"You shall love your neighbour as yourself." Romans 13:9

THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD

The Jewish segment of the Roman Church would be most familiar with the commandments of God. It would not be difficult to say that the Gentile believers would also have become familiar with the Ten Commandments. Hence the following text and its reference to the Decalogue.

"For the commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery',
'You shall not murder', 'You shall not steal',
'You shall not bear false witness'. 'You shall not covet',
and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in
this saying, namely, 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself.'"
Romans 13:9

1. The mention of "the commandments"

a) This was done because all the readers were familiar with the commandments.

b) The commandments highlighted are concerned with man's relationship with man.

c) The first four commandments are related to God!

2. If there is any other commandment

a) There are indeed other commandments.

b) Paul was not attempting to list all the commandments.

3. The point of making reference to these commandments

a) Paul sought to help his readers to understand the undergirding principle of all these commandments.

b) It is possible to speak of "a summary" of these commandments.

c) All the commandments of God may be summed up in the following statement

"You shall love your neighbour as yourself"
Romans 13:9

i) The principle underneath His laws governing human relationships is "love".

ii) God was commanding man to love his fellow man.

iii) Man is to learn to love his neighbour as he loves himself