Romans 13:10 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

NIV: Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

NASB: Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the Law.

CSB: Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law.

NLT: Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.

KJV: Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

NKJV: Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

In verse 8, Paul made the statement that those who love have fulfilled the law. He concludes his explanation of what that means in this verse.

Paul showed previously that we will, by default, end up keeping the whole law if we simply obey the command to love our neighbors as we love ourselves (Leviticus 19:18). Now he makes it clearer still: When we are acting in love, we will never hurt anyone. Thus, love fulfills the intention of every other commands given to protect people from harm.

We should be careful, though, not to read Paul's words here to mean that the command to love our neighbors has now become the equivalent of the law of Moses. Paul is not teaching that if we succeed in loving others, we will obtain on our own the righteousness of God. Paul has been extremely clear that those who are in Christ have died to the law and have been released from the law (Romans 7:4–6).

Nor is Paul's command suggesting that anything which displeases or bothers another is, by definition, unloving. For example, Christians are commanded to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15); truths such as the reality of our sin are sometimes hard to hear. What Paul means is that acts of love—in and of themselves—are not a source of harm. When we act for others' best interests, we're not doing anything to harm them.

Paul's point here is that those who are in Christ are called to keep on loving our neighbors as we love ourselves. If we were able to do so perfectly—which we are not—we would perfectly keep the law—which we can't. That distinction is one Paul has already addressed in this letter (Romans 3:10; 7:22–23).

Romans 13:8–14 describes the Christian obligation to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. To do this is to fulfill the law of Moses, because love itself never hurts anyone. The time has come for believers to cast off any works of darkness, including drunkenness, immorality, and jealousy. Instead, we should live as people who walk in the light, taking on the spiritual armor of light and Christ Himself.

Romans 13 tackles three big areas that living-sacrifice Christians must address. First, since God puts every human authority in place to serve His purposes, Christians must submit to them; this idea comes with a particular context. Second, we must love our neighbors as ourselves. Third, we are called to live as people of the light and throw off works of darkness like drunkenness, sexual immorality, and jealousy. We are to take on the armor of light against the darkness and, in fact, take on Christ Himself instead of serving our own desires.

The prior chapter described the ideas of becoming a living sacrifice for Christ and being transformed by that relationship. In chapter 12, Paul gives certain applications of what this looks like for Christians who have received God's great mercy. Paul instructs believers to live in submission to human authorities in government because God has put them there for His purposes. Loving our neighbors as we love ourselves is the ongoing obligation of every Christian. Finally, we must throw off any works of darkness we have been taking part in and take defensive positions against the darkness in spiritual armor of light. The time has come to take on Christ and stop arranging our lives to serve our own desires.

The book of Romans is the New Testament's longest, most structured, and most detailed description of Christian theology. Paul lays out the core of the gospel message: salvation by grace alone through faith alone. His intent is to explain the good news of Jesus Christ in accurate and clear terms. As part of this effort, Paul addresses the conflicts between law and grace, between Jews and Gentiles, and between sin and righteousness. As is common in his writing, Paul closes out his letter with a series of practical applications.