Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one
who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. – Romans 13:8 (NET)
In the thirteenth chapter of Romans,
Paul extends his discourse from chapter twelve, which delineated the love that
will be exercised within the Christian community, writing “Owe no one anything,
except to love one another, for the one who loves his neighbor has fulfilled
the law” (13:8). This statement takes into consideration the pervasive
structure of the debtor society of the Greco-Roman world, while it also seems
to address the attendant and entrenched system of patronage and
benefaction.
Those that are instructed to “Owe no one anything” are
encouraged to take the necessary steps to free themselves from the encumbrances
of debt, and therefore free themselves from having to acquire a benefactor, as
slipping into or maintaining such cultural norms will diminish the impact of
the Christian community as a force for societal transformation, while it also,
possibly, has a deleterious effect on the Christian meal table.
The Christian, Paul would surely
insist, is to be the patron of only one benefactor, that being Jesus, thus
allowing the Christian to take the position of being a loving and altruistic
benefactor to his community, his country, and to the world, as an enthusiastic
representative of the kingdom of the Creator God. When one considers the
context in which Paul delivers the statement of verse eight, it should be
noticed that he begins with “Let every person be subject to the governing
authorities. For there is no authority except by God’s appointment, and
the authorities that exist have been instituted by God” (13:1). This is
the paradoxical situation of the Christian.
Yes, the confessed member of the
body of Christ owes his allegiance to the kingdom of the covenant God, and yes,
the Christian message is quite subversive in that it recognizes Jesus as the
King of kings. However, the Christian lives with a tension, recognizing
“God’s appointment” of authorities. That paradoxical tension of
respectful subversiveness is well explicated by the second Psalm, which
provides an example to be followed by the people of the Creator God and the
nature of their interaction with governing authorities.
There the Creator God’s people, via the Psalmist, are heard saying
“So now, you kings, do what is wise; you rulers of the earth, submit to
correction! Serve the Lord in fear! Repent in terror. Give
sincere homage! Otherwise He will be angry, and you will die because of
your behavior, when His anger quickly ignites” (2:10-12a). While this can
also be taken as words of warning to those that this God intends to be His
kings and rulers in this world---His divine image bearers, it is
well-understood to be directed to human authority figures.
Undoubtedly, this is directed
firstly to the kings of Israel, and then by extension, to the kings of the
earth as the Creator’s people take up their role to be a shining light to the
nations that do indeed exemplify divine blessing, with a desire to be
continuous extensions of the positive end of the Abrahamic covenant (a blessing
to all peoples). Such is neatly summed up by the last part of verse
twelve of the second Psalm, in which insists “How blessed are all who take shelter
in him!”
It is in this light, the light of love and the opportunity
to be a legitimate and well-received voice to those rulers that are in need of
submission to the imperial claims of Jesus, that Paul writes “For this reason
you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants devoted to
governing. Pay everyone what is owed: taxes to whom taxes are due,
revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom
honor is due” (13:6-7).
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