Love … it’s all about this. Romans 13.8-10

Love … it’s all about this. Romans 13.8-10

Love pays attention.

Love notices.

Love actually sees.

Love holds.

Love gives room to others.

Love lasts.

Love gives when it thinks it has given all it can.

Love thinks of others first.

Love understands.

Love expresses itself.



People don’t really think of Paul as an expert on love, but he has had a lot to say about love! After all, before this letter to the church at Rome, he had written the greatest explanation of love to the church at Corinth. ‘Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.’1

To the Romans, he highlighted that ‘God demonstrated his great love for us in this: while we were still sinners Christ died for us.’2 Then Paul reassured them that absolutely nothing could separate them from the love of God.3 He instructed them to love one another sincerely—wholeheartedly. ‘Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.’4 And then,
“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 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." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Romans 13.8-10, ESV

Wake up and pay attention now.

Allow me to segue . . . The questioning had gone on all day. ‘What about this? What about that?’ they wrangled, looking for ways to trip him up—ways to catch him in a contradiction. And then the most exacting of experts stepped to the front with a point sure to stymie him . . . ‘So, Rabbi,’ one said mockingly, ‘which is the greatest of the commandments?’ Jesus did not even hesitate. ‘Love the Lord thy God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And the second is this, love your neighbor as yourself.’5

Hmm… okay, now along comes Paul---Paul who had not stood with the other pious Jews on that day or on any other day listening to Jesus … no, when Jesus walked the streets of Palestine, Paul was not in attendance. Oh, he was in and around Jerusalem, but he was a devout young Jewish man learning at the feet of the most prominent and highly regarded Jewish teacher of the day, Gamaliel, forming his strong theological beliefs that would stand him in direct opposition to Jesus! UNTIL of course, the resurrected Lord stepped into Paul’s path on the road to Damascus, where he had a one-on-one conversion experience. Yes, God always gets his man.

But here’s the point I want to make with you—when Paul wrote about love fulfilling the Law, (a kind of review of Jesus’ same teaching), he had not been there that day. You must understand that he also could not just flip back to the Gospels in his Bible to read Jesus’ words. He did not have the gospels to read—nor had he heard Jesus’ teaching on the subject! So, how did he come up with the same equation about love fulfilling the Law ? Only one way. Direct revelation. Jesus revealed it to him himself. How do I know? After Paul’s miraculous conversion, through his encounter with Jesus Christ, when he came to know Jesus as his Messiah (Acts 9), he made it clear, ‘the gospel I preached is not something that man made up, I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.’6

That is why Paul wrote so emphatically “owe no man anything except love”. Paul knew that if we had a debt to repay, honor would command us to repay it—whether it was a loan or a mortgage, whatever. But on love…..that is where the onus is on us. Ha! The owe-ness is on us.

Jesus had personally conveyed to Paul that life, for the Christian, is to be all about love. And Paul got it. Boy, did he get it!

Christine Todd DiGiacomo

PastorWoman.com

1 1 Corinthians 13

2 Romans 5.8

3 Romans 8.38-39

4 Romans 12.9, 10

5 Mark 12:30-31

6 Galatians 1.11-12