It Begins with “You”

Romans 13:8-14

Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; you shall not murder; you shall not steal; you shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is already the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone; the day is near. Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us walk decently as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in illicit sex and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Sermon

Everything today hinges on “you.” What I mean by that, is today’s passage hinges in part on the three-letter word: Y-O-U.

When we hear today’s text, there’s a good chance we’ll hear this as a text that’s very personal — as if the scripture is giving each of us individually some instructions.

There’s something really slippery about English, though. Because in English, we have a word—a pronoun—that refers to two very different things. It’s that three letter word: Y-O-U. When we refer to “you,” we might be referring to you individually. You, Donna. You, Jane. You, Dave. But it can also refer to a group or plurality of people. Like “you, who are weary and heavy-laden.” “You kids over there.” “You, Deacons.” You can mean “y’all.”

But for many languages like the Greek of the New Testament, there are different words that are used. We can see if it’s talking about you in the singular, or you in the plural.

Today’s text uses both. You in the singular—as in, “you, Betsy”—comes in only one brief excerpt. This singular “you” is used only when Paul is quoting the ten commandments. He’s quoting those commandments, as if they are saying, “you, as an individual, do not commit adultery.” “You, as an individual, do not murder.” And Paul uses this one more time: “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

The rest of this passage—almost every verb that Paul uses—is in the plural form. He’s saying “you all know what time it is,” “let us throw off the works of darkness,” “you all put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” “you all make no provision for the flesh.”

Though this way that Paul is writing isn’t anything close to a “gotcha” moment, it is an essential part of his message. Because when we realize that this is written to a wider body—when we realize this isn’t a personal, singular instruction—we start to notice the corporate calling of his message.

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As we know, the first section of today’s passage is all about love. But this is not about some abstract, sentimental love, nor is it about some love that is personal and singular. Paul says that this is about love for one another. This is love rooted in relationship and community. This is love for other human beings — love for one’s neighbor, which includes even our enemies. So this cannot be further from a generic, amorphous feeling. To fulfill the law, Paul says, we must be practicing again and again the relational, communal, tangible art of selfless love. It has to be rooted in relationship.

And then, when we move into the second section, we find Paul’s language shifting into the plural, amplifying this communal, relational, neighborly message. Paul starts addressing the entire body in Rome.

Unlike the ten commandments, Paul’s commandments take on this corporate and urgent nature. He writes that this community is drawing closer to salvation, with the second coming of Christ quickening in its arrival, making the Romans’ collective faith all the more urgent. Paul is sounding the alarm bells and lighting up the bat signal: Your salvation is not secured in personal, individual fulfillment of the law; your salvation is bound up in your relationships, your love, your faithfulness, as one corporate, communal body of Christ. 

Salvation is not a single moment, or a personal prayer offered to a personal God. No, in Christ, the entire community must grow into salvation with one another. Salvation is not a purely personal undertaking; salvation takes relationship. It is the entire community that must march arm-in-arm through the night and toward the daybreak.

“Paul is sounding the alarm bells and lighting up the bat signal: Your salvation is not secured in personal, individual fulfillment of the law; your salvation is bound up in your relationships, your love, your faithfulness, as one corporate, communal body of Christ.”

We don’t need to look far to see how this plays out in the church: we simply recall today’s gospel lesson. In it, Jesus instructs us on how to address wrongdoing and conflict in the church. When someone does wrong, go to them individually. But if they don’t listen, bring other members of the community. And if the wrongdoer still doesn’t listen, then take the entire corporate body. If even that corporate body does not succeed, then the church should draw boundaries with that person.

This is an illustration of how the church works out its salvation, to borrow a phrase from Philippians. The church works out its salvation, and draws nearer to it, by exercising discipline. As a corporate body, it guides and corrects its members. It governs itself, and holds shared values, and seeks to be obedient to Christ. This process of discipline and conflict is rooted in the communal, relational body. It is rooted in love that is relational, not a feeling or sentimentality of love.

Christ reminds us that the church always takes more than “you.” It takes “y’all.”

Whether it’s church discipline or something else, we won’t be able to work out our salvation in the individual, singular sense. It will always take relationship. It always takes a community.

“Salvation is not a purely personal undertaking; salvation takes relationship. It is the entire community that marches arm-in-arm through the night and toward the daybreak.”

To offer an even more concise example, consider baptism. Baptism in and of itself is a fundamentally relational act. There is no Christian tradition which permits someone to baptize themselves. It is always done by another member of Christ’s church, and always an act of the entire body of Christ. It is an indispensable part of the Christian life, Christian identity, and the church’s mission, and it always begins in relationship. We cannot be baptized into the saving death and resurrection of Christ without being baptized in relationship and community with one another.

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Here we are: nearly two-thousand years after Paul wrote his letter to the Romans; nearly two thousand years of waiting, and expecting, and preparing for the immanent return of Jesus Christ.

Despite all that time, the day is still near. Salvation is still near. Our awakening is still right around the corner.

So we’re left with the same commands Paul gave the Romans, even some two-thousand years later: still to love one another; still to love our neighbor; still to throw off the works of darkness; still to embrace the light of Jesus Christ.

Here we are. Still “you”; still “y’all.”

Sources

“Commentary on Romans 13:8-14,” Nancy Lammers Gross, 6 September 2026, Working Preacher, https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-23/commentary-on-romans-138-14-7

“Commentary on Romans 13:8-14,” Elizabeth Shively, 7 September 2014, Working Preacher, https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-23/commentary-on-romans-138-14-5