Love Fulfills the Law

Prologue

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

The Law is God's covenant, i.e., agreement, with His people. Specifically, the Ten Commandments.

Like a nation has laws to govern the behavior and actions of their citizens, God has given the Decalogue as the standard of right or wrong.

God's Greatest Law
For Humanity

Exodus 20:1-20 NIV

And God spoke all these words:

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

“You shall have no other gods before me.

“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.  You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

"You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

“You shall not murder.

“You shall not commit adultery.

“You shall not steal.

“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”

Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”

Love God and Fellowmen
To Fulfill the Law

Matthew 22:34-40 NIV

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.”

Epilogue

Are you worshiping or glorifying other gods like yourself, other people or mammon, etc.? Are you lying, cheating, stealing, coveting other people's things? Are you sexually immoral? 

Have you dishonored your parents and continuing to do so? 

These things break the everlasting covenant. If one breaks just one commandment, he or she has broken the whole law. (James 2:10)

One who practices any one or more of these wrongs, then, he or she hates both God and his/her fellowman. In other words, one has not fulfilled the law.