§31 Love is the Sum of the Law (Rom. 13:8–10)
Paul now returns expressly to the theme of love which dominates chapters 12–13, although more noticeably at some points (12:9–21; 13:8–10) than others (12:1–8; 13:1–7, 11–14). The idea of owing taxes (Gk. opheilē) in verse 7 reminds him that there is one debt (Gk. opheilō, v. 8) which can never be paid. The debt of love always remains outstanding. It is the only mortgage which can never be burned. In returning to the personal ethics of agapē in verses 8–10 Paul recalls that good citizenship (13:1–7) is neither the sum of nor a substitute for true Christianity. Beneath civic duties and good causes, even beneath personal world-views and life-styles, lies the essential and indispensable characteristic of Christian faith, love for others.
13:8–10 / Verse 8 begins with an emphatic double-negative in Greek, which might be rendered, “Owe nothing to anyone,” except the continuing debt to love one another. The debt of love is categorical and admits of no exceptions. In Buddhism love is a rather dispassionate feeling of benevolence toward humanity in general, though much less is said of its expression toward particular individuals. Not so in Christianity. Agapē is not an abstract concept; it is a will in search of an object. Four times Paul identifies that object as one another (v. 8), fellowman (v. 8), and neighbor (twice in vv. 9–10). The other person represents God’s claim on our love. We normally think of our neighbor as a person who is like us, but in the parables of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37) and Final Judgment (Matt. 25:31–46) the neighbor is very much unlike us. Others are our neighbors not because they are like us, not even because they are chosen by us, but because they are given to us by God with a need which we can meet. Indeed, Christ himself meets us in that need (Matt. 25:40, 45).
Whereas in the foregoing section Paul anchored love to civic responsibility, here he defends against conceiving of love as a euphoric high. Love is not a world apart, but the transformation of this world. It is not above the law but it fulfills the law (v. 8), and keeping the commandments is an expression of agapē. In verse 9 Paul quotes not from the first part of the Decalogue, which honors God, but from the latter, which honors our fellowman. This is an explicit confirmation of the thesis we argued earlier, that keeping the law is not a prerequisite to saving faith, but saving faith is a prerequisite to keeping the law (3:31). Love is the visible side of faith in relation and responsibility to others. The law is fulfilled and summed up in love, for love penetrates to the intent of the law and thereby exceeds the outward minimum prescribed by the commandments.
Verse 10 recapitulates the whole idea in the negative, Love does no harm to its neighbor. We noted earlier that a positive assertion is verified by the denial of its opposite. Verse 10 performs that function: the positive principle is given in verse 9 (Love your neighbor as yourself), and the negative follows in verse 10 (Love does no harm to its neighbor). On the one hand, the latter safeguards against reducing agapē to the principle of utility (e.g., “the greatest good for the greatest number”). Great evils have been visited on minorities in the name of helping the masses. This was in fact Caiaphas’ justification for handing over Jesus for crucifixion, “It is better … that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish” (John 11:50). On the other hand, verse 10 prevents agapē from being reduced to the principle of expediency (e.g., the attempt to justify evil means for ostensibly good ends). Love does good, and the doing of good rules out the doing of evil.
13:8–10 / The Christian love-command stems from the OT, which Paul quotes in v. 9 (Lev. 19:18). But Jesus’ agapē is free from two limitations normally imposed on love by the Jewish synagogue. In rabbinic writings the neighbor was normally restricted to fellow Israelites and did not include Gentiles. Moreover, rabbinic interpretations of Leviticus 19:18 were phrased in the negative, as the following story indicates. A Gentile approached Rabbi Hillel (ca. 70 B.C.–ca. A.D. 10) and promised to become a proselyte if the famous teacher could summarize the Torah while he (the Gentile) stood on one foot. Hillel said, “What you would not want done to you, do not do to someone else” (Str-B, vol. 1, p. 357). Agapē, however, includes outsiders and even enemies (12:17–21; Matt. 5:44), and involves not merely refraining from negative actions (i.e., harming others), but doing positive ones as well (i.e., that which is good).
The order of the commandments in v. 9 differs from that in Exod. 20:13–17 and Deut. 5:17–21. Paul’s order follows the LXX of the latter passage, which was used in the Greek-speaking diaspora.
“Love your neighbor as yourself” (v. 9) is sometimes interpreted as a command to self-love, i.e., one cannot love others until one loves self. This interpretation owes more to self-help psychology than to biblical theology. In all the Bible there is no command to love self, but there are countless commands to love God and others. The text which is quoted (Lev. 19:18) ends with “I am the Lord,” which directs attention away from self and toward God. Leviticus 19:18, therefore, is not a command to self-love but to the love of God through love of others. Self-love and happiness come as a by-product of love of God and others (e.g., “Whoever loses his life for me will find it,” Matt. 16:25). All people do, in fact, show love for themselves in various ways by providing for their needs and desires. Few people need be taught how to promote their own good. Paul (and Jesus, cf. Mark 12:31) simply commands believers to promote the good of others in like manner! That is the meaning of “love your neighbor as yourself.”