“For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
My Notes
What Does Romans 13:9 Mean?
Paul summarizes the entire moral law in a single command: love your neighbor as yourself. The specific commandments — don't commit adultery, don't kill, don't steal, don't bear false witness, don't covet — are all "briefly comprehended" (anakephalaioo — summed up, gathered into one heading) in the love command.
The word "comprehended" means that love isn't an addition to the commandments. It's the summary of them. Every specific prohibition is an expression of one principle: love. Don't commit adultery — because love doesn't violate. Don't kill — because love doesn't destroy. Don't steal — because love doesn't take. Don't covet — because love doesn't grasp.
Paul isn't saying the specific commands don't matter. He's saying they all point to the same thing. If you love your neighbor as yourself, you've fulfilled every commandment that governs how you treat people. Love is the root system. The commandments are the branches.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Which specific commandment do you struggle with most — and can you trace that struggle back to a love deficit?
- 2.What does 'as yourself' mean practically — what does the standard of self-love demand when applied to others?
- 3.How does reducing all commandments to love simplify your moral life — or does it complicate it?
- 4.Where are you obeying rules without the love behind them — keeping the letter while missing the spirit?
Devotional
Every commandment — don't kill, don't steal, don't lie, don't covet — comes down to one thing: love your neighbor as yourself.
Paul doesn't add love to the list of commandments. He reduces the list to love. Every prohibition is an expression of one principle. If you love, you don't need to be told not to kill. If you love, you don't need a rule against stealing. If you love, coveting is impossible. Love fulfills the law because love is what the law was always about.
This is simultaneously the simplest and hardest instruction in the Bible. Simple because it's one command. Hard because it's all-encompassing. "As yourself" is the standard — with the same instinctive care, the same automatic advocacy, the same reflexive protection that you naturally extend to your own needs. That's the bar.
Most of us fail not because we don't understand the commandments but because we don't love enough to keep them. You know you shouldn't steal. You steal anyway — because in that moment, you loved yourself more than your neighbor. You know you shouldn't lie. You lie anyway — because self-protection mattered more than love.
The commandments aren't the root problem. The love deficit is. Fix the love and the commandments handle themselves. Every sin against your neighbor traces back to a moment where you loved yourself more than them.
One command. Ten thousand applications. Love your neighbor as yourself. Everything else is commentary.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
For this, thou shalt not commit adultery,.... The apostle here reckons up the several laws of the second table, with…
For this - “This” which follows is the sum of the laws. “This” is to regulate us in our conduct toward our neighbor. The…
For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery - He that loves another will not deprive him of his wife, of his life, of his…
We are here taught a lesson of justice and charity.
I. Of justice (Rom 13:7): Render therefore to all their dues,…
For this Lit. For the; each precept being a quasi-substantive with the definite article.
Thou shalt not bear false…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture