[Having shown that the Christian must recognize the rights of those above him ("the higher powers"), the apostle now proceeds to enjoin upon him the recognition of the just rights of his fellow-beings who are all about him. If the state has a right to demand dutiful conduct of him, his neighbors, fellow-citizens, and the human race generally, may likewise exact of him the ministrations of love.] 8 Owe no man anything, save to love one another [The indebtedness here meant includes, but is not confined to, pecuniary obligations. The precept does not prohibit the contraction of a debt, but it constrains us to be prepared to pay it when due. "Owe no tax, no custom, no fear, no honor, and pay all their dues" (Lard). The obligation to give the gospel to those that have it not is one of the Christian's greatest debts (1:14, 15). Love also is, as Bengel observes, "an eternal debt." "This," says Trapp, "is that desperate debt that a man can not discharge himself of; but must be ever paying, and yet ever owing. As we say of thanks, 'Thanks must be given, and yet held as still due:' so must this debt of love." Moreover, it is an ever-increasing debt, for it is like the payment of interest; only in [513] this case each payment of interest is such an exercise and turning over of the principal as tends to its increase, thereby enlarging in a kind of arithmetical progression the payments of interest]: for he that loveth his neighbor hath fulfilled the law. ["The perfect pepleroken (hath fulfilled) denotes that in the one act of loving there is virtually contained the fulfillment of all the duties prescribed by the law. For a man does not offend or kill, or calumniate or rob, those whom he loves. Such is the idea developed in the two following verses"-Godet.] 9 For this [Paul here begins the statement of a first premise, and in the eleventh verse, with the words "and this," he begins the statement of a second premise. The first premise is that the Christian (or faith) life, freed from the complications and onerous burden of the multitudinous laws of the Jewish (or law) life, is governed by the principle underlying all these laws most happily reduced to a simple commandment; viz., "Love thy neighbor as thyself" (9, 10). The second premise is that salvation, which is so dimly suggested to the Jewish (or law) life as to be no incentive at all to good deeds, is clearly and distinctly promised to the Christian (or faith) life, and is comprehended by it to be as rapidly and as surely approaching as the dawning day. From these two premises the conclusion is drawn that we should lead the faith-life becomingly, by putting on Christ. If we supply the word "reason" after each "this," the meaning will be clear. Surely the simplicity of the Christian life, and the sureness and exceeding greatness of the salvation which is its reward, are sufficient reasons for our leading it becomingly], Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is summed up in this word, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. [The Ten Commandments are divided into two divisions of four and six. The first four relate to duties to God, and are taken no notice of [514] here, for they do not pertain to justice to our fellowman, and hence are outside the sphere of Paul's present argument. The second division, or second table of the Ten Commandments, contains six precepts which relate to man's duty to his fellows: four of them are given here, and two relating to honoring parents and bearing false witness are omitted (Ex. 20:12-17). Though not named, they are included in the phrase "any other commandment." The order, too, is not that given in the Hebrew Bible, but follows one of the versions of the LXX. The order in which the commands are here given is likewise found at Mark 10:19; Luke 18:20; Jas. 2:11, and also in Philo, and Clement of Alexandria. It is surmised that the LXX. changed the order because of some of their traditions. Many commands as to conduct towards neighbors are summed up by Moses in this love commandment in a manner somewhat similar to Paul's (Lev. 19:9-18; comp. Matt. 19:19; 22:39, 40; Gal. 5:14, 22, 23). The last of the ten forbids covetousness, a passion which presents almost as broad and powerful an impulse for the breaking of all the commandments as love does for keeping them, for the love of money alone is a root of all evil (1 Tim. 6:10), though it is but one phase of covetousness. The truth is that covetousness gives wider scope to self-love than any other passion, and self-love is the motive which leads to all breaches of law. Love of neighbor is the opposite motive, counteracting all lawlessness, and tending to the manifestation of the perfect life. But we have no perfect example of this ideal, altruistic love save in the Christ himself. Plesion means near, close by: with the article it means "neighbor"; i. e., the near by. We readily acknowledge the one who is permanently and literally near by as our neighbor; but Christ taught us that the one who is temporarily near is also a neighbor (Luke 10:30-37), and so likewise are those who are constructively near; that is, those with whom modern means of communication have made us acquainted, [515] so that, knowing their needs, we are thereby prompted to sympathize and impelled to help--Acts 16:9, 10.] 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: love therefore is the fulfillment of the law. [All divine law, whether of Moses and the prophets, of Christ or the apostles, is fulfilled by love, for those things that law requires are the natural, normal acts of a loving heart. "Love," says Leibnitz, "is that which finds its felicity in another's good." Another has defined it thus: "Love is holiness, spelt short." How easily, then, will it keep all precepts, whether toward man or God! "The expression implies more than a simple performance of the precepts of the law; true love does more than this: it adds a completeness to the performance. It reaches those lesser courtesies and sympathies which can not be digested into a code or reduced to rule. To the bare framework of law, which is as the bones and sinews, it adds the flesh which fills it, and the life which actuates it" (Webster and Wilkinson). "Nor is it possible to find for human life, amid all the intricate mazes of conduct, any other principle that should be at once as simple, as powerful and as profound" (Sanday). "How many schemes would it crush. It would silence the voice of the slanderer; it would stay the plans of the seducer and the adulterer; it would put an end to cheating and fraud, and all schemes of dishonest gain. The gambler desires the property of his neighbor without any compensation, and thus works ill to him. The dealer in lotteries desires property for which he has never toiled, and which must be obtained at the expense and loss of others. And there are many employments all whose tendency is to work ill to a neighbor. This is pre-eminently true of the traffic in ardent spirits" (Barnes). Love is the spirit of gracious addition, while covetousness, theft, etc., are the spirits of subtraction. Love emanates from God, whose name is Love, but selfishness is of the devil, who asserts himself even against God. Love, therefore, is the basis of all godlike action, the motive power for every noble deed.] [516]

[TCGR 513-516]