As Paul continues to exhort these believers in Rome to be transformed in the way that they live, he returns to this subject of love and loving one another. This is a mark of genuine followers of Jesus. If you do not love one another, do you really love God (1 John 4:8)? Often believers can prioritize many other aspects of being a follower of Jesus, but Jesus, John and Paul - actually every single New Testament writer - emphasized love and loving one another. Paul begins with a really interesting assertion, you owe one another love. Because of the rich gifts of Jesus, we are indebted to one another, and that debt is not financial, that debt is a debt of love. Paul exhorts us with this: you owe one another genuine selfless love. Do you display genuine, selfless love? By God's grace we can and we must because loving one another displays the love Jesus showed to us.
Throughout Romans, Paul offers a defense of what he believes and teachers about the gospel for these believers in Rome he has not yet met. Some of them may have been questioning him, his message and how it relates to Judaism. Paul writes to explain at length the connection of Jesus, the gospel and defend it, in spite of the rejection of Jesus as the Jewish Messiah by many Jews.
