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Selected Verse: Romans 13:9 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Ro 13:9 |
King James |
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. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
| For this, &c.--better thus: "For the [commandments], Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not covet, and whatever other commandment [there may be], it is summed up," &c. (The clause, "Thou shalt not bear false witness," is wanting in all the most ancient manuscripts). The apostle refers here only to the second table of the law, as love to our neighbor is what he is treating of. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
For this - "This" which follows is the sum of the laws. "This" is to regulate us in our conduct toward our neighbor. The word "this" here stands opposed to "that" in Rom 13:11. This law of love would prompt us to seek our neighbor's good; "that" fact, that our salvation is near, would prompt us to be active and faithful in the discharge of all the duties we owe to him.
Thou shalt not commit adultery - All the commands which follow are designed as an illustration of the duty of loving our neighbor; see these commands considered in the notes at Mat 19:18-19. The apostle has not enumerated "all" the commands of the second table. He has shown generally what they required. The command to honor our parents he has omitted. The reason might have been that it was not so immediately to his purpose when discoursing of love to a "neighbor" - a word which does not immediately suggest the idea of near relatives. The expression, "Thou shalt not bear false witness," is rejected by the best critics as of doubtful authority, but it does not materially affect the spirit of the passage. It is missing in many manuscripts and in the Syriac version.
If there be any other commandment - The law respecting parents; or if there be any duty which does not seem to be "specified" by these laws, it is implied in the command to love our neighbor as ourselves.
It is briefly comprehended - Greek, It may be reduced to "this head;" or it is summed up in this.
In this saying - This word, or command,
Thou shalt love ... - This is found in Lev 19:18. See it considered in the notes at Mat 19:19. If this command were fulfilled, it would prevent all fraud, injustice, oppression, falsehood, adultery, murder, theft, and covetousness. It is the same as our Saviour's golden rule. And if every man would do to others as he would wish them to do to him, all the design of the Law would be at once fulfilled. |
| Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886] |
Thou shalt not commit adultery, etc.
Omit thou shalt not bear false witness. The seventh commandment precedes the sixth, as in Mar 10:19; Luk 18:20; Jam 2:11.
It is briefly comprehended (ἀνακεφαλαιοῦται)
Only here and Eph 1:10. Rev., it is summed up. Ἁνά has the force of again in the sense of recapitulation. Compare Lev 19:18. The law is normally a unit in which there is no real separation between the commandments. "Summed up in one word." The verb is compounded, not with κεφαλή head, but with its derivative κεφάλαιον the main point.
Namely thou shalt love, etc. (ἐν τῷ ἀγαπήσεις)
The Greek idiom is, it is summed up in the thou shalt love, the whole commandment being taken as a substantive with the definite article.
Neighbor (τὸν πλησίον)
See on Mat 5:43. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| If there be any other - More particular. Commandment - Toward our neighbour; as there are many in the law. It is summed up in this - So that if you was not thinking of it, yet if your heart was full of love, you would fulfil it. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery - He that loves another will not deprive him of his wife, of his life, of his property, of his good name; and will not even permit a desire to enter into his heart which would lead him to wish to possess any thing that is the property of another: for the law - the sacred Scripture, has said: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
It is remarkable that ου ψευδομαρτυρησεις, thou shalt not bear false witness, is wanting here in ABDEFG, and several other MSS. Griesbach has left it out of the text. It is wanting also in the Syriac, and in several of the primitive fathers. The generality of the best critics think it a spurious reading. |
19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
11 For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
20 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.