Romans 13:8 Devotional Scripture - Owe Nothing But Love

Owe no one anything, except to love each other,

for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 

Romans 13:8 

The one debt that is always outstanding is the obligation to love. The word used for love is agape, which signifies a deep, unselfish, love.  It means to love unconditionally and sacrificially as God Himself loves us. The reason why we have incurred this debt is because we ourselves have received God’s gracious love.  All of us are debtors to God’s grace.  As He has shown us love, we need to extend love to those around us.

This kind of love that we are talking about, this kind of debt that we owe has got to be something that God enables us to do. Man in his flesh cannot do it. We cannot muster up this kind of love in our own strength.  Rather, we pay this debt out of the limitless overflow of God’s love toward us.  It’s only after we have come to knows Jesus Christ that we have the capacity to deny ourselves and to love others as we should.  And it is only through His Spirit that we are able to love someone with this type of love.

In this passage, Paul echoes Jesus’ words as recorded in Matthew 22:37-40.

 "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul,

and with all your mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  

And the second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.

 

We owed a debt we could not pay. Jesus paid a debt He did not owe. The fact that we are commanded to love indicates that it is something we can choose to do. Granted, it’s a lifelong growth process and we often fail to love as we ought. But love should be our diligent focus and over time there should be progress.