Answer: Love does no harm to its neighbor.
Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law, (verse 10).
MORE INFORMATION AND/OR OTHER SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:
Leviticus 19:18: [God said,] "Do not
seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love
your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord."
Matthew 7:9-12: [Jesus said,]
"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a
stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?
If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to
your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good
gifts to those who ask Him! So in everything, do to others
what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and
the Prophets."
Matthew 22:34-40: "Hearing that
Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.
One of them, an expert in the law, tested Him with this
question: 'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment
in the Law?' Jesus replied: '"Love
the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your mind." This is the first and
greatest commandment. And the second is like it:
"Love your neighbor as yourself." All the
Law and the Prophets hang on these two
commandments.'" (See also Mark
12:28-34.)
Galatians 5:13-14: "You, my
brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to
indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.
The entire law is summed up in a single command: 'Love your
neighbor as yourself.'"
And who is
our neighbor? Who are these people we are supposed to
love? Aren't we ALL in need? Did God leave us
beaten and naked and dead in our sins? What was the price He
paid to see to our care? Jesus beautifully illustrated who
our neighbor is in Luke 10:25-37:
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus.
"Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit
eternal life?"
"What is written in the Law?" He replied.
"How do you read it?"
He answered: "'Love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and
with all your mind' ; and, 'Love your neighbor as
yourself.'"
"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied.
"Do this and you will live."
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus,
"And who is my neighbor?"
In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from
Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They
stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him
half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road,
and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So
too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on
the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where
the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He
went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then
he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care
of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to
the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, "and
when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may
have.'
"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to
the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"
The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy
on him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."
God did
not cut off His love from us when we separated ourselves from Him
by our sin. He continued to love us, even when He could not
bear to be in the presence of sin. He continued to offer the
Way home. Shall we cut off our neighbor, and refuse to love
our enemy because they have wounded us? Do we have a
"You get one chance" attitude? Was that ever part
of God's laws to His people, or did the Law have a different
aim? Read the following from The Book of Romans by Jim
McGuiggan:
You'll notice, that since loving our neighbor is
fulfilling the Law, that the Law's (horizontal) aim was the
right treatment of our fellow-man. Is it any wonder Paul said
it [love] was the fulfillment of the Law? Love doesn't
make a person less a person. It makes them as tough as a
nickel steak. It isn't weakness to love people.
The easy way out is to have them hurt you once and then to cut the
offender off. That way you won't have to bear a lot of
pain. The cheap way is to talk the sinners into
transformation; that'll keep us from having to share their
burdens with them. I suspect it's true of most of us
that we've been givers of information rather that workers of
transformation. Preach a lot of sermons, teach a lot of
classes, write a lot of books and leave the strugglers to
struggle. Whatever happens, don't keep on forgiving
(even if they repent) because if you do that you'll only
invite them to break your heart again (and we wouldn't want
that, would we?!).
And why would Paul say love is the fulfillment of the
Law? What has that to do with Christians? Surely
Christians have no relationship with [the] Law. I really
think we've missed the point here. God's moral
standards have never changed. The Mosaic covenant
began at Sinai and ended with the Cross of Christ, but the moral
demands of God didn't begin at Sinai, nor do we now live in a
lawless world or existence. To reach out in love to another
person is the fulfillment of the Law's requirements. It
is to live as the Law sought to have people live. Christians
as they reach out in love are the embodiment of the Law even as
their Master perfectly embodied it.
