Romans 13 – Brandon Hatmaker “Love and Law”
Friday, June 6th, 2008
Paul leaves no room for argument or confusion. Love is the fulfillment of the law. He sets the table in chapter 12 for our need to present ourselves a living sacrifice, he describes what that looks like as we exercise our gifts (vs.3-8), he gives us the filter in which those gifts should be used (vs.9-21). Now in chapter 13 he uses the same stream of thinking to explain submission (13:1-7). That stream is summed up in the fulfillment of the law… Love God, Love Others… How? More than we love ourselves. Why? Because the time has come:
“Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. – Romans 13:11-12
Paul clearly states the only way to live as a follower of Christ is to “put on” the armor of light through “putting on” Christ, wholly and completely. This is our spiritual act of worship. This is the presentation of our living sacrifice.
“Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” – Romans 13:14
The truth is so thick in these passages, yet he’s only just begun. Paul is setting the table for Romans 14. Here he gets into the mud. Here he calls us out in how to deal with one another on a heart level. He deals with us and how we treat one another when we disagree on the most intimate, most personal, most significant part of who we are… our faith and how it is manifest in our lives.
Father, teach us to allow your truth to saturate our entire lives. Even areas we feel we already have. Teach us Love. Amen.
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ReplyDeleteEverything in the bible all comes together. Paul tells us right out of the gate that we must submit to those that GOD has placed over us. This was and is a tough pill for me to swallow. I did not enjoy the main job I had this year. It was not what I wanted to do. I tried to avoid it and go to another position with the school distict but, in the end I ended up where I started from. It is hard to submit to something that we don't agree with it. We are reminded that it is not up to us to do this. God tells us to do this. No matter what we are doing we must do it as if working for God. In the end that is who we are working for. Sure we get a pay check and we may or may not get earthly satisfaction from our jobs. BUT, without God everything is trash.
Everything is trash. That's good!
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