Romans 13:8-10

Romans 13:8 (ESV)
“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”

Good Debt

Most people eventually face a decision about whether something is worth going into debt for. There’s “good debt,” when we borrow for something we believe has lasting value, like buying a home or getting an education. Then there’s “bad debt,” when we spend beyond our means on things we don’t need or can’t afford. Whether the debt seems worth taking on often depends on how much value we place on what we’re getting in return. That’s why one person may be willing to make payments for years on something another person wouldn’t spend a dollar on.

Paul tells believers there is one debt that should always remain: loving one another. He writes, “Owe no one anything, except to love each other.” The love Paul speaks about is agape, the self giving love we see in God’s love toward us. The Father demonstrated His love by sending His Son, and Jesus demonstrated His love by willingly giving Himself for us. That love came at a great cost. Jesus endured rejection, betrayal, ridicule, suffering, and ultimately the cross. The love we have received from God was costly, and Paul now calls us to love others with that same willingness to give of ourselves.

That makes Paul’s language about debt so powerful. Financial debts eventually have a final payment. You make the last payment, the balance reaches zero, and the obligation is finished. But the debt of love doesn’t work that way. There is never a moment when we can look at another person and say, “I’ve loved you enough. My obligation is fulfilled.” Every day presents another opportunity to be patient, kind, forgiving, generous, and selfless. This is a debt that never reaches a zero balance.

So, can believers agree on what makes a good debt? Yes! Loving one another is a debt worth carrying. It may cost you time, comfort, patience, convenience, or the desire to have your own way. You may even love people who don’t love you back, appreciate what you’ve done, or recognize what it cost you. But remember what God’s love has already cost for you. If we truly value the love we have received from Him, we should be willing to let that same love cost us something as we give it to others. The debt of love is one we’ll gladly carry for the rest of our lives.

Practice This:

Look for one opportunity to pay the debt of love today. Maybe it costs you time to listen to someone, patience with someone who frustrates you, generosity toward someone in need, or forgiveness toward someone who has hurt you. Whatever the cost, choose to love without expecting anything in return. Remember, this is one debt we’re never finished paying.

Prayer:

Father, Your love for me came at a great cost, and I want that same kind of love to be seen through my life. When loving others costs me time, patience, comfort, or something I would rather hold on to, keep my heart willing to give. I don’t want to keep score or decide that I’ve loved someone enough. Let the love I’ve received from You continue to overflow into the way I love others. Amen.

Romans 13:9 (ESV)
“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.’”

Do You Love Me?

Have you ever stopped to think about what it means to “love yourself”? That phrase can make some Christians uncomfortable because our culture often uses self love to mean putting yourself first, following every desire, or making your own happiness the highest priority. But it’s still a question worth asking. We naturally take care of ourselves. We eat when we’re hungry, rest when we’re tired, get dressed, shower, and protect ourselves when we’re in danger. But is meeting our basic needs all that love is? What about the person who constantly talks down to themselves, carries the hurtful words others have spoken over them, or struggles to see themselves as someone deeply loved by God?

There is a healthy way to view ourselves, and it begins with the grace of God. Loving yourself doesn’t mean becoming obsessed with yourself or believing you’re better than everyone else. It means seeing yourself in light of what God has said about you. You were created in His image. Christ considered you worth pursuing and dying for. If you belong to Christ, you have been brought into His family, given grace when you fail, and gifted to contribute to His body. None of this should produce pride, but humility and gratitude because your worth isn’t something you achieved.

When Paul says, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” he seems to assume that we already have a natural concern for ourselves. But it’s still worth asking, “How am I viewing and treating myself?” There is a difference between humility and constantly tearing yourself down. You can recognize your weaknesses, repent when you sin, and still appreciate the person God created you to be. Grace allows you to be honest about where you fall short without allowing your failures to define you. Loving yourself rightly isn’t thinking more highly of yourself. It’s learning to see yourself honestly through the grace of God.

Now turn that same concern toward your neighbor. Think about the patience you need when you fail, the encouragement you need when you’re discouraged, the grace you need when you fall short, and the care you desire when you’re hurting. The people around you need those things too. Loving your neighbor as yourself means extending to others the same care, grace, patience, and concern you desire for yourself. Receive God’s love with humility, let it shape the way you see yourself, and then allow it to overflow into the way you love others.

Practice this:

Pay attention to the way you speak to yourself today, especially when you make a mistake or fall short. Ask yourself whether your thoughts reflect the grace God has shown you or whether you’re tearing down someone He created and loves. Then turn that same grace outward. Look for someone who needs the patience, encouragement, or kindness you would want in their situation, and love your neighbor as yourself.

Prayer:

Father, thank You for loving me with a love I could never earn. Help me to see myself through Your grace instead of through my failures, insecurities, or the hurtful words I’ve carried with me. Keep me humble without tearing myself down, and let the grace I’ve received from You overflow into the way I treat others. Let my words, patience, encouragement, and care reflect the love You have shown me. Amen.

Romans 13:8-9 (ESV)
“8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 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 God, Love Others

In Matthew’s account, a lawyer approached Jesus with a question meant to test Him: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” (Matthew 22:35–36). With hundreds of commands in the Law, Jesus was being asked to identify which one mattered most. Instead of getting pulled into a debate over individual commands, Jesus went straight to the heart of the Law. Quoting Deuteronomy 6:5, He said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Then, quoting Leviticus 19:18, He added, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus concluded, “On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37–40). His answer wasn’t simply clever. It revealed what God had desired for His people all along: to love Him wholeheartedly and to love the people around them.

Years later, Paul points believers back to the same truth Jesus taught. He lists several familiar commandments: don’t commit adultery, don’t murder, don’t steal, and don’t covet. Then he says that these commands, along with every other commandment, are summed up in one statement: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Think about why that makes sense. If you genuinely love your neighbor, you won’t commit adultery with their spouse, murder them, steal what belongs to them, or covet what they have. Love doesn’t make God’s commands unnecessary. Instead, love gets to the heart of why those commands matter. When love for God shapes our hearts and love for people shapes our actions, obedience becomes more than avoiding what is wrong. We begin to desire what honors God and what is good for the people around us.

Many people may approach their faith by asking, “What am I not allowed to do?” When someone asks a question like that, point them toward a better one: “What does love call me to do?” Loving your neighbor isn’t limited to avoiding adultery, murder, theft, or coveting. You can go through an entire day without breaking any of those commands and still miss opportunities to love someone. Love moves us beyond simply avoiding harm and calls us to actively seek the good of others. It forgives, serves, encourages, gives, listens, and puts others' needs ahead of our own. Following Jesus isn’t just about avoiding what is wrong. It’s about living in a way that reflects His love to the people around us.

Love God and love people. Let those two commands shape how you speak, the decisions you make, the relationships you pursue, and how you respond when someone hurts you. Before you act, ask yourself: Does this honor God, and does this demonstrate love toward the people around me? Jesus said everything hangs on these two commands. Love God with everything you have, and let your love for Him overflow into how you love the people He has placed around you.

Practice this:

As you go through your day, don’t only ask whether something is right or wrong. Pause and ask, “What does love call me to do?” Look for an opportunity to move beyond simply avoiding harm and actively seek someone else’s good. Encourage someone, listen when it would be easier to move on, serve without being asked, or put someone else’s needs ahead of your own. Let your love for God become visible in the way you love people.

Prayer:

Father, I love You and want that love to shape the way I live. I don’t want my faith to simply be about avoiding what’s wrong. Let my love for You overflow into the way I treat the people around me. In my words, decisions, relationships, and responses, let others experience the patience, kindness, grace, and love You have shown me. Amen.

Romans 13:10 (ESV)
“Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.”

Love Does

A command is an instruction meant to be followed, not merely considered. In the verses leading up to Romans 13:10, Paul has repeatedly called believers to love. This wasn’t a suggestion reserved for the mature believer, the naturally compassionate person, or someone with an easy personality. The command to love belongs to every follower of Jesus. Paul has already shown that this command is rooted in what God has desired for His people all along, and now he brings the thought together: “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”

What makes Paul’s description of love so important is that he doesn’t reduce love to a feeling. He doesn’t say, “Love when you feel like it,” or “Love when you feel emotionally connected.” Instead, notice the language Paul uses: “Love does no wrong to a neighbor.” Love does. The Greek verb translated “does” is in the present tense, describing a person’s responsibility to show an ongoing action. Love isn’t passive or waiting for the right feeling to come along. It acts. Love serves when you don’t want to. Love forgives when you don’t want to. Love gives when you don’t want to. Love shows patience when you’re frustrated and chooses kindness when it would be easier not to. Feelings can change from one moment to the next, but obedience doesn’t have to wait for our emotions to catch up. You may not feel loving in the moment, but you can still choose to love through what you do.

That can be difficult because there will be people you don’t naturally feel like loving. Someone may frustrate you, disappoint you, hurt you, or simply get on your nerves. But difficulty doesn’t remove the call to love. Instead, it can reveal the places in our hearts where God still wants to work. When loving someone feels especially difficult, it’s worth bringing that struggle before the Lord. What is happening inside of you? Are you holding on to bitterness, struggling with pride, or carrying hurt that still needs healing? The struggle to love someone can become an opportunity for God to work more deeply in us.

So don’t wait until you feel more loving. Love now. Choose words that don’t tear someone down. Refuse to repay hurt with hurt. Show patience when irritation comes more naturally. Forgive when holding a grudge feels easier. Serve when you would rather be served. Paul says love does no wrong to a neighbor because love actively seeks their good. You may not always feel love before you act, but you can choose obedience in the moment. Love isn’t something we save for when we feel it. Love now.

Practice this:

Think of someone you’re having a difficult time loving right now. Instead of waiting for your feelings toward them to change, ask yourself, “What would love do?” Maybe it means showing patience, offering forgiveness, speaking kindly, serving, or refusing to respond out of frustration. Choose one action that reflects the love of Jesus and do it today. Don’t wait until you feel like loving. Love now.

Prayer:

Father, there are times when loving others is difficult, and my feelings don’t match what You have called me to do. I don’t want my emotions to determine whether I obey You. When I’m frustrated, hurt, disappointed, or simply don’t feel like loving, let the love You have shown me shape what I do next. Let my words and actions reflect Jesus, even when it’s difficult. Love through me today. Amen.

Romans 13:8-10 (ESV)
8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 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.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

What is Love?

We use the word “love” all the time. We love our spouse, our kids, our friends, our favorite restaurant, and even a certain TV show. But just because we use the same word doesn’t mean we always mean the same thing. Our culture has its own ideas about what it means to love someone, and one of those ideas is that loving someone means accepting or affirming whatever they choose. If you disagree, challenge, or tell someone something they don’t want to hear, it can quickly be labeled unloving. But if Paul tells believers to love one another, then we shouldn’t allow culture to define what that love looks like. We need to understand love the way God defines it.

Biblical love is grounded in both grace and truth. John describes Jesus as being “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14), and Paul writes that love “does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:6). When grace is separated from truth, we can begin affirming things simply because we don’t want to offend someone. When truth is separated from grace, we can become harsh, arrogant, and more concerned with being right than loving the person in front of us. Biblical love doesn’t force us to choose between the two. We can care deeply about someone while still being honest about what God says is true.

Jesus showed us what that kind of love looks like. He welcomed people others rejected, ate with sinners, showed compassion to the hurting, and extended grace to people whose lives were far from God. But His grace never required Him to ignore truth. Jesus could forgive someone and still call them to leave their sin. He could welcome someone without affirming everything in their life. He met people where they were while calling them to repentance, obedience, and a transformed life. Jesus wasn’t afraid of truth, and He never used truth as an excuse to stop loving people.

That brings us back to Paul’s words: “Love does no wrong to a neighbor.” If we truly love someone, we should desire what is good for them, even when that requires grace, patience, honesty, or a difficult conversation. At the same time, knowing what God says is true never gives us permission to become cruel, condemning, or self-righteous. We don’t get to redefine love according to what feels comfortable, and we don’t get to redefine truth according to what is popular. We look to Jesus. Love people with grace. Love people with truth. And let God, not the world around us, define what love looks like.

Practice this:

Think about the way you love the people around you. Do you tend to avoid difficult truths because you don’t want to offend someone, or do you sometimes speak truth without enough grace? Look for one opportunity today to reflect Jesus by bringing both together. Be honest without being harsh. Be gracious without compromising what God says is true. Let Jesus, not your comfort or the culture around you, define what love looks like.

Prayer:

Father, I want the way I love people to reflect Jesus. Keep me from using grace as a reason to avoid truth or truth as a reason to withhold grace. Let my words and actions be shaped by both. Give me courage to be honest, humility to be gentle, and wisdom to know when and how to speak. Let the people around me experience a love that points them toward You. Amen.