Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
There are a lot of things we can owe other people. Especially when it comes to financial obligations. But the only debt that remains outstanding and is never fulfilled is the debt to love one another. That debt we joyfully keep paying on for the rest of our lives.
Why is it a debt? Because God loved us so greatly. We have no reason not to love others.
It has been this way from the beginning. The commandments are about loving one another. The law is all about loving one another
In fact, the Scriptures say the law is for those who are not mature in love:
1 Timothy 1:8–10 (ESV)
Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine.
Those who are mature know how to love. They don’t need the law so much. The law is the boundaries and consequences for doing evil.
One of the challenges today is how people define love. Love is seen as without boundaries, rules, or limitations. But this is not the case. The law is the basis of how to love one another.
Most every country has a law against theft. Why? Because theft is not loving and dishonors another’s effort, labor, and resources.
It’s the same with murder. Or lying in court. Or engaging in sexual immorality. It steals something of value from someone else. It isn’t loving.
Love is not doing what you want. Love isn’t without boundaries.
But if man sets the boundaries, then there is not love because everyone has different boundaries. God sets the way or righteousness and the way of love. That’s what the law was for.
And that’s how we fulfill it. We love actively and do so within the context of the boundaries.
A river brings life, beauty, food and so much to a people. But when it goes across its boundaries and brings flooding, death follows. Crops die, houses get washed away, and as we have seen over and over and over again, people die.
This is what love looks like. It flows and it should continue to flow. Love is the very essence and fulfillment of the law and all that God made.