The Debt To Love

27 July 2011

“Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.  Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another…” Romans 13:7-8

A debt is something that is owed or that one is bound to pay off or perform for another.

Paul is exhorting his readers in Romans 13:7 to pay off the debt of respect or honor or whatever it is that they owe certain people.  If you owe someone something, give it to him- whether it’s money, respect, honor, etc.    

If you take care of a debt, you pay it off and you move on.  You no longer owe anything.  You are debt free.  This is what he means by saying, “Let no debt remain outstanding.”  In other words, “Owe no one anything.” 

But Paul seems to say there is one type of debt you will never pay off, and that is the debt to love one another.  You will never be free of the responsibility to love.  You will always, continuously owe love to others. 

You don’t owe a person every minute of your time.  You may not owe them the keys to your car.  You don’t owe everyone your trust.  But you do owe them all love. 

How can this be? It’s not always easy to love people. Why would Paul set such a high demand? 

Well, Paul isn’t actually the author of this command.  He was only echoing what he heard from the mouth of Jesus himself in John 13:34: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

Still, how can Jesus expect so much of mere humans who have such a hard time loving?!

I believe the answer lies in 1 John 4:10, 19: “This is love: Not that we loved God, but that He loved us and gave His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. We love because He first loved us.” 

We love to the measure we feel loved.  When we contemplate the incredible love God has for us, we can then go and love those around us, whether or not they love us back!       

We must continuously receive and remember His love, so that we can continuously love others- especially those who are hard to love.  It’s easy to love people who love us back and are kind to us.  It’s much harder to love someone who hates you- your enemies. 

But when we remember that while we were still sinners and enemies of God that Christ demonstrated His love by dying for us (Romans 5:8-10), we then find the strength to love others!  Because Christ lives in us, by His indwelling Spirit, He loves through us.