“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” -Romans 13:14 As Paul, in verse 13, first exhorted from the via negativa (i.e., not in not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy), he now, in verse 14, […]
Crumbs From Our Master's Table
[CRUMBS IS ON A TEMPORARY HIATUS UNTIL EST. JUNE 2022]
CRUMBS is a free, daily morsel of truth you can consume in a minute but chew on all day long. It is nourishment for the soul delivered straight from the King's table to your email inbox. Of course, these morsels are not a substitute for the nourishment of the Word and Sacraments served on the Lord's Day, but they are good with coffee or tea in the morning.
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Let Us Walk Properly
“Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.” -Romans 13:13 Given their place in history as the new humanity, the new Israel, the new people of God, Paul urges them to join him in walking properly: ““Let us walk […]
The Day is at Hand
“Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of […]
The Hour Has Come
“Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.” -Romans 13:11 Not only does Paul want the believers at Rome be motivated by love for one another, but he also appeals to their knowledge of […]
Love Fulfills the Law
“Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” -Romans 13:10 This verse is merely a summary of Paul’s exhortation to not withhold from any that which is due them, be it money, honor, or obedience, but especially love. When we truly love our neighbors, we are doing the […]
The Summation of the Law is Love
“For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”” -Romans 13:9 What Paul is emphasizing here is not an orderly treatment of the Mosaic Law, but the […]
Owe No One Anything
“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” -Romans 13:8 Paul makes a brilliant turn of phrase here to demonstrate how the law is fulfilled in our exciting love toward one another. Beginning in verse 7, he says to the believers, pay what you […]
Pay What is Owed
“Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.” -Romans 13:7 Having worked through the logic of this last exhortation to obey the rulers and pay the taxes, Paul concludes with a […]
You Also Pay Taxes
“For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.” -Romans 13:6 The demonstrative pronoun this is neuter and likely refers to the whole of what Paul is saying, namely that rulers are ministers of God executing judgment on evildoers so you should obey them […]
Two Reasons
“Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience.” -Romans 13:5 Paul gives two reasons to obey the magistrate: to avoid God’s wrath and to avoid a guilty conscience. In this case God’s wrath is understood as magistrate’s work of carrying out God’s wrath on […]