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Romans 13
Haystack bible commentary"Stacks and stacks of commentary...."
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- romans 13:1-7 -
==romaNS 13:8-9:
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Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. |
Let no debt remain outstanding. The borrower is the slave of the lender. This is an unfortunate commentary of the state of our government. It has borrowed from itself many times, but never been able to pay itself back. Several reasons for that, but one in particular is that it simply cannot. The best it can do is print money that has little to no value and try to reimburse itself that way. That, of course, is also corrupt. It has now become so enslaved to its own corrupt efforts that, save for a miracle, it is really beyond repair. “A just weight and balance are the LORD’s: all the weights of the bag are his work.” (Prov 16:11). The following verse (Rom 13:9) speaks about love being the greatest commandment in that it does no harm to its neighbor. We live in dark times where acts of true (righteous) love are the exception rather than the rule. This is true with our neighbors and, unfortunately, right up to the acts of government leaders.
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==romaNS 13:10-14:
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Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. |
Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV) says, “ But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
In the summer of A.D. 386 a man named Augustine, a native of North Africa, who had for two years been the Professor of Rhetoric at Milan, sat weeping in the garden of his friend, Alypius. He was almost persuaded to begin a new life, and yet he found it impossible to break with his old life. As he sat, historians tell us that he heard a child singing in a neighboring yard, "Tolle Lege, Tolli Lege"--a little melody that means: "Take up and read...take up and read." Picking up a scroll which lay at his friend's side, his eyes fell upon the words:
Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. Romans 13:13-14 NASB" No further would I read," he said, "Nor had I any need, instantly at the end of this sentence a clear light flooded my heart and all the darkness of doubt vanished away." And in that very moment from one sentence in the book of Romans, the Church received the great Augustine, who has probably exerted more influence on the Church worldwide than any theologian in the history of the Church. It was Augustine who refuted and finally demolished the teaching of Pelagius simply by expounding the Epistle to the Romans. Pelaguis taught that there was no inherit inclination to evil in human nature, no original sin. He taught moralism--that man apart from God could save himself. --Berean Bible Church |