Fulfilling the Law

Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:8)

I want to take some time to unpack this reference to law here. It is clearly situated right after the discussion of authority and rulers so I think the implication is a connection between law and law-enforcers. But quite interestingly the law that is noted in this passage has little to do with man-made law but is a direct reference to the Law of God given on Mount Sinai. God's “legal” system does not operate like man's systems and does not employ “law-enforcement” like we are used to seeing on this earth, for God's laws are simply descriptions of principles that have natural consequences. But this does bring in some interesting issues that have been debated for centuries such as the validity of the Ten Commandments after the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

One of the texts that people have attempted to use to discount the authority of the Law of God in our day is a quote from Jesus.

"Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill." (Matthew 5:16-17)

Religious people have tried to twist these words around to imply that since Jesus fulfilled the Law of God that it no longer applies to us. They try to claim that if we are in Christ then the blood of Jesus frees us from any obligation to that “old law” as they often put it. But if this text is compared with the one from Romans thirteen here, then Paul is still talking about the law being fulfilled long after the death of Jesus and applying this fulfillment to being carried out in our lives as believers. This seems to plainly contradict any notion of the law no longer applying to Christians because of Jesus' fulfillment of it.

Again in Galatians Paul addresses Christians and talks about the law being fulfilled in their lives by the kind of life they live.

Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:1-2)

Some have tried to claim that the law of Christ is different than the Law of God given in the Old Testament. But that is still another attempt to separate God and Christ which violates the very teachings of Jesus Himself. And even Paul points out that it was Christ that was with the Israelites in the desert that followed them during the time of the giving of the Ten Commandments. And all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:4) Christ was actually the One who gave the Law on Mount Sinai long before He appeared in human form on earth centuries later.

What in fact is really happening on the part of those who try to discredit the validity of the Law of God for Christians is that they are resisting the authority of God directly. Instead of subjecting themselves to authority as directed in the previous verses they try to twist the Word of God to avoid acknowledging the importance of obeying the Law, which itself is simply a description of the principles of reality. While it is true that it is impossible to keep the Law in our current condition as sinners by nature, that does not excuse us in the slightest from still living in harmony with the principles of reality. We are no more exempt from keeping the Law of God as expressed in the Commandments than we are exempt from being affected by the law of gravity or any other one of the laws of physics that we are so familiar with.

Instead of trying to discount or weasel out of our need to be in harmony with the principles of reality as expressed in the Ten Commandments and other instructions of God, we need to follow the instructions of the gospel and allow our hearts to be transformed so that our external life will begin to reflect the fruit of the Spirit that lives within us. And those fruits will always look like perfect conformity to the Laws of God because those aLws simply describe what God is like and how reality is defined. Instead of resisting the authority of the Law we need to learn how to come into proper relationship and harmony with the Law so that we can thrive and grow and be filled with the joy of relationship and intimacy with the God that the Law describes.

This passage begins to make it very clear that living in subjection to authorities and keeping the Law of God can only be achieved when we are filled with the love that originates with the very God that this law describes. Without the basis of our motivation being genuine, God-inspired love dwelling in us at the heart level, it will be hopelessly impossible to ever align ourselves or even properly subject ourselves to the authority that originates with the God who gave us this Law.

Love itself is the secret, magic ingredient that empowers us to fulfill the Law instead of resisting that Law. Only love in the heart will empower us to have the humility and kindness to be in subjection to authorities without becoming contaminated by bitterness from the abuse of authority commonly encountered in this world. And only the gospel and grace of Jesus Christ can ever bring us into the right mental and heart condition to live this kind of life.

Paul reiterates here the condensation of the Law of God that Jesus had previously expounded. And Jesus Himself was quoting from the Old Testament that had also condensed the principles of the Law into two simple explanations. Fulfilling the Law at its simplest is to love God more than anything or anyone else and then loving others equally with ourselves. This is the condition of everyone who will be able to live together in eternity in harmony with God and with each other.

Only those who choose to begin that life here and now will be safe to save at the Second Coming of Jesus and will then be further matured in heaven to continue that experience together throughout all eternity. And this is the whole purpose of the gospel – to provide the entry point and the transformational experience and power that will re-create the image of God in our souls and reintegrate us into the perfect family of heaven.

Each of us has a choice about how to relate to this offer. We can either resist it in one way or another and deny our need to come into harmony with the Law and with the Love that fulfills that Law, or we can subject ourselves to the supreme authority of God, the Originator of the love that we must have to fulfill the law and that will also empower us to subject ourselves to authorities in a spirit of kindness and humility. When the character of Jesus is perfectly reproduced in His people on earth, He will come back again and claim them as His own and take them to live with Him. But that reproduction of His character has to be accomplished through our subjection to Him, never by our efforts to keep the Law directly.

As I subject myself to the authority of Jesus in my heart and mind and give Him permission to do anything He wants with me, I can then be filled and led by His Spirit and will naturally produce the fruit of that Spirit which is perfect conformity to the description of His character which is seen in the Law of God. But that Law is only a bare-bones outline description of His character. The real beauty and loveliness of God was better demonstrated by the life and teachings of Jesus while here on earth. But even that is a dim, though very good reflection of the reality of God, for the filters of humanity and the distance of time and the limitations of writing prevents us from getting a very clear view of what even Jesus was really like. Even His closest disciples did not see the real God that Jesus came to reveal because of the rigid preconceptions they clung to about God while they were with Him. It was not until some time after the resurrection that it began to really dawn on them what they had missed and the opportunities that they had squandered to really experience the glory of God.

But Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to accomplish what even He was not able to finish while here. The Holy Spirit will reveal to our hearts and minds everything that we need to have in order to be drawn into the saving relationship with God that we must have in order to live the kind of life described here in Romans. I want much more of that Spirit and a much greater revelation of the glory of God in my life. I want to become freed from the damning resistance that still resides in my own heart that endangers my very life if exposed to the real glory of God. I crave to experience the presence of God and I ask Him to cleanse me from all resistance so that I will be safe to come closer into His loving and powerful presence.

(next in series)