Love Fulfills the Law

Romans 13:8 (ESV) 8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

• What we owe, to whom we owe, to whom we owe what. – The never settled debt of LOVE.
• Origen wrote in the second century, “So Paul desires that our debt of love should remain and never cease to be owed, for it is expedient that we should both pay this debt and always owe it.”[1]
• Matthew 22:37–40 (ESV) 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 first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
• John 13:34–35 (ESV) 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
• Napoleon Bonaparte - “I know men, and I tell you Jesus Christ was not a man. Superficial minds see a resemblance between Christ and the founders of empires and the gods of other religions. That resemblance does not exist. There is between Christianity and other religions the distance of infinity. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and myself founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon sheer force. Jesus Christ alone founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men will die for Him.”

Romans 13:9 (ESV) 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

• Sampling of the 10. Not in the order of the Hebrew.
• Adultery, Murder
• Stealing, Coveting
• Any other commandment
• You shall love your neighbor. Gk. “others of a different kind”
• Some languages have the word for stranger and enemy the same word.
• Latin: hostis
• Related note: Greek xenos
• There is a sense in which love for our neighbor is a more obvious measure of where we stand with God than our love for God himself. We can easily convince others that we love God, but it is far more difficult to feign love for our neighbors.

Romans 13:10 (ESV) 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

• Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
• Galatians 5:13–14 (ESV) 13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
• James 2:8 (ESV) 8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.
• Romans 15:1–4 (ESV) The Example of Christ We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3 For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” 4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
• 1 Corinthians 13:4–6 (ESV) 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

The Dawning of the New Day

Romans 13:11–12 (ESV) 11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.

• Besides – it’s time to wake up. (KJV Now it is high time to awake)
• Salvation is nearer.
• Either of two Greek words could have been used. Chronos would emphasize chronological, calender time. Kairos emphasizes quality or kind of time. Paul uses kairos. “And this do, knowing the kind of time it is.… ” What kind of time is it? The New Testament calls it “the last days”
• Acts 2:17 (ESV) 17 “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;
• 2 Timothy 3:1 (ESV) But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.
• Hebrews 1:1–2 (ESV) Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
• 1 John 2:18 (ESV) 18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.
• The night is gone! It’s daytime now.
• Henry, Matthew – “It is high time to awake; for the sun has been up a great while, and shines in our faces. Have we this light to sleep in? See 1 Th. 5:5, 6. It is high time to awake; for others are awake and up about us. Know the time to be a busy time; we have a great deal of work to do, and our Master is calling us to it again and again. Know the time to be a perilous time. We are in the midst of enemies and snares. It is high time to awake, for the Philistines are upon us; our neighbour’s house is on fire, and our own in danger. It is time to awake, for we have slept enough (1 Pt. 4:3), high time indeed, for behold the bridegroom cometh.”[2]
• It’s time to wake up from sleep. When we are asleep we are putting off all responsibility. Comfort.
• Matthew 25:5 (ESV) 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept.
• Luke 21:34–36 (ESV) 34 “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. 35 For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
• Hughes, R. Kent - We should also keep in mind that if Christ does not return in our time, he will certainly come individually for us in death. Each ache, each pain, each gray hair, each new wrinkle, each funeral is a reminder that it is later than it has ever been before. It is time to love our neighbors as ourselves.[3]
• it’s time to remove the night clothes. Cast OFF the works of darkness.
• 2 Peter 3:10–14 (ESV) 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.
• it’s time to get dressed. Put ON the armor of light.
• Ephesians 5:11–16 (ESV) 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” 15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
• Ephesians 6:13 (ESV) 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

Romans 13:13–14 (ESV) 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

• it’s time to Walk properly. Dress properly.
• 1 Thessalonians 5:5–8 (ESV) 5 For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.
• Orgies. Drunkenness.
• Sexual Immorality. Sensuality.
• “Sexual immorality” is a Greek word which can simply be translated, “bed,”
• Sensuality. ἀσέλγεια (aselgeia) n. fem. self-abandonment. It refers commonly to a lifestyle.

This refers to a lack of control over oneself, often in the form of excesses of sex and/or food. It is often linked to other vices that are associated with undisciplined and wasteful living; it occurs 10 times in the nt, mostly in vice lists where it is linked with sexual sins.[4]

• Quarreling. Jealousy.
• 1 John 4:19–21 (ESV) 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he 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: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
• PUT ON the Lord Jesus Christ!
• One time…
• Galatians 3:27–28 (ESV) 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
• Ephesians 4:24 (ESV) 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
• Colossians 3:10 (ESV) 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
• Practical day-to-day, repeated putting on of Christ.
• We are to embrace Him again and again and again.
• Ray Stedman gives this illustration: When I get up in the morning I put on my clothes, intending them to be part of me all day, to go where I go and do what I do. They cover me and make me presentable to others. That is the purpose of clothes. In the same way, the apostle is saying to us, “Put on Jesus Christ when you get up in the morning. Make him a part of your life that day. Intend that he go with you everywhere you go, and that he act through you in everything you do. Call upon his resources. Live your life IN CHRIST.”
• Make no provision for the flesh.
• Galatians 5:16 (ESV) 16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
• 1 Peter 2:11 (ESV) 11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
• It’s time to make provision for your spirit.
• What would life be like in this world if we, the church, were always living in this way?
• Living with a sense of debt. Owing love to each person.
• Our neighbor, our enemies.
• A second-century critic of Christianity said: Assuredly this confederacy should be rooted out and execrated for they know one another by secret marks and signs and they love one another almost before they know one another. Promiscuously they call one another brother and sister.
• What would life be like in this world if we, the church, were always living in this way?
• Awake. Aware. Dressed appropriately.
• it’s time to wake up.
• it’s time to remove the night clothes.
• it’s time to walk properly.
• It’s time to make provision for your spirit.

[1] Hughes, R. Kent. Romans: Righteousness from Heaven. Crossway Books, 1991, p. 250.

[2] Henry, Matthew. Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume. Hendrickson, 1994, p. 2231.

[3] Hughes, R. Kent. Romans: Righteousness from Heaven. Crossway Books, 1991, p. 253.

[4] Sigrist, David J. “Sin.” Lexham Theological Wordbook, edited by Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Press, 2014.