Title: Love fulfills the Law

Text: Rom 13: 8-10

Date: 5-25-08.am

Passage: Ro 13:8-10

8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 9 For this, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love therefore is the fulfillment of the law. NASB

Introduction:

Back to the Bible had a campaign or theme a while back and they created a web site called NotReligion.com There were t-shirts that said it's not about religion it's about relationship. That idea is that Christianity is about a relationship with Jesus, and as Paul has been teaching it's also about our relationship to our fellow man as well.

I hope you remember Paul's theme from the first 11 chapters of Roman's, I mentioned it enough times - Justification by Faith. Last week I said because we are justified by faith, our faith in Christ effects all our relationships. Just to review it again Paul taught about our relationship with God as living sacrifices, totally committed to Him; our relationship to our brothers and sisters in Christ in the church both local and universal; our relationship to those outside the church or non-believers and last week our relationship to government.

In the three verses we are looking at this morning we are going to talk about our relationship to the law. Paul isn't talking about civil law, he already addressed that relationship in the first seven verses. He is talking about the moral law of God summed up by the word love which is the foundation for all our relationships.

We'll look at three things Paul tells us about love 1) love is an unpaid debt, v.v. 8-9; 2) love does no wrong to a neighbor, v. 10; and 3) love is the fulfillment of the law v. 10.

1. Love is an unpaid debt v. 8-9

First of all let me say that verse 8 "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another," has nothing directly to do with credit or financial debt, even though it is sometimes used as a proof text for that purpose. That's usually what we think of when we hear the word debt or owe. As in I owe, I owe it's off to work I go. But, debt simply means an obligation. Paul has used this idea of debt previously in Romans. In 1:14 he wrote we are in debt or have an obligation to the world to share the gospel. In 8:12 we have an obligation to the Holy Spirit to live a holy life. In 13:6 we have an obligation to the state to pay our taxes. Verse 7 says, "Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor." NASB Same root word in all of these verses for obligation or debt. Give to all what ever you are obligated to give them taxes and the word custom is revenue so those do have to do with a financial obligation the second two fear and honor refer to reverence and respect for those in authority.

Then he comes to verse 8 and says owe no man anything - means to pay off that which is due except in the case of love, which is a debt you can't pay off. In other words love is a perpetual obligation to love. That means to practically apply agape love in every situation and every relationship in life is an obligation that is always outstanding. Dr James Edwards refers to this as the ethics of agape. (Romans, NIBC, p. 311) Supporting or undergirding all our relationships and civic responsibilities is the essential characteristic of Christian love.

Paul emphasizes the universal nature of this obligation of love in this passage by using three different words, "one another" in verse 8, the second word which is translated neighbor in v. 8 is "another" and then a third word meaning near by which is translated neighbor both in verse 9 and 10.

In support of that universal obligation to love he then quotes from the second table of the Ten Commandments that deals with man's relationship to others. Paul apparently uses the order from the LXX and would be quoting the last four commandments but from Ex 20: 13-17 in the English Bible he mentions commandment #7 You shall not commit adultery. V 14; #6 You shall not murder, v. 13; #8 You shall not steal, v 15; and #10 You shall not covet v. 17. Then makes a summary statement "and if there is any other commandment," this doesn't mean Paul is questioning whether there are other commandments, the Complete Jewish Bible renders it. "and any others are summed up in this one rule." This is similar to Paul's summary statement in 8:39 where he is listed things that can't separate us from the love of God and adds "nor any other created thing" as a catch all to include anything else one might think of. He does the same here. He mentions these four commandments and then says these and all the other commandments are summed up in this "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." He is quoting from the Old Testament Lev 19:18, but also Jesus' words found in Mt 22:36-40 where the question was posed , Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" 37 And He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 "This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 "The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets." NASB

When he was asked about eternal life by a lawyer in Lk 10, Jesus responded by asking him what the law said. The lawyer quoted these same words from Lev but then asked who is my neighbor? Jesus' response was to tell the Parable of the "Good Samaritan." Our neighbor is one another, any other particularly the one who is nearby that we can help. Gob brings people into our lives that need us, and all of these people are our neighbors.

The point is this proper relationships to everyone is about a submissive life of agape love. Agape love manifested towards others is the inevitable response of a heart that had been touched and transformed by the love and Spirit of God. It is not just a abstract principle it is the genuine love of God manifest in and through our lives as believers in concrete actions towards our fellow human beings. That kind of love can never be exhausted. It is that perpetual debt we owe.

2. Love does no wrong to a neighbor v. 10

Now that debt can be paid in many different ways. Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote How do I love thee, let me count the ways? Obviously obedience to the commandments is one way, exercising good civic responsibility is another way Paul just talked about, but also sharing the gospel, feeding, clothing, teaching, having a listening ear being a shoulder to cry on are other ways. The ways in which we can manifest agape love for others is virtually limitless.

But Paul adds a caveat or a condition here and that is love never wrongs another person. You might first think that's just common sense. But think about it for a moment. Doing something someone asks you to do because you like them or love them sounds reasonable doesn't it. Deborah has asked me to take her on a cruise for our 40^th wedding anniversary, so I'm working on making that happen because I love her. But what if the only way I could think of to do that was to steal someone else's money I've violated this command. Now, what if Deborah asked for the head of John the Baptist as the daughter of Herodias did of King Herod in Matt 14 and Mk 6. And, what if, like Herod, I agreed to her demands? I've violated this command. And suppose you were to demand of a girl friend or boy friend that if they loved you they wouldn't wait until marriage or what if you were that girl friend or boy friend who gave in to that demand? Do you see how that would violate this law of love? You can see there are many different ways to turn relationships and make demands that would violate this law of love. So you can see how this condition connects with the prohibitions given in the law.

3. Love is the fulfillment of the law v. 10

When we look at this final word from Paul we understand that love operates within the context of law.

Love can not operate on it's on without an objective moral standard. John Stott says Love needs law for its direction and law needs love for it's inspiration.

The Bible teaches love is neither above the law or outside of the law but is the fulfillment of the law.

The keeping of God's commands is an expression of love. Love never excuses sin.

Jesus said in Jn 14:15 "If you love [agape] Me, you will keep My commandments. NASB

The Apostle John wrote in 1 Jn 4:7-12

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. NASB

There is a new morality, which really isn't new, but adopts the concept that God is love as an excuse for whatever type of conduct a person wants to engage in. It makes love a feel good fuzzy attitude and says I can do whatever I wish as long as I love people or help people or am good to people. God is love so lets just get along and feel good and not judge.

In the next chapter 1 Jn 5:2-3 John wrote: 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. NASB

We demonstrate love for God by obedience and love for our brothers and sisters in Christ by obedience and love of all of our fellow humans, our neighbors by obedience to God's commands.

Keeping all of this in context we understand that keeping the law which ultimately at its highest is demonstrated by love is not a prerequisite of salvation, but salvation justification by faith is a prerequisite for being able to keep the law and being able to manifest agape love towards our neighbors.

1 Jn 4:19-21

19 We love, because He first loved us. 20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. NASB

Love fulfills the law because the manifestation or application of love in relationships realizes not just the letter of the Law but the intent of the law as well.

This call to love others, not just those like us or those who like us but those who are not like us and those who dislike us is a radical call. We are only able to love in this way because we have experienced His love for us is this way. And we can only fulfill this obligation to practically love in this way when we take the eyes of our hearts off the things of the world and place turn them upon Jesus the one who loved us enough to die for us.