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Guidelines for Life (Summary of Romans Chapter 12 and 13)
Romans 13:8-14
Mari Ikeda
Today, we are going to read the book of Romans 13:8-14. This section is a summary of chapter 12 and 13, summering guidelines for life, how we should live our life. Let’s read from v.8-10 first.
A. Paul’s intention (Romans 13:1-7)
8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
- Love one another (in church) （12:3-16）
- Love your enemies (in society)（12:17-21）
- Choose persons in authority who practice God’s love (in society) （13:1-7）
As it is said here, our guideline for life can be summed up in this one command, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This “neighbor” includes all people. It was Jesus’ teaching for us to treat everyone as our neighbor and love them all. Let’s now look back Romans chapter 12 and 13, and see what it means specifically.
First, in 12:3-16, it was said, “Love one another in church.” It was taught there that God gave each of us a different gift in order that we can complement each other, not for us to compare and fight each other to decide who is superior and who is inferior.
Second, it’s about the teaching to love our enemies, which was said in 12:17-21. It was taught there that there are times when we have to forgive those who cause us suffer and sometimes even have to give up our right to protect ourselves to become vulnerable before them, regardless of in or outside church. It also means that we experience our prejudice and arrogance getting destroyed, by rethinking who is truly our enemy, whether someone whom we once considered as an enemy is truly an enemy.
Thirdly, in 13:1-7, which we read last time, it was taught that we need to have a point of view to evaluate whether those in authority pursue God’s love, and that it’s important to have interests in politics and social matters. What is important for us is to remember that any human authorities cannot be perfect, and that we need to realistically determine whether their actions and policies are in accordance with God’s love, rather than value them just because they are Christians.
In this way, to love our neighbors as ourselves is a challenge for us to broaden our limited love and vision. It is neither an emotion to like someone nor a hypocrisy to be nice only on the surface, but rather it is an actual practice of changing our own action and way of thinking.
Now let’s move on to the second half of today’s text, v. 11-14.
B. “Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ” (11-14)
11 And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 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. 13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.
1. Is the end of the world near?
This gives us an impression that the end of the world is near. Indeed, Paul, who wrote this, and his contemporaries believed that Jesus’ second coming and the end of the world would happen very soon. To their disappointment, it has not yet happened even today two thousand years later. Yet, these words of Paul are still relevant to us. Because the age of end time has indeed started ever since Jesus came to this world two thousand years ago.
The age of end time is the age of God’s Kingdom being realized in this world. God’s Kingdom is the place where God’s love dominates, and is already being gradually realized in this world by Jesus, but will come to its completion only when Jesus comes back again and this world comes to an end. The present time is the time on the way to the end. That’s why we can say we have been living in the age of the end time ever since Jesus came to this world two thousand years ago till today.
We may not have the sense of urgency for the end of the world that Paul and his contemporaries had. But we are exactly in the same position with them in that we need to be certain that the time is surely approaching, and that we should live in the present age with hope. It means that we should not take a pessimistic view of our current desperate situation, but rather we should be awake, keep walking and seeing daily that the light has come to this world in Jesus so that this world cannot be overwhelmed by darkness.
2. Let’s walk in the light, not in darkness
- A new heart and a new life （12:1-2)
Verse 12 says, “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.” Similarly as v.14 says, “clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ,” the armor of light that we are said to put on is Jesus Himself. Then, what is the battle we have to fight by putting on Jesus? Although it could be the moral battle described in v. 13, I think it is more about the battle to realize God’s love. It is the battle to put into practice the teaching, “Love our neighbors as ourselves,” which we read in the first half today.
If we try only by our own strength, we can neither love each other nor love others as our neighbors, and never love our enemies. If we try, we will soon realize that our love is so limited and that our longing for love is much stronger than our desire to love others. At the same time, such longing for love is not only ours but shared by many people around us, who don’t know God loves them, or who are suffering and broken because they don’t understand God’s love. As a result, if we rely on our own strength, our attempt to love our neighbors will become just a painful task of facing our powerlessness.
That’s why we need to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” It does not mean that we hide our weakness and pretend to be strong in order to act like Jesus. Rather, it is the renewing of ourselves to become like Jesus, by having our hearts satisfied with Jesus’ love and transformed. This is actually what was said in the first two verses in chapter 12. Let’s read them.
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will.
If each of us ensures in our daily life that God’s love is poured out on ourselves and others all equally, and gives our praises and worship to God, that is our source of energy. That habit can keep us going even in a desperate situation, even when we are broken in facing our powerlessness and mistakes, because we know God still loves us in the way we are. That is what it means to walk in the light not in darkness, and to keep walking by fixing our eyes on God’s Kingdom, that has already come but not yet fully come.
When we lose our direction in life, or lose our energy to move forward, only thing we need to do is to remember the presence of Jesus, who is always right next to us. Although it is true that one has to live one’s life by one’s own foot, Jesus leaves no one alone. He is always near each of us, and in order for us to understand it, He sends people around us and speak to us through them. Let us listen to Him carefully and be awake again in this week. We are no longer in darkness, and we already know the light.
(Prayer) Dear our Lord Jesus, let us wake up and know that You really came to this world and you are alive and with us. Stir up joy and hope in our hearts because You are with us. Each of us has a different difficulty. We have pains in our relationship with others, suffering of diseases, anxieties for future, bitterness for society, and so on. We rely on you. Transform our hearts. Give us the confirmation that You can still use us in our weak state in order to deliver Your love and hope to people around us. Dear Lord Jesus, we pray this in Your name, Amen.
Summary
Romans chapter 12 and 13 have taught us to love one another, love our enemies, and choose persons in authority who practice God’s love. All of these are the practice of the teaching, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” To live our life by trusting in Jesus’ love on the Cross means to love anyone as ourselves. It is a very difficult challenge for us to practice, as we live in the world where everyone thinks it is normal to love only oneself and one’s loved ones. But that is the new way of life which gives us everlasting hope and joy which is worthy of our whole life to be spent for.
For Discussion
- What was striking to you in Romans chapter 12 and 13?
- What does it mean, “Clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ”?