Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJames Nisbet Commentary - Romans 13:10 - 13:10
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
‘Love worketh no ill to his neighbour.’
Rom_13:10
I. The obstacle is our natural selfishness, which is our strongest characteristic. The desire to get on is natural; the desire for amusement is natural. Natural affection is not necessarily a Christian virtue.
II. Christian love is the gift of God. It can be sought and obtained. By the spirit of love shall we know that we are Christ’s disciples.
III. The result will be that our way will ever be growing brighter and happier because no unregenerate ill and no coldness or deadness or unselfishness.
—
Archdeacon William Sinclair.
Illustration‘Without taking the extreme case—a man who hates me as his enemy—how am I to feel brotherly love for the selfish, the mocker, the ungrateful, the mean, the sordid, the depraved, the impure, and the liar? Jesus Christ gives more than a hint of how this can be done. We must try to look on all men as God does. We must try to see our brother men even at their worst as God sees them. We must learn to know that behind all these superficial vices and defects there is a poor, suffering, blinded, ignorant, precious, human soul for whom Christ died on the Cross. We must recognise that the seemingly ungrateful are probably most grateful, and that, with the fewest possible exceptions, every living soul is trying to do his best according to his lights and understanding, so far as his partial knowledge or complete ignorance will permit, so far as his hereditary defects, uncongenial surroundings, and training will allow. God, we must remember, hates only the sin and loves the sinner. We must endeavour to draw the same distinction, remembering at the same time the words “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” We do not know what another man’s temptation may be, nor how we might fare if we had them to face ourselves. But we do know that all men are tempted to sin, and that few indeed consciously and wilfully sin with deliberate intent. Let us therefore strive to see our fellow-men as God sees them. While hating their sins as we hate our own, let us learn to love them as precious souls, for whom the Lord of glory died.’
‘Therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.’
Rom_13:10
Now, the law referred to by the Apostle is primarily the Law of Moses. Let us, however, speak of the law implied rather than expressed in the text. We mean the spiritual law of the Gospel. This law is to some extent undefined, but it is unmistakable. The Gospel speaks to the conscience. It does not say, ‘Thou shalt’ or ‘Thou shalt not,’ so much as it appeals to man’s better nature.
I. It postulates that man, however degraded, has something in common with God.—It is true it cannot ignore the fact that this Divine principle in man may be either alive or dead, awake or asleep, just as he obeys or resists the power and influence of the Holy Spirit. ‘The Spirit is given to every man to profit withal,’ and when the Spirit of God is neither resisted nor quenched, He reveals the eternal law of right and wrong, of true and false worship, of heart service and lip service, of self-sacrifice and service exacted from a mere sense of duty. The Spirit of God, working in man, through the principle of love, makes it possible for him to choose the better part; to mould and purify his character, even as Christ Himself is pure, so that when He shall appear again with ‘power and great glory’ we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
II. In the painful consciousness of our sin and weakness we are tempted to ask, ‘Who is sufficient for these things?’—We turn to the Divine Man, Christ Jesus. Under the temporal law of Moses He was the ‘Lamb of God Which taketh away the sin of the world.’ Under the eternal law of the Gospel He was the perfect example of a godly life. And His promise was, ‘And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me.’ And in Christ we see, not a cold, lifeless model, which repels rather than attracts, but a heart filled with love and sympathy for suffering and sinful humanity. And when man’s spirit reunites with God’s, He is ready to rouse and kindle into a flame that principle in the creature, that existed, and always will exist, in the bosom of the Creator—a love which ‘worketh no ill to his neighbour.’
III. And let us not forget that love begets love.—If we are not loved by those around us, more than often the fault lies in ourselves.
—
Rev. C. Rhodes Hall.
Illustration‘If a man neglects his children he cannot look for protection from them in old age. If a master is absorbed in self-interest, he must be content with mere duty and routine, instead of cheerful and grateful service. Unless a government is actuated by the purest and wisest motives towards the people it governs, legislating for their temporal and spiritual welfare, it cannot and must not expect them to be and to remain law-abiding citizens.’