"Let no debt remain outstanding" (NIV).

Owe (3784) (opheilo from ophelos = profit, an increase) means to owe, and conveys the basic meaning of owing a debt and then of having a strong obligation which can be a moral obligation and personal duty. In this verse opheilo indicates a necessity, owing to the nature of the matter under consideration. In other words, Jesus was obligated (as it were) to do this in order that He might become our High Priest!

The tense is Jesus' command to owe (nothing) is present imperative which when coupled with the negative Greek particle me forbids the continuance of an action already going on. That is, do not continue owing a person. Stop being in debt. Pay your debts.

The connection with (Ro 13:7-note) is between due (opheile) and owe (opheilo) is this verse.

The only thing we are allowed to continually owe is divine love which is produced in the heart of the surrendered saint by the Holy Spirit (Ro 5:5-note Ro 8:4-note, Gal 5:16-note, Ga 5:22-note), a love that is self-sacrificial, reflecting a decision of the will & not based on one's feelings, a love which gives of itself for the benefit or highest good of the person loved (Jn 3:16 is our example).

All of us are debtors to God’s grace. As He has shown us love, we need to extend love to those around us with whom we live and work—even those who tax and govern us.

We owed a debt we could not pay. He paid a debt He did not owe. (Jn 19:30)

J. Hudson Taylor (click for biography), (“God’s work, done in God’s way, will receive God’s supply.”) the godly missionary to China, would never incur a debt, basing his conviction on this verse.

Charles Spurgeon, the great Baptist preacher, had the same conviction. However, the Bible does not forbid borrowing or legal financial transactions that involve interest.

Basically, the first part of this verse means “Pay your bills on time.” The admonition here is not to get into arrears (overdue accounts). However Paul is not giving a prohibition against borrowing money, which Scripture permits and regulates (Ex 22:25; Lev 25:35, 36, 37; Deut 15:7, 8, 9; Neh 5:7; Ps 15:5; 37:21, 26; Ezek 22:12; Mt 5:42; Lk 6:34).

Paul’s point is that all our financial obligations must be paid when they are due. [Deut 23:19, 20; 24:10, 11, 12, 13]. But in addition there are certain principles which should guide us in this area. We should not contract debts for nonessentials. We should not go into debt when there is no hope of repaying. We should avoid buying on the installment plan, incurring exorbitant interest charges. We should avoid borrowing to buy a product that depreciates in value. In general, we should practice financial responsibility by living modestly and within our means, always remembering that the borrower is slave to the lender (Pr 22:7).

EXCEPT TO (continually) LOVE ONE ANOTHER: ei me to allelous agapan (PAN): (Jn 13:34, 35 1Jn 3:18)

Love one another - Francis Schaeffer explains that...

All men are our neighbours, and we are to love them as ourselves. We are to do this on the basis of creation, even if they are not redeemed, for all men have value because they are made in the image of God. Therefore they are to be loved even at great cost.

Love (25) (agapao see related study of noun agape) means to love unconditionally and sacrificially as God Himself loves sinful men (John 3:16), the way He loves the Son (John 3:35, 15:9, 17:23, 24). This verb as used in the Scripture (and here by Jesus) expresses the purest, noblest form of love, which is volitional (personal choice), is not motivated by the recipient's superficial appearance, by one's emotional attraction, or by a sentimental relationship.

On the one hand he encourages us to get out of debt—“Let no debt remain outstanding,” (NIV rendering) while on the other hand he tells us we have an ongoing debt of love!

The Christian is always a love-debtor, no matter how much love he or she gives.

Love is a debt one can never fully discharge.

Matthew Henry wrote that...

Brotherly love is the badge of Christ's disciples.

D L Moody echoed Henry's sentiment declaring that...

A man may be a good doctor without loving his patients; a good lawyer without loving his clients; a good geologist without loving science; but he cannot be a good Christian without love.

One another  (240) (allelon) means each other and speaks of a mutuality or sharing of sentiments between two persons or groups of persons. Allelon is a reciprocal pronoun which denotes that the encouragement and edification is to be a mutual beneficial activity. As each submits, encourages, loves, etc, the other members benefit. This is the God's description and prescription for a body of believers.

One another is a common NT phrase (especially in Paul's letters) with most uses relating to the building up of the body of Christ. As such the "one anothers" in the NT would make an excellent Sunday School study (or topical sermon series), taking time to meditate on each occurrence, asking whether it is being practiced (in the Spirit-note) in your local church and seeking to excel still more (cp Php 1:9, 10, 11 -notes; 1Th 3:12-note, 1Th 4:1-note, 1Th 4:10-note). Below is a list  of the NT uses of one another (be sure to check the context for the most accurate interpretation).

Most often "one another" in the NT refers to relationships between believers but in this verse clearly this "one another" refers to any & every person without exception (Gal 6:10, 1Th 3:12) and in context equates with one's "neighbor" (see discussion of "neighbor" below).

We need to exhibit the love of Christ to everyone around us while we have the opportunity. (see study of opportunity or kairos below)

Here's a good exercise to consider: Every time we meet someone we ought to say to ourselves,

I need to show him or her the love of Christ. I have a great and wonderful debt to pay.

If you have ever had a personal debt, be it ever so small, you know that the first thing that enters your mind when you see that person is that you “owe” them. We need to truly see ourselves as spiritual debtors (Ro 1:14-note).

Because of the "revelation" in Ro 1-11, believers now have a "responsibility" & are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh (Ro 8:12-note).

As F B Meyer expressed it...

Whatever of outward service or obedience we render to God or man, if love is withheld, the law is not fulfilled.

When we go to church, town, work, shopping, school—wherever we go, whoever we meet, we owe love. This is our debt—loving others as we love ourselves!.

An early church father wrote

The debt of charity is permanent & we are never quit of it; for we must pay it daily & yet always owe it.

Paul (& Christ's) radical teaching commands but also enables the production of a profound commitment to love among the followers of Christ -- this is a love the world cannot believe but by which they will know we are His disciples (Jn 13:34, 35). The truly radical nature of this love was that the Master’s commandment called them to love as Christ loved them with a sacrificial love, the kind of love that even reaches out to those who wish us harm (as Jesus had done to Judas just moments before he gave the command).

><>><>><>

It Pays Better - What kind of lifestyle do you believe in and live? Is it one of focused selfishness, or one of lovingly seeking to meet the needs of others? (Romans 13:8).

One popular and influential novelist of our day espouses a godless philosophy that is totally self-centered. The hero of one of her early novels says,

"The word we must never be spoken . . . . I see the face of a god, and I raise this god over the earth, . . . who will grant them joy and peace and pride. This god, this one word: I."

What are the results of living entirely for ourselves and not loving our neighbors? Such a lifestyle may bring pride, and according to the author of the quote above, pride is the sum of all the virtues. Yet ruthless self-concern doesn't bring joy, nor does a self-centered lifestyle bring peace. One discerning reviewer made this statement about the selfish novelist: "She seems to be one of the unhappiest persons who ever lived."

God's Word sets forth the precise opposite of such a self-centered philosophy of life. The guiding principle for abundant living is that we love our neighbor as we love ourselves (v.9). What do we experience when we live such a lifestyle? "Righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Ro 14:17-note). A life of love—it definitely pays better! —V C Grounds (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Love is giving for the world's needs,
Love is sharing as the Spirit leads,
Love is caring when the world cries,
Love is compassion with Christlike eyes. —Brandt

Love is the door through which we pass from selfishness to service.

FOR HE WHO LOVES HIS NEIGHBOR HAS FULFILLED THE LAW: ho gar agapon (PAPMSN) ton heteron nomon pepleroken (3SRAI): (study "good Samaritan" Lk 10:29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36,37) (Mt 22:39 Mk 12:31) (Ro 12:10; Galatians 5:14; Col 3:14-note; 1Timothy 1:5; James 2:8)

Loves (25) (agapao from agape) is in the  present tense meaning to continually, unconditionally, sacrificially love. Such a love like an artesian well (Spirit empowered) flows out of the person's lifestyle.
 

In doing this the believer will actually perform the righteousness to which the law could only point. Love, not mere external conformity to rules, is the essence of the Law (Gal 5:14).

Calvin wrote

"Paul's design is to reduce all the precepts of the law to love, so that we may know we are duly obeying the commandments when we are maintaining love."

Kent Hughes asks...

The preposition "for" brings out the logical connection.

Paul proceeds to cite 4 of the 10 commandments to show that if one loves, these commandments will be fulfilled. Paul has just said that loving one's neighbor fulfills the Law & now he reiterates with 4 laws relating to our neighbor as found in the second half of the 10 commandments, concluding with the "key" (coveting) that is involved in the other three (Ro 7:7-note ).

In the original giving of the 10 commandments murder preceded adultery but here Paul places the "7th" commandment adultery ahead of the "6th", murder. 

Barclay commenting on adultery as a failure to discharge the debt of love writes

"When two people allow their physical passions to sweep them away, the reason is, not that they love each other too much, but that they love each other too little; in real love there is at once respect & restraint which saves from sin".  (Barclay, W: The Daily Study Bible Series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press)

 Adultery (3431) (moicheuo from moichós = an adulterer) is used of one unfaithful to marriage vows. This was a figure of speech in the OT and was synonymous with unfaithfulness to God especially manifest by idolatry.

Related Resource - Solomon's warnings and preventatives against sexual immorality and adultery - See exposition of Proverbs 5:1-14;   Proverbs 5:15-23; Proverbs 6:20-35; Proverbs 7:1-27

Jesus broadened the meaning of adultery to include not just acts but thoughts, explaining

"You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY' but I say to you, that everyone who looks on a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.  And if your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out, and throw it from you; for it is better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off, and throw it from you; for it is better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, than for your whole body to go into hell." (See notes Matthew 5:27-30)

Paul used moicheuo in (Ro 2:22-note) in his prosecution of the Jews who knew the Law but were not backing up with their life what they were saying with their lips, writing to them

"You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?"

YOU SHALL NOT MURDER YOU SHALL NOT STEAL YOU SHALL NOT COVET: ou phoneuseis (2SFAI) ou klepseis ouk epithumeseie (2SFAI):

Not murder (5407) (phoneuo) means to  kill a man unjustly. Webster (modern version) says that murder is the crime of unlawfully killing a person especially with malice aforethought. (See topic Murder) In the OT passages (Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17) the Hebrew word for "murder" refers to pre-meditated, deliberate, intentional murder not accidental killing.

Before you say this one surely doesn't apply to me, note that Jesus explains that to the Jews (and to us) that

"You have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.' "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, 'Raca,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell." (see notes Mt 5:21-22)

Steal  (2813) (klepto)  (our English kleptomaniac) Paul had used this term once before describing the "religious" Jews in (Ro 2:21-note). If you love your neighbor you won’t take from him.

Coveting underlies all the other sins dealt with in the commandments Paul quotes, for it leads to committing adultery (desiring another's wife), murder  (desiring another's life), and stealing (desiring another's goods).

When your neighbor drives up in a new automobile, how do you feel about it? Sometimes we say, “I wish we had the car and they had one just like it.” What we really mean is that we would rather have that car than see them have it.

Paul is saying that our love for our neighbor is revealed in what we do rather than in what we say. He is not putting the Christian back under the Law; he is saying that love manifests itself in not committing adultery, not killing, not stealing, not coveting. You can talk about love all you want to, but if you commit these acts against your neighbor, you have no love for him and you are breaking the law (not fulfilling the law).

Covet (1937) (epithumeo from epi = upon or intensification + thumos = passions) (Click for an in depth word study of related noun epithumia) literally means to fix the desire upon and thus is a graphic word picture. Furthermore, prefix preposition epi- expresses motion toward an object!

Sometimes epithumeo is used in a "good" sense as in (Lk 22:15, Acts 20:33, 1Co 10:6, 1Ti 3:1, Heb 6:11-note, 1Pe 1:12-note) but that is obviously not how Paul is using it in this verse.

Clearly Paul is making reference to desiring something one should not desire a meaning that is also seen in the NT passages below...

James asks

"What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?  You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures." (Js 4:1-3)

Paul writes that

"the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please." (See notes Gal 5:17) .

Paul uses epithumeo to illustrate the purpose of the law, asking the rhetorical question

"What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, "YOU SHALL NOT COVET." (see note Romans 7:7)

><>><>><>

Love Your Neighbor - When Jesus commanded the rich young ruler to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 19:19), what did He mean by the words "as yourself"? And what did the apostle Paul mean when he repeated those words in Romans 13:9?

The statement by our Lord and by Paul is not a command to love ourselves more; it's a recognition that most of us already look after our own welfare in reasonable ways. That is, we love ourselves enough to feed and clothe ourselves, to keep a roof over our heads, and to avoid being cheated or injured. In practice, we should love our neighbor at least that much.

But there's more. In John 15:12, Jesus also commanded His disciples to love one another just as He had loved them. He used the Greek word agape, which signifies an active love that is unconditional, self-sacrificial, and for the good of others. This love is often more of a decision than an emotion. Author David Walls wrote,

"We cannot command feelings, but we can command an active determination of our will."

Even when we don't feel love for someone, if we choose to show love our feelings will usually follow. Let's take the initiative to love our neighbor every day. —J E Yoder (see also What Is Real Love?) (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Lord, teach us the lesson of loving,
To love as You showed us the way;
Then help us to love one another—
For this we most earnestly pray. —Anon.

True love is an action, not just a feeling.

AND IF THERE IS ANY OTHER COMMANDMENT IT IS SUMMED UP IN THIS SAYING YOU SHALL LOVE  YOUR NEIGHBOR  AS YOURSELF: kai ei tis hetera entole, en to logo touto anakephalaioutai (3SPPI) (en to): agapeseis (2SFAI) ton plesion sou os seauton: (Leviticus 19:18,34; Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Galatians 5:13; James 2:8, 9, 10)

Remember that our "neighbor" is anyone "near" (Greek word for neighbor is plesion (4139) which is derived from word meaning "near"!), and thus is anyone we encounter in our life who needs our help. Love is the inevitable response of the heart in which God's love has been poured by the Holy Spirit (Ro 5:5-note).

It is easy to "love" in an abstract way, but Paul wants his readers to love the people they actually meet day by day (with all their faults). Love is something that takes effect in the home, in the marketplace, in the workshop, on the village green, wherever people are met. God's love manifests itself through the loving acts of His children. Where it is absent, any claim to a family relationship is merely pretense.

The verse Paul is quoting here is taken from (Leviticus 19:18) and is the single most quoted verse in the NT (9 times). Sadly this verse is also one of the most inaccurately interpreted and inappropriately applied verses by many in the church, where it is frequently used as justification for we should love ourselves ("self-love"). This is NOT a command to love ourselves but to the contrary is a recognition that we (as depraved sinners) have no difficulty whatsoever in loving ourselves -- and because this is a fact that any mirror would readily attest to, Paul commands us to love others just as genuinely and sincerely as we love ourselves. Luther wrote "because of the defect of his nature, man loves himself above everything else".

Hendrickson adds

"it is a certain thing that a person will love himself, and it is also certain that he will do so in spite of the fact that the self he loves has many faults!" (Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. New Testament Commentary Set, 12 Volumes. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House)

This commandment to love others ourselves is quoted from (Leviticus 19:18) (cf Mt 22:39, Mk12:28, 29, 30, 31, Lk 10:27, Gal 5:14, James 2:8) because it is the one commandment that expresses all that the Law enjoins (or summarizes in one law all the prior commands - no adultery, murder, stealing or coveting, etc) and to obey this one is to fulfill the Law. How is this humanly possible? It's not -- it is IMpossible and is only HIMpossible! (Ro 8:4-note, Gal 5:16-note, etc)

It's His divine enabling power but it is our continual responsibility as Spirit controlled believers who are no longer our own. Genuine agape love is self-less not self-love.

"Summed up" (346) (anakephalaiomai  from aná = again + kephalaióo = sum up, recapitulate) means to bring something to a head or bring together under one head or in literary terms under one heading. This word is used only here and in (Ep 1:10 - note)

Paul is saying that the command to "love" is the category heading and all the other commands are listed under love as part of it or expressions of it. Paul says the law of love brings to a head all the law.

Rienecker adds

"This is a rhetorical term used of the summing up of a speech or argument & hence of including a large number of separate details under one head."

Keep both the vertical (relationship to God) and the horizontal (man to man) commandments and you will keep the whole Law! Here in his letter to the Romans, Paul is assuming that his readers have a vertical love for God (Ro5:5 for God has poured out His love within their hearts), but do they have a horizontal love for others? If so, they are fulfilling God’s Law. When we love our neighbors we will refrain from breaking the horizontal relational commands-- from adultery, murder, stealing, coveting. When you love your neighbor you will regard his life as inviolable. When you love your neighbor you will respect his ownership of property.

Note that there is a sense in which love for our neighbor is a more obvious measure of where we stand with God than our love for God Himself. We can easily convince others that we love God, but it is far more difficult to feign love for our neighbors! They are not fooled as easily on that score, and neither are we. Thus our love for others provides a helpful measure of our spiritual state.