Today’s epistle text breaks into two distinct parts: verses 8-10 and 11-14. Verses 8-10 continue the theme Paul introduced in chapter 12, here masterfully connected to the more mundane matters of the disciple’s relationship to civil authorities.

Paul accomplishes this high-wire walk with one balance-beam line: “Owe no one anything, except to love one another.” The fiscal accountability the apostle advocated in 13:7, “pay to all what is due them,” is transformed into an ethical mandate for everyone. “All” we owe is to “love one another.”

Paul’s concern here has no fiscal footing. The question of personal financial indebtedness is not at issue. Rather, this simple statement plunges all people of faith into eternal indebtedness. To “love one another” is a “debt” that is never “paid off.” Orige…