Reflection:
Paul echoes the same themes as Jesus as he advises the Roman believers on how they can bear witness to the lordship of Christ in the heart of the Roman Empire. Jesus had broadened the definition of neighbour and given us a picture of love as the fulfilling of the law. In the earlier chapters Paul has argued that all who live in Christ have been adopted as the children of God. No longer enslaved to the law of sin and death, we have peace with God and enjoy an inheritance of righteousness.
Because of what God has done in Christ, we are now free to love our neighbours and to seek the best for them. This probably refers primarily to fellow believers, but even this will prove a challenge for some. Their neighbourly behaviour is to extend beyond race, class and gender. As he writes in Galatians 3:28: ‘There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus’. What a wonderful picture of the Church!
Prayer: Dear Lord, I thank you for ethical codes in Scripture that guide our living and our behaviour in relation to you and to others. But help me to see the Good News as more than a series of do’s and don’ts. Open my eyes to the ways in which I may have harmed my neighbours, sometimes without realizing it. May all that I do- and refrain from doing – foster loving relationships among neighbours, and particularly my fellow believers.