The Apostle Paul sums this up as neatly as any of them, in Romans 13:8-10: Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the Law. In such a covenant, or treaty, a greater party (God, in this case) created a relationship with a lesser party (the people of Israel) that made them related to each other as if by blood, even though they had no relationship to each other before then. Love is what initiated God's redemption plan for us. 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.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”, Galatians 5:13–18: “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." Most people in the world have no experience of lasting joy in their lives. And it is foundational for everything. This love is not based on emotions, but an act of the will. Likewise, if the suzerain fulfilled his responsibilities outlined in the covenant, then he was showing hesed, or loving, the vassal. Love in this context has nothing to do with an emotional response toward another person, such as being love or simply really liking someone. These covenants include things like a statement of who the suzerain was, the responsibilities of the vassal (i.e., commandments), and blessings and curses for obedience or disobedience.[1]. Galatians 5:13-18 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe.”, Romans 5:19: “For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one the many will be made righteous.”. That is true, I would say, from Romans 5:19. (Rom.13) Of course, this is referring to the second division of the Law -love for your fellow man and does not nullify Jesus’ teaching of the first part that the first Commandment to love the Lord is the greatest of them all. 17“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Love, then, is not about an emotional disposition; it is about acting in a certain way toward others—a way that is consistent with the commandments laid out in the Law. If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.” (Compare Romans 7:4, 6. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,”[ a] and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[ b] 10 Love does no harm to a … Third, my imperfect love is the fruit of my faith in Jesus who is my justifying perfection before God. Love Is The Fulfillment of the Law November 5, 2016 John (HFJ Director) Leave a comment Many Christians understand the foundational principle that we are to love one another. The law gives instruction in the ways that one who loves will live. First, my imperfect love is, nevertheless, real God-dependent, Spirit-enabled, Christ-exalting love that is based on my justification and not a means to it. First, in the narrow sense one may think of the law as commanding perfect obedience which, if we could perform it by faith, would be our righteousness and our justification. Wherever you look in Scripture, look to Jesus. But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Romans 8:30: “These whom he predestined, he also called; and these whom he called, he also justified; and these whom he justified, he also glorified. Both Jesus and Paul are drawing on a common Old Testament way of understanding the concept of love that is rooted in the idea of covenants. . How does all of this talk of suzerains and adoptions and covenants help us understand what Paul and Jesus mean when they talk about love fulfilling the law (whether love for God or love for others)? Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.' Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. We look to the Spirit of Christ for transformation so that love flows by power from within, not pressure from without. He spoke personally to me. This covenant God established is modeled on a type of covenant in that time and culture called the suzerain-vassal covenant. Romans 13:8–10: “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. (10) Fulfilling of the law. 19Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teache… So if love is our motivation, we will be obeying and fulfilling God’s law. The God who keeps watch over the nations, this God still speaks today. One last thing I draw your attention to, and you’ll see it in verse 10. Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Or, in other words, love is the fulfillment of the Law. Lots of strange names, foreign rulers, and two books (originally one!) Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. He is saying that love fulfills the law. They have no joy. For He who said, ‘do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘do not commit murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. What Does It Mean to Fulfill the Law in Romans 8:3-4, John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. . . Fulfilling the law as per Matthew 5:17 does not mean to abolish. The question today is very practical and tremendously important. ), “In the Image of God He Made Them”: How Genesis 1:27 Challenges Sexual Abuse and Misogyny in the Church. There's nothing tricky in here. Love, which is in a believer’s heart, by faith, fulfills God’s law. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”. All of our resources exist to guide you toward everlasting joy in Jesus Christ. Who will set me free from the body of this death? . PDF. He is author of. Love that fulfills the law is agape love. Romans 13:10, ESV: 'Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.' And then he focuses specifically on our walking, that is, our living, as the way the fulfillment will happen: “that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk . We’re on a mission to change that. Russ is an author, editor, teacher, lecturer in Old Testament and Hebrew at Ohio Theological Institute. . The Law is valid under the New Covenant when used “lawfully” according to Paul in 1 Timothy 1:8, but it cannot be followed apart from Christ. But to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.”, Romans 8:4: “So that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”, Galatians 5:22: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”, Galatians 5:13–16: “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Other early Christians got the message. What does Paul mean in verse 4 when he says that the aim of Christ’s death is “that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit”? In the Old Testament book of Exodus, God established a covenant relationship with Israel. A person can keep the law without loving. Different motivation We are working our way through a marvelous section of the book of Romans in which Paul spells out the Christian way of life. When we are obedient to the Holy Spirit, we manifest God’s love and exhibit righteousness, which fulfills the law (Romans 13:8-10). My imperfect love now and my perfect love later will always be the fruit of faith that looks to Jesus, my only perfection. Verse 8b: “For the one who loves another has fulfilled (peplëröken) the law.” Second, in the broader sense of the whole Pentateuch or the whole Old Testament, we may think of the law not merely as making demands, but as also providing a way for sinners to be justified by faith apart from works, and to please him by walking in love (Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6). Galatians 5:13-18 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. ), Matthew 7:12: “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”, Matthew 22:37–40: “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. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.” Love is indeed the fulfilling of the law. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Gal. Love Is the Fulfillment of the Law - Towards an Understanding of Pauls Use of Torah for His Paraklesis: A Study on Romans 13:8-10. Mine is imperfect. Romans 8:4 does not say that the entire fulfillment of the law happens in us now. A Call to Fulfill the Law Through Love. Pastor Andy Stanley recently published an article in Christianity Today called “ Jesus Ended the Old Covenant Once and for All ” which is based on the idea that to “fulfill the Law” means “to bring it to an end.” 1 An honest reader can’t avoid noticing that this interpretation seems strained. In the modern West we are accustomed to contracts, not covenants. When Jesus was baptized, he went under the water for us — so that he might represent us, and so that we might be with him forever. But, because of our sin, the law does not impart life in this way (Galatians 3:21), but shuts us up to look away from law-keeping to Christ so that we might be justified by faith in him. James 1:25: “But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.”. They have no healing properties. . In both cases people who are not related to each other by blood become related to each other by law, and it is as if the people in the covenant together are related by blood. Answer: Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. The Bible instructs believers to examine themselves, but does it tell us to what extent or how often we should question our salvation? Instead,  love is acting or not acting a certain way toward another person. so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.”, Philippians 1:11: “Having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. Apart from Christ, we were so sinful, so wicked, so rebellious that Scripture called us children of disobedience. But I don’t think that is the point of verse 4. I heard his very words. Just before that he gives a few examples from the book of Exodus: don’t steal, don’t murder, and “whatever other command there may be.” Jesus said something similar when he was asked what the greatest commandment was: “‘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. That’s the key term that described the relationship between the suzerain and the vassal. They have no promise. Second, when the fulfilling of the Law is called “the law of Christ,” it means that our pursuit of love is guided and enabled by the life, word, and Spirit of Jesus Christ. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. 5&6 these commandments are either obeyed out of the motivations of our hearts or they are not obeyed at all. Galatians 5:1: “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. (Scholars call this fictive kinship.) This timeline may help sort through the Persian rulers, Jewish leaders, and events in…. This is the great and foremost commandment. Three times in this text Paul says, more or less, that loving your neighbor as you love yourself fulfills the law. .’ But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”, Galatians 3:5: “So then, does he who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?”, Galatians 5:6: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.”, 1 Timothy 1:5: “But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”, Romans 7:15: “I do not understand my own actions. But our walk by the Spirit begins now and so does our fulfillment of the law. Paul the apostle tells his readers in Romans that love is the fulfillment of the law. On a type of covenant in that time and culture called the suzerain-vassal covenant ‘! 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