Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: Romans 13 and Psalm 109

⁸ Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. ⁹ The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not covet,’and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ ¹⁰ Love does no harm to a neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfilment of the law.

Disciples of Jesus must understand that we have a constant and lifelong call to respond to the mercy and love of Jesus by loving Him and by loving the ones He loves; viz., our “neighbours”. That is a “living sacrifice” He loves to receive (Romans 12:1).

Jesus taught that all the Old Testament commands (the “Law and the Prophets”) are summed up in the commands to love God with every fibre of our being and to love our neighbours as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40). Paul rephrased the same truth when he wrote here that, “Love is the fulfilment of the law.” To put it slightly differently: God’s will for us is always to love!

In v.9, Paul listed the various behaviours forbidden by the Law and points out that these are all ways people do one another harm. When he points out that love is the fulfilment of every command, that is based on the Christian truth that to love someone is to seek their highest best. Love therefore logically does no harm to its neighbour. Conversely, love also actively seeks the neighbour’s highest best.

Life application: The Christian disciple is to abandon the pursuit of “gratifying the desires of the flesh” and to replace it with the holy pursuit of a life that is “clothed with Jesus” (v.14). This is a life of actively seeking the highest best of others. We take on the character of Jesus and we put the glory of Jesus on display when we imitate the love of Jesus. Whose highest best can you pursue today?