What's Love Got to Do with It?
Romans 13:8-10 NKJ
Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are allsummed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
To answer the title of the devotional, What's love got to do with it, according to our verses in Romans, quite a lot. Love fulfills all the law.
It seems as if Paul abruptly changes the subject when he starts on the topic of love. In verse seven, he instructs the church to render or pay their obligations. But in verse eight, he begins with, "Owe no one anything except to love one another." In years past, I have heard this preached as you should never have any debt. Owe no one anything. Some people took this to mean they could not have a mortgage, so they rented. But this is not taking the verse in context. I am perfectly fine with not having debt, but have been blessed by having a mortgage and building equity. But this does not seem to be talking about owing money but rather having an obligation to walk in love with one another. We owe it to our brothers and sisters in Christ to love them. Jesus loved us and gave us an example of how we are to live.
Paul goes on to draw a comparison with the law, the Ten Commandments. He lists adultery, murder, and stealing. Pretty easy to see that if we love someone, we will not commit adultery, steal from them, and murder is completely out. Paul lists bearing false witness, or lying about someone, and coveting their stuff. If we love them, we won't lie about them or greedily desire what they have. And then Paul doubles down by declaring that if there is any other commandment, they are all summed up with one thing. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The bottom line with this kind of love is that it does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Later on, in this same chapter, Paul speaks of throwing off the works of darkness and putting on the armor of light. He does not go into detail, but we can connect adultery, lying, stealing, and murder as a work of darkness. And walking in love is part of the armor of light.
Jesus called us to walk in this love. He did no harm when He was on the earth. He healed and blessed and helped. Even with the ones that opposed Him, He did no harm. This is one of the reasons it is easier for me to believe that God does not put sickness, disease, and depression on people. Sickness, disease, and depression do harm. But Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. The Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of love because God is love. John would later write that living in this kind of love is how we have confidence before God. "Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment."1 John 3:21-23 NKJ
Evidently, when it comes to God and His Kingdom, love has everything to do with it.