The fact is: one of the enemy’s favorite tricks is to use the Word of God against us. If he can give any sort of religious person, a verse ripped out of the context of the entire scriptures, pump it full of a meaning which the Holy Spirit never intended, and get us to believe it, then he can win a victory. For example, Mark 16:16 is often used against the true Gospel: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” Here is a scripture cited by the baptismal regenerationists to teach that water is essential to salvation. Not only is that contrary to the hundreds of verses which speak about salvation, but which never even whisper the word baptism, but it is even contrary to the rest of verse: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” Baptism is the Lord’s illustration of regeneration. It depicts the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It depicts the spiritual death, burial and resurrection of the believer into a new life in Christ. Never does the Bible say, “he that is NOT baptized shall be damned.” It’s a lack of faith in Christ, not a lack of baptism, which proves that there has been no new birth. And how about John 6:53 – “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.” When Catholicism takes these words and wrenches them out of the Bible, they clearly speak about some sort of cannibalism. And so, that false religion pretends to turn wine and bread into the literal flesh and blood of Christ. Then they demand that unless you partake of their so-called “mass,” there is no spiritual life in you. “The Bible says so,” they claim as they point to this scripture. But that is not what the Bible says, because they have taken this verse out of context.
Not only do the dangerous heretics wrest some scriptures and take others out of their true environment, but so do the children of God. It’s not that we are trying to do so. Sometimes, it’s just that we are pushing too hard to bring glory to the Lord. And sometimes preachers are trying too hard to protect their people from potential disaster. A perfect example, lies before us here this morning – “Owe no man anything.” “Can anything be more clear than this? We have the commandment of God, through the Lord’s great Apostle, never to borrow a dime from anyone. Not only is this what the scripture tell us, but it is logical and highly beneficial instruction.” But wait a minute, even though those are the words, there is another meaning, and it is that other meaning to which Paul refers.
Let’s consider this meaning, what it means to society, what it means our neighbor, and what it means to the Lord.
As we shall see in the next few minutes there is another meaning than “never borrow anything – especially money.” Rather “owe no man any thing” means if a payment is due, pay it, don’t fall behind in your repayments. For example, it is nearly impossible to buy a house today without going into debt to do so. It is possible to spend our entire lives renting houses and apartments, and there is nothing wrong with that. But human wisdom, perhaps even sanctified human wisdom suggests that if some mortgage company agrees to accept stated monthly payments with a promise that at some point we will own that house without any further debt, then it is best to make that agreement. Rent money is given away, never to be of benefit to us again. But mortgage money, which may not be much higher than rent payments, will eventually become money in our pockets. This verse is not saying, do not got into debt to buy a house. It is saying when your mortgage payment is due, pay it. You are sinning against God, as well as against your mortgage company, when you do not to make the agreed-to payment, or you make your payment late.
Furthermore, there is no Biblical condemnation of using your credit card to buy some lumber in order to improve your house, when you have the intention of paying off that purchase at the end of month when your pay-check arrives. There is even no Biblical prohibition against making payments against that credit-card purchase, if your credit card company agrees. But here is where this Biblical statement and the earthly reality crisscross: There is a grave danger, a huge danger, a destructive danger that anyone might use that credit card to create a debt which is too large to easily repay. And then what Paul is saying here does come into play – “Owe no man any thing.” I don’t care if the credit card company says that this month’s minimum payment is $5.00 while the balance is $1000.00, if all you can pay is $5.00 then you have a serious problem. If that problem is not corrected quickly, then you will soon run afoul of Romans 13:8.
“Owe no man any thing.”
And “owe no man any thing,” applies as well. “For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.” We are told in this scripture that we owe at least four things to the authorities which are over us.
We owe to them their due. Have you ever belonged to a club, union, or organization which demanded that dues be paid regularly? Most everyone does that at one point or other in their lives. And what exactly do we mean by “dues”? The English word comes from the French word “dunoir.” And that word comes from the Latin “debere” which means “debt.” Dues are the debt we owe for the privilege of being a part of some sort of society. Paul teaches us that we owe a debt to the society of the United States of America and to the leaders of this government, no matter how corrupt they are.
And to be more specific, we owe them tribute, custom, fear and honour. Gill says that “tribute” involves personal and property taxes, and “custom” refers to taxes which involve the importation and exportation of trade goods. Paul’s reference to “fear” should not be understood in the sense of verses 3 and 4. WE should have no reason to fear government because we are doing nothing but good. It’s only those who do evil who ought to fear punishment and the sword. But in a way similar to our fear of the Lord, we ought to fear offending even these “higher powers.” “Honour” means exactly what you’d expect it to mean. As Gill says, “there is an honour due to all men, according to their respective rank and station, and the relation they stand in to each other; so servants are to honour their masters, children their parents, wives their husbands, and subjects their princes; all inferior magistrates are to be honoured in their place, and more especially the king as supreme, in thought, word, and gesture.” I Peter 2:17 – “Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.” Remember that if you don’t like this thought, it’s not me who is speaking to you – it is the Lord Himself. I think that it is interesting that the Greek word translated “honour” is sometimes translated “price” or “sum.” It implies that there is an intrinsic value contained in that office, which demands our respect.
And remember, we must “owe no man any thing.” When these tributes, customs, fear and honour are due, it is a sin against God not to pay them. They are a debt from which we will never be freed until the Lord comes to reign or when He takes us home.
Let’s say that you have a grumpy old neighbor, who seems to criticize you in just about everything you do. He tells you when you have too many dandelions; he tells you when your kids are too noisy. He tells you when the nose of your car reaches out in front of his property. He tells you that the pine needles from your tree are falling on his property. As a Christian, you move your car, kill the weeds, rake his lawn and silence your kids. And then you say to yourself that you don’t owe him anything. But, according to the scriptures, you do. You owe him your love. If the Lord says that you are in debt to that man and his invalid wife, then you are in debt – don’t argue. And again, it’s all right to be in debt, but it is a sin to be behind in your payments.
What are the ways in which this debt is to be paid? Here is perhaps a whole series of messages, which we cannot address at this time. But Paul gives us a short outline which we need to consider. Paul merely recites the second half of the Ten Commandments, or perhaps it’s the Lord Jesus’ restatement of the second half of that Decalogue. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” (That last statement is certainly another which is very often taken out of its context.)
The other day I was digging out a place in my back yard and I dug up a piece of concrete. Before I had a chance to think, my old, sin-cursed Adamic nature had a thought on my behalf: It said, “throw it into your neighbor’s back yard.” Of course, I immediately squashed that idea as being wicked and unchristian. If I had complied, among all the other commandments I would have broken, I would have broken that of Romans 13:8. I would have fallen behind on the payment of love which I owe to my neighbor. “Love worketh no ill to his neighbour.”
I’m sure that many of you remember the context of the Parable of Good Samaritan. It is almost exactly the same lesson that Paul is teaching here. “Behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And WHO is my neighbour?” In our society today what is the easiest way to get out of debt? Isn’t it to get a lawyer and to declare bankruptcy? In the case of this Jewish lawyer it was to declare social bankruptcy – “I don’t have any neighbors.” Whatever you and I might think, we have neighbors, and they aren’t confined to the people who live next door.
And among the many debts that we have towards them, one is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Speaking for all of us, Paul said, “I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” It is not necessarily a sin to be in debt, but it is a sin to be behind in our payments. What are you doing to share the gospel with your neighbor next door and on the other side of the world?
By the way, Larry Burkett, points out that some Christians try to draw a parallel between modern bankruptcy laws and the Jewish Year of Jubilee. In every fiftieth year certain things were to take place in the land of Israel. For example, despite the fact that in the 49th year all fields were lay fallow, so was the 50th. That was undoubtedly a great test of faith and faithfulness. But for every family who obeyed the Lord, God’s supply was so great that there would not have been a need to plant and reap in either of those two consecutive years. And another law of the Jubilee was that all debts were to be forgiven and forgotten. But the law of Jubilee has nothing to do with the declaration of bankruptcy. Voluntary bankruptcy is an act by a borrower to avoid his creditors. The forgiveness of debt in the year of Jubilee was the voluntary act of the lender to forgive the debtor’s indebtedness. I think that bankruptcy is something which should be avoided by the Christian at all costs. It is certainly a shameful thing, bringing dishonor on the name of the Lord.
There is of course one other aspect to this exhortation – “Owe no man any thing.”
We could start with earthly things. James 1:17 – “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” Is there a difference between “every good gift” and “every perfect gift?” I think that there probably is, but it doesn’t really matter – they both are given to us by the sovereign God. You may think that your heath isn’t as it once was, and it’s not a good as you’d like it to be. But you have to admit that your health is a lot better than other people whom you know. That is a gift of God. And you may think that your house is inadequate for your needs, or that it is a monster eating up every spare nickel that you can save. But let’s not forget that many people have no homes at all. This too is a gift of God. In a matter of minutes we could probably come up with a hundred different things like this. I am not going to say that God gives us His blessings in order to make us His debtors, because the fact is all these things come of His grace. And yet each of them automatically bring us into debt before the Lord. We owe the Lord our lives, our very existence as created beings, sustained by the grace of God.
A moment ago I quoted James 1:17, but it was slightly out of context, and needs to be read with verse 18: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” Literally speaking, James 1:17, although talking about secular things, doesn’t belong to the secularist. That verse is directed towards those whom the Lord has begotten with His word. It belongs specifically to those who are the children of the Father of lights. The corollary to God’s exquisite earthly blessings, is His absolutely superlative eternal salvation. Consider I Corinthians 4:7 – “Who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it”? Doesn’t the gift which made you more privileged than 98% of the people of the world make you a debtor? And – “know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” The child of God carries an unrepayable debt to the grace of God. An eternity of weekly payments will never reduce the principle by a single hundredth of a percent. But the Lord is not interested in that, so much as that we are serving him out of love and thanksgiving. “Owe no man any thing” – especially the Lord. Fall not behind in your service of the Lord; it is criminal to do so.
And yet, in some ways it is even more criminal to feast on the Lord’s daily provisions and blessings, while living and dying in rejection of the Lord’s greatest of gifts. It might be argued that the best way to make a payment toward God for the Lord’s earthly blessings is to become an even greater debtor to His grace. It is not Paul’s argument in Romans 13, but it is mine – The best response to God’s common graciousness, is to humbly respond to His special, saving grace. Repent of your sins and put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.