Romans 13 – Pay What You Owe

2. Romans 13 – Pay What You Owe The Gospel According to Paul

3. Except/but – implies one debt that is always unpaid and due Love/agapao – to have preference for, to regard the welfare of another Each/one another- literally, mutually, a congregational obligation Romans 13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 

4. One who loves his neighbor has fulfilled law Not THE Law / nomon But just law / nomos The law that governs one person in relationship with another… the way that one “ought” to act, behave, & conduct self Romans 13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 

5. One who loves his neighbor has fulfilled law One who loves sums up THE Law Romans 13:9 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.”

6. Leviticus 19:18 “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. 10 And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God. 11 “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. 12 You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD. 13 “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning. 14 You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the LORD. 15 “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. 16 You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the LORD. 17 “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.

7. Matthew 7:12 So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

8. One who loves his neighbor has fulfilled law One who loves sums up THE Law One who loves does not wrong another Romans 13:10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

9. 1 John 3:18-21 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 

10. One who loves his neighbor has fulfilled law One who loves sums up THE Law One who loves does not wrong another One who loves knows the time Romans 13:11 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. 

11. What Time Is It? • Time to awaken ( to live differently from the world) • Salvation is nearer than when we first believed Luke 21:34 “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap.

12. Laying aside nightclothes to clothe self for day The tenses in the original language indicate a definite act… not an attitude or plan Nightclothes are the deeds/works of darkness as armor of light is clothing for the day Romans 13:12 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. 

13. Nightclothes are laid aside by behaving properly / walking honestly i.e. in a “seemly manner” 1 Corinthians 14:40 But all things should be done decently and in order. Romans 13:13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.  

14. “Nightclothes” are not laid aside by • Carousing (revelry/drinking) and drunkenness • Sexual promiscuity and sensuality • Strife and jealousy (envy, contentious rivalry) These things ARE the clothes of night that should be put away

15. Put on clothes for living in the light. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Romans 13:14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.   Thayer (214) to become so possessed of the mind of Christ as in thought, feeling, and actions to resemble him and, as it were, reproduce the life that he lived.

16. What dayclothes? v.12- Armor / hopla- arms/weapons Make no “provision” …. foresight/care/concern Don’t make plans to fail, Don’t expect to lose? Romans 13:14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.  

17. Put on love, light, the Lord, and Live to life eternal Have you given to the Lord what you owe Him?