Romans 13:8

μηδενὶ μηδὲν. The repetition of the negative gives a strong emphasis to the injunction. ὀφείλετε in pres. = remain under debt to no man in any matter, except in love.

εἰ μὴ τὸ�. ἀλλὴλους must be given as wide a reference as μηδενὶ; love is a permanent debt (pres. infin.) that can never be fully discharged; cf. Aug. Ep. cxcii. 1 (qu. Lid.) “semper autem debeo caritatem quae sola etiam reddita detinet redditorem.” This sums up all the teaching of Romans 12:3 to Romans 13:7.

ὁ γὰρ�.τ.λ. This is the only way of fulfilling law, and this does fulfil it.

τὸν ἔτερον. Apparently used by S. Paul to give the widest possible extension to the principle: anyone with whom a man is brought into relation: it avoids vagueness (not πάντας� or τοὺς ἄλλους) by its individual note and bars all casuistry as to ‘the neighbour’; cf. Luke 10:29. It is grammatically possible to take τὸν ἕτερον with νόμον (cf. Hort on James 2:8 ad fin.); but the phrase would be strained, and the context (ἀλλήλους—τὸν πλησίον) is against it.

νόμον πεπλήρωκεν. Cf. Matthew 5:17 : supra Romans 8:4; Galatians 5:14 and subst. Romans 13:10. νόμος is quite general, though as the next verse shows the Decalogue is the crucial instance. πεπλ. perfect, has by that continuing act fulfilled and does fulfil, not abolished or done away.