(7) “Render to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor. (8) “Owe no man anything, save to love one another: for he that loveth his neighbor hath fulfilled the law. (9) For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is summed up in this word, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. (10) Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: love therefore is the fulfilment of the law. (11) “And this, knowing the season, that already it is time for you to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer to us than when we first believed. (12) The night is far spent, and the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. (13) Let us walk becomingly, as in the day; not in revelling and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and jealousy. (14) But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”
Golden Text.—“Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Rom. 13:10.
SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.
(1) What should the Christian do to all men? How does Paul specify these different “dues”? Verse 7. Note 1. (2) What debt alone is it legitimate for a Christian to owe? In loving one another, what is accomplished? Verse 8. Note 2. (3) What commandments does Paul enumerate as a part of the law? In what saying is the whole second table of the law comprehended? Verse 9. Note 3. (4) How does love lead us to treat our neighbor? What, therefore, is love? Verse 10. (5) What is it time now for the Christian to do? Why is this so? Verse 11. (6) What is said of this night of sin? What of the day? What two things, therefore, are necessary for the Christian to do? Verse 12. Note 4. (7) Having put off darkness and put on light, how should the Christian walk? What things does Paul specify as being outside of Christian living? Verse 13. Note 5. (8) Whom must the Christian put on? What will this lead us to cease doing? Verse 14.
NOTES.
1. “To all their dues.”—The Christian’s commission is a commission of service. He is in the world for that very purpose. When he ceases to serve, he ceases to be a true Christian. Helpful to all at all times and in all places, must be the purpose of him who would be the follower of Christ. He will pay his taxes, his debts, and have proper respect and deference for all. Some have turned this text to the purposes of the Christian citizenship movement. Such is wholly unwarranted. Paul was not a political agitator, and he is not teaching that work here. He does not teach that the Christian teacher’s work is “to train the young for noble citizenship.” They are to teach true Christianity, and the citizenship will take care of itself. The Christian is a sojourner here, and an ambassador; his citizenship is in heaven.
2. “Hath fulfilled the law.”—The law of God is founded in love. The first table is the expression of love to God; the second, of love to man. So the Saviour sums up the whole law in the words: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,” etc., and “thy neighbor as thyself.” Mark 12:30, 31. So as long as we hold those principles in our heart, we are fulfilling the law of God. So, also, as long as those principles exist, the law of God, in which they are founded, exists. God is “from everlasting to everlasting.” God is love; therefore love is from everlasting to everlasting. “Love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13:10); therefore the law is from everlasting to everlasting. Love will be fulfilling the law as long as God lives. The one who loves his neighbor is working out the positive form of the second table of the law.
3. “If there be any other commandment.”—By putting his statement in that way Paul does not mean to convey the impression that he has enumerated all the law; but he summarizes them all in the one word, love.
4. “Cast off the works of darkness.”—There was never greater need of this than now. The works of darkness were never more prevalent than now, at the very time when “the day is at hand.” It is Satan’s fixed purpose to darken the way and blind the eyes of all until probation is past. But the works of darkness are incompatible with the law of God. They are outside of the Christian’s business. His armor is to be light, and his works the works of light.
5. “Walk honestly, as in the day.”—The whole life is to be as open as the day—nothing dark, nothing hidden; walk as though the Lord was taking personal cognizance of our every deed—as He is; walk as though remembering that we are setting examples each day that may shape the course of others for good or ill through eternity—as we are.
