Romans 13:8-10
1. Only when your accounts are settled can you truly give.
ἀγαπάω / agapao=
Christian love—its definition, ideas, and themes—have shaped the world so because only this love is based on the security of what God did for us, by grace, to give us a new identity.
-Only with this backdrop do we find ourselves able to pour ourselves out without being “spent.”
2. In general, keep your “accounts” settled.
-God designed your life with various relationships of responsibilities, wages, taxes, and commitments to honor.
Don’t stretch yourself to thin.
Don’t be in a constant state of “borrowing.”
3. In specific ways, spend yourself with sacrificial love.
-God designed your life with various skills and energies
Don’t grow weary in doing good (Gal. 6:9)
4. Don’t just avoid breaking the law’s cup; fill it up!
-God designed the law with negative commands that always are fulfilled when you pursue the positive command of love.
-The NT itself interprets the Mosaic law—though it is one, full covenant—as having interpretable structure; Paul knows wha the “core” is.
-If you obey all the law and then creatively live its principles, you will love and never wrong your neighbor.
If you want to love your neighbor, you will need a Savior.
