), Paul’s former life as a Jew vs. his new life as a Christian (1:13-23), liberty vs. bondage (2:4; 4:1-9; 5:1), circumcision vs. uncircumcision (2:7-9; 5:2-4), works of law vs. faith of Christ (2:16, 20; 3:2, 5-27), and flesh vs. spirit (3:3; 4:21-31; 5:5-26). Within this context it is apparent that the law of Christ is separate and distinct from the Law of Moses. From the very beginning of the Galatian letter, the crucial role of the truth of the gospel is highlighted (1:1-12, 23; 2:1-9, 14-21; 3:1-14, 22-29; 4:4-7; 5:7, 13). The law of Christ is simply the practical expression of Christlike love, exemplified in the teachings and example of Christ, and revealed in and obeyed as the gospel of Christ (cf. Rom. 3:27; 8:2; 1 Cor. 9:21).

     ³  W. Sanday and A. C. Headlam, Romans 376.

     ⁴ “Of course love is an inspiration rather than a restraint, and transcends law as embodied in merely negative commandments …” (J. Denney, “Romans” 2:698).

     ⁵ C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans 2:674-75. “The ‘neighbour’ in the NT sense is not someone arbitrarily chosen by us; he is given to us by God” (ibid. 676). C. K. Barrett adds, “love is not Christian love if it cannot include love for the man who differs from me in every way” (Romans 250).

     ⁶ Cf. Rom. 11:5; 1 Cor. 4:5; 7:29; 2 Cor. 5:5-11; 6:2; Eph. 5:15-17; Col. 4:5; 1 Thess. 5:1-2; 1 Tim. 6:14-15; and 1 Pet. 4:17; 5:6. On Paul’s understanding of when the Parousia would occur, see K. L. Moore, “Did Paul Believe and Teach …?” Moore Perspective (24 Jan. 2018), <Web>. 

     ⁷ Matt. 24:42-44; 1 Cor. 11:30; 15:34; Eph. 5:14; 1 Thess. 5:6-7; 2 Tim. 4:5; 1 Pet. 4:7.

     ⁸ Matt. 5:14-16; John 9:4-5; 11:9-10; 12:35-36; Eph. 5:8-13; 1 Thess. 5:4-8.

     ⁹ See also Rom. 6:13; 2 Cor. 6:7; 10:4; cf. Eph. 6:11-18. 

     ¹⁰ See also Rom. 6:4; 8:1, 4; 14:15; cf. 1 Cor. 3:3; 7:17; 2 Cor. 4:2; 5:7; 10:2-3; 12:18; Gal. 5:16; Eph. 2:2, 10; 4:1, 17; 5:2, 8, 15; Phil. 3:17-18; Col. 1:10; 2:6; 3:7; 4:5; 1 Thess. 2:12; 4:1, 12.

     ¹¹ See also Luke 21:34; 1 Cor. 6:10; Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:18; 1 Pet. 4:3. The noun κώμοι, translated “orgies” in the ESV and NAB, is more closely related to drunkenness in the sense of “reveling” (ASV, NRSV) or “carousing” (NASB, NIV).

     ¹² See also Matt. 15:19; Mark 7:21-22; Acts 15:20, 29; 21:25; 1 Cor. 5:9-13; 6:9–7:2; 10:8; 2 Cor. 12:21; Gal. 5:19; Eph. 5:3-5; Col. 3:5; 1 Thess. 4:1-7; 1 Tim. 1:10; 2 Pet. 2:2, 7, 18; Jude 7.

     ¹³ See also Matt. 15:19; Mark 7:21-22; 1 Cor. 1:11; 3:1-3; 2 Cor. 12:20; Gal. 5:20-21, 26; Eph. 4:31; Col. 3:8; 1 Tim. 6:3-5; Tit. 3:3, 9; 1 Pet. 2:1.

     ¹⁴ See also Mark 4:18-19; John 8:44; 1 Cor. 5:5; 2 Cor. 7:1; 10:2-3; Gal. 5:13-26; Eph. 2:1-3; 4:20-23; Col. 2:23; 3:5; 1 Thess. 4:5; 1 Tim. 6:9; 2 Tim. 2:22; 3:4-7; Tit. 3:3; Jas. 1:13-16; 1 Pet. 1:13-16; 2:11; 4:1-3; 2 Pet. 1:4; 2:9-10, 18; 3:3; 1 John 2:15-17; Jude 16-19.

     ¹⁵ Cf. v. 12; 1 Cor. 15:53-54; Gal. 3:27; Eph. 4:24; 6:11, 14; Col. 3:10, 12; 1 Thess. 5:8.  

     ¹⁶ “But the Christian life is not exhausted in this act [of baptism], which is rather the starting-point for a putting on of Christ in the ethical sense, a ‘clothing of the soul in the moral disposition and habits of Christ’ (Gifford) …” (J. Denney, “Romans” 700).

     ²⁷ J. D. G. Dunn, Theology of Paul the Apostle 194.

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