Do not owe anything to anyone

* Luís Alberto Alves

Romans 13: 8 - Owe no man any thing save the love wherewith ye love one another; Because those who love others have fulfilled the law.

At first glance, it seems that the biblical text has mixed things up. After all, what is the relationship between financial debt and mutual aid? Paul, however, is emphatic, when he writes: "To no one owes anything, but reciprocal love ..." (Romans 13: 8).

The history of civilizations clearly teaches one thing: communities that have not practiced mutual help have self-destructed. The material indebtedness of members of a society produces insolvency and opens the door to various forms of disorganization when everyone wants to own and almost no one thinks of honoring commitments, social contracts lose their aggregating power. Consumerism without saving is right recipe for recession.

Why does the Bible describe "reciprocal love" as a commandment, as a "debt"? Because the essential nature of love is the stance of bestowal. In more than one context Christ Jesus associates the activity of loving with the fulfillment of divine designs.

"If ye love Me, ye shall obey My commandments." "And My command is that ye love one another" ... "as I have loved you." Reciprocal love guarantees the stability of communities, just as egocentrism guarantees the dissolution of human institutions.

To say that reciprocal love must depend on the "goodwill" of each individual is almost as serious as proposing a public financial policy that depends on the whim of taxpayers. To love is the great debt we take on with the Lord.
 He "loved us when we were yet sinners."

 Therefore, the Bible says, "the love of Christ constrains us" and must always constrain us to share with others our divine instrument that enables us to be "children of God."

* Luís Alberto Alves is a pastor