Chapter # 13 Paragraph # 2 Study # 1
December 6, 2020
Humble, Texas
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Thesis: Paul's sudden expansion of his theme of "payment of debts" beyond the obligations of believers toward those in positions of higher authority is designed to press his readers to come to grips with the "bottom line": Love.
Introduction: In our last study, we considered Paul's final instructions to "believers" respecting their attitudes and actions toward those in positions of "higher authority". We saw that he focused upon the insistence that his readers recognize that those in those positions are "owed" certain responses simply because they are in their places by the actions of God which do not take into account any mitigating moral corruption issues. Anything less than "payment of the debts" is a violation of "conscience"; a violation that brings some serious downline consequences.
This evening we are going to see that Paul used his instruction regarding attitudes toward "authority" as a way to press his readers to consider the real bottom line in an across-the-board principle. So, we are going to attempt to follow his words into their meaning for us.
- I. Paul's Abrupt Expansion of His "Indebtedness" Concept.
- A. There is no typical indicator of a different thought ("And...But...Therefore...However...etc.).
- B. There is a straightforward demand regarding "paying one's debts" that moves beyond those debts involved in his "submit to authority" thesis: "Owe no man anything".
- 1. The "no man" could be (erroneously) taken to be limited to "anyone in authority".
- 2. The "anything" could be (erroneously) taken to be limited to the four "debts" identified in 13:7.
- 3. But, both the "no man" and the "anything" terms are identified in 13:9 as "people who are to be protected from "adultery", "murder", "theft", "lust", and "any other prohibited action".
- 4. Thus, Paul has moved far beyond the limited concept of attitudes and actions toward those who are in authority.
- C. There is the use of the verb "owe" (opeilo) in 13:8 as a direct link to the noun "debt"/"thing owed" (opeile) in 13:9, so that we understand that he is still in the ballpark of the general theme of "indebtedness".
- II. Paul's Push For A More Comprehensive Understanding Of What Is Involved.
- A. The demand.
- 1. "Owe no man anything" means "Do not default on any debt".
- a. Some might (erroneously) think that what Paul is demanding is a total absence of "debt" so that it would be "wrong" to "go into debt".
- 1) There is sufficient biblical comment about the dangers of "going into debt" that one should not incur indebtedness without thought, but does not strictly forbid it.
- 2) But Paul's words cannot be taken to be an across-the-board forbidding of taking on indebtedness because of the fact that he is not addressing people who have no debt who should not incur any.
- a) His words in 13:7 assume an "already established, inescapable, debt" by reason of the reality of all men being involved in his "authority" concept.
- b) His instruction in 13:7 is, essentially, "Do not fail to pay your debts".
- i. The "debts" are a fact of reality that no one can escape.
- ii. The instruction is to legitimately live with that reality.
- b. What Paul is actually demanding is that no one "default" on "debts" that already exist.
- 1) The Law, to which Paul immediately appeals, governed these issues with specific details.
- a) "Lending" is assumed to be necessary in many cases.
- b) Usury was strictly governed.
- c) Collateral was built into the system and also strictly governed.
- 2) Those who take on indebtedness may not be taking the wisest course, but they are not forbidden that course (kinda like 1 Corinthians 7:9 and 28 and 36).
- 2. Paul's instruction is this: if for any reason you find yourself in "debt", be sure to meet the requirements of that indebtedness; i.e., do not default on legitimate debts.
- B. The Inescapable Exception.
- 1. Paul's "owe no man anything" recognizes the inescapable nature of certain "debts".
- 2. The most critical "inescapable" debt is one: Love for others.
- a. There is no escape from the obligation of Love.
- 1) God, the Scriptures declare, is Love.
- 2) There is no escape from the creature's obligation to fulfill the inherent, and essential, implications of the Creator being "Love".
- b. There is no escape from the rationality of Love.
- 1) God, being "Love", has created a massive (to man's point of view) creation that has an anticipated final state of complete conformity to "The Love of The God".
- 2) God, being "Love", has declared an inescapable, and horrifying, final state of absolute exclusion from His creation's final condition of all who reject "Love" as the final characterization goal.
- 3) God, being "Love", declared by the mouth of the Primary Demonstration of Love that no kingdom can endure that is not "unified" around the same Goals and Methods (Matthew 12:25).
- 4) Even if God had not openly declared that, it would still be true by any form of legitimate rational form of thought.
- C. The rationale of Paul's words.
- 1. Begins with an appeal to "Law".
- a. In his claim, Paul wrote of "the one loving 'the other'".
- 1) He is clearly not writing of human "love".
- a) The words "agape" and "agapao" in the New Testament refer to, first, a Complete Value System and, then, to the individual implications of that value system in all of the directions that it reveals itself.
- b) With men, the "complete value system" is focused, as with Lucifer, upon self-deification ("Life for me") and all of the little ways that shows up.
- c) With God, the "complete value system" is focused upon "Life for others" and all of the ways that shows up.
- 2) He is, just as clearly, writing about "The Love Of The God" which has, as its chiefest characteristic, the willingness to lay down the "Life For Me" attitude in order to produce "Life For Others".
- b. "Law" was the explanation of the reality of "The Love of The God" as it has to do with how "others" are to be treated in righteousness.
- 1) The Kingdom of God, by grace, will ultimately be a kingdom of "righteousness, peace, and joy" (Romans 14:17) by the Holy Spirit.
- 2) "Law", as such an explanation, is inescapable.
- a) Because "Law" must be fulfilled, Paul writes that "the one who loves has fulfilled 'Law'".
- b) Even Jesus, Who brought Grace into sharp focus, said His purpose was not to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17).
- 3) "Law" is not about optional behaviors; it is about the question of the Who? and the How? of its inescapability.
- c. In his words "loving another", he uses the word "other" (heteron).
- 1) This word means "another of a different kind".
- 2) The use of the word strongly implies that the "love" will not be reciprocated: i.e., it is "love for the enemy".
- 2. Concludes with a description of the impossibility of "Love" producing "Evil Works".
