Summary: Romans 13: 8-14

This lesson started out with a test on the previous week’s lesson. The Test was administered as follows: Ed told a story and then asked the penetrating question, “what does the story had to do with last week’s lesson?”

The Story:
Some 18 years ago I hired Steve, a young computer engineer from Auburn University, to teach computer science at Armstrong. Shortly after he arrived, we became jogging buddies and that relationship has continued even as our responsibilities and positions on campus have diverged. Last summer after a run, we discussed my taking him and his two sons, Matthew, aged 11 and Chris, aged 15, on a fishing trip in coastal waters. I agreed, but only after Steve convinced me that he understood the framework within which we would operate: When you go fishing with Ed Wheeler, you never catch fish.

So one day in mid-August, we loaded my boat and headed down the Intercoastal. Surprisingly, we had a good day. We got a couple of keeper sized trout on board, pulled in a few big sharks, and had some very large sharks rip our lines up. However, late in the day, the 11 year old had still not caught a fish. I was so very pleased when just minutes before time to depart he caught a little 8 inch trout. Although Georgia Law requires that trout be 13 inches to take home, I was feeling a little grandfatherly and said, “Matthew, because this is your first fish, we will take it home for your supper.” Matthew smiled brightly in anticipation… but from the other side of the boat I heard his father speaking quietly but firmly, “Ed, we need to put the fish back in the water.” As I was releasing the little trout, I realized that not only had Matthew been taught an important lesson that day, but so had I.

My question: What does this story have to do with last week’s lesson. (Review Romans 13:1-7).

In preparation for completing our reading of Romans 13, I have this story for you:

In summer AD 386, a young professor of rhetoric in the Italian city of Milan was in despair. He had been born in North Africa to a Christian mother and pagan father, had been provided an excellent classic education, found his way to Rome where he received academic and political promotions, and now occupied an enviable position in Milan that could lead to either political ascension or academic ascension. However, on this day, he had reached a crisis point in his life. Despite the prayers of his mother, he had lived a debauched life since adolescence, enjoying all the many diversions available in the big cities of the Roman empire. He was famous for having flippantly prayed, “Grant me chastity and continence, Lord, but not yet … not yet.” But now in his early thirties and despite great prospects, he could no long detect any sense of direction in his life. He was pacing in the garden when he heard the voice of a child saying, “Take and read … take and read.” He looked for the child and found none. Then he went to table where a friend had been reading a pile of manuscripts including letters of the Apostle Paul. He grabbed a letter and begin reading the first lines his eyes saw … and the lines were Romans 13: 13-14. In this moment his heart yielded to God and Augustine was converted. He returned to North Africa where he became one of the great preachers and religious leaders and philosophers of the ancient world. His name was Augustine and we often hear him referenced as St. Augustine or Augustine of Hippo.

Read Romans 13: 8 – 14 As you read, make notes in the following columns.
Thoughts, surprises, insights, questions (don’t forget to read Augustine’s two verses, 13 and 14) Think about these questions:
• What is one of the greatest examples of love that you have personally witnessed?
• Does Christ’s promised return affect the way you live your life? Should it?
• Paul uses the metaphor of “Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ” as a summary statement for his exhortations. What does this metaphor mean to you?