CHRIST the CREDIT HOLDER: “We are debtors” (Rom 8:12). In Luke 7, the Lord told a story that declares every sinner in debt to God. Wonderfully, our debt can be paid by the Savior’s death. But Paul explains that there are certain debts we still owe, and are called upon to pay up ourselves, through godly living by grace. We are debtors to the gospel: “I am a debtor…to preach the gospel” (Rom 1:14-15). As well, we are debtors to the Spirit living within: “we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh…but…by the Spirit” (8:12-13). We are also debtors to love: “Owe no one anything except to love one another” (13:8). And we are debtors to weaker believers: “We then who are strong ought (lit., owe it) to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves” (15:1). And finally, there is the debt of reciprocal care: “…they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in material things” (15:27).