Love is the Law

"Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,' 'You shall not covet,' and if there is any commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law."

-Romans 13:8-10

This passage of Scripture explains to us just how love fits into the Law of God.

Generally, when the subjects of Law and love are discussed in Christian circles, they are often pitted against each other or even divorced from one another. We naturally think of the Old Testament containing a different message than the New, perhaps even presenting a different God between the two testaments. This is actually a mistake.

First of all, we know that God never changes (He is immutable), being "the same yesterday, today and forever" (Heb. 13:8).

But beyond this point, the Law of God and the love of God are not on two diametrically opposed sides, but rather, they work together.

Notice in Romans 13:8-10 two key words/phrases: "fulfilled/fulfillment" & "summed up".

"Summed up" in the Greek means 'to gather together into one'. So, in other words, we're being told that when you bring all the Law of God together under one heading, "LOVE" is what the law points to. If we truly love God and we truly love other people perfectly, we will be doing what the Law says to do. Therefore, the Law of God is summed up or gathered together by the concept of pure, perfect love.

"Fulfilled/fulfillment" in the Greek means 'completeness' or 'reaching the intended goal.' So, this is to say that love reaches the ultimate goal of the Law of God. The full intention of the Law of God is realized through pure and righteous love for God and others.

Perhaps it would make the point even clearer if we bring in another piece of evidence connecting love to Law.

When you consider the 10 Commandments, it should be realized that the 10 are actually broken up into two sections. Commandments 1-4 pertain to our relationship to God while Commandments 5-10 pertain to our relationship to our neighbor (others).

Commandments 1-4 read (simplified):

1. No other gods

2. No idols or images

3. No taking God's name in vain

4. Keep the Sabbath day of rest

**If we are loving God with all of our heart, soul, body and mind (Deut. 6:5; Luke 10:27), and if we do that perfectly, we will be loving God as the Law requires.

Commandments 5-10 read (simplified):

5. Honor your parents

6. No murder

7. No adultery

8. No stealing

9. No lying/false testimony

10. No coveting

**If we are loving others perfectly (Luke 10:27), we will be loving our neighbor as the Law requires.

Here's the big issue we all have: None of us loves God and others perfectly all the time, therefore we "have all sinned and all fall short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23).

The Law of God wasn't just about obeying every rule, it was about loving perfectly. This is why we cannot possibly fulfill it or earn God's favor on our own through religious works or good deeds. It's an impossible task!

Yet, the beauty of the Gospel is not only did Jesus perfectly keep the Law on behalf of those who would believe, but He also perfectly loved God the Father and others on behalf of those who would believe. Jesus fulfilled the Law for us in both obedience and love!

Now, His righteous Law keeping through obedience and love is transferred to the bankrupt account of the lost sinner through repentance and trust in Him alone for forgiveness and salvation. Have you put your trust in Jesus to be your Lord and Savior today? If you haven't, realize that you will never be able to have your sins totally forgiven and your soul saved on your own Law keeping or good deeds because you will never be able to perfectly obey OR perfectly love.

Turn to Jesus and be saved today!