Journey through the Book of Romans

Paul Reveals True Love

Romans 13:8-10 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. NKJV

Paul has exhorted us to present our entire bodies to our Heavenly Father with a heart filled with love and gratitude for our redemption and new resurrection life. Paul has declared to us that doing this is the reasonable or logical desire that should fill our hearts to God the Father in worship to Him. Paul has commanded us to allow God the Holy Spirit through the Word of God to renew our mind from the old way of thinking we practiced in our unregenerate state or condition into an entirely Bible based way of thinking as we feast upon God’s Word and devourer it every day as our spiritual food. Paul has written for our understanding the result that should spring forth from this yielding our entire three fold nature to God the Father, spirit, soul, and body along with our renewed mind (based on the only truth, the Word of God John 17:17) and that is our behavior should be dramatically altered or changed from the way we lived before receiving forgiveness and eternal life from our Lord, Master, and Savior Jesus Christ (Romans 12:9-21).

Paul then showed us how our new behavior must be lived out in this foreign land or world we now live in as aliens on the earth. Paul has declared to us that despite our new citizenship being in heaven now, we still must continue to live down here under the authorities our Heavenly Father has “set” up by His Own Will and when we do so we will bring glory and honor to His Name through our conduct and behavior, as well as be a witness without speaking one word to our new found life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Paul closed by telling us we must even pay our taxes to the earthly authorities or as our Lord Jesus declared it this way, Mark 12:13-17  Then they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Him in order to trap Him in a statement. They came and said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not? Shall we pay or shall we not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to look at.” They brought one. And He said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” And they said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were amazed at Him. NKJV

Paul now declares for us and to us the things that are God’s our Lord Jesus Christ spoke of and that is for His Blood bought, redeemed, transformed, newly created in their inner man and woman to owe nothing to one another but love. Everything the Apostle Paul has declared to us and required from us should culminate in each one of us loving each other without hypocrisy, pretending, or acting, but to love in the truth and in so doing the Law of God is fulfilled in such a person. Paul now seems at first glance to the unlearned heart to veer off course by way of listing four of the Ten Commandments. Some would ask what does mentioning these commandments have to do with love and such a statement would only come from a person who does not understand real love or true love as God’s Love truly is to the world at large and even deeper to His born ones or His Beloved ones (John 1:12-13 & 1 John 3:1-2). Paul is here proclaiming for all to read and heed what the result of true love looks like visibly and tangibly for the world to see and all that Paul has said to us from Romans 12 and Romans 13 up to this point has been that we would manifest or make visible or reveal what love truly is to a lost and dead in trespasses and sins world headed for God’s Eternal Wrath and Judgment in Hell and later the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:10-15).

The men and women in this world without Jesus Christ, who are unregenerate and natural men and women, believe that to love someone is to let them fulfill the desires of their sinful nature, so long as they see it not directly hurting another person, but Paul says this of love in 1 Corinthians 13:6 “Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. NKJV The word unrighteousness is simply another word for wickedness, lawlessness, iniquity, or just sin. Real love, God’s Love never desires to see people indulge in or in bondage to sin, whether it is the gratifying of the flesh in adultery, fornication, incest, pornography, masturbation, or prostitution or gossip, jealousy, greed, pride, hate, envy, or strife. Paul says that “love” that is real and true worketh no ill. The English word worketh is translated from the Greek word ergazomai which means to toil or work hard (as a task or occupation). The English word ill is translated from the Greek word kakos which means worthless or injurious or bad or evil or harmful or wicked things perpetrated against another person.

Paul has listed for us only four of the Ten Commandments to shine this bright spot light into our hearts to reveal what truly dwells there because if these desires are continually present there, then they will manifest or make themselves visible as fruit comes forth from a tree branch and the practice of these things against or with or upon others is the expressed opposite of true love. True love seeks to build up another and not to work hard at injuring them or being harmful in any capacity to them. Therefore, as our Lord Jesus Christ declared to us with these words, Matthew 7:15-23 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” NKJV Read the article entitled “What is Real Love?” (http://www.faithwriters.com/article-details.php?id=149283).

“Law enjoins but has no power to get its injunctions executed. Love enables and inclines to do all that law prescribes, and to avoid all that it prohibits. The multiplicity of duties is melted into unity; and that unity, when it comes into act, unfolds into whatsoever things are lovely and of good report. Love is the mother tincture which, variously diluted and manipulated, yields all potent and fragrant draughts. It is the white light which the prism of daily life resolves into its component colours. But Paul seems to limit the action of love here to negative doing no ill. That is simply because the commandments are mostly negative, and that they are is a sad token of the lovelessness natural to us all. But do we love ourselves only negatively, or are we satisfied with doing ourselves no harm? That stringent pattern of love to others not only prescribes degree, but manner. It teaches that true love to men is not weak indulgence, but must sometimes chastise, and thwart, and always must seek their good, and not merely their gratification.” Alexander MacLaren

“Love that causes another to be injured, abused, or constantly sorrowful and sad is akin to the abomination of a man that the fictional character Dr. Frankenstein tried to create in his laboratory, that sort of love too is fictional and not real.” Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…