Romans Commentary

Ver. 8. — Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

Owe no man anything. — In the beginning of the former verse the Apostle commands Christians to render to all their dues, which includes debts of money as well as of respect. Here he forbids them to owe any man anything, that is, to withhold from any man what is his due. This duty is imperative, and requires to be particularly specified; and in this way the Apostle follows out the precept he had given in the preceding verse.

Christians ought to attend most scrupulously to this injunction. It is a great injury to men, and a reproach to Christianity, when the servants of God neglect this duty. It is a virtual breach of the eighth commandment, although it may not bring on them the same obloquy. But to love one another. — Love is here beautifully represented as a debt that is never paid. It is a debt that ever remains due. Christians ought not only to love one another continually, but to abound in love more and more.

The more they pay of this debt, the richer will they be in the thing that is paid. For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. — Here love is urged, on the ground that it is fulfillment of the law in all its precepts. The whole law is grounded on love to God and love to man. This cannot be violated without the breach of law; and if there is love, it will influence to the observance of all God’s commandments. If there were perfect love, there would be a perfect observance of the law. But no man loveth another in the perfection that the law requires; therefore no man perfectly keeps the law. Love, then, is the fulfillment of the law, being the thing which it demands, and all that it demands in respect to both God and man.

Ver. 9 — For this, Thou shalt rot commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

Paul here cites several of the precepts of the second table of the law, and observes with respect to each of them, that they are comprehended in the law that enjoins us to love our neighbor as ourselves. Nothing can be more evident than that if we loved our neighbor perfectly, we would commit none of the things here specified. The law of the Lord is admirable, both in its simplicity and comprehensives. It is also most reasonable and just. It requires nothing but what is implied in love. Its prohibitions, then, are not unreasonable restraints upon our liberty, but the just requirements of love.

Ver. 10. — Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. — Love never injures our neighbor in any respect, but, on the contrary, as far as in its power, does him service.

All disputes, then, among neighbors and among nations proceed from a want of love. What, then, shall we say of the morality of men in general, who live in strife and contention, as often as their interests in the smallest degree interfere? What is the origin of all the disputes in the world but a want of love? Therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. — As love will prevent everything which the law forbids, love must consequently be what fulfills the law. Love, for instance, will prevent murder, and even the smallest degree of hatred to another. Love, then, will keep the sixth commandment; and so of each of the commandments of the second table of the law.

Ver. 11. — And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. ‘The most appropriate meaning that can be given to the word translated that in this occurrence seems to be especially. The duties recommended were the rather to be attended to, from the alleged consideration that follows. Dr. Macknight translates by supplying the phrase, ‘I command,’ by ellipsis, ‘Also this I command.’ And Mr. Stuart supplies the words, ‘Do this’ There is no need for these supplements, and the above gives the most appropriate meaning. Knowing the time. — The time is understood by Dr. Macknight and Mr. Stuart as referring to the season of the Gospel.

But the ground of the observation, which is subjoined by the Apostle, shows that it refers to the present time, in distinction from the time when those whom he addressed first believed. Why is it time to awake out of sleep? The reason alleged is, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. It is plain, then, that the times contrasted are the time of their first believing, and the time then present.

Salvation is here understood by Dr. Macknight as signifying the glad tidings of salvation in the Gospel. This meaning is so forced and unnatural,, that it deserves no consideration. In the Scriptures, believers are considered as saved from the moment they are partakers of a Divine life, by the belief of the truth. Salvation is also sometimes used with respect to the complete deliverance from the pollution of sin at death, when believers enter into heavenly happiness. And sometimes it refers to the day of judgment, when their happiness will be more complete, and when the body as well as the soul shall enter into glory. It is obviously in the second acceptation that the word salvation is here used. It was now a considerable time since the church at Rome had been gathered, and the brethren who were first called to the knowledge of the truth were now approaching the period of their entrance into the land of promise. The near prospect of leaving this world, and entering into a state of glory, ought to have a great effect upon Christians, in making them think less of this world, and more of that of which they are about to become the inhabitants.

Ver. 12. — The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. — Dr. Macknight understands this of ‘the night of heathenish ignorance,’ which he says ‘is drawing to a conclusion;’ and to the same purpose Mr. Stuart says that it ‘is the time of ignorance and darkness in which they had once been.’ But with respect to the time in which the persons here addressed were in ignorance and darkness, if he means heathen ignorance and darkness, this time was already at an end to them; and the day, as contrasted with this, was already present, and could not be represented as near. And as to the night of heathenish ignorance being nearly at an end, this is far from past. Nearly eighteen centuries have passed since this Epistle was written, and the night of heathenish, so far from being at an end, still broods over the greater part of the world. The night here must be the time of the believer’s being on earth; for his earthly state, with all its comparative light, is but night with respect to the light of heaven. The day which was at hand was not the day of judgment, but the day of death, with respect to those addressed. Mr. Stuart notices, and satisfactorily refutes, the opinion of Mr. Tholack and the Germans, which represents the Apostles as believing the near approach of the day of judgment. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. — In place of the clothing of sin, Christians are to cover themselves with the armor of light. The Christian is a soldier, and as such he is furnished with a complete suit of armor, to fit him for the encounter with his enemies. It consists of faith, and love, and hope. ‘ Let us who are of the day be sober, putting — on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.’

Ver. 13. — Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.

Let us walk honestly, as in the day. — According to the present use of the language, ‘honestly’ does not adequately represent the original. The word signifies decently, becomingly. We are by this precept required to conduct ourselves before the world in a modest, decent, and becoming manner. The allusion is to persons walking from place to place in transacting their daily business. The conduct of persons thus employed shows, even in people the most immoral, some regard to appearances; and they who riot in the night will place a restraint on their conduct in the day. Christians, then, as in the light of day, ought to conduct themselves in a manner suitable to the day, and not like those who riot in the night. It may be observed that the same figure is here still continued, but varied in its application. When it is said that the night is far spent, and the day is at hand, it is implied that it was still night, and that the day was future. But here the day is present. In one point of view it is night to the Christian, and in another it is day. Not in, rioting. — The word applies to all meetings for intemperance and debauchery. It denounces all amusements that minister to the impure passions of human nature, whatever may be their name. The fashionable follies of high life, and those practiced by persons in inferior stations, are alike inconsistent with the Christian character and with this precept. It is vain to allege with respect to them that they are not expressly condemned in Scripture. The Scripture does not give out law with a verbose phraseology, like the laws of men, but condemns all the particular and ever-varying follies of mankind in every age and nation on general principles. Drunkenness. — This sin is one of the greatest destroyers of mankind.

Even were there no hereafter, a wise man would shun it as a pestilence. No other evil has so great a share in bringing ruin on individuals and families.

Every approach to it ought to be most carefully avoided. Too much caution cannot be used in order to guard against the formation of habits of intemperance. Many a promising professor of Christianity makes shipwreck of the faith by giving way to this vice. It is a mistaken hospitality that tempts to any approach to intemperance. If we are to eat and drink to the glory of God, we ought to drink no more than is really useful for the health. Chambering. — The meaning of this is plain, as well as of wantonness, which refers to all licentiousness, in its most extensive import. Strife and envy. — The former applies to every kind of contention; and the latter designates that principle which, more than any other, excites to strife or contention, and tends to make a man an enemy to his kind.

Ver. 14. — But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. Put ye on the Lord Jesus. — Having given a specimen of the things that are unbecoming the Christian who walks in the day, the Apostle now shows, summarily, what the conduct is which he enjoins on us to exemplify.

Believers were in themselves wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked; like Joshua, clothed with filthy garments; but when they come to Christ, He says, ‘Take away the filthy garments from him: behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.’ They are then clothed with the garments of salvation, and covered with the robe of righteousness, Isaiah 61:10; and being thus justified, those whom the Apostle addressed had put on Christ. But here it is their progress in sanctification he has in view. In the twelfth verse he had exhorted them to put on the armor of light; now he is enjoining the duty of perfect conformity to His holy image, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; who gave us an example that we should follow His steps, who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. Thus we are to cleave to Him with purpose of heart, and, as the Apostle elsewhere exhorts, that as we have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so we should walk in Him. ‘To put on Christ,’ says Calvin, ‘means our being surrounded and protected in every part by the virtue of His Spirit, and thus rendered fit for the performance of every duty of holiness. For the image of God, which is the only ornament of the soul, is thus renewed in us.’ Provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof — Flesh here means the sinful principles of our nature. We are to make provision for the wants of the body, but we are to make no provision for its lusts. Whatever, then, tends to excite our corrupt propensities ought to be avoided.

Beautiful are the reflections of Archbishop Leighton, in his sermon on the four last verses of this chapter, from which what follows is extracted: — ’These words are as an alarm, or morning watch-bell, of singular use, not only awakening a Christian to his day work, but withal minding him what he is. The former verses, 11, 12, tell us it is time to rise, and call us to put on our clothes, and, being soldiers, our arms. Verse 13th directeth our behavior and employment throughout the day. The last verse doth shortly and clearly fold up both together. ‘All the days of sinful nature are dark night, in which there is no right discerning of spiritual things: Some light there is of reason to direct natural and civil actions, but no daylight till the sun arise. ‘Tis night still, for all the stars, and the moon to help them: Notwithstanding natural speculation that are more remote, and all prudence and policy for affairs, that come somewhat nearer to actions, yet we are still in the night; and men sleep on in it, and their heads are still full of new dreams that keep them sleeping.

They are constantly drunk with cares or desires of sense, and so their sleep continues. Now sleep is brother of death, and so by it not unfitly is the same state resembled. ‘It is time to awake, salvation is nearer than when ye believed. The bright day you look for is posting forward; it is nearer than when you began to believe: the night is far spent, the gross darkness is already past, some daylight it is, and is every moment growing, and the perfect full morning light of it is very near. O blessed Gospel revealing God in Christ, and calling up sinners to communion with him, dispelling that black night of ignorance and accursed darkness that otherwise had never ended, but passed on to a night of eternal misery. ‘Put on the Lord Jesus. — Here we have the proper beauty and ornament of Christians. Him we put on by faith and are clothed with Him as our righteousness. We come unto our Father, in our Elder Brother’s perfumed garment, and so obtain the blessing, which He, in a manner, was stripped of, and did undergo the curse, and was made a curse for our sakes. So the Apostle speaks of Him. We put Him on as the Lord our righteousness, and are made the righteousness of God in Him. This investiture is first, when our persons are made acceptable, and we come into court. But there is another putting of Him on, in the conformity of holiness, which always accompanies the former, and that is it which is here meant. And this I declare unto you, that whosoever does not thus put Him on, shall find themselves deceived in the other, if they imagine it belongs to them. He is the armor of light before spoken of; all our ornament and safety is in Him. ‘Now follows, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof; and it will follow necessarily. O! to have the heart touched by the Spirit with such a word as is here — it would untie it from all these things.

These are the words the very reading of which wrought so with Augustine, that, of a licentious young man, he turned a holy, faithful servant of Jesus Christ. While you were without Christ, you had no higher nor other business to do but to attend and serve the flesh; but once having put Him on, you are other men, and other manners do become you. There is a transcendent sweetness in Christ, that puts the flesh out of credit. Put on Christ, thy royal robe, and make no provision for the flesh. A soul clothed with Christ, stooping to any sinful delight, or an ardent pursuit of anything earthly, though lawful, doth wonderfully indignity itself. ‘Oh! raise up your spirits, you that pretend to anything in Christ; delight in Him, and let His love satisfy you at all times. What need you go a-begging elsewhere? All you would add makes you the poorer, abates so much of your enjoyment of Him; and what can compensate that? Put on the Lord Jesus, and then view yourselves, and see if you be fit to be slaves to flesh and earth. ‘These two, put on the Lord Jesus , and make no provision for the, flesh, are directly the representation of the Church — a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, needed borrow no beauty from it, or anything under it.’