10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. - Romans 13:10 (ESV)
Introduction
Writing this article about Romans 13:10 has been incredibly challenging.
There are two primary reasons for this:
First, the concept of God’s love - that God is love - really gave me pause. It has been a while since I have really considered this love and it had a significant impact on me.
Second, the ramifications of this love are overwhelming.
As we review this verse, I hope you will take a moment to consider these things as well. They are life changing.
Let’s get started.
“Love”
There are several Greek words used in the New Testament that are translated into the word “love.” For example, there are words for friendship love (“philia”) and romantic love (“eros”). In this verse, however, the word “agape” is used.
One of our favorite resources, GotQuestions.org, helps us to understand that this word - “agape” - is not related “to romantic or sexual love” or the love associated with a “close friendship,” but instead is best understood as “goodwill, benevolence, and willful delight in the object of love…and involves faithfulness, commitment and an act of the will.”
If we ponder this definition for a moment and try to distill it, it sounds like this type of love may be doing stuff because it is the right thing to, or because we have made a commitment to do so. That’s partly right…this type of love does involve following through, but this definition also misses the mark. It misses the essence of this type of love. GotQuestions again helps us to understand:
Agape is almost always used to describe the love that is of and from God, whose very nature is love itself: “God is love” (1 John 4:8). God does not merely love; He is love. Everything God does flows from His love.
In his book Systematic Theology, Dr. Wayne Grudem defines God’s love in this way:
“God’s love means that God eternally gives of himself to others.”
He further adds that “this definition of love understands love as self-giving for the benefit of others.”
Everything coming from a nature that is itself love. Everything flowing from love. Self-giving for the benefit of others. This is agape love and this is the kind of love being mentioned by Paul in Romans 13:10.
“Does no wrong to a neighbor”
This agape love, this love that flows from a loving nature, this love that is the essence of God “does no wrong to a neighbor.”
To understand the context of this verse and how “love does no wrong to a neighbor,” we must first look back into chapter 12. Beginning with verse 12:9, Paul begins to outline the “marks of a true Christian”:
9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. - Romans 12:9-21 (ESV)
Note that this section of Scripture begins with love: “let love be genuine…love one another with brother affection.” Out of these reminders about love flow examples of how it looks to live lovingly (i.e. “marks of a true Christian”). This is the outflow of agape love, the kind of love that is “self-giving for the benefit of others.”
Living lovingly as a true Christian even extends to our subjecting “to the governing authorities” and so beginning with chapter 13 there is a discussion of what this subjection should look like:
1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. - Romans 13:1-7 (ESV)
At the end of the section above, Paul begins to discuss paying taxes as the result of being “in subjection” and a part of this subjection requires paying what is owed to others, whether taxes, revenue, respect or honor. None of these types of things should be owed. The only exception to this, the only thing that we should owe is to love as he describes in verse 13:8:
“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” - Romans 13:8 (ESV)
In verse 13:9, the examples Paul gives come from the Ten Commandments and specify adultery, murder, stealing and coveting. Violating these commandments would obviously be sins against God. He has obviously told us to not do these things. However, in the commission of these sins we do not just sin against God, we also fail to demonstrate love. By doing these things we are not living out an agape-type love, the kind that is “self-giving for the benefit of others.” As Paul notes, “for the commandments…and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
This kind of love “does no wrong to a neighbor.” In fact, this kind of love is not just about not doing any wrong to a neighbor**, it is actually about proactively seeking the best for others. Paul reminds us of this in Philippians 2:
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. - Philippians 2:3-4 (ESV)
This kind of love is special and unique and something incredible happens when it is at work.
“Therefore love is the fulfilling of the law”
At the end of verse 13:8, Paul writes, “for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law,” and then echoes this point at the end of verse 10 by saying, “therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
As mentioned earlier, when we do not follow the “law,” we are not demonstrating love.
Conversely, if we are demonstrating agape love, then we will not be sinning. If we are committing acts of love, then we will, in a sense, not be able to sin at the same time. For example, if we are loving our neighbor as we should, then we will not be committing adultery with our neighbor’s spouse or stealing or coveting our neighbor’s stuff.
It is in this way that it can be said, “therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
This is an amazing statement.
All of the requirements for entering heaven and for having eternal fellowship with God can be met through love. “Love is the fulfilling of the law.”
Application
If “love is the fulfilling of the law” is that all we need to do to enter heaven? If “love is the fulfilling of the law,” what about Jesus? Do we need Him any longer? And what about those other Biblical commands? If “love is the fulfilling of the law,” does that mean those are superseded?
For some, hearing the statement “love is the fulfilling of the law” may mean thinking that salvation can be earned through obedience. After all, the passage says that “love is the fulfilling of the law.” If we simply love, then it seems that we are checking the box that gets us into heaven.
The problem with this thinking is that no one can meet this standard.
God’s Amazing Love for Us
The standard is God’s righteousness - His perfection. The Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 that we have “all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We can sin in various ways - word, deed and thought - and when we do, we fail to meet the standard God has set and this separates us from Him. And the failure versus this standard is the same as not loving. And not loving means that we have failed versus the law.
Thankfully, though, we have a Savior, Jesus Christ, who meets this standard for us:
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.” - Matthew 5:17 (ESV)
Jesus fulfilled the law. He met the requirements. The Founder of our salvation was perfected through suffering (Hebrews 2:10) and then went to the cross to take the punishment for our sins. He died so that we might live eternally with Him. And it is in this suffering and dying for us that we see God’s great demonstration of love toward us:
8 “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” - Romans 5:8 (ESV)
—
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” - John 3:16 (ESV)
Through these acts such as God sending His only Son to die for us, Jesus giving up the glory of heaven to endure the obedient suffering of life on earth, etc, we see agape love on display. Remember, this is the “self-giving for the benefit of others” type of love. It is the type of love that loves people when they are enemies. It is the type of love that causes endurance for others. It is the type of love where one willingly lays down their own life for others.
We don’t earn or merit these actions by Jesus on our behalf. We don’t demand them from Him and He does not owe them to us. He did them because He loves us. We don’t get more of this love when we do good and we don’t get less of it when we do bad. We are simply and amazingly loved by God.
Consequences of God’s Love
While there is nothing we can do to earn our salvation, there are indeed appropriate responses to God saving us.
While we cannot meet the standard of loving enough to save ourselves, this type of love - this demonstration of love that flows out of a changed heart - should be present in the lives of followers of Jesus Christ. Examples of this love are given by the Apostle Paul in Romans 12 and 13 as we mentioned earlier. Things like abhoring evil and holding fast to what is good. Things like outdoing one another in showing honor and contributing to the needs of the saints.
And things like doing no wrong to a neighbor.
Final Thoughts
It is hard to write this article without feeling like a hypocrite. It is embarrassing to write and acknowledge the way that I should be loving, but also knowing that people like my wife and children don’t often or always see this type of love present in my life. Obviously, I have fallen short of the mark.
Reading and studying this verse has been an incredible reminder (again) of the incredibly wonderful way that God loves us - and me. This love is who He is and He always loves in this way. And while we cannot replicate this type of love perfectly, we are called to live this way with this type of love present. We don’t love this way to earn our salvation. Instead, we do so because we want to be obedient to our Lord and Savior.
As for me, I am called to repentance through this message. I have not loved as I should and when I have loved, I have done so selfishly or by own power. And I am so thankful that God loves me enough to forgive me and to grant me the mercy to try again.
** Noticeably missing in this article is a discussion of the word “neighbor.” We are reminded that “love does not wrong to a neighbor,” but who is our neighbor? Who is not our neighbor? And how does the answer to these questions affect how this verse is interpreted?
The answer to these questions is found in Luke 10:25-37. In this section of Scripture, Jesus tells tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. In this story, a traveler is robbed and beaten and left on the side of the road. A priest and a Levite each passed by the man on the road, but instead of helping they moved to the other side of the road and kept on going. Later, a Samaritan comes by and helps the traveler. In fact, he goes above and beyond to make sure the needs of the hurting person are handled. Jesus then asked which was the neighbor to the man - the priest, Levite or the Samaritan? Of course, the answer is the Samaritan and this provides for us the very broad definition of who is our neighbor. Our neighbor isn’t our “brother” - that title is reserved for family and for fellow believers. Our neighbor is our fellow man.