What Does Romans 13:9 Mean?

For this, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not shed blood," "You shall not steal," "You shall not crave," and if there is any other command, it is gathered beneath one head in this word, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Romans 13:9 · SDV

Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.

Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

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.

THE KEY

The prohibitions gather into one measure of love: refusing to treat a neighbor’s life, bond, property, truth, or good as disposable.

THE MEANING

The person near you stands within the same measure you instinctively give yourself. The commands against adultery, killing, stealing, false witness, and coveting gather into one expression of that regard: love your neighbor as yourself.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the belief that keeping each command separately is the whole shape of love while the neighbor’s well-being remains outside your concern.

THE ROOT

ἀνακεφαλαιοῦται

anakephalaioutai

GROWS FROM

κεφαλ-

kephal-

Head; by extension, a chief point or heading that gathers what follows.

“gathered beneath one head” in this verse is anakephalaioutai. The verb carries a head or summing-up image: many commands are brought together under one governing statement. “Briefly comprehended” has the force of gathering them into one, not making them disappear.

ALSO GROWS

kephalē: Head

κεφαλή

This is the source image in the word family: the separate commands are gathered under a single heading.

kephalaion: Chief point; sum

κεφάλαιον

This related form names the main point or sum, echoing how the verse gathers several commands into one saying.

ἀγαπήσεις

agapēseis

GROWS FROM

ἀγαπάω

agapaō

To love or hold dear.

“You shall love” in this verse is agapēseis. The agap- family names both loving and the one held dear. Here love is measured by the regard already familiar in the self, then extended to the neighbor; the verse presents it as the saying that gathers the commands.

ALSO GROWS

agapē: Love

ἀγάπη

The noun form names the love that Romans 13:10 describes as doing no harm to the neighbor.

agapētos: Beloved; dearly loved

ἀγαπητός

This related form names someone as beloved, bringing the family’s regard for the loved one into view.

πλησίον

plēsion

GROWS FROM

πλησι-

plēsi-

Near; close by.

“your neighbor” in this verse is plēsion. The Greek word for neighbor is formed from the language of nearness: the neighbor is the one nearby. The love named here is directed toward a person within reach, not an abstraction.

ALSO GROWS

plēsios: Near; neighboring

πλησίος

This related form makes the nearness in “neighbor” explicit.

plēsiázō: Draw near; approach

πλησιάζω

This related verb describes coming near, echoing the closeness carried by the word for neighbor.

THE PATTERN

Separate commands gather into one relational measure: love the neighbor as yourself.

You shall not avenge, nor hold a grudge against the children of your people; but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

Leviticus 19:18 · SDVThe command to love the neighbor gathers restraint from vengeance and grudges into the same measure.

And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Matthew 22:39 · SDVThe neighbor-love saying stands as a central expression of the commands.

For the whole instruction has been filled in one word, which says, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'

Galatians 5:14 · SDVThe verse explicitly describes the many commands as fulfilled in this one saying.

THE THREAD

Love does not work evil on the neighbor. So love is the fullness of the instruction.

Romans 13:10 · SDV

The same Greek words for love (⁨ἀγάπη⁩, agapē, love) and neighbor (⁨πλησίον⁩, plēsion, the one nearby) appear again. The next verse makes the summary concrete: love does no harm to the neighbor, and in that way the commands find their fulfillment.

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