notes

Main point summary

As Christians we are not to owe or be indebted to anyone in an unloving way. When we owe someone money, pay it in a way that demonstrates our love for them. As the previous verse describes: Give revenue, honor, respect, and taxes to every person who is owed these things; we should be paying these things to people with love, not begrudgingly or in a way that devalues people. Jesus says in Matt 22:39 that "Loving your neighbor as yourself" is similar to loving "the Lord your God". All people are made in God's likeness (James 3:9; Genesis 1:26), and therefore deserve the love God deserves. We owe love to other people for the simple fact that they are made in the image of God; this fact gives every human being intrinsic value over every other thing outside of God. Therefore, to love someone is to fulfill the law, because all other laws are base on loving your neighbor.

Arc

editing

NT

Romans 13:8-10

esv

mine

w Owe no one anything,

Whenever you owe a debt,

except to love each other,

pay it in love (or with love pay what you owe)

concessive

for x the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

ground

For the commandments,

y “You shall not commit adultery,

You shall not murder,

You shall not steal,

You shall not covet,”

and any other commandment,

series

ideaexplanation

are summed up in this word:

z “You shall love your neighbor

as yourself.”

comparison

Love does no wrong to a neighbor;

therefore a love is the fulfilling of the law.

inference

All the commandments can be summed up with the command to LOVE others just like you love yourself.

In what ways do I owe someone and am not giving them what they owe in a loving way? I should be honoring those in worthy positions, paying back what I borrow in a timely fashion, respecting people's time etc.

1. What about God in this passage should make me praise and thank Him? He cares deeply about loving people - I praise you for your loving Character He gives value to every human being - Thank you Lord for giving me value intrinsically He has made us in His image, a beautiful image that other parts of creation have not been blessed with - Thank you Lord for giving such a high honor to me. To bear your image is a worthy and awesome thing! All God's commandments are meant to help us love Him and others - Thank you Lord for showing me how to love like you. Thank you for giving me a guide to caring for people. I praise you for your wisdom in doing this. I praise you for your lack of oppression on me, though many people feel that your laws oppress, your laws are there to help us love! I praise you for your laws 2. Self-examination Look at my own soul and motives: I care much more about loving myself in my day than loving others. The ways I work at MA show this. My day is structured around my joy and comforts. I don't seek to love others well Do I value other human beings? Do I value Lexi or other women when Lustful thoughts or actions creep in? I devalue them for the sake of my own pleasure. I am selfish and prideful and using a hum being made in God's image as a worthless thing that can be hurt for my selfish desires I don't value the image I have been created in. I don't see myself as valuable simply because I bear God's character like love. Rather I look to other things to find my value. By doing this I disregard the intrinsic value God has given me. I do not care about the laws given. Rather I do what I want and seek what I want. I don't see the laws as freeing and helpful to carry out the purpose of loving others which God has given me. 2. Repentance and Confession Lord I have loved myself more than I love others. I have loved my own pursuits and gain over you and other human beings. I have not cared to give my time and money and prayers to see others be saved from physical and spiritual misery; Rather, I have sought my own cares and desires over these things. Lord break my heart for such things. You paid the costly price for these things I do. You are great and value me deeply. Help me to feel that. Spirit fill me with an idea of how valuable it is to be made in God's image. Let me not continue searching for significance in earthly things that moth and rust destroy. Let me find my value in who I am in Christ. Jesus you have sacrificed all that I might have renewed relationship with God. I am an adopted son that is worth your life in God's eyes. I don't deserve this but you have given it to me. Oh how worthy are you to be praised! I am worth nothing yet you have made me supremely valuable for your glory and my infinite and eternal joy. May I live in light of this!

God's laws are not oppressive. The intention is to help us know how to Love people.

discourse