Fulfilling the Law

"Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." Romans 13:10

There are many Christians who believe that they are not only commanded to try and live a life under the law of God, specifically the Ten Commandments, but that it is possible to achieve this objective. Yet, the Bible clearly teaches that, "Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the law (Galatians 3:25)." So,then, how is it that love is the fulfillment of the law? Let us look at the Ten Commandments. 1) You shall have no other gods before Me. As a born again Christian you are totally loved by God (Romans 8:38-39). God created you to have the need for unconditional love, total acceptance and meaning and purpose to your life. Only He, in Christ, can meet that need. Therefore, when you are resting in His love, you will not look for other gods to meet a need they cannot. 2) You shall not make idols. Idolatry is the worship or divine honor paid to any created object. Love does not dishonor others and is not self-seeking (1 Corinthians 13:5). Therefore, when God is meeting the deepest desires of your heart you are not going to dishonor Him by claiming that something else He created or you created with His materials is worthy of worship or divine honor (i.e. Golden Calf). 3) You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.  To take God's name in vain is to take His name upon yourself as part of your new identity in Him for no reason. In other words you fail to live in response to the truth of who you now are; identified with Him. As you rest in His love, the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) God produces in and through you will appear. As you bear His love, you won't be taking His name in vain. 4) Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. The Sabbath rest for Christians is not a day of the week, but a daily rest from your self-righteous works of the flesh (Hebrews 4:9-10) as you trust in the imputed righteousness of God you have received through faith in Jesus Christ. God's love for you, in Christ, has released a Christian from the burden of a works-based life. 5) Honor your father and your mother. To honor someone is to grant a person a position of respect and even authority in one's life. While there are parents one would argue are undeserving of honor, the love of God is not proud and does not keep records of wrongs (1 Corinthians 13: 4, 5) In this way you are able to forgive those undeserving parents and respond in love to them.

6) You shall not murder. It is not a loving act to willfully and unlawfully take the life of another human being. Usually what leads to murder is when you want to enact revenge on someone who has sinned against you in some way; wronged you, been unkind, been impatient towards you. But the love of God is seen primarily in His forgiveness of those things we have done that deserve death. Therefore, we "Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you (Ephesians 4:31-32)." 7) You shall not commit adultery. As Romans 13:10, above, clearly states; love does no harm to a neighbor. Simply put, it is not a loving act to sleep with someone who is not your spouse, whether they are married or not. As you grow in the love of God your desires will change and you will not seek to find in inappropriate relationships that which can only be received through the love of God. 8) You shall not steal. We steal because we believe that through the acquisition of another person's property some desire or perceived need will be met. However, the love of God has given us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3), which teaches us to be content regardless of our circumstances (Philippians 4:11) and leads to us no longer stealing, but doing something useful with our hands (Ephesians 4:28). 9) You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. A false witness is one who stands up and swears before others that something untrue is true, especially with the intention of hurting someone else or ruining his reputation. King David, the Apostle Paul and even Jesus Christ suffered at the hands of false witnesses. Many people have even been killed because of it. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth (1 Corinthians 13:6). When you have the God of the Universe loving you and you have His unlimited resources at your disposal, you realize that there is nothing that can be gained through bearing false witness that compares to what you already have in Christ. 10) You shall not covet. Coveting; the secret sin. Nearly every sin we commit starts with coveting in a our heart. Yet, it is the one sin nobody sees until it blossoms into an evil act. The Psalmist writes, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want (Psalm 23;1)." When you have everything you need for life and godliness and have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3) through God's love, you have no need to covet. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. Be blessed.