Romans 13:8-14

Romans 13:8-14
"Owe nothing to anyone--except for your obligation to love one another." Why would loving one another be an obligation? We know we are in debt to the Lord for His boundless and unconditional love toward us. We can never repay that debt. We know we can't keep the demands of the law which "are summed up in this one commandment: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God's law." If you think about it, if we love others as we love ourselves we won't be committing adultery, murdering, stealing, or coveting! It's when we put our love for ourselves before our love of others (and love of God) that we get into trouble.

In vv. 11-14, we see the motif of light and darkness which seems to be a common theme in the New Testament. The night or darkness refers to the present evil time. The day refers to the return of Christ which could be anytime--though no one knows when this will happen. But we are told to be ready by removing our dark deeds and putting on "the shining armor of right living." We are members of God's family, we belong to the "day," and we should living accordingly so that others can see. We are warned not to "participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy." (hmmm....we don't often think of quarreling and jealousy in the same sentence as wild parties, drunkenness, and immorality!) Instead we are to cover ourselves "with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ." We do this by communicating with Him through His Word and prayer and staying in fellowship with His children.

The passage ends with "And don't let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires." We must let God change how we think as we saw in Romans 12:2.