Answer: Question 6a in Lesson 21 of Part Four--Bible Study

The Gift of Eternal Life Berean Bible Study Course

Part IV--The Family Of God / The Body Of Christ

C. Lesson 21--The Fellowship of Christ's Body

6. READ: ROMANS 13:8-14

a. What continuing debt do we have?

Answer: We owe a continuing debt to love one another, (verse 8).

MORE INFORMATION AND/OR OTHER SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:

We owe a continuing debt to our Father, our Savior Jesus Christ, and to the Holy Spirit for Their love for us. Their's is an "anyway" love (agape). They do not love us "if" we do thus and such, nor do They love us "because" we do thus and such. They love us "anyway," just as we stand in the shame of our sins. We belong to Them, being created by Them. We separated ourselves from the One Who created us in Their image and after Their likeness. We separated ourselves from God by our own willful sin. Though we were (and are) sinners, they planned for us to be redeemed (bought back at a price) even before the beginning of the world. The price of the redemption of mankind was the blood of God! No other price could satisfy the wrath of God against the rebellion of His created ones. Jesus took the punishment we should have suffered, taking the Father's wrath for our sins upon Himself. He bore the shame that was ours for rebelling against the Father, and opened the Way for reconciliation with our Father. Can we ever repay that debt of supreme love? No! Never!!

In the same way, all of us are to love one another, even unto death. The love that was given to us by God is the love we must have for each other. This is the one debt that a Christian is to carry continually.
From The Book of Romans by Jim McGuiggan:

To refuse to love (agape) all men...is a repudiation of the spirit of Christ. It is to sever oneself from Christ. It makes no difference why we refuse to do this--if we do refuse, we are lost. Read First John at one sitting and feel the impact of the book.

Who started the lie that love makes people weak? Love is tough and demanding. It costs a lot, you see. It cost God His Son. It cost Christ His blood. It cost the Holy Spirit His divine colleague. It cost the early Church members their lives. Love is computed in deeds done, tears shed, lonely nights endured, loved ones sacrificed, pain endured, property confiscated, in isolations, false reports, and on and on.

Love checks no pedigree or social record before acting. It is absolutely class and color blind. It doesn't check the breath for liquor or the skin for puncture marks. It doesn't find the long-haired boy obnoxious or the gaudy clothes intolerable. It has no degree as a C.P.A. in connection with personal slights. It finds the triumph of Truth a source of real joy and it smiles a warm and genuine smile of pleasure when it hears of someone's success. It listens with its eyes as well as its ears. Its bones are made of loyalty, its heart is solid sympathy, its lips are made of courage, its mind is alert, open and full of conviction. Love at its best is spelled J-E-S-U-S.
Read the following Scriptures to learn what love IS, how it ACTS, WHO we are to love, WHY we are to love one another, HOW MUCH we are to love, how we are to ENCOURAGE EACH OTHER to greater and greater love, and why we must CONTINUALLY carry this debt:

Leviticus 19:18: [God said,] "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord."

Matthew 5:43-48: [Jesus said,] "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Matthew 22:34-40: "Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested Him with this question: 'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?' Jesus replied: '"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: "Love your neighbor as yourself." All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.'" (See also Mark 12:28-34.)

John 13:34-35: [Jesus said,] "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another."

Romans 12:10: "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves."

1 Corinthians 13:1-8a, 13: "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the Truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails...And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

Galatians 5:13-14: "You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

Ephesians 4:2: "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."

Hebrews 10:22: "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds."

1 Peter 1:22: "Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the Truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart."

1 Peter 3:8-9: "Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing."

1 John 3:11, 14-16, 23: "This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another... We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him...This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers...And this is His [God's] command: to believe in the Name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us." (Read ALL of 1 John.)

1 John 4:7-12: "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His One and Only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us." (Read all of 1 John.)

2 John 1:5-6: "And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to His commands. As you have heard from the beginning, His command is that you walk in love."

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