To fulfill the law

563 fulfill the lawIn Romans, Paul writes: «Love does no harm to one's neighbor; so now love is the fulfillment of the law ”(Romans 13,10 Zurich Bible). We are naturally inclined to turn the statement "love fills the law" around and say, "the law fills love". Especially when it comes to relationships, we want to know where we stand. We want to see clearly or measure how we should relate to and love others. The law gives me the measure of how I fulfill love and it is much easier to measure than when love is the way to fulfill the law.

The problem with this argument is that a person can keep the law without loving. But one can not love without thereby fulfilling the law. The law gives instructions on how a person who loves will behave. The difference between law and love is that love works from within, a person is changed from the inside. The law, on the other hand, only affects the external, the external behavior.

That's because love and law have very different ideas. A person who is guided by love does not need instructions on how to behave lovingly, but a law-governed person needs it. We fear that without strong guiding principles, such as the law that compels us to behave properly, we probably will not behave accordingly. But true love is not conditional, for it can not be coerced or forced. It is given freely and freely received, otherwise it is not love. It may be friendly acceptance or recognition, but not love, because love is not a condition. Adoption and recognition are usually subject to conditions and are often confused with love.

That is why our so-called "love" is so easily overtaxed when the people we love fall short of our expectations and demands. Unfortunately, this kind of love is merely recognition that we give or withhold depending on our behavior. Many of us have been treated by our neighbors, our parents, teachers and superiors in this way, and often we also mentally treat our children and fellow human beings like that.

Perhaps that is why we feel so uncomfortable with the thought, the faith of Christ in us, have supplanted the law. We want to measure others with something. But we are saved by grace through faith and no longer need a scale. If God loves us in spite of our sins, how can we so little value our fellow human beings and deny their love if they do not act according to our ideas?

The apostle Paul explains this to the Ephesians as follows: “It is indeed pure grace that you are saved. There is nothing you can do for yourself except to trust what God gives you. You did not deserve it by doing anything; for God does not want anyone to be able to refer to his own achievements before him »(Ephesians 2, 8-9 GN).

The good news is that you are saved only by grace through faith. You can be very grateful for that because no one except Jesus has reached the measure of salvation. Thank God for His unconditional love, through which He redeems you and transforms you into the being of Christ!

by Joseph Tkach