“Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loves another has fulfilled the law. 9. For this, thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 10. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
The entire Bible, especially the New Testament, reminds us that love is necessary. Philos, the Greek word for brotherly love, is certainly necessary if we are to “fulfill the law.” But the word that is used in the text is the Greek word agape (a-gah-pay), which is the word translated "love" in John 3:16. This is the kind of love that God has for us, and carries the idea of loving at all costs, and loving in spite of those who are unlovely. This is how God loves us, and how we are to love one another. Paul began this passage with the reminder that all we are to owe people is to love them. This does not mean that it is unchristian to borrow money, but the thing to see is that we are indebted to our fellow human beings to love them. The main thing that we are to learn from this is that it is not a sin to borrow money, but that it is a sin not to love one another. If we want to have a Christ like witness in this world, we have to start with loving people, and loving them in spite of the fact that they might not be especially lovable. Jesus said that we have not done anything great if we only love those who love us. Anybody can love people who love them. The real test of love is to love people who do not return our love. I know that it is a real test for me. You might as well go ahead and confess, because it is probably a test for you as well. What did Paul mean by “love is the fulfilling of the law”? All of the commandments that Paul listed in the text refer to our fellow human beings. Adultery, murder and coveting are sins against other people. If we love people, we will not do these things, and other things that are listed in the commandments. Let’s take a look at what “love is the fulfilling of the law” has to do with all of the Ten Commandments. The first four commandments pertain to our relationship with God: (1) we are to have no other god’s before Him. (2) We are not to bow down to any other god. (3) We are not to take God’s name in vain, which is not just referring to a certain curse word, but it means to take God lightly. (4)We are to “remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” If we love God we will live our lives in a way that we will not break the first four commandments. If we love people we will live our lives in a way that will not break the last six commandments. That’s why both Jesus and Paul stated that “love is the fulfilling of the law.” Do you see now why love is necessary? I do not mean that it is necessary to be saved, we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ, but our relationship with Christ is measured by how we love God and people. Love is necessary if we are to be good witnesses of Jesus Christ. The apostle John certainly saw the importance of love as seen in 1 John 4:7-8: “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone that loves is born of God and knows God. 9. He that loves not knows not God; for God is love.” We need to learn this lesson in our daily lives, and we need to learn it in our churches. After all, Jesus said that people will know that we are Christians by the love that we have for each other. (John 13:35) Love is, after all, necessary and we need to do better than we are doing. (Notice that I wrote “we.”) Do it! Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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