For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Summary: There are laws, and then there are laws. Being able to tell the difference is key to understanding what Paul tells us in this passage.
It is tempting to look at this verse and think, “Wait a minute … that’s not what Jesus said!”
When Jesus asked which commandment was the greatest, he said there were two great commandments. He said:
“‘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.” (Matthew 22: 37-40)
So if “all the Law and the Prophets” depend on these two commandments, where does Paul get off saying that the “entire law is fulfilled in … one command”?
The word “law,” like many other words, has multiple meanings. Just like the word “love” depends on context to understand its use, the same holds for the word “law.” So, were Jesus and Paul talking about the same law?
The answer to this burning question is … yes … and … no.
Hmmmm ….
Paul uses the same Greek word for “law” that Jesus does (nómos), but there is a contextual difference. The answer is, like so many things, in what Jesus said.
Jesus responds with two different commandments because there are two kinds of laws that are involved with the question the Sadducees asked him. The first command that Jesus refers to addresses our relationship with God the Father. The second command deals with laws that govern human behavior.
Paul makes his devotion to God clear in the first five verses of his letter. The rest of Paul’s letter to the Galatians is all about freedom from the law, but only the law that deals with human behavior.
If we look at the Ten Commandments as a model for all the laws that follow, there are two parts. The first four commandments deal with our relationship with our God. These are what Jesus referred to when he spoke of the “first and greatest commandment.” The other six commandments deal with our relationships with people. When Paul says the “entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command,” he points us to this second set of laws.
Application: Always consider that a word may have multiple meanings.
Food for Thought: How does our reason for keeping the command to “Love your neighbor as yourself” affect how well we keep it? Does following the law give a different result than keeping the command because we have faith in Jesus?
Thank you for A Twofer today!
1.) How does our reason for keeping the command to “Love your neighbor as yourself” affect how well we keep it?
Is this a box being check or the manifestation of a heart condition of Jesus Christ being seen as we interact with others.
To love your neighbor as yourself ultimately means that we are willing to sacrifice ourself for others. The key to keeping this command of loving others as ourselves is to depend on the Holy Spirit as the power to love our neighbor,
Galatians 5:16, So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
2.) Does following the law give a different result than keeping the command because we have faith in Jesus?
Keeping the law does not save us. The law is the standard by which we are condemned. We must keep the law, but our salvation is by Grace through faith in Jesus. John 3:16.
Our obedience to the law is by faith, Romans 16:26, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith.
God gives each the free gift of faith, John 3:7–8, the supernatural ability to believe, and that faith produces our obedience to his commands.
Ron,
Your words about love are so important: “[loving our neighbor means we] sacrifice ourself for others.”
That has been my experience. Knowing Jesus inspires sacrificing in the flesh to honor our Savior in the spirit.
Thank you!
Thanks R2T2. Well said.
Love as a motivator and faith as a foundation. Two essential elements that please the Lord. John 13: 34 – 35; 1 Corinthians 16: 14; Hebrews 11: 6).
Thank you, Rich!
The Hebrews 11:6 verse is interesting!
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.“
Yes