Romans 13:8-14
Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 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, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
“Owe no one anything, except love to one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” These beautiful words both relieve and challenge us.
The Law reminds us that “justice” is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life. What has been stolen must be repaid, whether life, limb, or lucre. The Law is a ledger of wrongs to be avenged, lacking, as St. Paul warned in so many places, in any power to make wrongs right. The Law, because it cannot make right from wrong, cannot be fulfilled except by love, which alone “covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Pt. 4:8).
It is love alone that we owe to one another, by which we “forgive those who sin against us” so that they owe us nothing. Let us ask ourselves whether we hang debt over anyone’s heads in spite of this, whether to ourselves, others, or God? Let these words challenge you to relieve others of this debt, to let go of it in your hearts.
Do we owe anything to anyone? Many of us surely do. Though St. Paul urges us against falling into debt, nonetheless, if we do, “Pay everyone what you owe him: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.” Forgiving others’ debts does not entitle us to be forgiven by others; that is the challenging message of the Cross, upon which Christ paid the debt of his life to those who exacted it for themselves in the name of the Law, though he himself forgave all debts. But those who would be creditors on behalf of the Law did not fulfill the Law; Jesus did. What they did, they did out of hatred, while Jesus suffered at their hands for love, which fulfills the Law they failed to keep.
This suffering Jesus is the Lord and Christ whom Paul calls us to “put on” rather than make provision for the flesh and gratify its desires. Our flesh, that is, that nature in us which is averse to Divine Love, is all too eager to remind people what they owe us, and we even presume to get involved in the gossip of others’ affairs and play judge about what others owe others when it all might have very little to do with us. If we would truly judge as Christ does, we would take up our Cross and allow these types of sentiments to die out from our hearts. It is a fantasy, a dream for sleepers, to imagine that vengeance and repayment is for anyone other than the Lord who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay,” and proved these words with the payment of his own life.
To those who surrender and give up their lives for him, crucifying the lower nature, Jesus has promised to repay with his divine life. Our “flesh” — not our skin, sinews, and bones, but our selfish sense of self — is in darkness, asleep, addicted to revelry, unspiritual drunkenness, debauchery, licentiousness, quarreling, and jealousy. The “life” we live which is a ragged patchwork stitched together by all these aspects of the “flesh” is not truly life, but vanity; it is a dream to be awoken from, rolled away like the linen burial shroud which covered Christ in the tomb, and we are instead to put on the robes of Resurrection, the spiritual body of eternal life which is a garland of divine love’s blossoming flowers.
Let us offer these flowers of love to all. Though the gospel of forgiveness has revealed to us that we truly owe no one anything that they demand from us, and we are encouraged by Paul not to fall into this type of worldly debt, we are nonetheless to regard the gift of eternal life, that is, the divine light in us which is of God who is Love, not as a gift to be hoarded, but a precious gift that is owed to all.
These are the relieving and challenging words of the Holy Spirit to us yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Peace be with you.
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