“Love is the fulfilment of the Law” (Rom.13:10)
Fred: You know Jon, what I find so liberating about the statement “Love is the fulfilment of the law,” is that it simplifies behaviour for me to a simple motivation that is easy to understand. Didn’t Paul the apostle say at the end of that wonderful chapter on love in 1 Corinthians 13 that of the three ‘greats’, faith, hope and love, the greatest is love? If more Christians practised loving their neighbour, the world would be a better place, and we would have less wrangling about doctrinal differences.
Jonathan: That sounds reasonable, but what do you mean by love? Do you mean sensual love? Or, sentimental love? Or, love that really cares about the material condition of people? Or, the kind of love that is prepared to give of oneself, no matter what the cost, so that other people might come to understand that God loves them and wants them to be reconciled with Him?
Fred: Why can’t we just learn to love other people for themselves; with no strings attached?
Jonathan: Once again I come back to the question, ‘What do you mean by love?’ If you really love the other person, don’t you want the very best for him? But what is the best we can wish for the other person? How well do we understand this? Or is it up to every Tom, Dick and Harry to interpret it for themselves? Let’s agree that genuine love is not a mere emotion. It has to be demonstrated in a practical way. What is to guide our actions so that what we do is not merely a Band-Aid solution to their problem? For example, you can give some money to a homeless person, and that could be considered a loving act, but does that really help him to get out of his situation? Is that kind of love sufficient? Surely, God has something more than that in mind when He tells us to love our neighbour as ourselves. God’s concern for people has long-term implications, and that has to do with their eternal welfare. If we don’t keep that in mind, how can we say that we are truly concerned for the other person?
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This dialogue raises a few issues that need some clarification. Paul, the apostle, wrote these words to the Christians in Rome in the context of the Ten Commandments (Rom.13:8-10). A person who loves his neighbour will not have an adulterous relationship with his wife. He won’t want to murder his neighbour, try to steal what belongs to him, or covet anything that is his neighbour’s. In other words, the law tells us what we should do, or not do, to our neighbour, and love tells us how we should behave towards him or her. The what needs the how, and the how is guided by the what.
As Christians we are constantly faced with the question, ‘How can I express God’s love towards others in a way that reflects God’s love and concern for them. After all, I am merely His representative. Every rep is inducted into his role by those whom he is employed to represent. God has not left us to work out for ourselves either the content of our message or the nature of our approach to people who don’t know Him. He has given us his Word to help shape our perspectives so that we see, and approach life from His point of view.
From God’s point of view
The Bible makes it clear that God is good; and because He is good, He has given us specific directions for how we need to live in community. These directions have the good of the individual and the community in mind. We see this explained in a nutshell in Psalm 25:8-10.
Good and upright is the LORD;
therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.
He guides the humble in what is right
and teaches them his way.
All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful
for those who keep the demands of his covenant.
What God tells us to do is an expression of his loving concern for human beings. When he gave the Law—the Ten Commandments—they were from a deep concern that people experience the best path through life. All that the Old Testament taught was simply an enlargement of these core values. God called on His people Israel to trust Him as someone who knew what was truly good for them.
When Jesus said that he came to fulfil all that the Law and the Prophets taught (Mt.5:17), what did he mean? Some commentators see this is as fulfilling all the Old Testament promises about him. The context in Matthew, however, suggests something more specific. By explaining the deeper implications of specific laws, in contrast to the meanings the common people were taught by the teachers of their day, Jesus went to the heart of God’s requirements. He brought out the deeper implications of the Ten Commandments. For example, long before murder takes place, a person who harbours ill-will towards someone else and allows it to fester, allows a cancerous growth to destroy him from within, and affect the quality of the Christian community to which he belongs. It may not end up in murder among God’s people, but the root problem, nevertheless, has damaging repercussions. It is a human problem in a sinful world, and all of us continue to be plagued by the presence of a sinful nature, even if we are Christians. Jesus wasn’t out to emphasise the harsh requirements of a harsh God. Just the opposite. He showed that a good and loving God really cares about what happens to us, individually and communally.
If love is all that matters in the life of the Christian, why did Jesus bother to give us the Beatitudes? Why did he tell us what God’s requirements are in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7? Why did Paul give careful instructions for Christians living in Romans 12-15—if all that is required of us is love?
If, however, we see these instructions as the expression of God’s love for us in the first place, we won’t regard His laws as being in opposition to His love.
The first aspect of the statement that “love is the fulfilment of the law” needs to be understood from God’s point of view, i.e. that all God’s commandments are an expression of his love.
From the human point of view
How should we interpret this statement from the human point of view? Obedience to God can take place at different levels. It can take place at the level of a child’s understanding, where a child simply does what he is told without grappling with the deep question of why he should. Or, obedience can come from the heart of a person who has matured and realises that what he has been asked to do, is for his good, and for the good of others.
This is the crux of Paul’s argument in his letter to the Galatians. The believers were being told that they needed to adopt the legalistic practices of Judaism, in addition to having faith in Christ. Paul argues that that kind of obedience belongs to mindless infancy, not to those who are seeking to be mature in Christ. The obedience of a child is like that of a slave. You do what you are told; whereas the obedience of a son, comes from the heart. A son loves his father, and therefore would do anything for him. But even a son is guided by what the father wants.
A true appreciation of everything God has done for us in Christ to reconcile us to Himself; and an understanding that all His commands are for our good, must lead to the kind of obedience that flows from a heart that is filled with love for Him. We love because He first loved us and gave Himself for us. (1 John 4:19).
It is this that sheds light on Jesus’ statement, “A new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you.” Loving one another was not a new commandment. Israel was told to love one another in Leviticus 19:18. What was new in this commandment was the depth of love that they were to show one another. It was love that was prepared to lay down its life for the other person.
Just as the commandments of God were the expression of His love for His people, they were at the same time the expression of Israel’s love for God and for one another.
The law told them what to do; and love told them how to do it.
Obedience with a ‘stiff upper lip’ can never satisfy God. But when God’s people respond to him in obedience that is motivated by genuine love and appreciation of all that He has done for us, then the way God intended the law to be worked out in the life of the believer is fulfilled.
