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Owe no man anything but to love another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For, You shall not commit adultery. You shall not kill. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. You shall not covet; and if any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended (reduced to its lowest common denominator, summed up completely) in this saying; namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love works no ill toward its neighbor; therefore, love is the total fulfilling of the law.
Romans 13:8-10
God commands us today, “Owe no man anything.” Think about that command for a moment. What about family? What about our children? What about our parents? What about our brothers and sisters in Christ? What about our husband or wife? Hmmm? What about our jobs and work colleagues? Only one obligation. Love them.
This command, “Love one another” does not say, Be nice to one another. It doesn’t say, Be careful to not offend, Be sure to always do the proper religious thing, Always do what is expected, Never do anything to be exceptional, Don’t ask too many questions, Watch your witness, Pray more, Read your Bible more, or any such thing. God is very clear and focused on His statement, which He revealed to the Apostle Paul and then inspired him to write down for our benefit. To love means to treasure, and its supply in our lives is only guaranteed by our treasuring of God and of His Christ above all else.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Matthew 6:21
In order for there to be love, there must first be the liberty, or freedom which the presence of Christ brings. Where there is debt or obligation, there can not be true Godly love, because God’s love is by definition freely given. This is why the first of the general Pauline epistles, (those letters addressed to us and for our benefit today) concerns itself with the gift of God’s righteousness and the freedom that gift brings. (Besides Romans, the next three, two letters to the Corinthians and one to the Galatians, also concern themselves, in a reproving and correcting manner, with the truths of Romans).
Being justified freely by His grace (generosity) by means of the redemption (restoration to fruitfulness and effectiveness) that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 3:24
Justification is the process by which righteousness comes about. Both words share the same Greek root word. If righteousness is the balance of life, then justification is the means by which the unbalanced is being brought back into balance. If we focus on the process of our justification, then our righteousness will just automatically be!
But seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Therefore don’t worry for tomorrow; for tomorrow shall worry for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Matthew 6:33, 34
According to God, we have been, and are being, brought into balance freely! This free justification is so important, I can not stress it enough. We are justified freely! There is no debt or obligation that is incurred as we are brought into our righteousness, our rightly balanced standing before God. Many Christians believe and live like though their salvation is free, once they receive it they then owe God something, if not everything. How can our justification by God through the work of His son Jesus Christ be free, if as a response to it we are now indebted to God? If Jesus paid the price, then why would God continue to insist that the price continue to be paid by us?!
Take a moment. Right now, take a moment. Think about what lies within you, your understanding of the things of God. Do you owe God anything? Right now, is what you’ve received from God, and are receiving, free of any and all obligation and debt? Or, in your mind and heart, is God waiting (perhaps impatiently) for you to do something for Him? Are you full and complete right now, as you are, without works or commitment or performance or behavior of any kind? Are you free in your being? Or are you only free when you’re living your life properly and correctly (as you understand it)?
If the son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed (in your being). Romans 8:36
Is your life full of loving possibilities as you seek opportunities to express that love? Then you are free to love, and the working of Christ within will be sure and provide you with an abundance of those opportunities of loving expression. Or is your life full of obligations, and do you feel trapped in a maze of never ending ought-to’s and got-to’s and need-to’s and why-haven’t’s? If so, then that is the reason why love seems to be in such short supply in your life.
I have found that the more religious and dogmatic (concern with religious doctrine which has not produced fruit in ones life) a person is; the more a person walks in obligation to their thought of God and the more superficial are their relationships with others. Because they are not deep within their relationship with the Christ within, but rather are concerned superficially with the fleshly demands of life and behavior which (supposedly) their God has thrust upon them, they do not have the freedom, power or understanding to be deep with others, to honestly and powerfully love them; nor can they allow themselves to be loved by others. They are simply not free to live in love.
To become more loving, apply yourself to gaining and growing in an understanding of the process of God’s freely provided justification which is found only in Christ Jesus as your Lord. That is, learn how the Christ within pays all the debts and obligations of your life and soul and psyche, one at a time. This will define a life that will see the theoretical or hypothetical Christ become the living, practical Christ in every day living.
Do you hate going to family gatherings? Why do you go? What do you owe your family? Do you hate how you get into stupid arguments with others who are close to you? Allow the spirit of Christ to reveal to you how your obligation to that powerful feeling which has been gendered by the spirit of strife has always ensured your failure. Are you angry with the behavior of others? Learn to see clearly how that anger to which you have slaved yourself has never served you, but rather has clouded the love you have within, not letting you live in love’s free expression. Are you addicted to pornography, alcohol, confusion, envy, drugs, depression, doubt? You owe your flesh, with its passions and lusts and feelings, nothing!
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. Romans 8:12
Please read the section immediately before, as well as immediately after this verse, in light of our study today, and in order to get the context of this statement. The more we are made free by the spirit of Christ within, as his justifying presence slowly and powerfully brings us more and more into our complete righteousness before God and man, freeing us from the power of darkness which reigns in the obligatory passions and lusts and debts of our flesh, then the freer we are to simply, powerfully and peacefully love others in that same freeing spirit.
If we are justified freely, and that powerful, balancing influence is freely at work within our lives, then it will be very difficult indeed to seek to establish and/or enforce obligation on others. Our balance in life comes as a gift from God through the Christ within, not from the “proper” or expected behavior of others toward ourself.
And such trust have we through Christ toward God; Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God; Who also has made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. Now the Lord is that spirit; and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
II Corinthians 3:4-6, 17
In the above section in II Corinthians, verses 7-16 comprise a parenthetical phrase, so reading from verse 6 straight to verse 17 is a way to get the proper flow of what God is saying to us. And what He is saying to us is that He has made and is making of us ministers of His spirit, of His love (which is the new testament, or agreement, He has with us). And He’s doing this major thing in our lives freely, by means of the spirit of Christ within.
Learn to freely access this justifying spirit which dwells within you, which has been gifted to you by God’s generosity. In simple thankfulness, learn to more and more fully enjoy the process whereby God is taking you away from your obligatory thoughts toward God and life, (which gender weakness, inability and bondage). In simple thankfulness for His gift, learn the practical effects of this justifying process which is being performed by the Christ within, as the powerful freedom of Godly love takes the place of obligation, debt and bondage to fleshly behavior and performance.
Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God (and we are!)…..
I John 3:1a
Freely justified, free to love. Life lived to and in its fullness.
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Other studies:
Justified, what it means
Love vs Religion
Ruled by Responsibility
Freedom in Christ
The Death of Dogma
