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Reading Romans 13:8 where, after speaking about loving our enemies and submitting to governing authorities, Paul comes back again to the charge to love one another. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
There are different things that we are to show to different people, like respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. But to everyone, we are to show love when we understand the text.
You're listening to When We Understand the Text, committed to sound teaching of the Word of God. For questions and comments, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com. And don't forget our website, www .wtt .com.
Here's our host, Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. We're back to our study in Romans 13, but we're moving on from that section that Romans 13 is known for. The submission to governing authorities talked about in verses 1 through 7. We're back to Paul's instruction to love one another, starting in verse 8, and I'll read through to the end of the chapter.
Oh, no one anything except to love one another, 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. 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.
We come back again to this statement in verse 8, owe no one anything except to love each other. Now consider the context in which this is being set, because this is right after Paul said, in that section regarding submission to governing authorities, he said in verse 7, pay to all what is owed to them, taxes to whom taxes are owed, and we have to pay our taxes to the government.
We talked about that last week, revenue to whom revenue is owed. So think about this from the standpoint of an employer having to pay an employee, give a worker what is due to him. The worker is worthy of his wages.
This is a principle that Paul lays down for paying pastors for the ministerial work that they do. In First Timothy, chapter 5, verse 17, let the elders who rule well be worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching for the scripture says, you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain and the laborer deserves his wages.
That's straight from the law. So Paul draws from the law even to show how a pastor should get paid for the work that he does in the ministry that he is committed to for feeding the flock of God. In the book of Leviticus, chapter 19, verse 13, it says, you shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him.
The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the until the morning. Another way of saying that is the worker is worthy of his wages. So whoever is deserving of the revenue that is owed to them, pay it to them.
If you have a debt that you must repay, pay your debt. Now, that doesn't mean you are sinning if you're if you're under a 30 year mortgage. But don't start having this attitude that you don't owe that person, the bank or or the one that you bought from, that you don't owe them that money.
Pay to them what is owed to them. Revenue to whom revenue is owed. Now, Scripture instructs us to get out of debt if we can, because the borrower is subject to the lender. We're a slave to the lender.
Even home mortgages, if we can avoid them, we should. But at least with a home mortgage, you're building equity. So it's not the same thing as like, you know, car payments where the value of the car is being lost.
The longer that you have it. Anyway, I'm not here to do an economy lesson, but just to point out that we are to pay those whom revenue is owed to respect to whom respect is owed. We have persons who are in governing authorities.
We owe them our respect. I think back to a time when Todd Freel was on the Clemson College campus. And I remember this specifically being the Crimson College campus. I think this was when he and the wretched crew were filming for the DVD series Untethered.
But they were on Clemson campus and there was a police officer that came to them and told them they had to take down all of their recording equipment and they could not be doing what they were doing, interviewing students on the campus.
And Todd had was very respectful with the police officer. They actually did have permission to be out there doing what they were doing. But he but the officer was telling them they couldn't be. They needed to take their equipment down.
They needed to go to this building and they needed to talk to this person. Now, there was somebody else with a camera and Todd's mic was still live. The person with the camera was far off. So you were still seeing this exchange and you were hearing it, even though the equipment that was right there with Todd had already been taken down.
And he was very, very respectful of that officer. He said to the officer, I want to respect you. I am going to obey. So I'm not contending with you here. But we do have a right to be here to do this. This is a public college campus.
But the officer continued to say, no, you have to take down your equipment. You need to go over here. And Todd just continued to ask him why, like based on what, that I cannot be out here doing what it is that I'm doing.
I just remember that being particularly a particularly good witness to me that Todd was very respectful to that officer in that way. He had every right to be there. He did not actually have to submit to that officer if he didn't want to.
He was exercising his rights. But had he not submitted to that officer, he could have been in bigger trouble. He could have been arrested. He could have been fined. So he paid respect to whom respect is owed.
The police officers in our communities are, in a certain sense, governing authorities and we must respect them. If an officer is going to arrest you, if they tell you to freeze, if they say, show me your hands, put your hands behind your back, whatever it might be, give me your license and registration.
If you don't comply with the officer, there are going to be consequences for that. And that's something that you've not heard in the midst of the whole police brutality protests and things like that that have been going on.
No one is telling people. It seems like no one anyway. No one's telling people you need to do what the officer says. Comply with the police officer. If you try to fight the officer, they're going to bring force against you.
And you could even be putting your life at risk by going against a police officer. This goes back to the statement that we read in Romans 13. He is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.
Comply with the police officer. It's a complete myth that police officers are hunting black men. That's a myth. And there's all manner of evidence out there debunking that particular myth. Rather, you need to submit to your governing authorities.
I teach my son that. I teach him if you are ever in a situation where a police officer is telling you to do something, you comply with that police officer. If the officer is wrong, you can take that up later.
But in the moment, you're not going to win that argument. So you need to pay respect to whom respect is owed. You need to submit to the governing authorities. And then the last statement that Paul has there in Romans 13 7 is honor to whom honor is owed.
And that really goes along with respect. You have to pay respect to your employer. You start to fight with your employer. It's less likely you're going to get a raise. You continue in that in that progress of fighting when you're probably going to end up getting fired and you'll even lose your job.
So there are persons whom you need to pay respect to that aren't just among the governing authorities. And then honor to whom honor is owed. That definitely has more of the governing authorities vibe to it.
Because Peter ends his instructions on submitting to governing authorities and first Peter to the same way. He says, honor the emperor. That's the last thing he says there. Fear God, love one another, honor the emperor.
So we give honor to those who are in those governing positions. Biden and Harris are going to get sworn in this week. President Joe Biden. Well, he will become President Joe Biden. That's going to happen in Washington, D .C. this week.
Kamala Harris is his vice president, and she will very likely become president in the coming weeks. I don't think it's going to be very long at all before Kamala Harris is going to be stepping into that particular role.
As evil as they are, the policies that they are going to start enacting and the things that they will begin passing as as the new administration governing over the United States of America. We, as citizens of this nation, speaking as an American, we still owe them our respect.
We still must show honor to whom honor is owed. Remember that Paul is writing this under the the emperorship, if that's the word, under the empire of Nero. He's the emperor at that particular time, a man who hated Christians.
And yet this is whom Paul is saying we owe honor to. God has put him in that particular position for such a time and place. And God has even appointed Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to their positions because he is accomplishing something through these two wicked governing officials.
It may be to bring this nation to judgment. We don't know for sure what God's plan is, but in our fear of God, we must give honor to whom honor is owed. First Peter two. I'm sorry. First Timothy chapter two still tells us that we must pray for kings and for those who are in high positions that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.
So we must, in accordance, in obedience to the word of God, we must live our lives in a godly and dignified way. This is good. And it is pleasing in the sight of God, our savior, who desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.
For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men. The man, Christ Jesus. He is our king. And we know that whatever wicked ruler may be on this earth, they cannot take away from us the citizenship that we have in the kingdom of God through Christ, our Lord.
More than this, we are even fellow heirs of that eternal kingdom through faith in Jesus Christ. No man can take that away from us. So you can have all this world. Give me Jesus. As the old spiritual goes, our confidence is in Christ.
Not in any governing authority here on this earth. So if our confidence is in Christ, we can be submissive to those governing authorities because our eternal reward is not going to be in any government that's here on earth.
It's going to be in the imperishable kingdom of God that is in glory above. Pay honor to whom honor is owed. Even Daniel serving of under wicked rulers like King Nebuchadnezzar. Even he paid honor to those rulers and submitted himself unto him who judges justly the father in heaven above.
We go on from here to verse eight. Oh, no one anything. So they're coming back into the context of verse seven. Oh, no one anything except to love each other. That's what we should aspire for. That's what we should aspire toward.
We desire only to love one another in obedience to God. For the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. There is no law against us who loves, who simply desires to love with the love that God has poured into our hearts.
And we read this also in Galatians chapter five, where Paul contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the spirit. He says in Galatians 5 16. But I say, walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law.
Now, the works of the flesh are evident sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.
The list goes on. These sinful passions of the flesh, Paul says in Galatians 5 21. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. What's also being demonstrated by somebody who is enslaved to these passions of the flesh is that they do not have the spirit of God.
They're still in their flesh. The grace of God has not been poured into our hearts. Remember what Paul said back in Romans chapter six, that if we are continuing to sin in this way, we're showing ourselves to be slaves to sin and not slaves to the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
So those who continue in these things will not inherit the kingdom of God. They're not kingdom people. They don't show themselves to be in submission to the rule of the king who is Christ. But if you have the Holy Spirit poured into your heart, which you received when you placed your faith in Jesus Christ, here is what is said of us in Galatians 5 22.
But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things, there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its desires.
The law is not against us if we exercise these things. Now, now there, Paul kind of broadens out the fruit of the spirit. He gets a little more specific there in Galatians 5 than he does here in Romans 13.
But it's still the same thing. Oh, no one anything except to love each other. The one who loves has fulfilled the law. Galatians 5. The one who loves against such things. There is no law. And we read something similar even in First Timothy chapter one, starting in verse eight, where it where Paul says there to Timothy.
Now we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. We're not saying the law is bad here. The law is good if one uses it in the right way. Understand this, that the law is not laid down for the just, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine.
In accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. That was First Timothy one verses eight through eleven. So the law is against those who behave in this way.
They demonstrate once again, they do not have the spirit of God, but they're still living according to the passions of their flesh. What does Paul say to the church in Rome? How we are to live in fulfillment of the law of God, we are to love one another.
He goes on in verse nine 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.
That's in the law. That's Leviticus. Nineteen. Eighteen. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. And this goes back to something Jesus said in Leviticus, or I'm sorry, Leviticus, Matthew 22.
He's also quoting Leviticus here. But anyway, Matthew 22, starting in verse 34, the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees and they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?
And he said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. A second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself on these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.
And what Jesus gives there is the first and second table of the law. First table of the law. I am the Lord your God. You will have no other gods before me. You will not raise up a graven image. You will not take the Lord's name in vain.
You will not disrespect the Lord's day, God's day, the Sabbath, which he has made to be holy. That's the first table of the law. Second table of the law is the next six commandments. Love your mother and your father.
Honor your parents. It goes back to honor to whom honor is owed, right? Your parents deserve honor. So you will honor your father and your mother. That is the fifth commandment. Sixth is you shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not. You shall not bear false witness. You shall not covet. There's the ten commandments right there. First table of the law is the first four.
Second table of the law. The next six. First four commandments have to do with our relationship with God. The next six have to do with our relationship with one another. Now notice here, though, that in Romans 13 verses eight through ten, Paul is only focusing on the second table of the law here.
He's not focusing on the first table of the law. So is the first table of the law not important? Well, of course it is. But Paul spent the first 11 chapters of Romans talking about that. That you will love the Lord your God.
And then he gets here to the next chapters of Romans talking about loving one another. Living that out. The justification by faith that we have in Jesus Christ. Living that out even in our Christian walk with one another.
At the start of Romans 12 he said, I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
What's another way of saying that? You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. That's the first and greatest commandment. So here we get to Romans 13 and in fulfilling the second table of the law, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Now I want to go back through these commandments in Romans 13 9, which we'll do tomorrow as we come back to this section. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder. You shall not steal. You shall not covet.
How do we fulfill each one of these? Where Paul says, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So how do we fulfill each one of those commandments by loving one another? We'll get more specific with that tomorrow.
Let's conclude with prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for showing your love for us through the person and work of Jesus Christ, who left his throne in heaven, died a death on a cross in submission to the will of the father, laying his life down willingly for us, rising again from the grave so that whoever believes in him, we have the forgiveness of sins and eternal life with him forever in heaven.
As God has demonstrated love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Let us, following the example of Christ, show love to one another, loving our neighbor as ourselves, and doing so we fulfill what has been written down in the law.
We desire to obey God because you have shown to us such goodness that we can't even wrap our minds around until we enter into glory and we will see you as you are because we will be made to be like you.
Just part of the wonderful demonstration of love that you have given to us, this promise of eternity that we have with you and fellowship with you even now. In that fellowship, may we love one another in the honor that we are to show to our God and King.
It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen.
Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog, sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers, and offering commentary on the church and social issues. You can find a link to the blog through our website, www .utt .com.
Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's Word when we understand the text.