We owe to our neighbor the obedience of God’s law—found in the last six commands of the decalogue—for our neighbor’s sake and for the sake of loving God (Romans 13:10).

“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”—Romans 13:8

As of late, the contents of Romans 13 are being slung around every which way like a Frisbee on a nice summer day. There is much discussion and division on what our relationship to the government means or looks like, or at what point submission may or may not be required, or whether we must always be yielding to governmental demands. While this is a good thing over which the church should dialogue, it seems, however, as if the first half of Romans 13 has gained outsized attention, while the second half has gone sorely neglected. What the church may need most in our desperate times is to bring into these discussions the reality of our obligation to love one-another and thereby fulfill God’s law.

Debt

Debt is a reality in the bible, but with this recognition we are told to be sure that we are on top of our payments (Romans 13:7), and we are a slave to our lender until we pay it off (Proverbs 22:7). But as Christians, we know that we were enslaved to sin – because of a debt we could not pay – and this past enslavement begs the question: what happened to the debt we owe?

All humanity is born indebted to God because of the sins we commit against him (Colossians 2:13-14) because we owe him perfection (Matthew 5:48), and this indebtedness makes us slaves of the sin. This is a fundamental truth. But, this debt was satisfied by Jesus Christ on the cross, by canceling our record of debt, in his body.

A Debt Unpayable

There is a feeling of hopelessness when we look at the mortgage or credit card bill. Like staring out at an expansive ocean which only ceases because of the Earth’s curvature, is looking at the ongoing amount owed due to increased interest rates, and taxes. One may say to themselves, “I’ll be paying this till’ I’m dead.” This scenario, however, is one that we experience as Christians, yet rather than bemoaning its validity, we greatly rejoice over it. Since our debt of sin was paid by Christ, we are now enslaved to God (Romans 6:22) and this enslavement leads to eternal life! Yet, this enslavement has with it new expectations.

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