Love is the Fulfillment of the Law

This was a three-part post a while back (here, here, and here). I reread it and decided it needed updating due to what I've grown to learn since then. Here it is updated in one post (disclaimer: not a comprehensive treatment of the subject).

Part I

There are several places in the Bible that describe love as the pinnacle of good works. Jesus taught that first and second place finishers in the “Commandment Olympics” are loving God (gold medal) and loving others as ourselves (winner of the silver). He emphasized it by saying that on those two things “hang” the whole Israelite Law and the Prophets.

Love is the consummation.

One of those men that were closest to Jesus wrote “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death” (1 John 3:14). John continued by writing, “And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment” just two verses later.

Love is the commandment.

Another very influential Christian in the first century, Paul, instructed quite frankly – owe no one anything but to love! (Romans 13:8) Paul also authored what is likely the most famous description of love ever penned in the first letter to the Christians in the Roman city of Corinth. There he exclaimed that love is greater than hope and greater than faith. He even went so far as to say that all religious knowledge and miraculous gifts will pass away from existence eventually... but not love.

Love is preeminent.

Paul, who wrote a majority of the letters in the New Testament, grasped a view of love that surpassed any other framework that humanity had beheld before. Love could (and should) be incorporated into every act, every relationship, every work, every thought, every word and every plan that occurs (1 Cor. 10:31).

Love is indispensable.

Undeniably, love is a definer; according to John it is the definer of a true Christian. John must have gained that perspective from Jesus, who, after all, also said that people who did not have faith in Jesus would recognize believers simply by how they love one another.

All of this is wonderful. We as humans crave and need and seek after and treasure love. To find that the love of God is accessible to us is the greatest news ever written by pen or spoken by lips. That He expects us to love those around us in like manner is the healing balm of all the world’s wounds.

God is love.

Part II

I mentioned yesterday that the Bible, in the letter from Paul to the Corinthian Christians, describes a view of love that surpassed any other framework that humanity had held for it before. That’s a bold statement to make. It is also an accurate statement. The love that the Bible describes stands separated from merely emotion and affection, though it essentially envelops those things.

The phrase that I’ve titled these blog posts with, “Love is the fulfillment of the law,” is quoted from the thirteenth chapter of the letter to the Romans, tenth verse. It echoes Jesus words that all the Hebrew Law and Prophets hang on the two commandments to love God and love people. Yesterday I discussed key concepts of love (as described by the Bible, which is my test for truth). However, we cannot correctly understand this verses (and many other verses) without getting Paul’s view of the Law as well.

The Law is not a regret to God.

In Paul’s letter to the Christians in Galatia, he says that, “if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law” (Galatians 3:20). This is an extremely important fact. The Law is not non-binding on a Christian because it is archaic or worthless or unnecessary. Paul here emphatically rejects any negative view of the Law. In the Romans letter he wrote the Law is “good and holy and just” (Romans 7:12)! Paul has a high view of the Law!

The Law did not fail its purpose.

Going back to Galatian’s Chapter 3, Paul says, “if there had been a law given which could have given life…” and with that appears to be explaining that the Law was inadequate in helping; however, that is not so. What Paul is saying is that no law could have brought us life (speaking here of “eternal life”). Why not? Is it because a set of rules can never express the requirements necessary for attaining that reward? No! Paul says “truly righteousness would have been by the law”! Again, Paul has a high view of the Law. He knows that God gave a perfect Law (which is how David describes it in Psalms 19).

So, why couldn’t the Law bring about the hope of eternal life? Paul answers that question in the Romans letter. There in the beginning of Chapter 8 Paul clearly and frankly states, “for what the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh….” The Law is not the problem for us. We are the problem for the Law. Our inability to actually perform the Law – to live 100% within its guidelines – is the issue.

The Law still served and still serves its purposes.

How then should we think about the law? Going back to Galatians 3 God gives us the answer: “before faith came we were kept under guard by the law” and “the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ” (verses 23 and 24). The first part describes us as kept under guard. What is that about? That simply means that it is a good thing for someone to try to live the Law out (or rather the intent of the Law) because the result will be less sin in our lives. To put it another way, it is a hedge that clearly displays moral boundaries.

The other concept was that of the “tutor”. The tutor teaches. What does the Law teach? It teaches that we are unable to fulfill it. It teaches that we, every person everywhere that ever lived, cannot measure up to God’s standard for perfection – the standard that He sets in Himself. It teaches that we need God to do something else for us if anyone is going avoid punishment for our failure to meet the Law’s requirements. The tutor teaches us about a need for a Savior.

God was not surprised the giving of the Law didn’t solve the world’s problems, because His intentions for the Law was for it to show us we’re incapable of earning eternal life or His approval by keeping the Law. In other words, any moral law that God prescribes serves two purposes: (1) clearly describes how people ought to live and (2) makes us aware that we will always violate any moral law God gives us (in fact we even violate every moral law we make up for ourselves). Thus, all the world becomes guilty before God and all the world has only two choices. Either we individually pay the penalty being law-breakers (eternal punishment) or someone else pay the penalty for our sins thereby making us both free of the penalty of death and creating an avenue for us to enter into God’s presence in the next life.

The Law is good.

Part III

At this point, by exploring only a few verses, most of which are derived from just two or three letters in the New Testament (and by that I mean to say the other 63 or 64 books of the Bible also support the previous conclusions extensively, but they are succinctly captured in the above mentioned verses), we’ve established two main conclusions:

1.     Love is the key attribute which ought to characterize a Christian’s life. The root from which this truth grows and on which it is established is the fact that love is part of God’s character.

2.     The Law is “good and holy and just.” It was designed with specific purposes in mind (which it has fulfilled) and it will benefit us if we do it, because the law is an extension of God character. The things in the Law are “good and holy and just” not because they are laws established by God (as is the case with the local, state, and federal governments) but because they encapsulate in our temporal existence things God would do (thus, when God became a person He did fulfill the requirements of the Law – see Romans 8:3, 4).

So here we are back to the original issue. How do these two essentials converge? We know the statement “love is the fulfillment of the law” is true, but what I’ve found many a Christian confused about is why that statement of Paul’s is even true?!

This is how this works: Love and the Law both are extensions of God’s character. True love and true holy acts are only judged “true” if they pass the litmus test of truth – God and His character. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the Law because anything that God would do (the Law, though I am not saying the Law is comprehensively what God would do) is ultimately also loving. To put it another way, if I do the things in the Law I will also be loving others (there is obviously a danger contained in this, but more on that later). The converse is also true: if I love others, as God would love them, I will naturally do the things prescribed by God in the Law.

A conclusion, somewhat: So many times I have heard believers loosely quote the song “love is all we need.” While we cannot deny those words in themselves, a Christian must reject any concept of love that does not define itself and confine itself to the fulfillment of the law! Love does not require approval. Love does not demand tolerance. Love does not necessitate conflict-avoidance. After all, within the Law God prescribed do’s and do not’s. Love is serving everyone we meet, but only if it is in his or her best interest and if it brings glory to God. Love means accepting and respecting those around us, but does not mean we capitulate or compromise with the moral protections in the Law.

Today’s study has been somewhat barren of Scripture as I worked through an understanding of Scripture that is both a responsible and a cohesive interpretation of God’s word. At this point now, though, we are able to rightly understand our key verse: “… love is the fulfillment of the law” because now we can correctly appreciate and apply the first half of the verse!

Romans 13:10 in its entirety reads, “Love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” Why does love fulfill the law? Answer: actions, if they can be categorically listed as “loving” are harmless toward others and that is precisely what God is driving toward in giving us the Law. In it, He is telling us how we ought to live in order to not harm our friends, family and others around us.

At this point someone may object that I am reading my opinions or religious upbringing into these verse. That’s an important concern. I am confident that I am not doing that, however, because of the context – the verses that come before and after Romans 13:10 – confirm it:

“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 other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Notice what God says through Paul in verse eight – “he who loves another has fulfilled the law.” Paul’s justification for saying we should “owe” love to others is because love will fulfill the Law. Now we can make the same substitution that Paul makes and shorten this passage some for clarity.

“Owe no one anything except to […] fulfilled the law [toward them]. And remember that it is easy to apply the law if you judge all of your actions by the commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Christians must get beyond the compulsion or tendency to minimalize the Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus and the first generation of Christians likely only had those Scriptures and they were sufficient at that time to spread the gospel by testifying of Jesus’s life, death and resurrection. They were the foundation for everything written in the New Testament.

What does that mean for us? This is where we return to the “danger” I mentioned above. We know that the New Testament writers warned all believers (repeatedly!) not to attempt to attain or maintain salvation through efforts to live according to the Law. On the other hand, they also commended believers to do the precepts on which the Law was founded; in other words, Christians were commanded to apply the underlying purpose for which God gave each law (a concept requiring extensive study). Consequently, for a Christian today to apply the Law doesn’t mean we apply the specific laws themselves (don’t shave, put a fence around our roof, etc.), but rather seek out the Why behind them and apply that to our daily lives!

Christian, be encouraged. Some today want to disregard the Old Testament, but Jesus said that the Old Testament books tell us about, point us to, Jesus! Though the Old Testament has specific function within God’s redemptive purposes and must be viewed in light of the new covenant through Jesus, it is not outdated. The Law is not the result of the efforts of some Hebrew men to control a society. Nor is it a black spot on the history of Judaism and Christianity. The Law was received from God. We err when we dismiss the Law as though it was accidently breathed out by God. We err when we pursue acceptability before God by the Law. These are extremes we must avoid. We also err when we fail to define love the way God defines love, and we err when we let the world tell us what love should look like, especially when God already so clearly has.