Owe no man anything but love (Rom. 13:8). Yet Paul himself owed a debt to the Greeks and Barbarians (Rom. 1:14). We are going to provide a list of NT passages about “debts.” One list with a family of 4 words. Do you, in fact, owe any “debts?” Are you “obligated”? Are there things you “ought” to do? Does the fact that we are “obligated” in certain situations work against the thought that we should only owe people the debt of love? Or are these other “debts” aspects of the “debt” of love?
As we said, there are four Greek terms. The numbers 1-4 are affixed before each reference so you know which term is used. In this post we will work through the Gospels and Acts, and then the Epistles in the next post.
1. ofeileths: debtor;
2. ofeilh: debt, obligation;
3. ofeilhma: debt, one's due;
4. ofeilw: to owe, be indebted
31. Mt.6:12: forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors
144424. Mt.18:24,28ab,30,32,34: Unforgiving Servant. One owed 10,000 talents. Being forgiven he found man who owed him & said, "Pay what you owe." He threw him in prison until he could pay what he owed. King said, "I forgave your debt." So that men was punished until he paid what he owed.
44. Mt.23:16,18: woe to those who is obligated only if he swears by gold of temple and does not swear by the temple itself; or who swears by the altar and not on the gift that is on the altar. (Here we see Jesus challenging the Jews who liked to play games with “obligation.” Do I find myself doing this? If you give a percentage of your income to the Lord, to you debate whether to pay on your gross or net income? Am I obligated to love my neighbor, but only under certain circumstances? How do I justify not helping a brother in Christ who is in need?)
4. Lk.7:41: one man owed banker 100, another 50 pence. Both were forgiven; which one loved the creditor more?
4. Lk.11:4: forgive us as we forgive those indebted to us (Lord’s Prayer again).
1. Lk.13:4: were those on whom the tower fell greater sinners (debtors)
44. Lk.16:5,7: how much do you owe (twice)
4. Lk.17:10: when we obey Christ's commands we merely do our duty. (This goes to what it means to be a servant of Christ!)
4. Jn.13:14: we ought to wash each others feet as Christ washed ours. (Jesus, the personification of grace, spoke of us having a debt, a debt of love!)
2. Jn.19:7: Jews said Christ ought to die by their law for blasphemy
4. Ac.17:29: as God's offspring we ought not think of Him as silver, stone
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