Daily Lesson for Wednesday 26th of March 2025
The relationship between love and law cannot be overstated. Indeed, according to Scripture, to love is to fulfill the law.
In Romans 13:8-10, Paul teaches that “he who loves another has fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8, NKJV). After listing many of the last six of the Ten Commandments, Paul declares that these are “all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ ” (Romans 13:9, NKJV). Indeed, Paul teaches explicitly, “Love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10, NKJV). Again, in Galatians 5:14, Paul explains, “All the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ ” (Galatians 5:14, NKJV). But what kind of love is that which fulfills the law? What does such love look like?
Read Matthew 23:23-24. What are the “weightier matters of the law”? Read Deuteronomy 5:12-15 and Isaiah 58:13-14. How do these passages demonstrate the relationship between the law (particularly the Sabbath commandment) and God’s concern for justice and deliverance?
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Jesus identifies the “weightier matters of the law” as “justice and mercy and faith.” And in relation to one law in particular—the Sabbath—we can see in Scripture that the Sabbath itself is integrally connected with deliverance and justice.
In Deuteronomy 5:1-33, the Sabbath commandment is grounded in relation to God’s deliverance of Israel from slavery. That is, the Sabbath is not only a memorial of creation but also a memorial of deliverance from slavery and oppression. And in the context about turning from one’s own pleasure to call the Sabbath a delight by taking delight in the Lord (Isaiah 58:13-14), the emphasis is on works of love and justice for others—doing good, feeding the hungry, housing the homeless (see Isaiah 58:3-10).
Given all of these teachings (and many others), those who wish to fulfill the law through love should be concerned not only about sins of commission but also about sins of omission. Love as the fulfillment of the law involves not merely keeping the law in the sense of refraining from committing sins but also consists of actively doing good—doing the works of love that faithfully advance justice and mercy. Being faithful to God is more than just not violating the letter of the law.
(0)Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25a-13-love-is-the-fulfillment-of-the-law-2/
