Now, we are going to cover v8-10. Verses 1-7 that we just covered appear rather abruptly considering Romans chapters 1-12. Those chapters flow nicely together. But Romans 13:1-7 seem out of place. But I think those 7 verses have been inserted intentionally to set the stage to introduce the meat of this chapter which starts in v8.
The people in authority are giving their full time to governing. And in the same way that Paul is called to preach to the Gentiles, these politicians are equally called by God to be His servants in the political arena. And the principle is clear — give them what they are due. Pay your taxes.
And we see Paul applying this concept in a broader sense in v7 because he says —
7 Give [not just your ruling authorities but give] EVERYONE what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
When I write a check to the IRS or the State of the California, I am giving them what I owe them. And I don’t pay them a cent more. I am paying them taxes in exchange for protection and law enforcement and paved highways and a functional sewer system. But I can tell you, that I don’t write that check and give it to the government, state or federal, with much emotion. I just do it because it’s my duty. However, when I write my mom a card, hopefully, I do it with much more emotion than simply writing a check to the IRS.
Because I owe my mom a whole lot more. I owe her my life. She bore me. Without her, I would not be here, literally.
And in v8 and following, I see a principle at work that I refer to as the “how much more” principle.
If you are going to pay taxes to your government because you owe them, that makes sense. The response is appropriate considering what you owe them. And you are going to honor your mom on Mother’s Day because you owe her your physical life and this honoring is done with a greater depth of emotion. Following this logic, how much more, in v8 —
8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.
Who are we indebted to? I’ve heard sermons before where this verse was linked to our indebtedness to a particular Christian leader or mentor. The verse is not explicit about this so we have to go back to the context. And if you have been tracking Paul through the book of Romans, the first 12 chapters talk about the mercy of God. We were idol worshipers, completely cut off from God, unable to find our way to him, we were stumbling in darkness toward hell, there was no one righteous, not even one. All of us were under the wrath of God and we were condemned to be separated from God for all eternity.
But God had mercy on us, He sent Jesus to die on a cross for our sins and those who repent and place their faith in Him and the finished work of Christ on the cross, we can be saved. And therefore, while we were enemies of God, God loved us and forgave us and chose us and saved us and thus we are now a new creation. We surrender our lives to him, we give him our lives, we entrust our lives into his hands and say to Jesus, I will follow you wherever you want me to go and I will do whatever you want me to do. And in Romans 12, we who are saved are called to give our bodies as living sacrifices. And next, Paul introduces the idea that we are members of the body of Christ, the church. And with this great gospel lived out in the body of Christ as the backdrop, v8 hits us like a ton of bricks.
For the government, you pay taxes. That’s an appropriate response. For your mother who bore you, the response is greater, you pay her back with honor and appreciation and gratitude.
What about Jesus, the one who took our place and was punished for our sins so that we could be forgiven and granted eternal life? What should our response to Jesus be? How much more we are indebted to him for the rest of our lives and into eternity. We can be thankful for Christians whom God uses as tools in His hands to help us to understand Jesus better. I am thankful for my college mentors who shared the gospel to me and that is a big reason why I am still ministering to college students 18 years later. But we should never be indebted to one another. I hope no one ever says they are indebted to me. I am just a tool in God’s hands here to serve you. This church is also a tool to help all of us love Jesus more. Therefore, we are only indebted to Jesus Christ.
We are not saved because of the sacrifice of a particular Christian leader. We are not saved by the eloquence of a preacher or the dedication of a small group leader who really cared for us.
No, we are saved because Jesus knocked at the doors of our hearts. And He is the one who opened our spiritual eyes so that we could recognize him. So we are indebted to Jesus and we will never be able to pay him back in full.
For your mom, if you wanted to treat her like the IRS and be completely debt free and obligation free, I suppose you could calculate what you owed her. You could count all the meals she cooked for you, all the clothes and toys she bought you, and if you could quantify her physical pain to give birth to you and the emotional strain of putting up with you, I suppose it could be possible to approximate a total amount that you owe to your mom. Maybe $1 million would do it. You would be debt free from your mom and have no obligation to treat her for another Mother’s Day meal. That would be wicked, but if you humor me, I suppose this is possible.
What about Jesus? Can you or I ever repay the debt we owe him? No, not even close. We will spend the rest of our lives trying to pay back the debt of love we owe him and it would be like me talking Timothy’s piggy bank and trying to pay off the national deficit. Good try, but I’d be a little short.
8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.
Every other debt, financial debt, debt of gratitude for Christian mentors, what you owe to others, you should pay them back. But our debt to Jesus is a CONTINUING debt. It’s a debt that will never be paid off but Jesus commands us to do what we can to pay him back. And how do we pay him back? By loving others.
Is this how you view your life? First, do you know that you are indebted to Christ for the rest of this life and beyond? And second, if you know that you are indebted, are you paying Christ back by loving others? Love Jesus and love others — this is the core of what it means to live out our Christians lives as people of the New Covenant under the law of Christ.
We are indebted to Christ. If you understand this, pay him back by loving others.